Gift cards are a popular go-to option for shoppers of all ages. Not surprisingly, Christmas and birthdays are top occasions for purchasing gift cards. The most widely purchased gift cards are for coffee shops and restaurants, according to Packaged Facts, a leading consumer research firm.

Gift cards are a massive, multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S., but not all prepaid cards are purchased as gifts and stocking stuffers. A variety of prepaid cards are also used for government-administered benefits, employee rewards and incentives, and tax refunds. In addition, millions of consumers use prepaid cards as an alternative to traditional bank accounts.

Within the credit card sector, innovative technologies are changing the way people make purchases.

Mobile and alternative payments are experiencing significant growth, with a range of payment providers in the mix including PayPal, MasterPass by MasterCard, Apple Pay, Amazon Payments, and Google Wallet.

In addition, co-branded credit cards continue to lure affluent households and millennial shoppers — which are prime demographics in the payments industry.

With the markets in flux, anxiety about the global economy is kicking into high gear. The Chinese stock market plunged on Monday, setting off a roller-coaster ride of volatility throughout the week. Investor confidence fell, and Wall Street dropped for six straight days — the longest losing stretch for more than three years.

Since June 12, the Shanghai composite index has slumped 38 percent, and investors are becoming increasingly concerned about China’s economic slowdown and the larger ripple effects that could extend into the global economy.

How should you react in such a turbulent environment? Here are guiding principles to keep in mind.

A seismic shift is occurring in the private label credit card industry, brought about by a mixture of mobile app technology, customer relationship management advances, geolocational marketing initiatives, and closed loop virtual card payments. In this respect, the physical card that for long embodied the face of this industry is beginning to fade, subsumed by omni-channel loyalty platforms that provide not only a seamless customer purchasing and rewards experience across channels, but also the opportunity to tailor marketing messages to those customers with a degree of specificity never before possible.

The effects of natural phenomena on global financial markets can be complex and often difficult to assess. Who are the winners and losers, and what are some of the common factors that contribute to the economic impact? To help understand this, let's take a look at a variety of natural phenomena from the last few years and their impact on affected markets.

Is Bali really the best-kept secret of the global FinTech community?

Bali is known for its pristine beauty and its outstanding hospitality. In Part-1 of this two-part series, we showed that behind the scenes there is a vibrant and colorful international FinTech and Startup community evolving on the island. We also explored why Bali is so attractive for FinTech activities and listed "The 10 Magnetic Powers of Bali." Now, let's take a look at the leaders in Bali's FinTech community.

Is Bali really the best-kept secret of the global FinTech community?

Among FinTech enthusiasts there is a rumor that Bali is a thriving hub for innovative thinking, startups, BitCoin and financial technology in particular. The problem is that we rarely hear specifics about it, and there is no good source compiling and overviewing FinTech activity in Bali. Writing this blog post, we at Banking Reports, a leading source of FinTech market intelligence, can verify that, yes, Bali is really a hotspot for FinTech and BitCoin. In our research we have found something even broader: Bali is a paradise for startups in general from all industries, sizes and shapes.

Banks are notoriously averse to adopting new technology. Many big banks remain attached to their legacy IT environments and are very concerned about cloud security and privacy. As big banks look to move functions to hosted environments, payment processing and document management are good starting points. Small banks find it easier to adopt cloud-based services as they are not weighed by a legacy IT environment.

It is often echoed in the media how dangerous deflation is. But, when it comes to ‘why’, journalists, bankers and even economists have a hard time putting together a clear and concise argument. Banking Reports, Ltd. has created this list of ‘A Dozen Dangers of Deflation’.

A Series Identifying Trends, Challenges and Opportunities Banks and Bankers Will Face in 2015

In Part-1 and Part-2 of this three-part series, Banking Reports, Ltd. Research, a leading research firm covering the banking industry, identified six significant trends that are projected to impact the banking sector during 2015. These trends have included: Apple Pay, FED rate-hike, African banking, the Chinese banking system, crypto-currencies and commodity-sensitive economies. In  this final installment, Banking Reports will explore four final trends and how they will impact the industry this year, including: PayPal, FinTech vs. FinServ, Europe's struggles, and the biggest challenges and successes for the upcoming year.