Payments
The Treasury Department announced that Bank of America will pay more than $1.21 billion in penalties for violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. The penalties include a $1.2 billion fine from FinCEN—the third-largest in Treasury history—and a $750 million civil penalty from the OCC, the largest in its 163-year history. The OCC cited a deficient and ineffective compliance program, while OFAC announced an $11.6 million settlement over sanctions violations tied to Iran, Russia, global terrorism, and narcotics. Bank of America admitted to willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, including failure to file suspicious activity reports for $5 billion in transactions and failure to properly monitor trillions of dollars in transactions. CEO Brian Moynihan said the bank is committed to resolving the issues, and CFO Alastair Borthwick noted substantial investments in people and technology. The penalty reduced third-quarter profit by about 17 cents per share, and shares fell 7.7%.
Truist is expanding its merchant services capabilities, introducing a faster onboarding experience and new business insights, and offering more tools through Fiserv's Clover POS system and Early Warning Services' Paze digital wallet. Chris Ward, head of enterprise payments, said the enhancements are designed to make the offering more relevant to clients' daily operations and integrate multiple capabilities rather than point solutions. The move supports Truist's strategy to become a more integrated, trusted adviser and to grow payments across consumer and wholesale segments. Truist reported card and treasury management fees rose 2% year over year to $347 million in the third quarter.
Bilt Technologies, known for letting users earn reward points on rent payments, has agreed to acquire sports loyalty technology firm Lava for $300 million. Lava's platform connects point-of-sale, identity, loyalty, ticketing and payments systems, and partners with 56 professional sports franchises. The deal aims to combine Bilt's AI agents with Lava's real-time engagement technology to create personalized benefits through local businesses. Bilt has about 7 million members and 50,000 merchant partners. The acquisition may also help Bilt move past its breakup with Wells Fargo and a CFPB order to reimburse customers.
Fragmented payments prevented Kin Insurance from scaling and forced reliance on multiple third-party platforms that didn't share information. By selecting the right payments partner, Kin Insurance successfully unified payments and built lasting value. Listen to their story in 'The connective tissue of insurance' on Spreaker.
In an interview at Money20/20, Elavon CEO Wally Mlynarski emphasized that trust and safety, not speed, should guide the development of agentic commerce. He cited the industry's 25-year struggle with fraud and the economic challenges of mobile wallet wars as key lessons. Mlynarski warned that rushing into agentic commerce without proper safeguards could harm consumers, and highlighted the need to understand value propositions and integrate economics across the payment chain. He also noted Elavon's role in supporting U.S. Bank's deposit and lending growth through embedded financial solutions for merchants.
Early Warning Services is targeting the 100 largest U.S. merchants for its Paze digital wallet over the next three years after a 2025 revamp. CEO Cameron Fowler said Paze is focused on habituation of high-volume transactions. The wallet, owned by seven major banks, struggled with slow adoption but saw growth after a product overhaul and a summer promotion offering $10 credits. Paze has added about 220 million cards and aims to exceed its 2026 transaction goal by four times. It targets consumers not tied to Apple or other wallets, emphasizing bank-backed security.
Fintech entrepreneurs are using stablecoins to break into the payments industry, with startups such as MassPay and Rain forging new pathways that incorporate or bypass traditional rails. While legacy players like Visa and Fiserv also embrace the trend, their infrastructure may hinder adaptation. Investors like Verda Ventures see stablecoins as enabling easy, fast, and cheap payments. Rain, which has raised about $338 million, provides stablecoin infrastructure and recently launched a consumer wallet, while MassPay processes tens of billions annually, with about 10% in stablecoins. The Genius Act has provided regulatory clarity, boosting confidence. Both companies continue to expand through acquisitions and new services.
JPMorgan Chase has been building a network of payments partners over the past three years, now totaling about 120 companies, to help the bank integrate with clients' software and monitor industry trends. Todd Manning, who joined JPMorgan this year as managing director and head of corporate development and partnerships for the bank's payments arm, said the network, formed in 2023, includes partners such as Visa, Ingenico and Epic Systems. The bank has about 30 people focused on new partnership origination, venture investments and M&A opportunities. JPMorgan typically makes non-controlling investments of under 5% equity ownership in less than one-third of its partners, and while acquisitions are possible, they are not frequent.
On September 16, the Fed raised rates for the first time since July 2023, with another hike projected. For banks under $10 billion, this puts two years of net interest margin recovery at risk. Median NIM rose from 3.36% in 2024 to 3.66% in 2025, driven by maturing loans and repricing deposits. But loan repricing has run out, and funding costs now rise faster than they fall. With non-interest-bearing deposits shrinking and time deposits growing, more funding is rate-sensitive. The article outlines three painful options—pay up, borrow, or shrink loans—and a fourth: using household-level data to identify at-risk deposits and act before the CD cliff arrives.
Banking conferences in 2027 will offer leaders a chance to gauge the industry's direction amid anticipated changes such as increased M&A and tailored regulation, while areas like cryptocurrency frameworks remain uncertain. Events like Acquire or Be Acquired, ABA Conference for Community Bankers, Fintech Meetup, ICBA Live, ABA Washington Summit, CBA Live, The Financial Brand Forum, National Credit Union CEO Roundtable, and ABA Risk and Compliance Conference provide opportunities to connect with peers, explore emerging technologies like AI, and navigate evolving compliance expectations.