Gift card scams are back in the news, with two federal agencies issuing warnings about their proliferation and one state now passing a law aimed at stopping its latest iteration called card draining, where scammers deplete the value of gift cards before they are used....
Scottish FinTech Aveni has raised $14 million to bring AI to the financial services field. The company announced its Series A on Monday (July 29), saying it would use the funding to build on its efforts to create artificial intelligence (AI) products and large language...
While open banking starts to gain traction in the U.S., across the pond the banking and payments sector is celebrating milestones. Last week it celebrated ten million active users. Is that a good number? Consider two facts before you answer. One: Ten million users is...
DoorDash has reportedly hired an ex-Amazon executive to help its continued expansion beyond restaurant deliveries. Parisa Sadrzadeh, who has also worked as Flexport’s vice president for small and midsize business and omnichannel fulfillment, will be DoorDash’s new vice president of strategy and operations, The Information...
WeRide, a Chinese autonomous driving startup, is planning to go public in the U.S. The company filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday (July 26). WeRide said in that filing that it could face “various legal...
Dubai-based financial services firm Mamo has raised $4.3 million in new funding. Founded in 2019, the company offers services such as payment collection, corporate cards and expense management for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “Mamo’s mission is to empower...
Several dozen World Trade Organization (WTO) countries have signed a sweeping agreement governing global eCommerce. The agreement, adopted Friday (July 26), is the first-ever set of global digital trade rules endorsed by the WTO. It calls for a prohibition on customs duties on electronic transactions...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has accused rent-to-own company Acima of tricking customers into high-cost financing agreements. The CFPB on Friday (July 26) sued Acima — owned by Upbound, formerly known as Rent-a-Center — alleging that the company disguised many of its credit agreements...
As many consumers look for ways to ease their doomsday anxieties, Costco is positioning itself as the go-to retailer for consumers who are worried about worst-case scenarios. The warehouse club retailer is selling a discounted Emergency Preparedness Food Bucket promising 150 just-add-water food and beverage...
