Payments / 1 min read
Visa/Mastercard Settlement Legal Fees: What Merchants Should Know
Why attorneys’ fees have become part of the objections and how class-action fee awards differ from merchant recoveries.
Published articles
Banking / 2 min read
How Marijuana Rescheduling News Affects Cannabis Banking Expectations: Week of July 17, 2026
DEA rescheduling actions may change tax and regulatory analysis, but they do not automatically open ordinary card processing or remove bank due diligence. Weekly AMS coverage for cannabis, smoke shop, THC, and other high-risk...
Banking / 1 min read
Open banking after the CFPB personal financial data rights rule: June 2026 Payments Update
Open-banking rules can affect account linking, underwriting, cash-flow tools, payroll connectivity, and customer-permissioned data flows. AMS Editorial examines the payments and fintech implications for SMBs and SMEs in June 2026.
Industry Trends / 2 min read
Retail Automation Watch Part 6: The Hidden Cost Is Maintenance, Not the Robot Purchase
SMBs should price service contracts, parts, software subscriptions, downtime, warranty limits, remote support, and who owns the customer data. AMS Editorial examines how automation changes retail, restaurants, payments, labor, and customer experience for SMBs.
Operations / 1 min read
Label the Cable Before the Equipment Moves
A checkout or office move can become unnecessarily disruptive when cables, power supplies and network connections look interchangeable. The equipment may be ready, but the person reconnecting it has no reliable record of how...
Payments / 1 min read
PCI DSS 4.0 and the merchant controls that cannot wait: May 2026 Payments Update
The PCI DSS 4.0 transition changed how businesses document controls, scan environments, train staff, and manage payment vendors. AMS Editorial examines the payments and fintech implications for SMBs and SMEs in May 2026.
Payments / 1 min read
How Visa/Mastercard Settlement Awards Are Calculated
Why awards are tied to actual or estimated interchange fees, why payments are pro rata, and why total interchange paid is not the same as the settlement award.
Operations / 1 min read
Do Not Let Shared Equipment Become Nobody’s Responsibility
A tablet, scanner or mobile printer may move between shifts without anyone checking whether it is ready for the next person. Small faults then accumulate until the equipment fails during a customer interaction.
Payment Industry News / 1 min read
Visa Moves to Acquire Prisma and Newpay in Argentina
Visa's Argentina acquisition plans highlighted continued investment in processing, issuing, acquiring, and regional payment modernization.
Payment Industry News / 1 min read
Visa Launches U.S. Stablecoin Settlement With USDC
Visa's U.S. USDC settlement launch gave issuers and acquirers a live example of blockchain settlement entering regulated card-network operations.
Finance / 1 min read
Embedded finance and merchant cash-flow products: October 2025 Payments Update
Software platforms are bundling banking, lending, payments, payroll, and working-capital tools into operational dashboards. AMS Editorial examines the payments and fintech implications for SMBs and SMEs in October 2025.
Payment Industry News / 1 min read
Visa Tap to Phone Growth Shows Mobile Acceptance Becoming Mainstream
Visa's Tap to Phone adoption data underscored how phone-based acceptance is changing hardware decisions for service businesses, pop-ups, and mobile merchants.