Credit-Card Cash Reshapes US Airline Loyalty—and Profit  

U.S. airlines are relying more heavily on billions in revenue from co-branded credit-card partnerships, and that shift is increasingly reshaping loyalty programs to favor cardholders over travelers booking the cheapest fares. While the model provides a lucrative buffer against volatile ticket sales and fuel costs, it also exposes airlines to banking, regulatory and political risks that could weaken rewards programs or change how they are funded. 

More States Are Tightening Their Gift Card Regulations 

States are ramping up efforts to combat gift card scams: in 2025, 22 states introduced gift card fraud bills (up from eight in 2024), with most aiming to strengthen criminal penalties while some add new obligations for merchants selling prepaid cards. A National Conference of State Legislatures study notes that six states have enacted merchant-specific requirements in the past five years—most commonly requiring prominent consumer warning notices—while Maryland and New Jersey also added rules around packaging, record-keeping, and employee training. At the same time, many states are targeting “traffickers” with tougher penalties (e.g., Texas and Arkansas scaling charges by number or value of cards), and industry observers flag the spread of “cash-out” laws—allowing small remaining balances to be redeemed for cash—as potentially increasing fraud risk, with California’s $15 threshold cited as especially exploitable. 

Digital ID Systems Under Consideration in the UK: Implications for Vulnerable Communities 

HRRC says UK digital ID cards could improve efficiency and security, but warns the government must build in inclusivity, privacy protections, and human-rights safeguards to avoid discriminating against people at risk of digital exclusion. The UK’s plan—first announced in September 2025 as mandatory by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer but later revised to a voluntary option—would let people store a digital ID in a smartphone wallet to prove identity, age, residency, and right to work, containing details like name, date of birth, status, and photo. Civil liberties and digital rights groups raise concerns about discrimination (especially for older adults and others without reliable digital access), as well as heightened risks of surveillance, identity theft, hacking, and data breaches; cited evidence includes an Ofcom estimate that 6% of UK adults (1.7 million) lack internet access, concentrated among those aged 75+. HRRC argues that even a voluntary system can become hard to avoid in daily life, so alternative options and accessible pathways are essential for vulnerable communities. 

ID Card Printer Market Expands Amid Rising Demand for Secure Identification Solutions 

Persistence Market Research reports that the global ID card printer market—serving sectors like government, education, BFSI, healthcare, and enterprise access control—is projected to reach about $1.2B in 2026 and grow to roughly $2.1B by 2033 (8.1% CAGR, 2026–2033), fueled by rising demand for secure identity verification and access control, technology improvements, and broader adoption of personalized card solutions. The update highlights increasing integration of retransfer and cloud-based printing, higher-resolution and more secure outputs, and growing need for instant issuance and multi-layer security features such as biometric support, encrypted data, holographic overlays, and RFID encoding. 

Debit Card Fraud Losses Rise 

A Kansas City Fed analysis, using Federal Reserve Board debit data released in December, found that fraud loss rates for non-prepaid debit cardholders increased in 2023 compared with 2021, with results varying by network type (dual-message networks like Visa versus single-message networks like Star or NYCE). The study reports that debit fraud incidence rose overall for e-commerce (card-not-present) transactions between 2021 and 2023, while in-person (card-present) fraud sometimes declined—falling for dual-message networks but rising for single-message networks—helping fuel renewed debate about debit interchange fee caps tied in part to fraud. It also notes that fraud is most prevalent among financially vulnerable consumers and suggests that understanding who is most impacted could help explain rising cardholder losses and guide mitigation efforts. 

Philippines Card Payments to Reach Nearly $127B in 2029 

GlobalData forecasts the Philippines’ card payments market will grow rapidly, rising at a 15.1% CAGR from 2025–2029 to PHP7.3 trillion ($126.9B), driven by a gradual shift away from cash, expanding ecommerce, and financial inclusion initiatives led by the government and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Card payment value is expected to climb 18.8% in 2025 to PHP4.2 trillion as account ownership and card issuance expand through programs like basic deposit accounts and branch-lite/agent models, alongside competition from banks and digital-only players. Debit cards are projected to make up 35.1% of 2025 value, while credit/charge cards dominate at 64.9% due to rewards and flexible repayment, supported by new offerings like Maya’s premium credit card. Continued growth will hinge on improving acceptance infrastructure—still constrained by POS costs—spurring lower-cost solutions like GCash’s PocketPay, and on broader contactless use cases such as open-loop payments on MRT-3 transit, even as infrastructure gaps and financial exclusion remain challenges. 

Healthy Small Businesses Report 42-Point Edge in Card Approval Confidence  

Small businesses are increasingly using business credit cards as core operating tools for planning, control, and cash-flow management—not just as emergency borrowing—and issuers are now competing more on product features and pricing than on access (with 83% of SMBs expecting approval). The PYMNTS/i2c survey of 514 U.S. SMB executives also finds spend is often planned (53%) and demand is rising for more adaptive card features (e.g., 56% want the option to choose rewards vs. lower APR each statement), especially to handle a mix of predictable expenses and unexpected costs. 

Cashless Transactions Made with Payment Cards Increase in Ukraine  

Ukraine’s National Bank reports that in 2025, card transactions by Ukrainian issuers rose to 9.51 billion (+10% vs. 2024) and 7.16 trillion hryvnias in value (+9%). 

Chip Cards Deployed to Battle Fraud in State EBT Programs 

Alabama is rolling out chip-enabled EBT benefit cards supplied by Conduent to curb rising skimming-based fraud, following a pilot that began in December. Alabama is Conduent’s first chip-EBT state and only the second nationwide (after California), with more states planning or piloting similar programs. 

What Issuers and Acquirers Need to Know as Biometrics Become the Payment Default  

As cash use declines, payments are becoming more interconnected, with card and mobile-wallet transactions surging alongside e-commerce—and GlobalData estimates these digital methods already account for roughly 90% of in-store transaction value. At the same time, rising fraud (about $22B in 2024) is making authentication the new front line, accelerating a “biometric moment” as consumers widely use fingerprints/face ID and pilots expand into new form factors like pay-by-palm and even iris/voice for wearables. Governments and industry leaders are betting big (from EU Digital Identity Wallet pilots to issuer rollouts of biometric cards that store templates on-card), while security stacks evolve with tokenization and AI risk scoring. For issuers and acquirers, the imperative is to run disciplined, measurable pilots in high-frequency, high-impatience venues (grocery, transit, QSR), track conversion/queue time/fraud outcomes, build strong privacy and data-governance guardrails, ensure resilient fallbacks when digital systems fail, and partner with schemes, device makers, and fraud specialists to scale. 

Burkina Faso Adopts the AES Biometric Identity Card  

Burkina Faso has formally adopted a new AES biometric identity card—approved by the Council of Ministers on November 6, 2025—as part of a broader Alliance of Sahel States (AES) initiative with Mali and Niger to modernize and standardize identification. The card embeds biometric data to improve identity reliability and reduce fraud, aligns with regional and international standards, is valid for 10 years, and will be available to citizens age five and older. Implementation includes a five-year transition period to phase out the old national ID, with the goal of improving access to essential services (education, healthcare, administration), strengthening data integrity and security, and supporting easier movement, trade, and regional integration across the Sahel. 

The Fancy Payment Cards of Taiwan  

Taiwan’s iPASS Corporation turned its contactless iPASS transit smartcard (launched in 2007 for Kaohsiung Metro) into a widely accepted stored-value payment method at transport and retailers, spawning a big ecosystem of co-branded options and partnerships with major convenience chains. Beyond standard cards, iPASS (and peers like EasyCard and iCash) is sold in novelty form factors—like bracelets, prayer beads, trains and even a floppy-disk “card”—with balances bank-backed and typically capped at NT$10,000. 

In Seoul, Luxury Hotels Shed Plastic and Recycle Keycards to Go Green  

At Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, traditional disposable hotel key cards have been replaced with wooden key cards as part of a wider push to cut single-use items. More broadly, Seoul’s luxury hotels are pairing these card changes with sustainability programs that reduce waste without sacrificing a premium guest experience. 

UBA Issues 3M Contactless Cards, 10M Debit Cards  

United Bank for Africa says it has issued more than three million NFC-enabled contactless cards in Nigeria—part of a broader rollout that includes 10+ million debit and prepaid cards across its 19 African markets—to make everyday payments faster and more convenient across ATM, POS and web channels. The bank adds that its contactless cards use high-standard EMV chip security and that its POS network supports features like NFC enablement and Dynamic Currency Conversion to improve security and ease of use for both local and international cardholders. 

WEX Introduces First Combined Fuel and EV Charging Payment Card  

WEX launched a new fleet card that lets businesses pay for both gasoline and EV charging through one card, one account and a single consolidated invoice, positioning it as an all-in-one solution for mixed-energy fleets. The card works at 175,000+ WEX-accepting public charging ports and more than 90% of U.S. gas stations that take WEX and it embeds RFID into the standard card to avoid separate charging cards or apps while keeping unified reporting and controls via DriverDash. 

OKX Launches Crypto Payment Card Across the European Economic Area  

OKX launched the OKX Card across the European Economic Area, letting users spend stablecoins anywhere Mastercard is accepted, with conversion happening at checkout (no transaction/FX fees, a stated 0.4% EUR conversion spread, plus Apple Pay/Google Pay support and limited launch cashback). The move highlights DeFi–TradFi convergence—bringing self-custody and on-chain liquidity into regulated card rails—while OKB is described as consolidating near $107 after a sharp 2025 run-up and correction, with key resistance around the 50/100-day averages and support near the 200-day.