• International Perspective

    Connecting the Global Merchant Community: MAG Launches International Membership
    Paul Tunstall

    Connecting the Global Merchant Community: MAG Launches International Membership

    Oct 23, 2026

    The payments landscape is increasingly global, but merchants face challenges shaped by local markets, regulations, and customer expectations. For organisations operating across multiple geographies, navigating this complexity requires more than local expertise. It demands opportunities to learn from peers, share practical experiences, and strengthen the collective merchant voice. The Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) is expanding its membership internationally, extending the benefits valued by U.S. members to payments teams across Europe and Asia-Pacific.

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  • MAG Insider

    Ready to start thinking about 2027?
    Erica Forman

    Ready to start thinking about 2027?

    Sep 30, 2026

    Can you believe we’re entering the last quarter of 2026? As you think about what you want to accomplish and what’s next in the year ahead, the MAG has plenty of opportunities for you along the way.

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  • Payments Technology

    Shaping the Merchant Voice in Agentic Commerce
    Steve Cole

    Shaping the Merchant Voice in Agentic Commerce

    Sep 24, 2026

    Agentic commerce is emerging as a significant evolution in how consumers discover, evaluate, and purchase products and services. As artificial intelligence (AI) agents increasingly take on tasks such as product research, price comparison, payment selection, and transaction execution, the payments ecosystem is entering a new phase, one in which merchants will need to play an active role in shaping the rules, standards, and economics of agent-driven transactions.

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  • Advancing Payments

    Special Interest Group (SIG) Sessions at MAG Payments Conference 26
    Kelly Andrus

    Special Interest Group (SIG) Sessions at MAG Payments Conference 26

    Sep 9, 2026

    What are other retailers seeing? What challenges are they facing? And perhaps most importantly, how are they addressing them? That’s what makes our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) such a valuable part of the MAG Payments Conference. They provide an opportunity for merchants to step away from the formal conference agenda and have open, peer-to-peer conversations about the issues that matter most.

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  • Policy Perspective

    Common Sense: Common Cents Act Advances in Both Chambers
    By Beth Provenzano

    Common Sense: Common Cents Act Advances in Both Chambers

    Aug 19, 2026

    The United States Senate approved S. 1525, the Common Cents Act, by Unanimous Consent just before adjourning for the August recess. Earlier this summer, the United States House of Representatives passed its version, H.R. 3074, by suspension of House rules. Both chambers used Congressional procedural motions to expedite passage of this non-controversial bill, which aims to make coin rounding easier for merchants and their customers in the wake of the penny’s retirement. Because the Senate version of the bill differs from the House version, the House will need to either vote on the Senate version or the bill will move to a Conference Committee to iron out the differences.

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  • Leadership Lens

    The State of the Payments Industry: Mid-2026
    John Drechny

    The State of the Payments Industry: Mid-2026

    Jul 23, 2026

    If you asked merchants across the industry to name their number one challenge right now, the answer wouldn't be a single technology or a single regulation. It would be the balance of delivering a better customer experience while managing transaction costs, keeping transactions secure, keeping fraud losses under control, and growing authorization rates. That balancing act has always been hard. In 2026, it's getting harder because every side of the equation is moving at once.

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The Merchant Advisory Group

Driving positive change and innovation in the payments industry serving merchants' interests globally through collaboration, education, and advocacy.