The new company, Oro Mobility, said in a Thursday (April 30) press release that its first major partner is Uber.

Oro and Uber have formed strategic fleet partnerships in which Oro will provide operational and maintenance services for Uber’s autonomous and driver-led operations in key U.S. markets, according to the release.

For Uber’s autonomous robotaxi program, Oro will provide charging, maintenance, repairs, cleaning, depot staffing and other day-to-day vehicle asset management services. The companies plan to launch this collaboration in the San Francisco Bay Area by the end of the year and then consider expanding it in 2027.

For Uber’s driver-led operations, Oro will provide a fleet of vehicles maintained by the company and operated by Oro-employed drivers. The companies successfully piloted this partnership in Atlanta last year, later expanded it to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and now plan to extend it to Northern New Jersey this spring.

“This partnership with Uber establishes Oro as an integrated solution that connects demand with scalable fleet management services,” Hertz CEO Gil West said in the release. “Through this work, we’re deepening our capabilities across diverse mobility use cases, and positioning Hertz to play a significant role as the industry evolves.”

Uber President and Chief Operating Officer Andrew Macdonald said in the release that the partnership with Oro will help Uber transition to a network that includes both driver-led and autonomous rideshare operations.

“By combining Uber’s global platform and marketplace leadership with Oro’s dedicated fleet management expertise, we are well-equipped to meet increasing rideshare demand and deliver a seamless, high-quality rider experience across the entire mobility ecosystem,” Macdonald said.

Uber and carmaker Rivian announced in March that they have teamed up to deploy 10,000 fully autonomous Rivian R2 robotaxis, starting in Miami and San Francisco in 2028 and then expanding to 25 cities by 2031. The companies aim to have thousands of robotaxis deployed across 25 cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe by the end of 2021.

The collaboration is designed to merge M0’s infrastructure capabilities with Anchorage’s regulated issuance experience to serve a “growing universe of stablecoin builders,” the companies said in a news release Thursday (April 30).

“Stablecoin adoption is expanding across a wider range of use cases and platforms,” said Nathan McCauley, Anchorage co-founder and CEO. “By partnering with M0, we’re extending our issuance platform to support that growth, while maintaining the regulatory, operational, and security standards our partners rely on.”

The release noted that in the last several years, institutions have embraced stablecoin adoption with use cases across trading, treasury and payments, backed by regulated infrastructure for custody, issuance and redemption.

“At the same time, fintechs, payment platforms, and application developers are increasingly embedding digital dollars directly into their product, bringing new demand for regulated issuance infrastructure that is built for how they operate,” the companies said.

With this partnership, M0 will offer a “modular infrastructure layer” that lets businesses create and deploy stablecoins, while Anchorage Digital provides the issuance and compliance required to scale these assets in a regulated environment.

This model lets companies move faster, from concept to issuance, while upholding the operational and regulatory requirements needed to scale.

“M0 was designed to give stablecoin builders and financial institutions a modular infrastructure to launch and scale digital money more efficiently,” said Luca Prosperi, M0 co-founder and CEO. “By partnering with Anchorage Digital, we’re combining that flexibility with a regulated issuance layer, making it easier for a broader range of companies to bring stablecoins to market.”

In other stablecoin news, PYMNTS wrote last week about the limitations these tokens face in areas like treasury operations, supply chain finance and cross-border corporate payments, even as they enjoy growth in trading, remittances and decentralized finance.

The reasons can tie back to the crypto sector’s volatility, regulation or even infrastructure, but it is privacy above all that deters greater adoption in a corporate world that operates on controlled disclosure and layers of confidentiality.

“Stablecoins invert that model,” PYMNTS wrote. “They offer settlement speed and global reach, but at the cost of exposing transactional data to a public audience. On public blockchain rails, large stablecoin movements are immediately visible. Market participants monitor flows in real time, using them as signals to anticipate trades, front-run positions or adjust pricing. This creates a feedback loop where visibility increases slippage, which in turn discourages large transactions.”

The collaboration, announced Thursday (April 30), builds on an existing Stripe-Wizard arrangement, and will see Wizard integrate Mastercard Agent Pay via Stripe’s Shared Payment Tokens while using Mastercard Insight Tokens.

The goal is to provide shoppers with “a seamless and trusted agent-led experience” from discovery to checkout, the companies said in a news release provided to PYMNTS.

“Personalization has always been Wizard’s north star — the idea that your AI shopping agent should know you well enough to make recommendations you actually trust,” said Melissa Bridgeford, Wizard’s chief executive and co-founder.

“Mastercard’s Insight Tokens give us a powerful new signal layer grounded in real-world spending behavior, and with Agent Pay deployed through Stripe, we can take shoppers from personalized discovery to secure checkout in a single, seamless experience.”

Mastercard Insight Tokens, the release added, allow AI agents to access and apply geographic-based spending insights to search and discovery, and help agents understand what consumers are looking for but how shoppers in that geography spend.

Mastercard Agent Pay adds to this intelligence by letting those agents securely initiate and complete transactions, the companies said.

“As agentic AI reshapes how people discover, decide, and pay, our partnership with Wizard demonstrates how intelligent insights and secure, agent-led payments can come together to deliver experiences that adapt to each consumer in the moment,” said Sherri Haymond, Mastercard executive vice president and global head of digital commercialization.

“This isn’t just about what commerce looks like today—it’s the foundation for a more personalized, intelligent next era.”

The partnership comes amid the continued growth of agentic AI use in the eCommerce world. Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has shown that 43% of retailers are piloting autonomous AI, with 81% saying they trust AI’s ability to function autonomously, provided the proper controls are in place.

“That points to a market that is still early, but no longer sitting on the sidelines,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this week.

The research also found that 45% of consumers would be comfortable letting AI agents complete purchases on their behalf, a figure that rises to 54% for Gen Z. But 95% of consumers report having at least one concern related to agentic commerce, with just 5% saying they have no concerns.

“At the same time, 50% of U.S. consumers say they would trust agentic commerce more if they knew fraud protections were in place,” PYMNTS added. “That gives the industry a clear signal about what needs to happen next.”

The new collaboration marks the first time an airline and rideshare company have teamed to let passengers earn and redeem airline miles directly in a rideshare app, Lyft said in a Wednesday (April 29) news release.

“Every ride should move you forward — in more ways than one,” said Jordan Glassberg, vice president of partnerships and loyalty at Lyft. “Pay with miles means that the miles you’ve earned on your last rideshare can help get you to your next one.”

The program is available today for all members of United’s MileagePlus program who have linked their United and Lyft accounts. It works for all eligible Lyft ride types, such as everyday rides, airport trips and premium options.

“Many MileagePlus members have already linked their account with Lyft, showing strong demand for earning miles and more flexible ways to engage with the MileagePlus program,” added Jarad Fisher, president of the MileagePlus program.

According to the release, these users will find a new “pay with miles” option in the Lyft app when requesting a ride, viewing how many miles will be redeemed before confirming their trip.

United integrated Lyft into its loyalty program last year, letting riders who are also members of MileagePlus earn airline miles on every eligible ride. At the time, the companies said they planned to expand their partnership to let members redeem miles for Lyft rides.

The airline has said that it has been able to drive revenue by promoting loyalty rather than rewards within its loyalty program, and that it would allow cardholders to earn more miles on eligible flights than nonmembers.

As covered here in March, United is not alone in deriving more revenue from its loyalty program amid a changing approach to offering rewards. For example, American Airlines has stopped offering AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points on basic economy tickets, while Delta allows travelers to use spending on its co-branded American Express cards to earn elite status.

A report by Reuters on the issue cited an examination of filings by the airlines over the last four years that indicates why this trend is occurring. Banks shell out billions each year to the airlines for miles and other payments connected to loyalty programs. In some years, these payments rival the air carriers’ operating income.

This has left airlines reconfiguring their loyalty-program rules to focus on credit card spending, making rewards harder to earn on the lowest fares, the Reuters report said.

The collaboration, announced Tuesday (April 28), has resulted in the debut Key Virtual Card (KeyVC), a virtual commercial card program designed to help businesses more easily monitor and handle payments.

“Managing commercial payments can be complex, often requiring businesses to juggle multiple systems and reporting processes,” Rouzbeh Rotabi, Qolo’s chief operating officer, said in a news release.

“KeyVC is designed to reduce that complexity by allowing clients to use virtual cards alongside other treasury tools, with consistent reporting and simplified reconciliation across payment types. Businesses want payment tools that fit naturally into how they already operate.”

According to the release, the new offering lets KeyBank’s commercial clients create and manage virtual cards within KeyBank’s Virtual Account Management platform (KeyVAM).

By making virtual cards part of the same system clients use for treasury and cash management, the program helps businesses pay suppliers more efficiently while offering stronger spending and reconciliation oversight, the company said.

“Commercial clients are increasingly looking for simpler and more controlled ways to manage payments,” said John Withrow, head of commercial cards at KeyBank.

“By expanding our partnership with Qolo, we’re making virtual cards easier to use within our existing treasury platforms, helping clients streamline accounts payable, improve visibility, and maintain better control over how and when money is spent.”

Qolo and KeyBank launched KeyVAM in 2024, with the bank making an equity investment in Qolo last year. KeyBank has also turned to Qolo to offer clients embedded banking solutions.

This extension to their partnership comes as businesses are increasingly adopting virtual cards and ACH as they shift away from payment methods like paper checks.

These tools “support digital onboarding, automated approvals and straight-through processing; and they are able to integrate with procurement, accounts payable and treasury systems,” as PYMNTS wrote last month.

One of their benefits is their ability to lessen the friction that appears “when payments live in a separate, analog universe,” that report added.

“Those companies that do it right are starting to see benefits by using digital payments as a strategic tool,” Daniel Artin, head of strategic partnerships at Boost Payment Solutions, said in an interview with PYMNTS earlier this year.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that small businesses are seeing benefits from these cards that include dispute protection and refunds — cited by 63% of businesses — and the ability to manage liquidity without immediate cash (59%).

A current example comes from Verizon’s promotion that brings wireless customers into a savings relationship with Openbank, a division of Santander.

As detailed here, the program ties a high-yield savings account to monthly bill credits, with incentives framed in familiar consumer terms rather than what we might liken to “traditional” banking language. Customers committing minimum balances to high yield savings accounts reduce their wireless bills, with credits reaching up to $180 annually depending on balances.

The structure is explicit about roles. Verizon is not a bank and does not hold deposits. Funds are housed at Santander Bank, N.A., which provides FDIC insurance and regulatory oversight, while Verizon controls the customer funnel, the interface and the ongoing engagement.

The offer illustrates how financial services are being inserted into existing consumer relationships rather than sold as standalone products.

Big Tech and Retail Extend the Model

This approach has already taken hold among large platforms. Apple’s credit card and savings products, developed with Goldman Sachs and transitioning to Goldman Sachs, place a technology firm at the center of the user experience while the bank handles underwriting, compliance and balance sheet exposure.

Amazon has worked with JPMorgan Chase on financial offerings for merchants and consumers embedded within its commerce environment, integrating payments and credit into seller and buyer workflows.

Walmart’s long-running partnership with Green Dot has enabled it to offer prepaid cards and banking services through its retail footprint, extending financial access while maintaining control over distribution at the store level.  That joint effort was extended until 2033.

Banks Shift Toward Infrastructure Roles

For banks, the partnerships offer a channel for deposit growth that does not rely on traditional branch or digital acquisition strategies. In the Verizon and Openbank model, customers are encouraged to maintain balances to qualify for bill credits, effectively anchoring deposits within the bank while customer acquisition is handled by the telco.

At the same time, the bank’s role becomes less visible. Compliance, risk management and capital provision remain central as the primary customer relationship sits with the nonbank partner. The bank functions as a regulated backbone, ensuring that accounts are insured and transactions are processed.

The expansion of these arrangements leads to the assembling of interconnected ecosystems that combine commerce and communications into a single environment, underpinning financial services.

Control of that environment brings advantages. It allows firms to shape pricing incentives, direct customer behavior and capture data that informs cross-selling and retention strategies. Financial services are being redistributed across platforms that already command consumer attention.

KnowBe4, which provides a security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, serves more than 70,000 organizations around the world and continues its global expansion, the companies said in a Wednesday (April 22) press release.

As it expands, the company aims to streamline cross-border workflows by leveraging Flywire’s invoice-to-cash software and proprietary global payment network to automate the invoice-to-cash lifecycle for its customers across hundreds of countries and territories, according to the release.

“By integrating with Flywire, we are not only providing our international customers with a more seamless and localized payment experience, we are also driving significant value by automating complex back-office workflows,” Vlad Kaplunsky, vice president of tax and treasury at KnowBe4, said in the release.

By using Flywire’s software and payment network, KnowBe4 is expected to reduce the time spent on manual reconciliation by about 95%, capture millions of dollars in potential savings through optimized exchange rates and reduced global transaction fees, reduce days sales outstanding (DSO), improve cash flow reliability and save IT resources, per the release.

Ryan Frere, executive vice president and general manager of B2B at Flywire, said in the release that Flywire was built to serve high-growth, global technology firms like KnowBe4.

“By combining our invoice-to-cash software with our proprietary global payments network, we’re giving KnowBe4 the infrastructure to get paid faster, reduce operational drag and deliver a better experience to their customers worldwide,” Frere said. “This is what it looks like when payments stop being a bottleneck and start being a growth enabler.”

Automation is proving to be a decisive competitive edge for finance leaders and companies, Frere wrote in the PYMNTS eBook “Headlines That Will Shape the Close of 2025.”

“This isn’t speculation,” Frere wrote. “AI-powered accounts receivable (AR) solutions are delivering step-function improvements: settlement times reduced by 60%, reconciliation efforts cut by 70%, and DSO shortened by more than two weeks. These are not incremental gains; they are structural shifts that change the way finance teams operate and the way companies compete.”

In the United States, the collaboration will make Block’s Cash App Pay available as a payment option across Uber and Uber Eats. This will provide consumers with greater payment flexibility and convenience across Uber’s U.S. platform, access to special offers and promotions through Block, and a simplified checkout experience. For Uber, it will offer access to 59 million monthly transacting Cash App users, according to the release.

Susan Anderson, global head of delivery at Uber, said in the release that the incorporation of Cash App Pay as a payment method on Uber and Uber Eats will “offer a younger, diverse and growing set of consumers a more flexible, reliable payment option.”

Nick Molnar, global head of sales and marketing at Block, said in the release that Cash App Pay enhances the customer experience and allows customers to pay how they want.

In Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Spain, the companies’ expanded partnership will enable a planned native integration of Block’s Square to Uber Eats. This integration, which is already available in the U.S., enables restaurants to manage all orders directly through their Square POS system; eliminate the need for additional tablets; control menus, modifiers and inventory across channels from one dashboard; access Instant Payouts; and reach millions of Uber Eats customers, per the release.

Anderson said in the release that this integration will help restaurants unlock new growth.

Molnar said in the release that Square streamlines restaurant operations and enables these businesses to operate more efficiently.

These new offerings will build upon the existing partnership of Block and Uber Technologies in Australia, where the companies teamed up last year to integrate Uber with Block’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution, Afterpay. That integration offers greater flexibility for their Australian customers who shop on Uber and Uber Eats, per the release.

When that partnership was announced, Molnar said in a post on LinkedIn: “Afterpay x Uber brings together two customer-obsessed platforms to deliver more value and choice to millions.”

The collaboration, announced Tuesday (April 21), is designed to accelerate payment method adoption and FinTech growth across Australia.

“Australia is one of the most sophisticated payments ecosystems globally, with strong consumer adoption of digital, contactless and mobile-first experiences,” Minh Ha Truong, Paymentology’s head of growth for the Asia-Pacific region, said in a news release. “By partnering with Change Financial, we’re combining next-generation issuing infrastructure with trusted local BIN sponsorship and expertise, unlocking faster payment method adoption for fintechs and helping them scale confidently in the Australian market.”

According to the release, the collaboration joins Paymentology’s processing platform with Change Financial’s local “BIN sponsorship, regulatory expertise and in-market presence,” letting FinTechs, digital banks and program managers launch and scale card programs more effectively within the Australian marketplace.

The release noted Australia’s embrace of the digital payments space, with the country’s national payments market valued at $849.1 billion in 2025, and expected to reach $1.35 trillion by 2034.

“Cards and mobile wallets now sit at the centre of everyday transactions, as digital adoption continues to accelerate,” the companies added, with Australians making $114 billion in mobile wallet payments last year.

PYMNTS Intelligence collaborated with Paymentology for the March edition of the Payments Innovation Tracker® Series, which showed that consumers increasingly expect credit to behave like software: flexible, responsive and designed around specific purchases or financial situations.

Credit card holders now want the ability to split transactions into installments, change due dates to line up with their pay cycles, and access financing embedded into everyday transactions, such as travel bookings or retail checkouts.

“This shift is forcing a structural rethink inside banks and FinTech companies alike,” PYMNTS wrote. “The result is increasingly emerging as a credit infrastructure reset: a move away from fragmented, batch-based lending systems toward unified, real-time platforms that treat credit not as a static product but as programmable financial infrastructure.”

More recently, PYMNTS spoke with Stephen Bowe, Paymentology’s chief product officer, about the changing credit landscape for issuers.

While credit demand may be rising, issuers face the question of whether their technology stacks can sustain how credit is now used, and not how it was once structured. Bowe characterized the environment as one where growth risks conceal deeper operational shortcomings.

“When issuers assess their credit capabilities, whilst demand is increasing, it can actually create a false sense of security,” he told PYMNTS last week, adding that dependence on legacy systems leaves institutions out of sync with customer behavior.

The expanded collaboration, the companies announced Friday (April 17), is designed to enable Visa’s Cybersource across the MoneyHash platform.

Dubai-based MoneyHash first teamed with Visa in 2004 in a partnership designed to offer secure digital payments for MoneyHash clients in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region.

According to a news release, the expanded partnership will see MoneyHash “enhance and scale” Cybersource enablement within its orchestration layer, letting merchants use Visa’s global payment infrastructure along with various local and international payment methods through a single integration.

MoneyHash said this approach simplifies payments operations and lets merchants accelerate market launches without needing to oversee multiple direct integrations.

“This partnership reflects the natural evolution of our relationship with Visa – from collaboration to deeper infrastructure alignment,” Nader Abdelrazik, CEO of MoneyHash, said in the release. “By enabling Cybersource within MoneyHash’s platform, we’re giving merchants in MENA and beyond the ability to access Visa’s global capabilities while maintaining full control, flexibility, and performance optimization through orchestration.”

The companies said their partnership is designed to help enterprises improve their payment success rates, lower processing costs and open up opportunities for new revenue through enhanced conversion and failure recovery.

PYMNTS wrote earlier this year about merchants’ changing attitude toward payments orchestration. At one time viewed as “a necessary but largely invisible layer designed to keep transactions moving,” that framing is no longer relevant.

“As digital sales expand across borders, channels and payment types, the way payments are routed, authorized and settled increasingly shapes revenue, costs and speed to market,” that report said. “What is changing is not simply payments technology, but the role payments play inside the organization. Once viewed as a back-office function, payments are now being examined as a source of competitive advantage and operational leverage.”

The chief appeal of payments orchestration is control. Merchants can get visibility into how payments perform across providers and regions, as well as the ability to make adjustments in almost real time.

As Andrew Gordon, eCommerce payments strategist from Discover® Network, said in an interview with PYMNTS, payments orchestration lets merchants enjoy greater control over their payment ecosystem, offering more flexibility in how they monitor/manage payment performance.

Gordon added that “by making strategic decisions about authorization routing, cost management and payment choice, businesses can [identify] opportunities for sales [performance] and operational efficiency.”