by Matt Rej
Another Global Payments increase, more pushback on the Visa/Mastercard settlement, and plenty of noteworthy B2B and AI payments news. Here’s a roundup of what’s been happening in the payments space in September:
Global Payments Increase and New Fee Effective October 1st
Global Payments is raising discount rates on select accounts effective October 1, 2026.
Just like with the August increase, this notice doesn’t say which fees are going up or by how much. It’s just hitting a new wave of merchants (the ones that got through August cleanly). So you’ll either have to ask your rep or wait until your October statement arrives to see what’s impacted.
Global’s new $529 Annual System Enhancement fee will also start showing up on statements in October. Add that to the $499 Infrastructure Upgrade Fee from June, and you’re paying over $1,000 per year just for the privilege of having a merchant account with Global. We’re tracking all of these changes on our Global Payments rate increases page.
Visa’s Introduces New A2A Fraud Tools
Visa just launched an enhanced version of A2A Protect, which is a tool that helps banks stop account-to-account fraud before the money leaves the customer’s account.
The tool combines Visa’s network data with technology from Featurespace, and it uses AI to give banks real-time insights on A2A transactions without having to train their own in-house models.
Visa says the tool increased fraud detection by 75% in the first six months of going live.
While this one is built for banks, merchants should still be paying attention because it’s more evidence of how much Visa is investing in fraud prevention right now.
Toast Secures Processing for 330+ Bubble Tea Locations
The largest bubble tea brand in the US, Kung Fu Tea, is rolling out Toast across all 330+ locations nationwide.
This deal includes Toast Flex 3 terminals with guest-facing displays and Toast payment processing behind the scenes. Select locations will also have Toast’s kitchen display system connecting front-of-house orders with drink prep in the back.
Even though Kung Fu Tea is a franchise, the deal shows Toast’s ability to support a network of independently owned locations. And it’s something Toast has been building on for years.
Cleveland Fed Finds B2B Checks Are Dropping in Volume (But Not Dollars)
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland published two research briefs on B2B payments this month with some interesting results regarding paper checks.
- B2B check payments fell from 4.6 billion transactions in 2015 to 2.7 billion in 2024
- This dropped their share of B2B transaction volume from 32% to 13%
- However, the total value of those checks barely moved ($15.4 trillion to $15 trillion)
So while businesses are writing far fewer checks, the average check amount is getting a lot bigger.
The research also covered why fully automated B2B payments are still difficult to pull off. Factors include payment and remittance data traveling separately, each payment type using a different data standard, and legacy ERP systems.
You can see the full research here and here.
FIS Launches Embedded Banking Platform
FIS rolled out a new embedded banking platform earlier this month, which is the company’s first embedded finance product built specifically for banks.
Banks can use it to partner with vertical-specific software providers of fintechs, and build bank accounts and payment capabilities directly into the software those corporate clients already use.
So a business could open an account or move money without logging into a separate banking portal.
Mastercard B2B Acceptance Analytics
Mastercard introduced Advanced B2B Analytics in September, which is a card acceptance analytics platform built for issuers and their corporate clients.
The platform uses accounts payable data to identify which suppliers are the best candidates for commercial card acceptance, and then it helps issuers prioritize and engage those suppliers.
According to Mastercard, nearly half of suppliers expect buyers to ask for pay-by-card options more frequently in the coming years. So if you’re a B2B, it’s worth knowing what commercial card acceptance will actually cost you before those requests start coming in.
Nvidia Builds Kill Switch for AI Agents
Nvidia announced a new solution to stop AI agents from doing things they aren’t authorized to do. It’s called the Open Agent Safety Platform.
And with card networks and processors pushing hard into agentic commerce (like the x402 Foundation launch I covered in July), controls around what an agent can actually do with a company’s money will be a big part of that conversation. Read more.
Virtual Cards Could Become the Guardrails for AI Purchasing
HSBC expanded its virtual card program across APAC on September 22nd, allowing companies to embed virtual cards directly into ERP systems, procurement tools, and accounts payable software.
PYMNTS used that news story to make an interesting case for virtual cards in B2B purchases made by AI agents. And I definitely think there’s merit to that angle.
Rather than giving an agent open access to a corporate bank account, businesses could use virtual cards for a single approved supplier. That card could be capped at a set amount, only be valid for a limited timeframe, and then be automatically reconciled against the purchase.
This is the same problem Nvidia is trying to solve (above), but coming from the payments side.
51% of Ecommerce Merchants Fraud Are Holding Fraud Staffing Flat
A new study found that 51% of global ecommerce businesses expect spending on fraud-management staff to stay flat or decline.
Additionally, 63% plan to up their spending on fraud management technology.
Cost is a big driver of this. As the share of merchants naming lower fraud operating costs as a top priority doubled year over year (10% to 20%) based on the Merchant Risk Council data cited in the report.
One of the statistics that stood out to me was tied to false declines.
85% of merchants said their biggest challenge is stopping fraud without hurting the customer experience. And 47% of businesses estimate that up to 5% of legit orders get wrongfully declined as fraud.
Adyen Hires Klarna’s CFO
Adyen has named Niclas Neglen as its new CFO.
His exit from Klarna was announced last month, and he won’t officially join Adyen until February 2027.
Hwa Tsao has been the interim CFO since Ethan Tandowsky left in August. And he’ll stay in that role until February before moving to the SVP group of finance.
This is the latest string of leadership changes at Adyen this year, all while spending over $1 billion to acquire Talon.One and Orb (which I covered a few months back).
These types of changes almost certainly have a trickle-down-impact on merchants at one point or another.
Walmart and Other Merchants Call the Visa/Mastercard Settlement Unconstitutional
Large merchants are still opposing the revised Visa and Mastercard settlement that received preliminary approval back in June.
Names like Walmart, Circle K, and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) are arguing that forcing them to stay in the settlement class violates their due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Since this is an injunctive relief class, merchants can’t opt out. So they’re asking a federal judge to either let them leave or decertify the class entirely.
This case has been going on for over 20 years and courts have already thrown out two previous settlements. Class counsel has until October 14th to respond, and I’ll continue to provide updates as this all moves forward.
PayCompass, Simpay, and Exectras Combine Forces
These three companies are combining into one new payment processing venture launching on October 1st under the Exectras name. Exectras CEO Joe Cherry will lead the charge, though no financial or ownership terms have been disclosed.
What makes this one different is that Exectras sells healthcare and prescription drug benefits to merchants and their employees alongside payment processing. And the combined company plans to sell through ISOs, agents, software providers, and financial institutions.
It’s another example of ISO consolidation, which is something that’s been shifting in payments for quite some time now.
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