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IndustryUpdate

purchases over security concerns, and nearly 60 percent higher daily expenses have weakened emergency readi-
refuse to pay on unfamiliar sites. Verification friction ness, reduced savings, and shifted priorities away from
also undermines confidence, with many consumers, traditional milestones like homeownership and mar-
especially older ones, finding pop-ups and step-heavy riage. Younger generations are reimagining success on
checks confusing or unsafe. Yet shoppers are open to their own terms, while Gen X reported the highest strain.
new payment methods that feel familiar: 56 percent of BNPL use is rising, particularly among Gen Z and mil-
respondents said they would use a tap-and-PIN-style lennial respondents, providing short-term relief but not
flow online; almost half who previously abandoned a easing overall financial stress.
purchase would complete it if checkout mirrored in-
store payments. Burbank said its Card-Present over AI agents set to transform how Americans shop
Internet approach aims to deliver that recognizable
experience. New Worldpay research found growing openness to AI
shopping assistants ahead of Black Friday. Nearly half
92 percent of enterprise merchants of Americans (44 percent) participating in the survey
hit by payments outages indicated they would let an AI browse for deals, rising to
59 percent among 18-to-34-year-olds. Respondents said
New research from BR-DGE found that 92 percent of they expect AI agents to make about 9 percent of their
enterprise ecommerce merchants have suffered payment online purchases by 2030, potentially driving $261 bil-
outages or disruption in the past two years, with half lion in spending. They said they want help finding low
losing $1.4 million to $12.5 million (£1.1 million to £10 prices (63 percent) and top-rated brands (44 percent),
million) in revenue. Beyond outages, a poor checkout but still demand control: 48 percent prioritize fraud
experience also drives abandonment and erodes custom- protection, 44 percent want to review each purchase,
er trust, prompting resilience to become a priority. To and only 6 percent would allow fully automated buy-
address this, BR-DGE released its Payments Resilience ing. Also, participants surveyed prefer AI for everyday
Playbook, offering practical guidance on maintaining items under $50, while valuing human support when
performance, rerouting traffic and optimizing approval issues arise.
rates. The Playbook highlights five pillars of resilience—
redundancy, flexibility, interoperability, optimization PARTNERSHIPS
and future-readiness—and underscores that modern
payments infrastructure is a growth enabler, not merely
a safeguard, as merchants expand and face integration Cyborg Automation Hub now a ParaScript partner
challenges. ParaScript partnered with Cyborg Automation Hub,

SMBs want flexible, feature-rich credit expanding ParaScript's presence in the Middle East and
bringing AI-powered signature verification directly to
i2c Inc.'s new SMB Growth Monitor Report, produced regional financial institutions. Cyborg will integrate
with PYMNTS Intelligence, revealed strong credit opti- ParaScript's configurable software into client environ-
mism among small and midsize businesses: 83 percent ments, enabling faster, more accurate payment process-
of participants believe they would be approved for a ing while reducing manual work and strengthening
new business credit card. Also, SMBs respondents view fraud detection, the partners stated, adding that the
credit as essential for daily operations and long-term ParaScript system uses advanced AI and image analysis
growth, but usage varies by size: larger firms rely more to compare stored signatures with those on submit-
heavily on business cards than smaller ones. Across all ted documents, achieving accuracy and speed beyond
segments, researchers found, SMBs want flexible, cus- human review. One client cut verification costs by 33
tomizable credit tools such as dynamic limits, virtual percent within the first 90 days of implementation and
cards, installments and spending controls, and many is on track for a two-thirds reduction, the partners noted.
SMBs in the study indicated they are willing to pay Both companies highlighted the partnership's shared
for them. With confidence high, providers must differ- focus on innovation, efficiency and measurable perfor-
entiate themselves through adaptability and advanced mance gains.
features rather than basic access, researchers concluded.
DataVisor teams up with ACFE for DEFEND rollout
Americans redefine financial DataVisor launched DEFEND Training, a self-paced
success around resilience program designed to upskill fraud, risk and AML pro-
KeyBank's 2026 Financial Mobility Survey found Americans fessionals amid rapidly evolving financial crime threats.
increasingly defining financial success in terms of resil- Introduced during International Fraud Awareness
ience, with debt-free living cited by 74 percent as a top Week, the program is being offered to members of the
milestone. Despite rising financial stress (experienced ACFE San Francisco Bay Area Chapter for CPE credit,
by 68 percent of respondents), many consumers are and DataVisor is opening 100 seats to additional profes-
channeling pressure into long-term discipline, with 35 sionals worldwide. Developed by DataVisor's in-house
percent feeling in control of their money. Inflation and experts, DEFEND delivers practical, on-demand courses