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Two new sets of data show consumers are spending strongly but not feeling confident. U.S. gross domestic product climbed at a seasonal and inflation-adjusted 4.3% annual rate in the quarter running from July through September, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday (Dec. 23). The report had been delayed by the government […]

ServiceNow plans to acquire Armis for $7.75 billion in cash and create a unified, end-to-end security exposure and operations stack. The stack will cover all connected devices and help protect the expanded attack surface created by the adoption of artificial intelligence, according to a Tuesday (Dec. 23) press release. The planned acquisition will add […]

American consumers spent more this holiday season while using cross-channel shopping and artificial intelligence (AI) tools for bargain hunting and convenience, according to separate analyses by Mastercard and Visa. Mastercard SpendingPulse found that U.S. retail sales excluding automotive increased 3.9% year over year from Nov. 1 through Dec. 21, according to a Tuesday (Dec. 23) press release. Visa Consulting […]

Working capital used to sit in the background of corporate strategy. In 2025, however, chief financial officers across the middle market rediscovered working capital as one of the most powerful and underleveraged sources of competitive advantage. “The Growth Corporates Working Capital Index 2025-2026,” a Visa report published in collaboration with PYMNTS Intelligence, found that […]

The total market capitalization for cryptocurrency has climbed above $3 trillion. However, this rebound “reflects exhaustion” and not a reinvigorated conviction in the crypto space, CoinDesk reported Tuesday (Dec. 23). Bitcoin is down more than 22% in the fourth quarter, which makes this one of the weakest closing quarters for the crypto market outside […]

Saks Global is considering bankruptcy while facing a $100 million-plus debt payment, Bloomberg reported Monday (Dec. 22). The luxury retail group is also mulling other ways to boost liquidity, such as raising emergency funding or selling off assets, according to the report, which cited unnamed sources. At the same time, some Saks lenders have […]

Open these pages as you would open a door to a room where the future is already arguing with the present. My 2025 columns were not written to soothe, flatter or follow consensus. They were written to challenge assumptions, stress-test narratives, and force uncomfortable conversations about where money, technology and power are actually heading. […]

Watch more: Need to Know: i2c’s Marjorie Tart Real-time payments are becoming a baseline expectation in a digital economy where consumers and businesses want money to move instantly, predictably and transparently, regardless of channel or rail. For issuers, that shift is forcing a rethink of technology and strategy. According to Marjorie Tart, director of […]

If there was a single through line in PYMNTS’ 2025 conversations with the major card networks, banks and FinTechs, it was that “payments” is no longer treated as a discrete function. It is increasingly positioned as an always-on operating system for commerce—one where data, security and user experience are inseparable. No company leaned into […]

Throughout the banking history of the United States, credit unions have played a distinctive role in providing financial services to their local small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Rooted in regional communities and built around a member-owned model, credit unions earned trust by offering relationships that felt personal, aligned and durable, something that larger institutions […]