KORT Acquires AptPay and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 10/19/26 – Digital Transactions
- KORT Payments said it will acquire AptPay Inc. to aid its expansion across North America. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Both companies are based in Canada.
- Third-quarter spending on debit cards tracked in the Q3 2026 SoFi Tech Solutions Debit Spend Index increased 7.4% and transactions increased 5.9% from the prior quarter. More than 62% of debit transactions were digital.
- Adobe Inc. forecasted the U.S. online shopping season will generate $275.1 billion in sales, increasing 6.7% year-over-year.
- Risk-management firm Forter and Skyfire, an AI agent technology provider, announced technology to distinguish between genuine AI agents and those operating with intent to commit fraud. Forter says agentic orders on its network have more than quadrupled since August.
- Technology developer Updation has agreed to adopt embedded-payment services from U.S. Bank as part of a technology agreement with the bank aimed at automobile dealerships.
- NewtekOne Inc. said its bank unit, Newtek Bank N.A., has introduced the Zelle person-to-person payment service for its small-business clients. Zelle serves 2,400 U.S. banks and credit unions, according to Early Warning Services LLC, Zelle’s owner and operator.
- Some 42% of payments leaders believe that by 2030 AI agents will recommend a particular gift card, determine the value, and send it without need for the consumer to visit the merchant’s site or app, according to research from prepaid card specialist Blackhawk Network, which in June conducted an online survey of 694 respondents in charge of incentives, commerce, and branded payments.
- Xnode, a developer of technology for controlling AI agents, launched Cortx Sentinel, a new service that checks agent actions before they take place and grants greater autonomy to agents that stay within a specified policy, while restricting those that don’t.
- Buy now, pay later provider Zip Co Ltd. announced it will work with Column N.A. as its bank partner for Zip’s unsecured installment lending products.
- Payments-technology developer Mercuryo and blockchain BNB Chain published a report indicating 77.4% of stablecoin transfers on BNB Chain in the third quarter carried value under $100 each, while transfers amounting to $10,000 or more accounted for 66.2% of total transfer value. The median network fee per transaction was just shy of seven tenths of a penny.
