https://arifunal.com/en/ Practical notes on card payments, payment infrastructure, open banking and fintech, from a payment systems practitioner with more than 20 years of experience. en https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-6/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-6/ Who will win in Agentic Commerce? Owning the customer used to be a huge advantage. Once an agent starts deciding on the customer's behalf, where does the real power move to? Mon, 09 Nov 2026 16:38:41 GMT General https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-5/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-5/ Points or habit? Loyalty programs are built on steering human behavior. But if an AI agent starts shopping on our behalf, do points and campaigns still work the same way? Mon, 02 Nov 2026 14:09:16 GMT Agentic Commerce https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-4/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-4/ Are We Ready to Give an AI Agent the Authority to Make Payments? Having long looked at complaint and dispute processes in payment systems, I think granting an agent payment authority is far different from research or product selection. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 17:36:33 GMT Agentic Commerce https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-3/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-3/ Can AI Decide on Our Behalf? Letting an AI agent handle research can make life much easier. The real question is where that should stop, and how much decision-making authority we are ready to hand over. Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:46:08 GMT Agentic Commerce https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-2/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-2/ If users start describing their needs instead of searching for products, one of the internet economy's most fundamental habits could change. Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:55:07 GMT Payment Systems https://arifunal.com/en/post/why-credit-card-minimum-payment-threshold-raised-to-100k-try/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/why-credit-card-minimum-payment-threshold-raised-to-100k-try/ The BRSA raised the card limit threshold used to set the minimum payment rate from TRY 50,000 to TRY 100,000. This post explains what changed, why now, the short-term relief, the risk of carried-over balances, and which data to watch. Wed, 07 Oct 2026 04:11:59 GMT Credit Card https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-1/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/agentic-commerce-series-part-1/ The next customer on the internet may not be human. If AI agents become part of purchasing decisions, the rules of e-commerce, marketing, and payment systems could change. Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:49:14 GMT Agentic Commerce https://arifunal.com/en/post/closed-loop-payment-systems-series-part-7/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/closed-loop-payment-systems-series-part-7/ In the final post of the closed-loop payments series, the common question behind cards, QR payments, and prepaid balances comes into focus: who manages the customer relationship, and whose ecosystem does the customer stay in? Sat, 26 Sep 2026 09:03:35 GMT Closed-Loop Payments https://arifunal.com/en/post/closed-loop-payment-systems-series-part-6/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/closed-loop-payment-systems-series-part-6/ Why does a coffee chain build its own loyalty program, and why does a payment app keep adding services? This post looks at how loyalty, data, and new services drive the growth of closed-loop payment systems, and at the financial layers behind that growth. Thu, 24 Sep 2026 08:11:51 GMT Closed-Loop Payments https://arifunal.com/en/post/alipay-payment-system-or-digital-economy-closed-loop-5/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/alipay-payment-system-or-digital-economy-closed-loop-5/ Is Alipay a payment system, or a digital economy? In the previous post we discussed how Starbucks shows that payment systems can evolve into a different structure. At first the goal was to make payment easier for the customer. As the system grew, loyalty programs... Wed, 23 Sep 2026 09:56:29 GMT Closed-Loop Payments https://arifunal.com/en/post/starbucks-coffee-or-ecosystem-closed-loop-payments-4/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/starbucks-coffee-or-ecosystem-closed-loop-payments-4/ Is Starbucks really selling coffee, or building an ecosystem? Prepaid balances, a loyalty program and customer data turn a coffee chain's payments into a closed-loop economy, a very different model from Istanbulkart. Tue, 22 Sep 2026 09:16:56 GMT Closed-Loop Payments https://arifunal.com/en/post/when-does-a-transit-card-become-a-payment-system-istanbulkart/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/when-does-a-transit-card-become-a-payment-system-istanbulkart/ When Does a Transit Card Become a Payment System? Millions of people in Istanbul use Istanbulkart every day. Passing through metro turnstiles, rushing to a bus or boarding a ferry at the last moment, our hand reaches almost by reflex for our card or our phone... Sun, 20 Sep 2026 22:52:01 GMT Payment Systems https://arifunal.com/en/post/what-happens-when-a-qr-code-is-scanned-closed-loop-payments-2/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/what-happens-when-a-qr-code-is-scanned-closed-loop-payments-2/ In the first post I explained what closed-loop payment systems are and how they differ from open-loop ones. Many of the replies I received boiled down to one question: how do these systems actually work behind the scenes once a QR code is scanned? Sun, 20 Sep 2026 07:23:29 GMT Merchant & POS https://arifunal.com/en/post/what-are-closed-loop-payment-systems-hidden-side-of-payments/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/what-are-closed-loop-payment-systems-hidden-side-of-payments/ The Hidden Side of the Payments World. The words a person working in the payment systems industry hears most over a career are probably Visa, Mastercard, POS, debit card, virtual POS, acquiring and card issuing. Frankly, my own career did not unfold very differently from that journey... Fri, 18 Sep 2026 16:47:38 GMT Payment Systems https://arifunal.com/en/post/from-remote-customer-onboarding-to-corporate-digital-identity/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/from-remote-customer-onboarding-to-corporate-digital-identity/ One of the most important transformations in banking over the last few years has undoubtedly been remote customer onboarding. Individuals can now become bank customers within minutes without visiting a branch. Digital identity checks and contracts largely solved a long-standing problem... Tue, 15 Sep 2026 10:28:54 GMT Payment System Institutions https://arifunal.com/en/post/what-is-agentic-commerce-ai-agents-ecommerce-payments/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/what-is-agentic-commerce-ai-agents-ecommerce-payments/ AI agents are moving beyond answering questions to searching, deciding, and paying on behalf of users. This post explains Agentic Commerce and what it means for payment systems, digital wallets, e-money institutions, banks, and fintechs. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 22:56:51 GMT E-commerce https://arifunal.com/en/post/fast-transaction-limit-raised-to-try-300000/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/fast-transaction-limit-raised-to-try-300000/ The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has implemented a significant limit increase in the FAST system. Under the regulation effective August 26, 2026, the FAST money transfer limit was raised from TRY 100,000 to TRY 300,000. The same increase also applies to Request to Pay... Mon, 31 Aug 2026 16:58:26 GMT FAST https://arifunal.com/en/post/can-card-contactless-limit-be-managed-per-customer/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/can-card-contactless-limit-be-managed-per-customer/ Contactless payment has greatly improved the user experience, yet its fixed transaction limit is a common complaint. Can this limit be managed dynamically per customer? This post covers the current situation, technical and regulatory requirements and the outlook. Thu, 16 Jul 2026 13:37:30 GMT Payment Systems https://arifunal.com/en/post/visa-overseas-contactless-transactions-after-code-70-part-2/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/visa-overseas-contactless-transactions-after-code-70-part-2/ After switching to response code 70 for contactless limit-exceeded cases, we found that some overseas POS devices and acquirers did not handle it as expected. This post covers why the problem lies in the ecosystem and how to address it. Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:40:58 GMT Payment Systems https://arifunal.com/en/post/on-the-visa-contactless-issue-abroad-response-code-70-vs-65/ https://arifunal.com/en/post/on-the-visa-contactless-issue-abroad-response-code-70-vs-65/ From the outside, Visa contactless looks simple, but once the limit is exceeded and PIN comes into play it gets deeper. Why do response codes 65 and 70 behave so differently on POS devices in different countries, such as the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia? Tue, 26 May 2026 07:02:49 GMT Credit Card