Forage partners with Adyen to process SNAP payments. Forage Technology Corporation Inc. has partnered with Adyen NV to enable Adyen merchants in the United States to accept SNAP EBT payments. Some 42 million U.S. consumers receive the benefits. SNAP, short for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a federal assistance program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service that provides food benefits to low-income individuals and families. San Francisco-based Forage will support mixed-basket flows, secure PIN entry for purchases, and EBT-specific refund handling for Adyen merchants. Mixed-basket flows occur when a shopper purchases SNAP-eligible groceries, such as food, and non-eligible items, such as soap, as part of the same transaction. In these instances, shoppers pay with their EBT card for the eligible portion and use another payment method for the rest, without having to separate items at the register and purchase them separately. Adyen merchants are expected to begin rolling out the service early this year, Forage says. Since 2019, the number of SNAP households using their benefits online has soared from 35,000 to more than 12 million, according to Forage's Web site. In addition, merchants accepting EBT payments through Forage have grown sales by more than 15%. Investors in Forage include PayPal Holdings Inc. and FIS Inc. "This integration enables merchants to expand access to SNAP customers while preserving a single, consistent operational and reporting experience across all payment methods - reinforcing our commitment to our customers," Pearse O'Flynn, global head of platforms, F&B and hospitality, for Amsterdam-based Adyen, says in a statement. In 2022, the USDA named Forage the third payment processor for the SNAP program, joining Fiserv Inc. and Worldpay LLC, which at the time was part of by FIS. Last April, Global Payments Inc. agreed to purchase Worldpay for $22.7 billion.

In an era where artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency are reshaping the financial landscape, veteran fintech expert Qian Yun (Tina) Chen stands out as a transformative force in digital payments. With an impressive track record spanning nearly a decade, she has emerged as a key architect of next-generation payment solutions across major tech and financial institutions.After launching her career in Canada’s burgeoning fintech scene, Ms. Chen made a strategic move to Mastercard’s U.S. headquarters, where she began carving out her niche in payment innovation. Her trajectory soared from there, from scaling payment systems to realizing $120 million in savings over two years at Uber to driving innovation at Citibank’s Spring by Citi and ultimately joining Forage as a key member of the founding team, helping grow annual revenue by over 300%. “Innovation thrives through iteration,” Ms. Chen emphasizes, which is a philosophy that has guided her approach to tackling some of fintech’s most pressing challenges