- Key insights: Articles about stablecoins, scams, fintechs, premium credit cards and open banking were just some of the topics that struck a chord with American Banker subscribers in 2025.
- What’s at stake: Nearly a year into President Donald Trump’s second term, the payments industry is fast-changing amid new legislation and executive orders.
- Forward look: Expect these topics to continue to be top of mind in 2026.
Articles about stablecoins, scams, fintechs, premium credit cards and open banking were just some of the payment topics that struck a chord with American Banker readers in 2025.
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The payments industry is changing fast amid a flurry of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump that pushed to reduce check usage and new legislation on the Hill that laid the groundwork for a stablecoin economy.
Here’s the top 10 most read payment articles published by American Banker in 2025.
1 – Banks line up to embrace stablecoins
Stablecoins were getting a lot of attention this summer, pushing financial institutions to consider how to respond to the trend.
The result was a rush of news of banks kicking the tires on bank-issued stablecoins — developing their own coins, joining a consortium or some combination. Banks are also considering stablecoin alternatives that promise the same benefits of stablecoins, such as faster processing, supporting distributed finance and managing currency fluctuations, but with less perceived risk.
Here’s a sample of banks that announced, were reportedly working on stablecoins or were developing similar products by midyear.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg
2 – JPMorganChase plans Zelle restrictions due to scam risk
JPMorganChase took new steps to curb payments made to scammers on peer-to-peer payments platform Zelle this year.
Starting March 23, 2025, the $4 trillion-asset bank started asking for additional information on payments it believes originated through contact on social media platforms and could decline or block those payments, according to updates to its terms and conditions.
“Zelle is designed for sending money to others you know and trust, not for buying things on social media,” a JPMorganChase spokesperson told American Banker in an email, adding the bank wants to help its customers protect themselves from scams that originate on social media platforms.
JPMorganChase may request information about the purpose of a payment, the method of contact with the recipient or other details the bank “deems appropriate to assess whether your payment has elevated fraud or scam risk, or is an illegal, ineligible or improper payment,” according to the terms and conditions.
3 – Chime secures new distribution channel with Workday partnership
Neobank Chime expanded the reach of Chime Workplace, its suite of enterprise financial wellness solutions, with a new partnership with human resources and financial management platform Workday.
Chime Workplace is a set of financial tools and banking products, including earned wage access, checking and savings accounts and financial planning tools, that employers can offer their employees at no cost. Employers can also set up loyalty and reward programs and see trends about their employees’ financial health, such as an active savings rate or the number of employees with direct deposit into a Chime account.
Chime will embed Chime Workplace directly into Workday’s Workday Wellness platform. Workday Wellness is an artificial intelligence-powered HR management tool for businesses that allows them to gain insights into which benefits their employees use.
For Chime, Workplace represents an important customer acquisition tool for the neobank’s broader financial service products as it looks to capture a greater share of everyday banking services. Through the distribution play, Chime will gain access to Workday’s 11,000 global customers and 75 million users under contract.
4 – Amex CEO responds to Citi, Chase premium plays
Analysts in July peppered Amex about Citi and JPMorgan’s quests to win high-value premium card consumers, which come as Amex is planning its own card refresh.
“Anybody who thinks we’re refreshing because of what our competitors are doing is crazy,” Amex CEO Steve Squeri said during Amex’s second-quarter earnings call, saying the company regularly updates its premium cards and the current refresh is not related to the banks’ moves.
Citi launched Citi Strata Elite on July 28, a card designed to compete with premium cards from Amex, Capital One and Chase. Chase refreshed its Sapphire card in late June with new travel, fitness and experience perks, and higher fees.
“The competition for premium customers has heated up, especially over the past decade,” Squeri said. “That’s been good for us. We benefit from strong interest in the category.”
Melinda Huspen/American Banker
5 – Fiserv outage underscores the importance of bank contingency planning
Banks largely recovered from a Fiserv outage on May 3 that resulted in the loss of multiple money movement services, including peer-to-peer payments platform Zelle. But the loss of services reiterates the importance of contingency planning.
“On Friday morning, we experienced an internal issue that temporarily disrupted service. The issue was fully resolved Friday, and all impacted transactions have since been successfully processed,” a Fiserv spokesperson told American Banker.
Consumers were unable to send money through Zelle as a result of the outage, according to posts on DownDetector, a website that provides real-time monitoring and reporting of online service outages. ACH was also affected.
6 – How Fiserv’s new CEO shakes up succession at two firms
Fiserv appointed PNC executive Michael P. Lyons to assume outgoing CEO Frank Bisignano’s role, bringing a longtime bank executive into the world of technology sales, and leaving an empty seat on the Pittsburgh-based financial institution’s talent bench.
Lyons became president and CEO-elect of Fiserv on Jan. 27. He reported to Bisignano until May 6, 2025, when Bisignano was confirmed by the Senate to serve as commissioner of the Social Security Administration for the Trump administration. The move changed succession planning for PNC, which had viewed Lyons as a top candidate to eventually replace CEO William Demchak.
“While this looks like a great opportunity for Mr. Lyons, we consider it a loss for PNC,” said an analyst note from Piper Sandler at the time. “Lyons is well-known to investors, and he is extraordinarily highly regarded. To that end, PNC had a clear line of succession, with a CEO-in-waiting just as highly respected as the current one, a little like two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks on the same team.
Tierney L. Cross/Photographer: Tierney L. Cross/B
7 – Mastercard braces for the Capital One/Discover deal
As Capital One’s agreement to buy Discover Financial Services neared approval, Mastercard contended the introduction of a major new competitor should not dramatically impact its business.
Mastercard has several payment partnerships with Capital One, including processing Capital One debit cards, a business that may migrate to Discover’s debit network.
“There’s great momentum in debit that we have created in the U.S., [Capital One] isn’t the only debit partner that we have,” said Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard during a Q4 2024 earnings call in January, noting Capital One has signaled it will move its debit card processing to Discover’s rival network.
The combination of Discover and Capital One created one of the largest card networks in the U.S., prompting more competition for Visa and Mastercard.
8 – Earned wage access regulation by state: A complete guide
2025 brought a flurry of state regulation governing the earned wage access industry, with six states inking new laws surrounding on-demand pay in nearly as many months. That doubles the number of states that have issued EWA regulations.
Earned wage access enables workers to access a portion of their earned but unpaid wages ahead of their regular payday. Providers can either offer their service direct-to-consumer, or integrate with payroll companies for direct access to time and attendance metrics.
Every state has guidance governing fees, disclosures and tips, and many follow similar general guidelines. But small, yet critical distinctions emerged with each new state that passed regulations.
9 – How banks can persuade customers to stop using checks
President Donald Trump’s order in March to the Treasury Department to stop issuing paper checks for federal disbursements paved the way for banks to try to curtail paper check use among customers.
Paper check use had been dropping, according to Federal Reserve data, but banks have many incentives, including fraud concerns, to further chip away at their usage. A 2024 survey by the Federal Reserve showed checks were the No. 2 most frequently reported fraud and loss type, with fraud attempts up 10% from the year prior. Trump’s order may accelerate that trend.
“Now might be the right time to revisit [phasing out] checks when there are more electronic options than ever before that provide very clear benefits to all parties involved,” Bob Meara, a principal analyst with Celent’s banking practice, told American Banker.
10 – The CFPB plans to kill the 1033 rule. Open banking lives on
If you asked the average person on the street if they would like their bank account data to be treated in the same way as data on Instagram or Facebook — that is, shared with advertisers, vendors and service providers — the response would be a resounding: “No! Absolutely not!”
Yet every day, millions of consumers give permission to a wide range of companies and digital apps that gather, analyze, store — and sell — the transaction data from their bank accounts.
In 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Biden administration finalized a rule requiring that banks share data, at a customer’s request, with another bank or authorized third party. The CFPB’s 1033 rule, known for its section in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, might have radically reshaped consumer finance and led to increased competition for banks. Now that the CFPB intends to set 1033 aside, it looks like banks and fintechs will continue to share data in the ad hoc way they have been for decades.