Last week, today, April 19: News in payments and fintech

Our bi-weekly news roundup collects some of the headlines in payments and fintech to watch, giving leaders across industries (or fintech enthusiasts) a quick glance at some of the news in the space. In Flywire’s 10+ years in delivering the most complex, high value payments, we’ve had a unique opportunity to work with many different organizations in the fintech and payments ecosystem. We’ve seen changes in how clients get paid, how their customers want to pay and how central the payments experience has become – not just across the industries we focus on, but every industry.

Headlines

Gartner expects a sunnier outlook for IT spending in 2023 - CIO Dive
Global IT spending will reach $4.6 trillion in 2023, up 5.5% according to Gartner. IDC was slightly less bullish, forecasting a 4.4% increase vs. 2022. The main driver for spending will be efficiency gains.

Spain asks EU data protection board to discuss OpenAI’s ChatGPT - Reuters
On the heels of Italy’s ban of ChatGPT, France and Spain have started investigations into ChatGPT privacy complaints and possible GDPR violations. The European Data Protection Board may even get involved at Spain’s request, according to CPO Magazine.

What you need to know about the Visa Compelling Evidence 3.0 update - Security Boulevard
New rules governing chargeback disputes when it comes to Visa cards went into effect on April 15. They aim to help merchants combat first-party fraud and could influence changes for the other card networks as well.

Top Cross-Border Payment Shares by Use Case - Payments Journal
86% of all cross-border payments were for business-to-business (B2B) transactions, according to new data from Javelin Strategy & Research.

Fintechs get more certainty about Open Banking’s future direction - ComputerWeekly
UK regulators have set a roadmap and framework for delivering the next phase of open banking, that shifts and expands overseeing authorities and sets out five guiding themes over the next two years.

U.S. Faster Payments Council Shares Results from 2023 Faster Payments Barometer - U.S. Faster Payments Council
The latest survey of payments system stakeholders shows that 44% are implementing FedNow℠; the digital payments system expected to be launched by the Federal Reserve in July.

From Flywire

CTO point of view: Less than one year to go before PCI v4.0, are you ready?
Flywire CTO David King shares his advice on getting ready for the new payment security standard.

4 ways healthcare IT professionals are impacting patient financial experience
Flywire’s John Talaga shares his takeaways from a recent discussion with Becker’s Healthcare.

Partner spotlight: Adapt IT powers South Africa’s world-class higher education institutions
For decades, Johannesburg-based Adapt IT has been the leading provider of student information systems in the region. In 2022, Adapt IT partnered with Flywire to enhance a critical part of that process – international tuition payments.

Don’t wait for the 4-day work week: Empower your employees in other ways - Human Resource Executive
Flywire Chief People Officer Gary Cunningham says while he’s a big proponent of the four-day work week, we are still a long way away from it becoming standard operating procedure. The question is, does that really matter?

Stat of the week

54% of 2,500 US consumers surveyed by PYMNTS have experienced at least one problem during the healthcare payment process.

Report of the week

Consumers Now Want Digital in Everything, Everywhere, All at Once -PYMNTS.com
The “ConnectedEconomy™ Monthly Report looks at the growth of digital in consumers’ lives and how it’s impacting their daily and monthly routines.

Word of the week

Generative AI: According to McKinsey, “Generative artificial intelligence (AI) describes algorithms (such as ChatGPT) that can be used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos.”

Conversation starter

Has biometrics’ time come in payments? - FXC Intelligence
Paying with a fingerprint, palm or your face is gaining traction, according to FXC Intelligence, which lays out actual use cases.