Nacha launched an opt-in program to facilitate the return and recovery of potentially fraudulent unemployment benefits originally paid by ACH credits.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently published a blog post for consumers on buy-now-pay-later credit.

The pandemic has accelerated the implementation of instant payments and the need for community banks to have a strategy in place, according to the latest Main Street Matters post.

Escalating attacks against critical infrastructure are bringing renewed focus to the role of cryptocurrencies in facilitating criminal activity, which has implications for community banks, ICBA’s Brian Laverdure writes in a new Main Street Matters post.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published a public consultation document with preliminary proposals for the prudential treatment of banks' cryptoasset exposures.

The Federal Reserve released an article on fraud management considerations to evaluate when preparing for instant payments

ICBA Bancard, the payments services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America, announced the hire of Nick Denning as senior vice president of payments industry relations.

The Treasury Department proposed tax reporting requirements on cryptocurrencies in a new report on the administration’s American Families Plan.

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed is planning a discussion paper for this summer on the possibility of issuing a U.S. central bank digital currency.

The FDIC requested comments within 60 days about insured depository institutions’ current and potential digital asset activities.

The Federal Reserve Board invited public comment on proposed changes to Regulation II (Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing).

The Federal Reserve Board proposed guidelines for evaluating requests for accounts with the Fed and access to the payments system, as advocated by ICBA.

With 80 percent of bitcoin holders saying they would store it with their bank if offered, ICBA ThinkTECH’s new Cryptocurrency Demystified webinar series will help community bankers address the rising demand of digital currency.

The OCC conditionally approved the ICBA-opposed trust bank charter application from Paxos, a cryptocurrency platform.

ACH Network volume soared in the first quarter—increasing by 11.2 percent to 7.1 billion payments in compared to the first quarter of 2020 and setting two new records, Nacha reported.

Over the last month, the contours of growth for 2021 came into sharper focus. Nonfarm employment rose by 916,000 in March, while consumer confidence hit its highest mark since the start of the pandemic.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the economy is at an “inflection point” and could experience rapid growth upwards of 6 percent or 7 percent this year in an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes.

ICBA Bancard, the payments services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America, today announced Malallai “Mal” Zalmai as vice president, project manager.

Last year as millions sheltered at home, e-commerce proved crucial to keeping retail sales flowing. Now, as outbreaks begin to subside and mobility returns, e-commerce’s share of total sales has fallen from its 2020 peak, raising questions about the lasting impact of the abrupt shift to e-commerce.

Reps. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and French Hill (R-Ark.) recently introduced legislation directing the Federal Reserve to work with other agencies to study and issue a report on central bank digital currencies.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors said 13 nationwide payments firms have undergone or are undergoing their single comprehensive exams during the first quarter as part of the "One Company, One Exam" program.

Visa requires that all U.S. Visa bank branches must honor and enable cash disbursements for all valid Visa Prepaid cards, whether or not the card is embossed or personalized with the cardholder’s name.

Nacha's new rule allowing Same Day ACH transactions to be submitted to the ACH Network for an additional two hours every business day takes effect on at 4:45 p.m. (Eastern time) Friday, March 19.

ICBA Bancard, the payments services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America, today announced Laura Pierce as vice president, relationship manager.

ICBA said it supports Nacha's plan to raise the individual same-day ACH transaction limit from $100,000 to $1 million in 2022. However, ICBA urged Nacha to assess the impact of such an increase before proceeding with its plan to remove dollar limits altogether in 2024.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a proposed rule to increase transparency of certain transactions involving convertible virtual currency or digital assets with legal tender status.

This month’s report includes details on: how advanced economies have recovered faster from the economic downturn; three distinct ways in which consumers have adapted in those markets; the COVID-19 Economic Impact Index; and regional recovery updates.

Wayne Best, Chief Economist at Visa, shares that “small businesses are far less likely to be delinquent on their credit cards. See full report for details on small business payments trends.

The Visa Business and Economics Insights team reports on consumer confidence in October.

The Bank for International Settlements reported sizable growth in digital payments across many leading economies prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic has certainly played a role in escalating fraud on a global scale and throughout many payment pathways. The sudden cross-sectioning of these payment and transaction vectors has created increases in traditional fraud schemes.

As community banks review their card offerings and examine ways to attract more cardholders, one segment meriting a closer look are affluent or higher net worth customers.

To everything there is a season, or so the market shows via today’s rebounding economic environment. Anxieties around the pandemic have dipped, leading to changing consumer behaviors.

This past year has been an intensely trying time, but if we look beyond the COVID-19 storm, we come face to face with a silver lining of opportunity. Community banks have been able to thrive during the pandemic because of who we are.

Strong consumer and business card programs are well positioned to meet bank, consumer, and business challenges fueled by excess deposits, changing payment channels, and post-COVID-19 pent-up demand.

The year 2020 drove many community banks to experiment and embark on faster payments. Concerns of payment disruption combined with the pressure to remain competitive are driving community banks to include faster payments in their strategic plans for the near future.

Our mission at ICBA Bancard is to deliver flexible, innovative payments and digital commerce solutions that allow community banks to flourish. ICBA Bancard’s client relations and relationship management teams are here to assist and are just an email or phone call away.

ICBA Bancard’s partner card networks, Visa and Mastercard®, have released several notices and bulletins regarding the migration to 8-digit Bank Identification Numbers or BINs, but many banks are left wondering why it is happening and what they need to do to prepare.

Community banks that issue consumer credit cards are faced with some common challenges: how to match their card options (rewards vs. non-rewards) with the best promotions to produce a positive return on investment (ROI), and how to keep their cardholders engaged.

Few would disagree that COVID-19 was a catalyst for significant changes in the way that Americans shop and manage their money. In fact, many experts believe years of behavioral transformation occurred over a matter of months and many of these changes will endure even after the pandemic subsides.

As community bankers, we rely on our partners for solutions from customer-facing technology to back-end efficiencies. With our emphasis on customer relationships, we have to get our partnerships right to ensure our customers stay satisfied and engaged with our banks.

As community bank payment products become an increasingly central product line for small business customers, community banks are seeking new ways to connect with this important segment in today’s digitized environment.

COVID-19 has created financial strain for millions of Americans. For example, 56 percent of consumers have reported difficulties paying bills due to loss of employment or income, and another 76 percent of small businesses have acknowledged cash flow shortages.

Digital transformation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s become a critical need that will determine winners and losers in the coming year. The delay in innovation within banking has meant that many card issuers are now rushing to catch up with the technology adoption seen in other industries.

The global pandemic has prompted consumers to reimagine how they interact with others, how they handle their daily duties, and how they conduct their financial business.

Overnight, our banks were called upon to enhance and expand our digital offerings not because they perhaps needed a technology upgrade, but because our customers needed to be able to transact in new, remote ways.

Community banks were already planning for a digital payments transformation, but the shift in spending habits during the coronavirus quarantine caused many community banks to accelerate, or prioritize, that transformation.

In today’s card risk environment, your bank needs a comprehensive fraud strategy that includes cardholder education backed by powerful fraud prevention and detection technology.

A banker asked me recently how to increase the profits of his bank’s credit card program. This Midwest bank had been issuing cards for more than a decade, but recent growth had been stagnant, and the banker was looking for strategies to improve the portfolio.

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic across all lines of business in all industries, and banking is no exception. How an institution views AI’s place in its organization varies from one bank to the next.

Recently, with the growing popularity of mobile wallets and contactless cards, we are seeing criminals using contactless near-field communication (NFC) acceptance as an alternative way to monetize stolen magnetic stripe data. With the number of cardholder payment options available to consumers (e.g. magnetic stripe, mobile, contact chip, and contactless chip) it is increasingly important for issuers to take a comprehensive validation approach across the different form factors and interfaces through which a payment can be made. Use of best practices for point-of-sale (POS) entry modes validation is an essential step for identifying and preventing fraud.

In order to help combat synthetic identity fraud, Electronic Consumer Based Social Security Number Verification, or eCBSV, is being developed as a result of section 215 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, Public Law (PL) 115-174.

Account takeover fraud (ATO) continues to challenge consumers, businesses, and the financial services industry. This article examines today's ATO landscape and offers recommendations and protections for consumers, merchants, and financial institutions.

Finding a new vendor can be a test of your negotiation skills, especially when nearly everything in business is negotiable. Follow these 12 tips from ICBA's executive vice president and chief digital strategy officer, Prabash Shrestha, to glean his winning tips and strategies for vendor negotiation.

In the latest issue of Bancard Confidential, Kimball, Minnesota-headquartered Harvest Bank shares how it has leveraged ICBA Bancard's charitable giving platform to help support local non-profits and charitable organizations in the communities it serves.

Could a fingerprint or iris scan be the answer to consumer password fatigue? Perhaps. In China, several face-detecting technologies are being used to authorize payments, with the Alipay “Smile to Pay” mobile app among the most popular.

The time has come for community bank card issuers to begin ramping up their contactless payments strategy. More than half of the top 100 U.S. merchants are already contactless enabled and smaller merchants are also speeding to adopt contactless point-of-sale technology in a bid to improve the cusotmer experience.

ICBA Bancard’s Senior Vice President of Card and Payment Products, Julie Hanson, says that many times when she is discussing debit and credit card portfolio strategies with community bankers, they are unaware of the many core benefits that are baked into their Visa and Mastercard programs.

A Visa study examines how digital trends are reinventing consumer expectations. This shift in the ecosystem is driven by universal connectivity, prevalent social media use, the rise of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and increasingly interactive user experiences along the entire customer journey and across all channels.