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CRYPTO & DIGITAL CURRENCY

Fed continues to explore ‘CBDC payments backbone:’ Barr; Blockworks
 
The Federal Reserve is not any closer to making a decision on a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Fed’s Michael Barr said in a speech on Friday.   (Read More)
 
Indian banks offer incentives to lift digital currency transactions - sources; REUTERS
 
Indian banks are offering incentives for conducting transactions using the central bank digital currency, the e-rupee, nudged by the Reserve Bank of India to boost volumes, three sources said.   (Read More)
 
Why Did CBDC Fail in Nigeria? Valuable Lessons for Developing Countries; Modern Diplomacy
 
In the rapidly digitizing era, many nations are eyeing Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as the future solution for payment systems. However, Nigeria’s case illustrates that transitioning to CBDC isn’t a straightforward path, especially for developing countries.   (Read More)

Runs and Flights to Safety: Are Stablecoins the New Money Market Funds? FED Report
 
Stablecoins are crypto assets that seek to maintain a stable price (usually $1) through various mechanisms, such as backing each issued token with assets or using a supply–demand matching algorithm. The market capitalization of stablecoins grew exponentially over the last few years, from $5 billion in 2019 to about $180 billion at its peak in 2022.  (Read More)
 
CHINA ENABLES E-CNY TOP-UP USING MASTERCARD AND VISA CARDS; Finance Feeds
 
The Digital Yuan app in China has been updated to make it easier for tourists to use digital currency during their visits. International tourists can now top up their Digital Yuan wallets using Mastercard or VISA cards before arriving in China.  (Read More)
 
FedNow’s legal terms contain a game changer for digital wallets and payment apps; TechCrunch
 
A few lines buried in the legal terms for the FedNow service, which is now live, create an important opportunity for digital wallet and payment app providers. While the new FedNow legal regime creates significant business opportunities for all players in this space, emerging nonbank payment providers may have the most to gain from this change.  (Read More)

UPI Lite limit increased; new UPI features include NFC, AI-powered conversational payments; 91mobiles
 
The Reserve Bank of India has announced three new features for UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and UPI Lite. The new features bring Artificial Intelligence (AI), NFC support, and increase in transaction limit. Here’s a detailed look at all the new UPI and UPI Lite features that have been rolled out.    (Read More)
 
ECB must gauge digital euro impact on banks before launch -Spanish official; Yahoo Finance
 
The European Central Bank needs to measure the impact of the digital euro on the euro zone's banking system before any final decision on its potential launch, Spain's deputy central bank governor Margarita Delgado said on Friday.   (Read More)
 
Coinbase Gets a Stake in Stablecoin Operator Circle and USDC Adds 6 New Blockchains; CoinDesk  
 
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) is getting a minority stake in Circle Internet Financial and the companies are dissolving their Centre Consortium partnership that had issued USD Coin (USDC), the world’s second-largest stablecoin.  (Read More)

South Korea to pilot CBDC in one of these three cities, not Seoul; COINTELEGRAPH
 
South Korea pushes forward with its CBDC pilot and targets three potential test regions for issuing and distributing the digital currency.   (Read More)
 
Putin signs law on introduction of digital ruble in Russia; COINTELEGRAPH
 
Russian citizens will not be forced to use the digital ruble, and use of the CBDC will be a voluntary choice for people to make, the governor of the Bank of Russia said.   (Read More)
 
Bank of Japan launches forum with 60 firms on digital yen pilot programme; REUTERS
 
The Bank of Japan on Thursday kicked off a series of discussions with 60 companies on a pilot programme for developing a digital yen, joining peers around the globe ramping up efforts towards issuing digital versions of their currencies for retail use.   (Read More)

XRP Acknowledged by Atlanta Fed Reserve Bank for International Payments; TRONWEEKLY
 
The Atlanta branch of the United States Federal Reserve Bank recently brought focus to Ripple’s operational framework and its utilization of XRP to fulfill requirements for cross-border settlements. As per the Reserve Bank, XRP is regarded as a “global payment medium.”   (Read More)
 
Chinese CBDC Digital Yuan Drive SME Loans to Outspread Its Use; The Coin Republic
 
According to Changsha Evening News, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can apply for loans using the digital Yuan. The first transaction was done in the city of Changsha in Hunan province. Three SMEs successfully obtained loans.   (Read More)
 
Rethink Digital Transactions with Account Abstraction; Press Release
 
Despite ongoing advancements, blockchains currently struggle to offer the same level of flexibility and user experience found in the mainstream digital payments ecosystem. Emerging technologies, however, can enhance the payments experience when transacting in digital currencies. In "Auto Payments for Self-Custodial Wallets," we delved into the application of cutting-edge technology to automate payments by leveraging the concept of Account Abstraction (AA) on public blockchains.   (Read More)

European Payments Initiative to pilot digital wallet for instant P2P payments in Germany and France; NFCW
 
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) is to begin piloting a digital wallet that will enable users to make instant person-to-person (P2P) payments in Germany and France as a first step towards rolling out a unified payment system that will support “a comprehensive range of transaction types” across Europe.   (Read More)
 
China digital currency: Jiangsu city leverages logistics hub status to promote e-CNY in Belt and Road trade; Yahoo Finance - South China Morning Post
 
A city in eastern China's Jiangsu province plans to use the mainland's sovereign digital currency in cross-border trade with Belt and Road countries, as local governments warm up to the electronic money known as the e-CNY.   (Read More)
 
China’s digital yuan to be used for government wages; Ledger Insights
 
China is to start paying the salaries of some civil servants and public officials using its central bank digital currency (CBDC), it was reported today. The current take up of the digital yuan is unclear as statistics have not been published for more than six months. One effect of the staff payment initiative will be to boost the Chinese CBDC adoption figures.    (Read More)

EBF vision on a Digital Euro Ecosystem; European Banking Federation
 
The digital finance landscape is constantly evolving. As part of this evolution, the topic of
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) has gained ground and in Europe the project to
explore the issuance of a digital euro is moving ahead rapidly.   (Read More)
 
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Introduces State Legislation Banning CBDCs; Decrypt
 
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposed legislation on Monday that would ban central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) from the Sunshine State, portraying it as a measure to safeguard Floridians’ financial privacy.    (Read More)
 
CBUAE launches the Central Bank Digital Currency Strategy “The Digital Dirham”; Central Bank of the U.A.E.
 
The Central Bank of UAE (CBUAE) jointly held a signing ceremony with G42 Cloud and R3 to mark the commencement of the implementation of the CBUAE Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Strategy, one of the nine initiatives of the CBUAE’s Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) Programme. The CBUAE has engaged with G42 Cloud and R3 as the infrastructure and technology providers respectively for its CBDC implementation.     (Read More)

China’s Digital Yuan Can Now Be Used to Pay Highway Toll Fees on Major Routes; Cryptonews
 
China’s digital yuan adoption drive is now focusing on transport networks. And drivers have been green-lighted to use the token to pay tolls on some of the nation’s busiest highways. Per Shenzhen Securities Times and Sina Finance, Jiangsu Province’s Department of Transport has announced that toll booths on sections of Nanjing’s various expressway routes have been upgraded to allow drivers to pay toll fees using the coin.   (Read More)
 
The Fed is bearing down on crypto's on-ramps; AXIOS
 
To regulate pirates, cut off access to their ports and see how long they last at sea. That's the playbook being used in the U.S. to rid the scourge that is crypto too, or so it would seem. Why it matters: For crypto, banks are its ports — vital on- and -off ramps for dollars to move on-chain. But banks cannot hold crypto as principal, the Fed's Board of Governors said in a bulletin made effective last week.    (Read More)
 
Linux Foundation Europe launches the OpenWallet Foundation to power interoperable digital wallets; Tech Crunch
 
The Linux Foundation‘s European off-shoot has formally launched the OpenWallet Foundation (OWF), a new collaborative effort designed to support interoperability between digital wallets through open source software. The launch comes some five months after the Linux Foundation first revealed plans to set up the OWF, shortly before it spun out a region-specific entity called the Linux Foundation Europe which is where the OWF will now officially reside.   (Read More)

Worldline [Euronext: WLN], a global leader in payments services, announced the launch of its Buland Bharat digital payments suite, which is designed specially keeping in mind the needs and wants of small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India. WORLDLINE
 
The Buland Bharat digital payments suite is in line with the Digital India initiative by the government of India. It will go a long way in extending a secure and seamless digital payment ecosystem to small and medium businesses (SMBs) from every nook and corner of the country. The Buland Bharat digital payments suite supports all the digital payments acceptance requirements of the merchant, be it In-store, Online, or Omnichannel payments, all available under one roof.   (Read More)
 
Crypto-friendly Stripe weighs public offering: Report; COINTELEGRAPH
 
In 2021, Stripe raised $600 million from a group of investors at a valuation of $95 billion, making it one of Silicon Valley's most valuable startups. Internet payment processor Stripe is reportedly eyeing a public offering and has set a 12-month timeline to explore the possibility.    (Read More)
 
Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN) is launched to support seamless digital payments across multiple central bank digital currencies and regulated stablecoins; Press Release
 
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Launched at Davos during the World Economic Forum week, the Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN) is a DLT-underpinned messaging backbone focused on providing interoperability between the fast-growing number of different regulated stablecoins and CBDCs, and seamless connectivity between any business IT system and regulated digital currencies. At the Davos launch event, representatives from leading global financial institutions Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, The Bank of East Asia, and Akbank discussed the rapidly evolving world of digital currency, the importance of interoperability, and the need for an infrastructure to support these developments.
(Read More)

New Payment Service Using Same Tech As Zelle And Venmo Will Cut Out Visa And Mastercard Fees; Forbes
 
For decades, retailers have protested the fees Visa and Mastercard charge them to accept credit and debit cards. “Pay by bank” is the latest effort to circumvent those fees by letting people pay directly from their bank accounts.   (Read More)
 
US FinTech Startup CabbagePay is set to redefine the way money flows; Press Release
 
FinTech startup CabbagePay has officially launched in major US cities with its goal to redefine the way money moves for all businesses, as it continues to penetrate brands, stores, websites, and apps. CabbagePay is growing rapidly due to its cost-effective payment rails and myriad use cases in all walks of the industry from retail, and freelancing to healthcare, and finance. The company allows platforms to integrate prebuilt CabbageLink technology into mobile apps, and online stores to make payments cost-effective without ever leaving the platform's brand experience.   (Read More)
 
FIS to Modernize Real-Time Payments Infrastructure and Central Bank Digital Currencies for Countries Around the World; Press Release
 
With real-time payments increasing, many countries must either modernize outdated payments infrastructure or build entirely new real-time payments networks to move money faster. In response, FIS® (NYSE: FIS) has launched its new central infrastructure payment solution, RealNet™ Central, to help central banks transform their markets to digital-first, real-time payment economies.   (Read More)

Retail Tech: Shopify, YouTube, Instagram Integrates Payments & Chat; Sourcing Journal
 
Shopify and YouTube‘s new partnership enables merchants on the e-commerce giant to integrate their online store into the video-sharing platform.   (Read More)
 
Plaid launches VRP to save UK businesses up to £1.5bn; Alt Fi  
 
After discovering that UK businesses could be saving £1.5bn annually in payment processing fees, Plaid is launching its own Variable Recurring Payments (VRP). The open banking network is releasing the product to help customers in the UK with online payments and to enable recurring transfers between users’ own accounts with just one authorisation.   (Read More)
 
Challenges PayPal Will Be Facing in the Future; WebProNews
 
Traditional payment methods are increasingly evolving into digital payment methods. PayPal is one of the leading names today in the world of digital payments and arguably, the most popular one due to its competitive PayPal fees and numerous other benefits.   (Read More)

​Meta Launches Meta Pay, a Metaverse Dedicated Digital Wallet; Bitcoin.com
 
Meta, the metaverse-based platform, has announced the launch of a new wallet directed to support value interaction in the metaverse. Meta Pay, a rebrand of the former Facebook Pay service, will keep fulfilling the same functions that Facebook Pay did in the past, but will be developed as a universal way of paying for goods and services using digital identities in the metaverse.   (Read More)
 
Digital bank Volt, which ‘wanted to change the world of banking’, shuts down; Brisbane Times
 
The chief executive of failed neobank Volt still believes there is merit in trying to disrupt Australia’s banking oligopoly, saying his firm’s technology and products were competitive but it couldn’t raise the capital to keep growing.  (Read More)
 
South Africa is introducing a new banking payment system this year; BUSINESSTECH
 
The South African Reserve Bank is working on a new Rapid Payments Programme (RPP) which is set to significantly shake up payments in South Africa.  (Read More)

Jack Dorsey’s Cash App plans to become a super app in order to rival PayPal as it aggressively integrates its buy now, pay later (BNPL) subsidiary Afterpay; Charged  
 
Block, formerly Square, executives outlined the plan to investors at an event on Wednesday. The plans involved fully integrating buy now, pay later provider Afterpay into the company’s “ecosystem of ecosystems” and greatly expand Cash App’s capabilities as it races against other payments providers to become a super app, according to Business Insider.   (Read More)
 
Paytm is losing appeal despite ambitious growth plans and past success; Verdict
 
Investors’ confidence in Paytm will decline as Alibaba and Ant Financial offload their stakes in Paytm Mall, citing the economic slowdown and growing competition in the market.  (Read More)
 
Why Apple Has Acquired a UK Open Banking Fintech Firm; International Banker
 
With little fanfare accompanying the move, popular cryptocurrency media publication The Block reported on March 23 that US tech giant Apple had acquired Credit Kudos. The acquisition had reportedly closed earlier that week, with Credit Kudos valued at $150 million. But as of today, there remains some speculation over exactly why Apple decided to make this particular move.  (Read More) 

EBA CLEARING, SWIFT and The Clearing House to deliver pilot service for immediate cross-border payments; Press Release
 
Taking the next step towards faster cross-border payments, banks from both sides of the Atlantic are preparing to exchange payments across TCH’s and EBA CLEARING’s real-time payment systems.   (Read More)
 
Russia central bank will not name banks linked to SWIFT alternative; REUTERS
 
Russia's central bank said on Tuesday it would no longer publish the names of banks connected to Moscow's alternative to the SWIFT payments network, as Russia grapples with sanctions.   (Read More)
 
Hand implant allows people to pay with chip; WGN9
 
The future is here. Those tired of taking out their wallet or phone to pay for things could soon skip that step entirely, thanks to a new implantable payment chip.   (Read More)

Joint statement by HM Treasury, the CMA, the FCA and the PSR on the future of Open Banking; Policy Paper
 
Open Banking has led to greater competition and innovation in UK retail banking. It has brought real benefits by allowing consumers and businesses to share their data with trusted third parties who can help them manage their money more easily. Open Banking also lets consumers and businesses make payments directly from their accounts, providing a secure and cost-effective alternative to using card networks.   (Read More)
 
Iran considers joining Russian financial messaging system to bypass Swift; The National News
 
Iran is considering joining Russia's financial messaging system to bypass the Swift interbank system, after a number of Russian banks were cut off from the international payment messaging platform as part of western sanctions imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.   (Read More)
 
How simplicity in domestic remittance is boosting financial inclusion in India; The Times of India
 
In the world of digitisation, many FinTech companies have altered the digital payment space in India. Whether it is on-the-spot payments through UPI or quick grocery delivery, almost everything in our daily lives has been digitised.   (Read More)

West unleashes SWIFT bans, more crushing penalties on Russia; AP News
 
The United States and European nations agreed Saturday to impose the most potentially crippling financial penalties yet on Russia over its unrelenting invasion of Ukraine, going after the central bank reserves that underpin the Russian economy and severing some Russian banks from a vital global financial network.   (Read More)
 
Swift vets bid to make cross-border payments as easy as texting; Finextra
 
A group of Swift veterans have unveiled a global payment addressing service for banks and fintechs that promises to make transferring money around the world as easy as sending a text message.   (Read More)
 
ACI Worldwide to Drive Payments Modernization for South Africa’s Nedbank; Press Release
 
ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), the global leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, today announced a partnership with one of South Africa’s leading financial services providers, Nedbank, to drive its digital transformation journey including real-time payments.   (Read More)

U.S. Bank advances Real-Time Payment solution for convenient consumer bill pay; Press Release
 
With the proliferation of immediate payments, one area resistant to change has been bill pay. But U.S. Bank is leading the industry, bringing the power of Real-Time Payments to the U.S. Bank consumer bill pay experience for the first time.   (Read More)

Indian fintech giant Razorpay valued at $7.5 billion in $375 million funding; TechCrunch
 
Razorpay has more than doubled its valuation to $7.5 billion from $3 billion in April as one of India’s largest fintech giants demonstrates fast growth and aggressively broadens its product offerings.   (Read More)
 
Visa Study Finds Digital Payments Are the Preferred Way in the U.S. to Send Money Abroad; Press Release
 
Consumers are increasingly turning to digital payments to send money to family and friends around the world to help out financially or celebrate special occasions, according to a new Visa (NYSE: V) survey. Almost a quarter (23%) of surveyed U.S. adults have sent money from the U.S. to another country and nearly two-thirds (65%) of those remittance users plan to send money to another country to celebrate the holiday season this year1. The new Visa data highlights growing digital adoption to improve daily lives in the global payments ecosystem. Digital remittances are the preferred method, with digital-only transactions already being the most popular and a majority (59%) of the remittance users surveyed saying they have sent or plan to send money using digital-only platforms. (Read More)
 
Launching the First-Ever Point-to-Point Debit Transfer Product; Press Release
 
Fintech developers can now leverage Astra’s API and Cross River’s digital payments infrastructure to process instant transfers between debit cards to fund accounts  (Read More)

EXCLUSIVE Visa complains to U.S. govt about India backing for local rival RuPay; REUTERS
 
Visa Inc (V.N) has complained to the U.S. government that India's "informal and formal" promotion of domestic payments rival RuPay hurts the U.S. giant in a key market, memos seen by Reuters show.   (Read More)
 
New York Fed Launches the New York Innovation Center to Support Financial Technology Innovation in Central Banking; FED Press Release
 
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York today launched the New York Innovation Center (NYIC), to advance a strategic partnership with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub. As part of the New York Fed, the NYIC is collaborating with the Federal Reserve System, the BIS Innovation Hub, and public and private sector experts to validate, design, build, and launch new financial technology products and services for the central bank community.   (Read More) Interac Selects Microsoft Azure for Digital Payments Solution Development in Canada; Press Release
 
Interac Selects Microsoft Azure for Digital Payments Solution Development in Canada; Press Release
 
Interac Corp. announced an agreement with Microsoft to use Microsoft Azure's cloud capabilities to securely manage the continued growth of digital transactions, enabling greater innovation and ultimately faster payments.   (Read More)

Third phase of Open Banking goes live in Brazil; ZDNet
 
Open banking - a practice that allows third party financial services firms to open up customer data for regulated providers to access, use and share through application programming interfaces (APIs) with consumer consent -- is being introduced in Brazil under a phased approach.   (Read More)
 
Fiserv loses big client identified as Stripe; Payments Dive
 
Payments processing company Fiserv told analysts during a conference call Wednesday that it lost a "large processing client" during the third quarter, but downplayed the revenue impact.   (Read More)
 
ACH Network Volume Up 7.7% in Third Quarter; NACHA News
 
With business-to-business (B2B) showing particularly strong growth, and healthcare claim payments setting a record, the modern ACH Network recorded a 7.7% increase in payment volume during the third quarter of 2021.    (Read More)

KindTap Brings First-of-Its-Kind Credit Payments Solution to Cannabis Industry with Launch in Massachusetts; Press Release
 
KindTap Technologies ("KindTap"), the cannabis industry's first digital credit and loyalty-enabled payments solution, today announced the launch of its consumer credit product, starting initially in the Massachusetts cannabis market. KindTap's digital credit solution, a first-of-its-kind service for the cannabis industry, offers consumers revolving credit lines for upfront cannabis purchases and allows merchants to seamlessly accept digital credit payments. At launch, KindTap's compliant credit service will be available in Massachusetts with plans to expand into additional medical and adult-use state markets in the near future, including Florida, Maine, Michigan and New York.    (Read More)
 
Stripe Adds a Revenue Recognition Tool for Merchants That Book Sales Over Time; Digital Transactions
 
Online payments powerhouse Stripe Inc. Tuesday introduced Stripe Revenue Recognition; an application intended to automate the mapping of money to a balance sheet.    (Read More)
 
Eye On Open Banking: Plaid Supports New Payments Services for Nuvei And Circle; Digital Transactions
 
Montreal-based Nuvei, which has been cultivating its stake in the U.S. gaming market, said consumers can now move money instantly from their bank accounts to digital wallets, payment cards, or other accounts. The company is working with open-banking firm Plaid Inc. to verify bank accounts for the transfers. The new capability, called Verified Withdrawals, adds to an existing feature allowing gamblers to deposit winnings instantly into their bank accounts.    (Read More)

How FDX standards are paving the way for open banking in North America (VB Live); VentureBeat
 
Open API standards are starting to be implemented in the U.S. They’ll drive innovation and international collaboration, improve transparency and user consent, and ensure data security. Join this VB Live event to learn how to make the most of this emerging open API economy.   (Read More)
 
Paytm, HDFC Bank in payments tie-up; Mint
 
Fintech major Paytm and the country’s largest private bank HDFC Bank Ltd have entered into a strategic partnership for delivering financial solutions to end consumers and merchants across India.   (Read More)
 
Axway: 52% of Americans have never heard of ‘open banking’; VentureBeat
 
While many in the financial services world know what open banking illustrates and what services it can provide, many others have yet to connect the dots to what a truly open financial ecosystem represents.   (Read More)

SBI, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, others buy stakes in fintech firm IBBIC; BFSI
 
Six banks – State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Indian Bank, Yes Bank, IDBI Bank, and ICICI Bank – on Tuesday said they have bought equity stakes in financial technology platform IBBIC.    (Read More)
 
How Walgreens and Walmart’s new banking ventures will shake up finance; Fast Company
 
Retail banking has changed dramatically over the past several years, with the rise of digital banking and tech-forward neobanks like Dave and Chime, which pushed incumbent financial institutions to develop their own mobile-first offerings. Now this competitive market is being disrupted again by two of the country’s biggest retailers, Walmart and Walgreens.   (Read More)
 
Revolut launches US-Mexico remittance corridor, enabling expats to easily send money back home; Press Release
 
Revolut, the financial superapp with 16 million customers worldwide, announced today its simplifying cross-border payments between the US and Mexico with the launch of its US-Mexico remittance corridor. With this launch, Revolut customers in the US and Mexico can now easily transfer money between one another without any hidden fees, at the real exchange rate.   (Read More)

Online payment company Payoneer goes public after SPAC merger; REUTERS
 
Payments provider Payoneer (PAYO.O) went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Monday after it closed a merger with a blank-check firm backed by fintech entrepreneur Betsy Cohen.    (Read More)
 
JPMorgan Chase Takes 40% Stake in Brazil’s C6 Bank; Press Release  
 
JPMorgan Chase and C6 Bank announced that they have entered into a strategic agreement, whereby JPMorgan Chase will take a 40% ownership stake in the full-service Brazilian digital bank, subject to regulatory approvals. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.   (Read More)
 
GLOBAL PROCESSING SERVICES AND CURRENCYCLOUD PARTNER TO OFFER COMPLETE, ENTERPRISE-GRADE, CROSS-BORDER PAYMENTS SOLUTION; Press Release
 
Multi-award-winning payments processor, Global Processing Services (GPS), today announces that it has joined forces with Currencycloud, the experts simplifying business in a multi-currency world, to widen access to cross-border payments for financial institutions and Fintechs, providing a passport to a post-COVID world.   (Read More)

REPAY Partners with Paysafe to Enable U.S. Merchants to Accept Online Cash Payments; Press Release
 
Repay Holdings Corporation, a leading provider of vertically-integrated payment solutions, announced a partnership with Paysafe (NYSE: PSFE), a leading specialized payments platform, to enable REPAY merchants to accept cash payments at over 60,000 of Paysafe’s retail partner locations, including major convenience stores, dollar stores, and pharmacies across the United States.   (Read More)
 
Apple is looking to strike deals with ‘alternative payments’ providers; CNBC
 
Apple is looking for a lead negotiator to strike partnerships with “alternative payment” partners, according to a job listing posted on Tuesday. The role, according to the listing, would include screening potential partners, negotiating and signing deals, and launching new programs and features for Apple’s Wallets, Payments, and Commerce team. It will also work with Apple Pay teams    (Read More)
 
InComm Payments Introduces First-to-Market Healthcare Benefits Solution; Press Release
 
InComm Payments, a leading global payments technology company, today announced it has partnered with Visa to launch a first-of-its-kind innovative healthcare benefits solution. The Dual Network Benefit Card combines the closed-loop, UPC-restricted-spend OTC Network® and open-loop Visa network in a single card, which will enable health plans to further simplify their supplemental benefits and incentives offerings.    (Read More)

FedNowSM features: Flexible participation types; Press Release
 
The FedNow Service will provide financial institutions an innovative platform they can use to unlock instant payment use cases and create new solutions they can offer to individual and business customers. Making the FedNow Service accessible to financial institutions of all sizes is a top priority of the Federal Reserve Banks. To help make this a reality, we’re implementing flexible design features such as the ability to choose from a variety of FedNow participation types.  (Read More)
 
Thailand, Singapore launch linkage of real-time payment systems; REUTERS
 
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched on Thursday a linkage of Thailand’s PromptPay and Singapore’s PayNow real-time retail payment systems.  (Read More)
 
Tech Giants Risk Squeezing Out Banks, French Watchdog Warns; Bloomberg
 
Payment services run by Apple Inc., Google and Amazon.com Inc. may need monitoring as the tech giants’ largely unregulated financial products squeeze out those of banks, France’s competition authority warned.  (Read More)

NPCI to launch new digital payments product for feature phones; Financial Express
 
March 20, 2021: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is working on a digital payments product for feature phone users and those who are not too comfortable using mobile apps. The product is at the proof of concept (POC) stage right now, Praveena Rai, chief operating officer, NPCI said.   (Read More)
 
MoneyGram Launches New Business Line, MoneyGram as a Service, for Enterprise Customers; Press Release
 
MoneyGram International, Inc., a global leader in cross-border P2P payments and money transfers, today announced the launch of 'MoneyGram as a Service,' a new business line that enables other companies to access its leading global money transfer network through its powerful API-driven infrastructure and best-in-class technology. With this launch, enterprise customers can now leverage the Company's core capabilities as productized service offerings to meet their various business needs and quickly add services and scale. The new business line represents a significant growth opportunity for MoneyGram as it enters a market estimated to be $17 billion in 2024 with a CAGR of about 24% over the forecast period.   (Read More)
 
Banking Circle enhances frictionless cross border payments with purpose-built, cloud-based payments platform; Press Release
 
Banking Circle, the financial infrastructure provider, today announces that it is now completely cloud-based, with all aspects of its infrastructure hosted within Microsoft Azure. This includes its purpose built, cloud-first, cross border payments platform, which delivers greater speed, enhanced functionality, and a more intuitive user experience to its clients.   (Read More)

Apple Pay goes live in Mexico; NFCW
 
Apple Pay has rolled out in Mexico, with support for American Express and for Mastercards issued by the country’s Banorte and Citibanamex banks. (Read More)
 
IN NIGERIA, BANKING IS ABOUT TO GET OPEN; TechCabal
 
Last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released draft regulations for the open banking framework in Nigeria. It’s in line with the prediction by Stears Business that conversations around open banking regulations would move forward in Nigeria in 2021.   (Read More)
 
90+ Financial Institutions Provide Real-Time Payments through Jack Henry; Press Release
 
Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY), a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry, confirmed that 93 financial institutions are live on its faster payments hub, JHA PayCenter™. In total, more than 170 banks and credit unions are contracted to leverage JHA PayCenter to connect to The Clearing House's RTP® network and/or Early Warning Services' Zelle Network®. Jack Henry's clients represent most of the financial institutions live on the RTP network to-date.     (Read More)

Introducing Plaid Deposit Switch: Automating account funding; Press Release
 
Today, we’re excited to announce Plaid Deposit Switch, a new product, currently in beta, that makes it faster and easier for users to establish or change the destination of their paychecks. By automating direct deposit account funding, banks can optimize their account funding flows, and ultimately increase customer lifetime value.   (Read More)
 
Federal Reserve announces FedNowSM Pilot Program Participants; FRBservices.org
 
The Federal Reserve Banks announced that more than 110 organizations are participating in the pilot program for their upcoming instant payments offering, the FedNow Service. The program will support development, testing and adoption of the FedNow Service, as well as encourage development of services and use cases that leverage FedNow functionality. A key objective in selecting participants for the pilot was to ensure diverse representation across financial institutions and service providers, connection types, settlement arrangements and experience levels.   (Read More)
 
Brazil’s instant payments system, PIX already accounts for 78% of bank transfers in the country; LABS
 
Two months after its launch, PIX, Brazil’s instant payment system controlled by its Central Bank, is already used for 78% of all bank transfers in Brazil thanks to the low cost of the operation for banks and the ease for users.   (Read More)

Iceland goes live with new RTGS and instant; Finextra
 
The Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) has gone live with a new real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) and instant payment platform.  (Read More)
 
Non-Bank Financial Institutions to have Access to FAST and PayNow; Monetary Authority of Singapore
 
Singapore, 30 November 2020... The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today that eligible non-bank financial institutions (NFIs) will have direct access to the banking system’s retail payments infrastructure from February 2021. NFIs that are licensed as major payment institutions under the Payment Services Act will be allowed to connect directly to Fast and Secure Transfers (FAST) and PayNow.   (Read More)
 
Plaid and Jack Henry partner to enable Plaid Exchange for over 350 banks; Press Release
 
A recent study by Capital One and the Decision Lab found that 77% of Americans experience anxiety due to their financial situation—an issue intensified by this year's pandemic and subsequent economic downturn. Consumers are increasingly turning to fintech to manage and improve their finances, which makes it more critical than ever that institutions support connections across the financial ecosystem.   (Read More)

Stripe moves payment processing to Dublin due to Brexit; Irish Times
 
Stripe is shifting payment processing for the majority of its European customers to its Irish-regulated entity because of Brexit, the company said on Thursday.  (Read More)
 
Early Warning and The Clearing House Complete Critical Integration Milestone of the Zelle® and RTP® Networks; Press Release
 
Early Warning Services, LLC. (EWS), the owner and operator of the Zelle Network®, and The Clearing House (TCH), the operator of the RTP® network, today announced that financial institutions (FIs) can now settle Zelle payments over the RTP network, the real-time payment system in the United States.   (Read More)
 
Lyft is Making Paying for Rides Easier Than Ever with the Addition of Venmo; Press Release
 
To make paying for rides and getting around town even easier, Lyft riders will soon be able to pay with Venmo and easily split the cost of their ride. We’ll start rolling out this feature in October and will launch to all U.S. Lyft riders in the coming weeks. Sixty million active Venmo users already use the platform to split dinner with friends, pay for coffee or groceries, and stay socially connected. And they can now continue to live their financial lives on Venmo by easily paying for and splitting Lyft rides.  (Read More)

ACI Worldwide and Mastercard to Collaborate and Advance New Payment Solutions and Experiences for Customers; Press Release
 
ACI and Mastercard will begin their collaboration by working together to offer industry-leading technology and expertise to central banks, scheme operators and market participants to fast-track the migration and modernization of real-time payment solutions around the world.  (Read More)
 
While Momentum Builds for Real-Time Payments, Research Tags the U.S. Market As a Laggard; Digital Transactions
 
Real-time payments are gaining momentum in the United States, but research released Monday indicates the U.S. market remains a laggard. The total value of so-called instant payments will reach $18 trillion in 2025, but the U.S. share of that market will total just 8%, or $1.4 trillion, according to a forecast by Juniper Research.   (Read More)
 
Even When They Lost Their Jobs, Immigrants Sent Money Home; The New York Times
 
Predictions were that immigrants would stop sending money home when the coronavirus took their jobs. But that did not take into account how determined foreign workers were to help their families.   (Read More)

Klarna, Europe’s $5.5 billion fintech, sees losses rise sevenfold in the first half; CNBC
 
Swedish online payments firm Klarna reported a ballooning net loss in the first half of 2020, as the company invested in an international expansion drive and set aside reserves to deal with credit losses amid the coronavirus pandemic.   (Read More)
 
WorldRemit to Acquire Sendwave in $500 Million Payments Deal; Bloomberg
 
WorldRemit Ltd., a U.K. online money transfer company, has agreed to buy Africa-focused, app-based remittance firm Sendwave as the global pandemic intensifies demand for digital banking.   (Read More)
 
Paysend enters technology partnership with Alipay for global remittances; Finextra
 
Paysend, the global Fintech corporation based in UK, announces a technology collaboration with Alipay to provide Paysend's users with cross-border money transfer that brings more convenient and inclusive services to consumers globally.   (Read More)

Galileo Integrates with Plaid to Simplify ACH Transfer Setup; Press Release
 
Galileo announced its integration with Plaid today, giving Galileo clients a streamlined experience in the bank authentication process for its customers. With this integration, joint clients of Galileo and Plaid may offer their customers an easy way to connect their bank accounts and initiate ACH transfers.    (Read More)
 
Bank of England Selects Accenture to Renew Its Real-Time Gross Settlement Service; Press Release
 
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has been selected to work with the Bank of England to renew the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) service to support resilience and innovation in payments and settlements in the U.K.    (Read More)
 
Fintech unicorn TransferWise sees valuation climb to $5 billion; CNBC
 
Fintech start-up TransferWise is now valued at $5 billion following a secondary share sale, the company announced Wednesday, highlighting increased investor appetite for online payments amid the coronavirus pandemic.    (Read More)

Boku Partners with LINE Pay Japan to Enable eWallet Payments to Merchants; Press Release
 
Boku Inc (AIM: BOKU), a leading global provider of mobile payment and mobile identity solutions, is pleased to announce a partnership with LINE Pay, one of Japan’s largest eWallet and QR code payment service providers.   (Read More)
 
Samsung Reveals the new Samsung Pay Card, powered by Curve; Press Release
 
Launching later this year, the unique payment solution will offer customers a simple and flexible way to control their money, with the ability to link their favourite loyalty and bank cards in one convenient place.  (Read More)
 
NatWest launches new open banking payments service; RBS 
 
NatWest has today announced the launch of a new online payment service, Payit™ by NatWest, which allows customers to make instant online payments to participating retailers, without the use of a debit or credit card - resulting in a fast, fair, simple and safe payment experience.   (Read More)

Thanks to mahjong and poker, HSBC’s e-wallet hits new milestone on pandemic-driven surge in online payments; South China Morning Post
 
HSBC’s digital payment platform PayMe is enjoying a surge in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic, hitting a new milestone since its introduction in 2017, as consumers go online to pay for everything from face masks to virtual social games.    (Read More)
 
ACI Worldwide Expands Benefits of Real-Time Payments to Any Digital Channel for Consumers, Merchants and Billers; Press Release
 
ACI Worldwide, a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced the launch of a series of new capabilities in its UP Immediate Payments solution. To address the increased demand for new real-time and digital payments during and beyond the pandemic, UP Immediate Payments now offers extended API capabilities for simple integration into any digital channel—including internet banking, mobile banking, mobile wallets, eCommerce portals, bill pay apps and social media payments.     (Read More)
 
Buy Now, Pay Later Options Drive Increase in E-commerce Sales of Travel Services and Event Tickets as Some States Begin to Lift Stay-At-Home Orders; Press Release
 
Klarna, a leading global payments and shopping provider, today released new data from its app in the US, indicating that travel services and event ticket sales are beginning to recover. While still significantly lower compared to an average pre-COVID week, the Airlines category saw a 26% week-over-week rise in average daily transactions, while one event ticket seller saw Klarna-enabled transactions increase by a whopping 330% week over week in the week ended May 9. Average daily sales volumes for household appliances, excluding sales made at big-box retailers, also increased significantly week over week, rising by 45%, while women's accessories sales made through the Klarna app rose 12%.     (Read More)

African fintech firm Flutterwave launches SME e-commerce portal; TechCrunch
 
San Francisco and Lagos-based fintech startup Flutterwave has launched Flutterwave Store, a portal for African merchants to create digital shops to sell online.   (Read More)
 
Wise locks down $5.7 million to scale its challenger bank designed for small businesses; TechCrunch
 
Stripe and Shopify have transformed the face of commerce for small business users, yet when it comes to putting that cash somewhere, SMBs have found that the banking options aren’t quite as transformative.   (Read More)
 
Consumers Leverage Zelle® to Send and Receive Money in Times of Need; Press Release
 
More Consumers are Enrolling with Zelle; The Majority of Consumers Sending Money are Millennials and Generation X while Boomers are Increasing their Use    (Read More)

Stripe leads $20M Series A into Fast, which is building a universal checkout service for e-commerce; TechCrunch
 
Early this morning, Fast, a startup building platform-agnostic login and checkout services, announced that Stripe has led a $20 million investment into its business. Prior investors Index Ventures and Susa Ventures took part in the round. Susa previously participated in the company’s late-2019 round that Index led.    (Read More)
 
CardFlight Small Business Impact Report: March 26, 2020
 
Key findings: Retail sales down 11.9% from the baseline week, reversing the sales increase we shared in last week’s report. Nearly 14% fewer merchants posted any transactions at all, compared to the baseline week. Businesses are taking more payments through invoices — up 14.5% since March 2.    (Read More)
 
Shift4 Data Quantifies a Heavy Coronavirus Impact on Restaurants and Hotels; Digital Transactions
 
Sobering data from Shift4 Payments LLC shows that U.S. hospitality-industry transaction volume plummeted in mid-March as consumers sheltered in place and travel, both business and personal, waned.    (Read More)

Payoneer opens Dublin hub for European payments as Brexit looms; Mobile Payments Today
 
Payoneer, a New York-based fintech, has obtained an e-money license from the Central Bank of Ireland and has opened a hub office in Dublin office to prepare for the post-Brexit environment. The split will require some separation of its U.K. offices to manage its European business, according to a company press release.   (Read More)
 
RBC now offers an Interac e-Transfer Bulk Request Money feature; Mobilesyrup
 
RBC announced that it now offers an Interac e-Transfer Bulk Request Money feature to its business banking clients. The digital subscription-based service enables businesses to send multiple payment requests at once with automated reminders to save time.   (Read More)
 
RBI proposes draft rules to set up alternative retail payments system; LiveMint
 
Mumbai: The Reserve bank of India on Tuesday proposed a draft framework for setting up a new umbrella entity (NUE) focused on retail payments system, along the lines of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).    (Read More)

Why the Business-to-Consumer Payout Market Is a Hot Payments Niche; Digital Transactions
 
Business-to-consumer payouts are attracting a small but growing cadre of payment processors and fintechs eager to exploit a multi-trillion-dollar market where checks and automated clearing house direct deposits have a heavy presence, according to a new report.   (Read More)
 
A Chinese super app is facing claims of predatory consumer lending in Nigeria, Kenya and India; Quartz Africa
 
OKash and OPesa, the Africa-focused consumer lending apps of Opera, the Chinese-owned internet browsing giant, appear to be flouting Google’s Play Store policies. In a report this week, equity research house Hindenburg Research suggested that Opera’s Android-based lending apps in Nigeria, Kenya and India typically require loan repayments within a 30 day period—less than Google’s stipulation of 60 days with steep interest rate payments.   (Read More)
 
 
ACI Worldwide Chooses The Bancorp and Visa as Real-time Payment Providers for Corporate Disbursements; Press Release
 
The Bancorp, Inc. announces its latest client to enable real-time1 payments delivery for corporate disbursements. ACI Worldwide will utilize push-to-card payments technology— Direct Rapid Funds platform—developed by The Bancorp and, enabled by Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time payments solution, to offer faster payment experiences to its corporate customers. Real-time payments delivery is an exciting innovation that fundamentally changes the way businesses meet the needs of their customers and employees by offering faster funds disbursements.     (Read More)

UPI is paying off, setting the pace for other nations; livemint
 
Based on its experience with the UPI in India, Google has offered the US Fed Board suggestions for developing FedNow, an interbank real-time gross settlement service for digital payments.   (Read)
 
Citi and PayPal Extend Partnership to Institutional Payments; Press Release
 
Citi and PayPal have expanded their partnership to enable Citi’s institutional clients to make payments into customers’ PayPal digital wallets. The extended partnership brings together Citi’s large global network and client base of multinational corporations, financial institutions, and public sector organizations and PayPal’s vast two-sided network of consumers and businesses, delivering more choice and flexibility to Citi and PayPal customers.      (Read)
 
Visa and Global Partners Expand Access to Cross-Border Payments for Consumers and SMBs; Press Release
 
In today’s connected world, moving money for consumers and businesses should be as simple and routine as sending a text message. Yet, in many cases, consumers and businesses still rely on manual, paper-based processes, high fees and cash to send money to friends, families and business partners. Through Visa Direct, a real-time push payment solution that has processed 2 billion transactions in the past year, Visa is working with partners and clients around the world to simplify, digitize and drive costs down in the rapidly-growing remittances space.     (Read)

The Future of Banking Is … You're Broke; WIRED
 
The latest wave of tech-based financial startups have a new angle on the banking sector: They’ll assume that everyone is out of money, then try to monetize their brokeness.       (Read More)
 
Rising Competition Is Pressuring ISVs, But Also Threatens Existing ISO Relationships; Digital Transactions
 
In recent years, independent sales organizations and payment processors have generated plenty of lucrative business by working with software developers and marketers—businesses usually known as independent software vendors, or ISVs. But now a report indicates the software market is getting increasingly crowded, a development ISVs fear is pressuring prices. It’s also raising developers’ demands on their payments partners.   (Read More)

​A major UK lender just launched a digital bank to compete with Monzo and Revolut; CNBC
 
British lender NatWest has launched a digital bank to compete in the U.K.’s thriving fintech space. NatWest — a subsidiary of RBS — launched cloud-based bank Bo on Wednesday, with the service going live on both Apple’s App store and Google Play.       (Read More)

Pegasus Bank among the initial institutions leveraging JHA PayCenter to connect to the RTP network; Yahoo Finance
 
Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (JKHY) is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry. The company announced today that the first 15 financial institutions – including Dallas-based Pegasus Bank – will implement JHA PayCenter™ to connect to the RTP® network from The Clearing House.   (Read More)
 
Payment Startup Stripe Moves into Cash-Heavy Mexico After CoDi; Bloomberg
 
Mobile payment startup Stripe Inc. began operations in Mexico, three weeks after after the launch of a similar central bank-backed system aimed at boosting the amount of digital payments used in the nation’s cash-heavy economy.   (Read More)
 
Russia, China & India to set up alternative to SWIFT payment system to connect 3 billion people; RT   
 
Members of the BRICS trade bloc Russia, India, and China have decided to connect their financial messaging systems to bypass the SWIFT international money transfer network. Russia’s financial messaging system SPFS will be linked with the Chinese cross-border interbank payment system CIPS. While India does not have a domestic financial messaging system yet, it plans to combine the Central Bank of Russia’s platform with a domestic service that is in development.   (Read More)

Swiss Fintech Startup Becomes a $1 Billion Unicorn; Bloomberg
 
A Zurich-based fintech firm whose investors include Josef Ackermann has raised additional money to value the company at more than $1 billion as it prepares to expand outside its main market of Germany.    (Read More)
 
Bank of America Zelle® Use Soars in 2019; Press Release
 
Bank of America today announced record-breaking person-to-person (P2P) payments use, as the company’s active Zelle® users have already completed more transactions this year than in all of 2018. In less than nine months, Bank of America clients sent and received a total of 163 million transactions, compared to 157 million transactions throughout 2018.    (Read More)
 
The Money-Transfer Newbies Nip at the Incumbents’ Heels;  Digital Transactions
 
Relative newcomers to the world of money transfers such as Remitly Inc., TransferWise Ltd., and WorldRemit Ltd., which specialize in end-to-end digital transactions, are nibbling away at the market share of agent-based leaders The Western Union Co. and MoneyGram International Inc., says a new report from research firm Aite Group LLC.    (Read More)

Ghana to launch Universal QR CODE for payments this year--VP Bawumia; Press Release
 
Vice President Bawumia announced this next level of Government’s digitization agenda on Saturday, July 6, at the closing ceremony of the  2019 Diaspora Celebration and Homecoming summit in Accra.   (Read More)
 
Mastercard and Evolve Bank & Trust Help Hourly and Gig Workers Get Early Access to Wages; Press Release
 
People who support themselves and their families with incomes from gig and hourly work often have to stitch together earnings from various sources to pay bills, budget for savings and manage financial emergencies. Mastercard today announced that it is using Mastercard Send, the company’s push payment solution to enable pay advances and blend stability with flexibility for those working without traditional paychecks.  (Read More)
 
How the Gig Economy Could Impact On-Demand Payments; Forbes
 
Is payday your most anticipated day of the month? For some, it's a celebration on par with a wedding or birthday. Simply put, payday for many Americans is the difference between making ends meet and being out on the street.  (Read More)

How UPI is giving e-payments a run for their money; Live Mint
 
Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a simple, real-time and secure mode of transferring money, overtook mobile wallets in terms of volume of transactions and value in March 2019.  (Read More)
 
SWIFT trials instant cross-border gpi payments through TIPS; Press Release
 
Banks from France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain join with SWIFT to test real-time gpi cross-border payments through the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS)  (Read More)
 
JPMorgan Wants to Dominate Payments Like It Leads in Banking; BARRON'S
 
Payments is an extremely buzzy corner of the financial sector right now, and JPMorgan Chase wants to dominate it, Credit Suisse analyst Susan Roth Katzke told clients Friday following a meeting with the bank’s management.  (Read More)

PayPal to invest $500 million in Uber; Refinitiv IFR
 
Online payments company PayPal Holdings Inc plans to invest $500 million in Uber Technologies Inc as the ride-hailing firm readies to unveil terms for its initial public offering on Friday, Refinitiv IFR reported. (Read More)
 
First real-time payments launched in Saudi Arabia; PayTech
 
Saudi Payments, a fully owned subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), has teamed up with Mastercard company Vocalink with the aim of upgrading the country’s payments infrastructure and boosting the digital economy.  (Read More)
 
PayPal’s Venmo Isn’t Enough to Drive Payment Volume Growth; Bloomberg
 
PayPal Holdings Inc. released first quarter results that showed rising sales and profit but a decline in payment volume growth, a closely watched measure of the company’s popularity among customers.  (Read More)

How big are digital payments? See this $43 billion merger; CNN
 
Two of the world's top payments companies are coming together in a $43 billion deal. FIS (FIS), a financial technology company is buying Worldpay (WP), which makes technology that underpins credit card and other transactions for e-commerce merchants.  (Read More)
 
Facebook in talks with banks about mobile payments in Africa; Business Day
 
Facebook is in talks with financial institutions about possible mobile-payment collaborations in Africa, says Carolyn Everson, a vice-president at the social networking group.  (Read More)
 
Singtel’s cross-border payments system expands to Japan; ZDNet
 
Singapore's largest telecommunications carrier Singtel has expanded its Via cross-border payments alliance to Japan. Via, the first cross-border mobile payment alliance in Asia in partnership with AIS, Thai digital bank Kasikornbank, and Boost Malaysia, is now also partnering with Tokyo-based mobile payment technology company Netstars and its 100,000 stores across Japan.  (Read More)

Visa boosts offer for Earthport in battle with Mastercard; Reuters
 
Visa Inc on Friday sweetened its offer for payment company Earthport Plc to about 247 million pounds ($319.84 million), pushing past rival Mastercard Inc’s earlier bid and setting up a showdown for the assets. (Read More)
 
Samsung Pay starts overseas remittance service in 17 countries; Pulse
 
Samsung Pay users can now wire money internationally through their mobile phones and save in fees compared to sending money overseas via conventional remittance route.   (Read More)
 
Amazon Cash Banks on Engaging African-American, Hispanic Consumers; Media Post
 
Amazon has quietly launched Amazon Cash, a service that allows consumers to purchase products on Amazon without having to use a debit or credit card. In this bold move, the online retail giant strategically positions itself as a resource for the 32.6 million households in the U.S. that don’t use banking services (unbanked) or make limited use of them (underbanked).  (Read More)

Google gets go-ahead from Central Bank for payments; The Irish Times
 
Google has been authorized as a payment institution in the Republic, paving the way for the technology giant to begin providing new financial services to consumers and businesses both here and further afield. (Read More)
 
How’s that prediction for the utter disruption of the finance industry going? Quartz
 
It’s been said that new year predictions are little more than “mental junk food.” They’re designed for publicity—the bigger and more outlandish the better—and people who make them are seldom held accountable. A long-time frame allows the prognosticator to repeat the same bold forecast for years.  (Read More)
 
Geoswift, UnionPay International and Western Union Extend Global Tuition Payment Promotion for International Chinese Students; Press Release
 
Geoswift, UnionPay International and Western Union Business Solutions, a subsidiary of The Western Union Company, have recently offered a joint tuition payment promotion available to Chinese students studying at more than 600 academic institutions in 11 countries.  (Read More)

Robinhood Retreats from Checking, Savings Products; PYMNTS
 
According to a report in Bloomberg, when Robinhood announced the products last week, it compared them to traditional bank accounts, boasting a 3 percent interest rate on both checking and savings. That marketing material was removed from the page over the weekend, as were tweets promoting it at the launch — the FinTech is now calling the offering a cash management service, reported Bloomberg.  (Read More)
 
Vocalink to revamp Peru’s payments system; Fintech Futures
 
Vocalink has signed a contract with Peru’s automated clearing house Cámara de Compensación Electrónica (CCE) to modernize the nation’s electronic payments infrastructure. According to the firms, this deal will see the creation of a new integrated service that will deliver processing of electronic payments (cheques, bulk and real-time) 24/7 x 365 days of the year.   (Read More)
 
Wirecard woos with Apple and Google Pay play; Fintech Futures
 
For its German boon customers, users can top up their account using any Mastercard or Visa credit card and via bank transfer. As a result, Wirecard says it is not necessary to already own a credit card from a bank supported by Apple Pay.  (Read More)

Ride-hailing firms boost e-payment adoption in Singapore; Singapore Business
 
Singapore continues to lead in digital payment services adoption across Southeast Asia with 52% of Singaporeans already using such services, according to Google and Temasek’s e-Conomy SEA 2018 report.  (Read More)
 
The Five Most Challenging Parts of E-Commerce Checkout; Forbes
 
A recent study found that 87% of online shoppers abandon their carts during checkout if the process is too long or complicated — which means merchants stand to lose significant sales from a checkout experience that's anything short of ideal. That's not the only reason customers will back out on a purchase: Another study found that 60% of U.S. consumers abandoned checkout because extra costs (shipping, tax, etc.) were too high. In that same report, 37% of consumers didn't like that checkout required an account, and 23% found the site's inability to calculate the total order cost upfront unappealing.  (Read More)
 
Two-thirds of UK bank branches have closed in the past 30 years; Finextra
 
The UK has lost almost two thirds of its bank branches in the last 30 years, leaving a fifth of households now more than three kilometers from their nearest branch, according to figures compiled by consumer group Which?. (Read More)

New York City’s first Amazon Go cashierless store will open near the World Trade Center; Recode
 
Amazon’s version of a futuristic 7-Eleven store is coming to New York City, and it’s going to be located inside a shopping and office complex across from the World Trade Center.  (Read More)
 
As the Fed Mulls an Entry Into Real-Time Payments, a TCH Executive Flashes a Caution Flag; Digital Transaction
 
If the Federal Reserve decides to compete in the developing market for real-time payments, it will face considerable obstacles, one of which has to do with whether such competition is really needed, according to an official with The Clearing House Payments Co. LLC.  (Read More)
 
Zelle Network® Announces $32 Billion, 116 Million in Payments for Q3 2018; Press Release
 
During Q3 2018 (July – September), 116 million transactions took place on the Zelle Network for a total of $32 billion in payments. Transaction volume increased 16% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), and total money moved increased 13%. Financial Institution (FI) participants contributed to an enrollment increase of 10% QoQ, resulting in more than 75 million tokens—mobile numbers or email addresses— across the entire Zelle Network to date. (Read More)

Google tweaks privacy policy for Indian payment app after rival complaint; REUTERS   
 
Google has tweaked the privacy policy of its Indian digital payments mobile application, days after local rival Paytm complained that the U.S. tech giant’s platform allowed disclosure of customer data for advertising and other purposes.   (Read More)
 
How iZettle Could Boost PayPal’s Long-Held Strategy to Embrace the Physical Point of Sale; Digital Transactions
 
For years, PayPal Holdings Inc. has worked to expand its reach to physical merchants, and now, with the closing on Thursday of its $2.2 billion acquisition of Stockholm-based iZettle AB, the digital-payments company is taking a significant step in achieving that ambition.  (Read More)
 
Virtual money assistant Cleo really gets $10m funding; Fintech Futures
 
London-based virtual money assistant Cleohas got something to shout about as it has received $10 million in Series A investment.  (Read More)

Walmart's E-Commerce and Comparable Sales Jump in Q2; BOF
 
Walmart on Thursday posted a 40 percent rise in US e-commerce sales, higher than the 33 percent growth witnessed in the previous quarter, and its comparable sales grew the most in a decade, sending its shares up 9 percent in premarket trade.   (Read More)
 
Crimea ditches Visa & MasterCard in favor of Russian national payment system; RT News
 
US payment systems Visa and MasterCard are no longer present on Russia's Crimean Peninsula. The republic’s largest bank has finished the procedure of switching all plastic cards to Russia’s Mir payment system.  (Read More)
 
Diebold Nixdorf reportedly up for grabs with NCR as possible buyer; Mobile Paymentstoday
 
Diebold Nixdorf Inc. has engaged Credit Suisse and Evercore to advise the company on a potential sale, according to a report from CNBC quoting people "familiar with the matter."  (Read More)

EBay paid $573M to buy Japanese e-commerce platform Qoo10, filing reveals; TechCrunch
 
EBay is a very distant second behind Amazon when it comes to e-commerce sales in the U.S., but abroad — and in particular in Asia — it is willing to invest to grow its footprint in a targeted way. In February, eBay paid a total of $573 million to acquire Qoo10, a Japanese sales platform, according to the company’s quarterly earnings filing.   (Read More)
 
KeyBank launches instant payment product with Ingo Money; Mobile Payments Today
 
KeyCorp announced today the launch of its instant payment product with Ingo Money. Through Ingo Push, Ingo Money's turn-key push payment platform, KeyBank business clients can disburse guaranteed funds in real-time, according to a press release.     (Read More)
 
Chinese Tech Giant Tencent Plans To Expand Its US Payments Footprint — Despite Ongoing Trade War; CNBC
 
Tencent will step up its efforts to expand its payment service WeChat Pay to the U.S., an executive at the Chinese technology giant told CNBC, hinting at more merchants coming on board later this year.     (Read More)

Zelle forecast to overtake Venmo this year; TechCrunch
 
Despite some concerns over its adoption by scammers, new payment service Zelle is shaping up to overtake rival Venmo this year, according to a new forecast from eMarketer. The firm expects Zelle to grow more than 73 percent in 2018, to reach 27.4 million users in the U.S., ahead of Venmo’s 22.9 million. Square Cash will trail with 9.5 million users.   (Read More)
 
Amazon Backs Indian Startup to Replace Cash with Contactless Payments; Bloomberg
 
Amazon.com Inc. wants to pilot contactless payments to boost the adoption of its payment processing service, Amazon Pay, for offline transactions in India, two people privy to the development told BloombergQuint requesting anonymity.   (Read More)
 
Dutch payments company Adyen opens at €400/share, a pop of 67%, now valued at $16B; TechCrunch
 
After raising €1.1 billion in its initial offering and pricing its shares at €240 each last night, Adyen, the Dutch payments company, went public today with a bang. It opened for trading this morning on Amsterdam’s Euronext exchange at €400 a share, an impressive jump of 67 percent.    (Read More)

PayPal Confirms That It Is Buying Payments Startup iZettle For $2.2B In An All-Cash Deal; TechCrunch
 
“PayPal is taking its biggest bet yet on point-of-sale transactions, small businesses and markets outside of the U.S. as it looks to raise its game against Square, Stripe and others in the world of payments: The company has confirmed that it is buying iZettle — the Stockholm-based payments provider commonly referred to as the “Square of Europe” — for $2.2 billion in an all-cash deal.”   (Read More)
 
Bank of America Delivers First Widely Available AI–Driven Virtual Financial Assistant; Press Release
 
Bank of America is rolling out the first widely available AI-driven virtual assistant of its kind in financial services, Erica, to its 25 million mobile clients. This latest innovation reflects the bank’s continued investment in digital capabilities as part of its high-tech, high-touch client experience, including the Digital Mortgage Experience™, mobile car shopping tool, Merrill Edge® Guided Investing, and Business Advantage.   (Read More)
 
Payoneer continues global expansion with increased focus on serving US SMBs and cross-border sellers; Press Release
 
Payoneer, an innovative cross-border payments company transforming the way businesses send and receive funds globally, announced today new investment and support for US sellers and SMBs that address the unique needs of American businesses doing business globally. Payoneer now provides US-based cross-border businesses with an end-to-end solution to get paid, bill their clients, pay VAT, pay suppliers and withdraw their international earnings in USD to their local bank account.   (Read More)

Financial inclusion is improving around the world—but women are still missing out; Quartz
 
The good news is that mobile phones and the internet are bringing millions of people into the formal financial system, meaning they have bank accounts or a mobile money provider for the first time. This is important because financial inclusion is crucial in helping people save money for an emergency, get loans to start businesses, and escape poverty. The bad news, however, is that the financial-inclusion gap between men and women in developing economies hasn’t improved in the past six years.   (Read More)
 
FIS Connects Three Australian Financial Institutions to Real-time Payments Platform; Press Release
 
Continuing its leadership in the global movement toward real-time payments, global financial technology provider FIS™ (NYSE: FIS) announced today that it has leveraged its Open Payment Framework (OPF) to connect three leading Australian financial institutions to the country’s New Payments Platform (NPP).    (Read More)
 
SWIFT explores Asia Pacific cross-border real-time payments; Press Release
 
SWIFT has joined forces with a group of SWIFT gpi banks from Australia, China, Singapore and Thailand to develop a unique cross-border real-time payments service in the Asia Pacific region.     (Read More)

First Direct enables customers to pay by Siri; Computer Weekly
 
First Direct is offering UK customers a service to make payments using voice instructions without the need to open a banking app or enter a password.   (Read More)
 
MasterCard upbeat on devices trend; The Nation
 
MasterCard believes that a trend for electronic payments made via devices such as wearable items is rapidly gaining ground in the Asia-Pacific region, including in Thailand.    (Read More)
 
WhatsApp Could Shake Up Digital Payments in India; Bloomberg
 
With more than 200 million Indians already using its messaging, WhatsApp is piloting a payment service that lets them transfer money to each other. The well-timed move has riled rivals, who say the Facebook Inc. unit hasn’t adhered to security requirements and doesn’t link to other digital wallets.    (Read More)

ATMIA Press Release - New Industry Research Portal; Press Release
 
ATMIA today launched a new Industry Research Portal to assist its members in finding freely available research information as well as reasonably priced research reports recommended by the association.
 
 
E-tailers like Amazon are rushing for India’s online-payment gateway, Quartz Media
 
The government of India-backed payments platform, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), has suddenly turned into a huge draw for the country’s e-commerce players.   (Read More)
 
Canada’s real-time payment rail; InstaPay
 
The global payments ecosystem is trending strongly towards real-time, data-rich ISO20022 enabled payments, says Jan Pilbauer, Executive Director of Modernization & CIO, Payments Canada, as he outlines the country’s plans for an instant payment system that is on trend to begin by the end of 2019.     (Read More)
 
Revealed: Cash eclipsed as Britain turns to digital payments; The Guardian
 
Britain will move beyond “peak cash” this year, according to data gathered by the Guardian that suggests notes and coins are rapidly being supplanted as the favoured payment method, particularly in cities.    (Read More)

JPMorgan Chase ‘Excited’ for Zelle, Millennial App Finn in 2018; Bank Innovation
 
JPMorgan Chase will continue to expand its digital payment offerings in 2018, looking to acquisitions such as WePay to keep up its growth, bank CEO Jamie Dimon said during the bank’s earnings call today.   (Read More)
 
We have set up Paytm Money to focus on Investment and Wealth Management; Press Release
 
We are excited to set up ‘Paytm Money Limited’ to build Investment & Wealth Management products for our users. We plan to launch its products in the first quarter of 2018 after regulatory approvals.    (Read More)
 
Same Day ACH Payments Grew 51 Percent from November to December 2017 and Totaled More than 75 Million in 2017; Press Release
 
Same Day ACH debit and credit transactions totaled 15.2 million in December, an increase of 51 percent over November's volume, according to data released today by NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association®. The significant increase in Same Day ACH transactions from November to December is just the latest in a long line of indicators demonstrating the widespread interest in and adoption of this faster payment method.    (Read More)

How Canada is embracing real-time payments as a platform for future innovation; bobsguide
 
In the Canadian market, both consumers and banks have been early adopters when it comes to banking innovation, whether it is mobile, desktop or behind the scenes technology. Canadian consumers generally expect, and are accustomed to, a cashless payment experience -  either through mobile, online or card transactions. So, it comes as no surprise that a market which is so receptive to technology and innovation should recognize RTP as its next strategic opportunity.    (Read More)
 
Visa Survey Reveals Consumers Are Ready to Say Goodbye to Passwords; Press Release
 
A new Visa survey of 1,000 Americans exploring awareness and perceptions of biometric authentication confirms that consumers continue to have a strong interest in new biometric technologies that make their lives easier. New forms of authentication, such as fingerprint, facial, and voice recognition, can make unlocking accounts and payments much easier and more convenient than traditional passwords or PINs - which are difficult to type onto tiny keyboards, easy to forget, and can be stolen.     (Read More)
 
Nordea Open Banking is live; Press Release
 
During the autumn, Nordea’s Open Banking team has worked together with more than 1,000 external developers, who have tested and given feedback on the open APIs and associated services. Nordea is now ready for the next step as the bank today connects the APIs to the production system and takes the first major step into the brand-new world of Open Banking. This makes Nordea the first Nordic bank to offer its pilots access to real customer data.     (Read More)

Sepa instant payments goes live; Finextra
 
Nearly 600 payment service providers (PSPs) from eight countries are onboard for today's launch of the Sepa Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme, bringing real-time money transfers to much of Europe.   (Read More)
 
Reaching the bottom of India’s digital pyramid; livemint
 
Without the inclusion of far-flung rural areas, Digital India programme will only magnify the digital inequality in the country.   (Read More)
 
Fiserv Underpins European First Movers to Instant Payments; Press Release
 
Fiserv, a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that Fiserv technology will support multiple ‘wave one’ banks for EBA RT1, the first pan-European clearing platform for real-time payments in euro. Slated to go live 21 November 2017, EBA RT1 facilitates 24/7 payments in line with the SEPA Credit Transfer Instant (SCT Inst) Scheme of the European Payments Council (EPC).     (Read More)
 
The Future Of Banking Is In The Palm Of Your Hand; Forbes
 
The evolution of the payments industry was a cornerstone of the FinTech movement and it’s undergoing yet another fundamental shift – this time, into social media.     (Read More)

Non-bank financial institutions are disrupting financial services; World Finance
 
The role of banks as the primary source of financial services is being gradually eroded; they may soon be butting heads with the likes of Amazon and Facebook.   (Read More)
 
Square, the Twitter Boss’s Other Company, Could Pass It in Value; The New York Times
 
Sometime in the very near future, though, the value of Mr. Dorsey’s distinctly less-sexy second company, where he tends to work in the afternoon, is likely to become more valuable than his more well-known first company, where he works in the morning, separated by a short walk between the two companies’ headquarters in San Francisco.   (Read More)
 
PayPal (PYPL) is now worth more than American Express (AXP); Quartz Media
 
PayPal was created during the last internet boom and is in the midst of a renewed surge in interest, with its shares rising by nearly 80% so far this year. The online payment company’s stock market value surpassed credit-card stalwart American Express this month, and is approaching venerable Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The company’s mobile payment growth is accelerating after a series of deals and industry partnerships, representing a growing challenge for financial firms with much longer histories.     (Read More)

Salesforce Predicts Black Friday Will Be the Busiest Digital Shopping Day in U.S. History; Press Release
 
Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, today released its new consumer insights and predictions for the 2017 holiday shopping season. Salesforce anticipates that Black Friday will be the busiest digital shopping day in U.S. history, exceeding Cyber Monday as the U.S. digital shopping day with the most sales for the second year in a row.   (Read More)
 
Your postman may soon become the point of contact for all your financial work. Here's how; ET Tech
 
Come 2018 and the humble postman will be armed with a high-tech device that will enable him to carry out various financial transaction at the door step of people. The India Post Payment Bank, which plans to launch nationwide operations by March 2018, is coming up with a large contract to source such devices for more than 1.5 lakh postmen.   (Read More)
 
Checks Still Have Life in Them, But Do Banks Hold the Key to Killing Them off? Digital Transactions
 
For years, experts have predicted electronic payments would finally turn the check into an historical artifact. But data released last year indicate that the long-term decline in check volume has slowed, and now experts are trying to figure out why and what the ultimate check-killer will be.      (Read More)

A cardless, cashless society is in our future, Visa digital chief predicts; San Francisco Chronicle
 
The San Francisco financial giant far outpaces Mastercard, its largest competitor, in everything from payments volume to total transactions and cards issued. Last year, Visa generated $15.1 billion in revenue, a 9 percent jump from 2015.      (Read More)
 
Swift to provide gateway to domestic real-time payments in the US; Finextra
 
SWIFT announces that it will provide U.S. institutions with a gateway to The Clearing House’s real-time payments (RTP) platform. As instant payments become more ubiquitous in the U.S., SWIFT will provide an interface to manage the requirements of sending and receiving domestic instant payment transactions on behalf of customers.    (Read More)
 
WhatsApp beta shows early signs of UPI based payments integration; TechRadar
 
Since demonetization, digital payments have been gaining more and more importance in India. Popular apps like Hike Messenger and Truecaller had recently introduced digital payments on their platforms.   (Read More)
 
How mPOS And Card-Present Rates Could Open the Door to Higher Sales for Home Services; Digital
 
While much of the payments industry is focused on restaurants, groceries, discount chains, and other such merchants, point-of-sale companies aren’t neglecting sellers like caterers, home-delivery providers, and handymen. Now, they’re hoping to build the market for mobile point-of-sale gear for these markets by stressing the savings merchants gain from card-present interchange rates.     (Read More)

Connected living: How the IoT and AI will change the face of payments; NFC World
 
The Internet of Things (IoT) has the power to completely transform the in-store payment and shopping experience and retailers must now ask themselves how they can use this technology to bring new and meaningful experiences to their customers, says Wirecard’s executive vice president of mobile services Jörn Leogrande.     (Read More)
 
Amazon has big plans to disrupt the payments industry; Business Insider
 
As Amazon prepares to report Q2 earnings today, all eyes will be on its growth in revenue and gross merchandise value (GMV) metrics. But it's worth pointing out that the e-commerce powerhouse is significantly expanding its presence in digital payments. It's not a huge part of the business now, but it's poised for continued growth.    (Read More)
 
The future of money arrives by bus; Boston Globe
 
The MBTA said it is ready to move forward on a plan to ban the use of cash and have riders pay by some not-so-new-tech methods, ranging from smartphone apps to wave-and-go credit cards. In use in other parts of the world, these options haven’t been embraced by American consumers. But that will begin to change in a few years, when T riders find they will have only two options at the farebox — plastic or silicon.    (Read More)
 
PayPal growing faster than expected; TechCrunch
 
Payments giant PayPal is growing faster than what analysts were expecting, according to the latest numbers. For the second quarter of 2017, PayPal brought in $3.14 billion in revenue, when analysts were expecting $3.09 billion. This is up 18.3 percent from last year.    (Read More)

Dutch payments processor takes pan-European license to bypass banks; Reuters
 
Adyen, one of Europe's biggest fintech companies, has taken a pan-European banking licence that allows it to bypass banks and process cross-border payments directly for its merchant customers, including many of the world's top ecommerce firms.  (Read More)
 
Yoyo Wallet raises £12M Series B led by Metro Group to expand in Europe; TechCrunch
 
The race to digitise the loyalty card just got a shot in the arm with the news that Yoyo Wallet, the European-based mobile payment and customer loyalty platform, has raised a £12 million Series B round, led by the US wholesale and food retail giant Metro Group. The round is joined by the UK-based Woodford Investment Management and Touchstone Innovations. The deal is subject to FCA approval.      (Read More)
 
First Data Introduces Local Payments Solution to Power Cross-Border Global Commerce; Press Release
 
The rise of global commerce is creating an increasingly borderless economy, and businesses need to provide the payment method their customers prefer, regardless of regional and cultural preferences. To meet this growing need, today First Data (NYSE: FDC), a global leader in commerce-enabling technology, announced the availability of the First Data® Local Payments solution, which will provide digital businesses and their customers with access to 195 local payment options when fully implemented.       (Read More)

Technology Inequality; Center for Financial Inclusion
 
When mobile money debuted a decade ago, observers marveled that a woman in rural Kenya with limited education or financial means could receive money instantly from her children in Nairobi through a cell phone. Ten years on, tens of millions of people use mobile financial services (MFS), and the sector is preparing for a switch to smartphones that  will enable even more and better services.   (Read More)
 
Verse grabs $20.5M to take its p2p payments play beyond Europe; TechCrunch
 
Social payments app Verse has closed a $20.5 million Series B round of funding from its existing investors. The round is led by Spark Capital, with eVentures and Greycroft Partners also participating. It raised its Series A in October last year, when it took in $8.3M.    (Read More)
 
Paytm Raises $1.4 Billion From SoftBank to Expand User Base; Bloomberg
 
Paytm, India’s largest digital payments startup, raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank Group Corp. in the largest funding round from a single investor for the country’s technology sector.      (Read More)

Mastercard rolls out Messenger payment bots with US retailers; NFC World
 
Subway, FreshDirect and The Cheesecake Factory have begun rolling out payment bots for Facebook Messenger across the US, allowing their customers to secure and complete payments using Mastercard’s Masterpass digital payment platform without having to leave the instant messaging service.   (Read More)
 
Alibaba's Ant Financial merges with helloPay Group; Finextra
 
HelloPay Group, the online payments platform used on South East Asian e-commerce platform Lazada, is to merge with Alibaba's Ant Financial and be rebranded into AliPay.   (Read More)
 
Billtrust announces availability of industry's first eInvoicing and ePayment Business Directory; Press Release
 
Billtrust, the leader in payment cycle management solutions, announced today the availability of the Billtrust Business Directory, the industry's first directory of small business eBilling preferences. Introduced at Billtrust CONNECT 2017, taking place in Orlando, Florida, this new offering has access to over 10,000,000 businesses in the US and their billing and payment preferences. Billtrust clients will be able to reach unprecedented levels of eInvoicing and ePayment adoption rates by leveraging this new solution.   (Read More)

Payments company Square launches in the U.K., its first European market and fifth globally; VentureBeat
 
“We’re looking at our next markets, but we need to ensure our next markets are thriving,” continued Dorsey. “When we get that confidence, we’ll continue to build out.”  (Read More)
 
Nordea Bank: PSD2 will require banks to adopt a ‘totally new way of viewing their customer base’; NFC World
 
Significant confusion and a high level of fragmentation can be expected over the next five years as European financial institutions become accustomed to new regulations under the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) which will open the door to new competition within the European payment services market, says Nordea Bank’s vice president of strategic business development, transaction banking and business innovation.  (Read More)
 
Maybank, CIMB to allow contactless payments via Alipay in Malaysia; Crads International
 
Malayan Banking and CIMB Bank have partnered with Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, to provide Alipay as an alternative of cashless payment for Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia. The agreement will enable Maybank’s card merchants, including Parkson, Royal Selangor, Duty Free Zone, Eraman and Genting to accept Alipay, which is operated by Ant Financial. Maybank said that the new service will be available from May.  (Read More)

Facebook Messenger Now Lets You Send Money With Transferwise; Bloomberg
 
International money transfer service TransferWise Ltd. has announced an integration with Facebook Inc.’s Messenger that will let people set up foreign exchange transactions over the chat service.  (Read More)
 
Facebook on course to be the WeChat of the West, says Gartner; TechCrunch
 
It’s the beginning of the end for smartphone apps as we have known and tapped on them, reckons Gartner. The analyst is calling the start of a “post-apps” era, based on changes in consumer interactions that appear driven, in large part, by the rise of dominant messaging platforms designed to consume more and more of mobile users’ time and attention. It figures messaging apps will become more popular than social media apps within the next two years.  (Read More)
 
Top 3 technologies revolutionizing ecommerce; Mobile Commerce Daily
 
Staying up to date with rapidly evolving technologies in the ecommerce and marketing industries can be a daunting task. With a slew of new technologies out there, it is also not easy to pinpoint which ones are worth the venture.  (Read More)
 
The Art of the Invisible Payment; Press Release
 
Let’s all be honest with each other.  We don’t really want to think about how we make a payment, we want to concentrate on the experience we are about to have.  When I go to a concert, I don’t want to spend time thinking about how to pay for that ticket or where to pick it up.  I just want to show up and enjoy the music. That’s because the experience is what’s most important.  (Read More)

CO-OP Booth #301 in Exhibit Hall Will Explore the “Power of How” for Credit Union Growth; Press Release
 
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, California, February 22, 2017 – CO-OP Financial Services is expanding its presence at next week’s GAC gathering beyond the exhibition floor with the CO-OP Networking Lounge, which will include presentations on Monday and Tuesday on fraud trends and faster payments. In addition, CO-OP in booth #301 in the exhibit hall will explore the “Power of How” for credit union growth. ( Read More) 

Jack Ma’s Ant Financial Buys MoneyGram for $880 Million; Bloomberg
 
Ant Financial, the financial technology company controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, stepped up its international expansion by buying U.S. money-transfer service MoneyGram International Inc.   (Read More)
 
Launched in September, Same-Day ACH Posted 13 Million-Plus Transactions in 2016; Digital Transactions
 
The nation’s automated clearing house network handled more than 13 million same-day transactions worth almost $17 billion between Sept. 23 and the end of the year, according to statistics released Wednesday by NACHA, the rulemaking authority for the ACH.   (Read More)
 
Federal Reserve Issues Progress Report 'In Pursuit of a Better Payment System'2017; Ferderal Reserve
 
In January 2015, the Federal Reserve released Strategies for Improving the U.S. Payment System, an ambitious, multi-year plan that focuses on improving the speed, efficiency, and security of the U.S. payment system from end-to-end. Since the release of this multi-year plan, the Federal Reserve has worked with payment stakeholders to execute the strategies outlined in the paper.   (Read More)

Paytm is paying a price for its sudden stardom; QZ.com
 
The founder and CEO of Paytm, India’s largest mobile payments startup, was attending an industry event in Mumbai when prime minister Narendra Modi announced the move to demonetise Rs500 and Rs 1,000 notes. As soon as Sharma’s session was over, his phone began ringing non-stop: almost every newsroom in the country wanted to know what the 38-year-old entrepreneur thought of the decision, which would suck out 86% of India’s cash in circulation.    (Read More)
 
Federal Reserve Payments Study Highlights Strong Trends in Card Use; Press Release
 
From 2012 to 2015, credit and debit (including prepaid and non-prepaid) card payments continued to gain ground in the payments landscape, accounting for more than two-thirds of all core noncash payments in the United States, according to a Federal Reserve study of U.S. non-cash payments released today. Automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments grew modestly over the same period, and check payments declined at a slower rate than in the past.     (Read More)
 
Square Wants to Play With the Big Boys; Barron's Next
 
The maker of those iPad-attached card readers now has set its sights on larger merchants. That could open up sizable opportunities for Square, since its business from big merchants is now growing five to six times faster than its traditional business focused on small sellers, according to analysts at Instinet, which picked up coverage of Square on Tuesday.       (Read More)

Visa warns of ‘serious disruption’ to online payments from EBA proposal; NFC World
 
Visa is warning a proposal from the European Banking Authority (EBA) requiring every online transaction over €10 (US$10.61) to have additional authentication steps at checkout will “seriously disrupt online shopping and cause inconvenience for consumers”  (Read More)
 
Paytm transactions outdo combined physical card usage in India; FabNewz
 
Thanks in major part to the recent demonetisation move by the Indian government and the resulting cash crunch, Paytm, India’s leading mobile payment and e-commerce market player, has seen a financial windfall as people feel compelled to switch to digital wallets like those offered by Paytm. It has been confirmed now that the company is currently doing more transactions than the combined average daily usage of credit and debit Cards in India. This may prove to be a major boost for the Alibaba-backed group.   (Read More)
 
PayPal Cross-Border Consumer Research 2016; Press Release
 
PayPal Global Summary Report - China is the most popular cross-border online shopping destination for global online shoppers, followed by USA and UK. Portugal, Peru and Ireland are the countries where cross-border online shopping is most prevalent. Japan and Poland have the lowest incidence of cross-border online shoppers.   (Read More)

PayPal Gets Friendlier With Facebook; The Wall Street Journal
 
An integration with Facebook Inc., announced early Monday in a blog post by PayPal, will have the social network make the payments giant a way to pay across a broader range of new online shopping features. PayPal will also now make it possible to receive messages about any purchase, like a receipt, through Facebook’s Messenger chat service.   (Read More)
 
Facebook Pages converts into purchasing platform, but further threatens big business; Mobile Commerce Daily
 
Facebook is announcing a host of new ways for consumers to interact with brands and businesses through the Facebook mobile application, some of which will be a considerable boost to small businesses without a large digital marketing budget.     (Read More)
 
CEO Tim Cook Pushes Cashless Society and Predicts AI in all Apple Products; WebProNews
 
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently visited Japan for the opening of their state-of-the-art research and development facility. He described it as a "center for deep engineering that will be very different from the R&D base Apple plans to build in China."      (Read More)

IPFA drafts rulebook for cross-border instant payments; Finextra
 
The International Payments Framework Association (IPFA) announces the first global scheme to transact real time payments as cross-border and cross-currency credit transfers.    (Read More)
 
ACI Worldwide and VocaLink Join Forces to Speed up Adoption of Immediate Payments Around the World; Press Release
 
ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, and VocaLink, a global payments systems company, announced a partnership to offer a complete end-to-end immediate payments solution to launch a domestic or regional immediate payments network.     (Read More)
 
Financial industry faces extreme disruption in payments; Outlook First
 
Payments have long been a backwater of finance, pleasantly profitable yet placid. Now all that is changing. The trend for people to pay for more things on mobile devices, and combined with the growth of online shopping, has produced a spurt of growth in this once staid sector. The consultancy McKinsey predicts that global payments revenues will rise from $1.8tn in 2014 to $2.3tn in 2019.     (Read More)

Nigeria’s Central Bank wants to keep remittances expensive; Quartz   
 
At a time when most of the world is focused on driving down the cost of remittances, Nigeria’s Central Bank appears intent on keeping them high. On Aug. 2, the bank issued a new directive (pdf) which will oblige all but three of Nigeria’s money transfer operators (MTOs) to suspend operations, and could reverse years of progress made in cutting the costs of remittances. The directive will also severely reduce competition among money transfer operators in Nigeria.   (Read More)
 
Square up over 9% in after-hours trading following $439 million in revenue for Q2 2016; Venture Beat
 
Square ($SQ) today released the results of its 2016 second quarter earnings, which generated $439 million in revenue, a 41 percent increase from a year ago. Its gross payment volume (GPV) jumped 42 percent for the same time frame to $12.5 billion. As for its earnings per share, that wound up being a loss of $0.08.  (Read More)
 
Rio de Janeiro launches Gemalto contactless transport ticketing wristband; Press Release
 
Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, announced a partnership with RioCard, Rio de Janeiro’s public transportation ticketing operator, to implement contactless transport ticket wristbands. When fully implemented, the solution will simplify secure payments and improve convenience ensuring smoother travel in any mode of transportation for more than 10 million residents and visitors to Brazil’s second largest city.  (Read More)

The Platformification of Banking; The Financial Brand
 
Part of the challenge is arriving at an agreed-upon definition of what a platform is. Despite it’s relatively recent use in the world of banking, the concept — as a business model — has been around for a long time.  (Read More)
 
EMV Migration Forum Changes Name to US Payments Forum, Expands Focus to Additional Emerging Payments Technologies; Press Release
 
The EMV Migration Forum has been instrumental in the progress of the U.S. migration to EMV chip technology by providing a forum for essential cooperation and coordination across the whole payments ecosystem, including retailers, card issuers, networks, acquirers, processors, technology providers and industry associations.  (Read More)
 
Western Union Announces Enhanced Innovation to Support Global Trade: Technology Creating Borderless Economies for SMEs; Press Release
 
 Western Union Business Solutions, a business segment of The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) and a leader in global payment services, announced enhanced capabilities to its WU® EDGE digital trading platform, including expansion of the platform’s fee-free* network, and availability into seven new markets: Hong Kong, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic.   (Read More)

Payments Canada, Bank of Canada Research Highlights Global Trend Towards Faster Payments; Press Release
 
Research released today by Payments Canada and the Bank of Canada exploring payment system modernization initiatives around the world reveals a global trend towards infrastructure enhancements that support faster payments.   (Read More)
 
Ingenico Group and nanoPay Corporation Partner to Enable Canadian Retailers to Accept MintChip Digital Cash; Press Release
 
At the Payments Panorama Conference, nanoPay Corporation, a fully integrated loyalty and payments platform provider and Ingenico Group, the global leader in seamless payment, announced a new partnership in which Ingenico Group will integrate nanoPay's MintChip digital cash platform into its Telium system, enabling merchants to accept MintChip using their existing Ingenico Group smart terminals.   (Read More)
 
Why PayPal sees itself as the future of payments; cnet
 
It didn't take long for the backlash to smack PayPal CEO Dan Schulman after his company took a stand for LGBT rights in North Carolina.   (Read More)

RBI's billing system boosts payments cos; The Times of India
 
Mumbai: In coming months, the ability to pay bills at one's convenience will be available to most Indians irrespective of whether they are digitally connected or not. This has been made possible by the launch of the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) - a billing platform conceived by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).  (Read More)
 
Linq3 Partners with Verifone to bring Play at the Pump Lottery to Gas Stations; Press Release
 
Linq3 announced today that its Play at the Pump™ technology will be supported by Commander Site Controller from Verifone, a world leader in payments and commerce solutions, to power the sale of lottery draw games directly at the pump.   (Read More)
 
LoanStar Launches Innovative Point-of-Sale Lending Platform; Press Release
 
LoanStar is launching a new platform that combines technology, merchant acquisition, and merchant support, enabling banks to return to consumer lending.  Founders Craig Haynes and Andrew Turner, with a combined 41 years of experience in consumer lending and financial technology, have created a revolutionary FinTech product that helps banks acquire loans in order to deploy capital, and retain and grow existing merchant relationships.  (Read More)

FIS and The Clearing House Prepare Real-Time Payments to Go Nationwide; Press Release
 
The United States’ first-of-its-kind, real-time payments system, available to all financial institutions nationwide, is nearing reality thanks to FIS™ (NYSE: FIS), a global leader in financial services technology, and The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. (TCH).   (Read More)
 
Beyond Payments: How the Unified Payments Interface Will Evolve; Gadgets360
 
There's been a lot of buzz around the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which was launched last week. The system has 19 banks on board, including well known names such as Axis, ICICI, and HDFC, and many more are expected to sign on over the course of this year, according to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) Chairman AP Hota.   (Read More)
 
NACHA Announces 2015 Largest Originators & Receivers of ACH Payments; Benzinga
 
In 2015, ACH transaction volume grew to more than 24 billion electronic payments, an increase of 1.3 billion payments or 5.6 percent, over 2014 volume, according to new statistics released today by NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association®. This increase marks the second consecutive year in which ACH payments grew by more than 1 billion.[1] Additionally, a total of more than $41.6 trillion was transferred over the ACH Network last year, increasing 4 percent compared to 2014.    (Read More)
 
Building a digital-banking business; McKinsey & Company
 
Banks have been using digital technologies to help transform various areas of their business. There’s an even bigger opportunity—go all digital.     (Read More)

D+H and The Clearing House Partner to Provide Real-Time Payments; Press Release
 
DH Corporation ("D+H") (TSX: DH), a leading provider of technology solutions to financial institutions globally, today announced that it is partnering with The Clearing House (TCH) to provide real-time payments to U.S. financial institutions. Financial institutions will now be able to use D+H's payments, core and channel applications to access TCH's ubiquitous real-time payment system in the United States, making payments seamless, certain, and frictionless.     (Read More)
 
PayPal Brings Money Transfers to Cuba; Fortune
 
PayPal will start allowing money transfers to Cuba through its recently acquired service, Xoom.   (Read More)
 
Western Union Expands in Cuba: Connects the World; Press Release
 
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payments services, announced that it will launch remittance services from across the world into Cuba following U.S. regulatory and policy changes that allow Cubans and non-Cubans to send remittances via Western Union to this island nation.     (Read More)

Mobile wallets beware, UPI is here; Your Story
 
The demise of mobile wallets in India would be quite a shocker. What will happen to all the seamless payments to your taxi vendors and favourite sumptuous food deliveries?     (Read More)
 
How Alibaba is helping Paytm think differently about ecommerce in India; TECHINASIA
 
Paytm has had a unique approach to ecommerce in India. Originally launched as a site for mobile phone top-ups in 2010, the name is an abbreviation for “pay through mobile”. It soon pivoted to become an online wallet and, four years later, it launched an ecommerce site.  In August 2015, it was one of eleven companies to receive permission to act as a “payment bank.”   (Read More)
 
PayPal Commerce: The Next Revolution in Contextual Commerce; PayPal Blog
 
For nearly two decades, PayPal has helped pioneer digital payments – creating faster, easier and more secure ways for consumers and merchants to connect across contexts. It started when we helped bring payments online in the late 1990s, gained momentum in the early 2000s with millions of Internet users buying and selling on e-commerce enabled stores and marketplaces, and has continued over the last several years with the rise of mobile commerce.   (Read More)

In India, technology helps the unbankable to bank; NIKKEI Asian Reveiw
 
Financial technology has been the toast of the finance sector in recent years, leading to an e-commerce boom that is reshaping global retailing. But policymakers and regulators are increasingly focusing on the potential of technology to reach people outside the formal financial infrastructure.   (Read More)
 
45 leading banks sign up to SWIFT’s global payments innovation initiative; Press Release
 
SWIFT announces that 45 leading banks have signed up to its global payments innovation initiative, announced at the end of December 2015. The 45 participating firms include major transaction banks from Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Americas. More banks are expected to join this initiative in the coming months.   (Read More)
 
Federal Reserve Selects IBM to Modernize its Retail Payments Processing Platform; Pres Release
 
IBM announced that the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Retail Payments Office has selected IBM to modernize its automated clearing house (ACH) processing platform. When conducting ACH operations, the Federal Reserve serves as the central operator ensuring electronic payments (direct deposit, bill payments) clear and settle between commercial banks   (Read More)

10M+ People Use One Touch™ Just Six Months After Launch; Press Release
 
We launched One Touch™ with PayPal just eight months ago and have since seen tremendous growth and adoption of the checkout experience. In just over six months, more than 10 million consumers had opted-in to use One Touch.   (Read More)
 
CPA Releases Multi-Year Data on Canadian Payment Methods and Trends;  Press Release
 
New research released today from the Canadian Payments Association (CPA) shows changing consumer and business behaviours and a payment system in transition. The Canadian Payment Methods and Trends Report points to a growing dependency on electronic payments and new payment channels, which appear poised to move to the forefront of Canadian payments.   (Read More)
 
New NACHA White Paper: Introduction to ISO 20022 for U.S. Financial Institutions;  NACHA
 
The "Introduction to ISO 20022 for U.S. Financial Institutions" white paper sheds light on the practices and opportunities of ISO 20022 in the U.S. and global payments landscape, and dispels the myths surrounding what use of this standard can and cannot support.  (Read More)
 
Paytm’s Founder On Its Online-To-Offline Strategy In India; TechCrunch
 
Paytm already claims to be India’s largest mobile payments platform, with most of its revenue coming from payments for utility bills, app downloads, and online purchases. The Alibaba-backed company, however, is eager to find new growth areas for its business and, like many other Asian e-commerce companies, is honing in on O2O commerce.  (Read More)

Tech Industry Leaders Launch Coalition to Advocate for Policies to Foster Innovation in Financial Services; Press Release
 
Technology industry leaders Amazon, Apple, Google, Intuit and PayPal today announced the formation of Financial Innovation Now, a coalition that will promote policies to help foster greater innovation in financial services.  (Read More)
 
Adyen CEO: Banks Have Lost The Payment Battle; INFORMILO
 
It is really not a great time to be a bank, says Pieter van der Does, co-founder, CEO and president of Amsterdam-based payments company Adyen, at least not in the payments space.   (Read More)

Breaking down the Dwolla network to its core; medium.com

Dwolla, as a network… has no money. It’s not a bank. Dwolla does not hold money. The Dwolla network talks to banks on behalf of members of the network. (Read More)

Payments Businesses Are Damn Hard: The Cover App Edition; re/code

Cover, a young payments app, is accepted in 350 restaurants in four cities. It has processed more than $10 million in transactions since the beginning of the year. But it will record, at most, just $150,000 in revenue in 2015 after passing on a big cut of its fees to other financial institutions, its founder says. (Read More)

Wells Fargo: Text and Email Alerts to Customers Exceed Half a Billion This Year; Press Release

Wells Fargo & Company announced that its customers have received over half a billion text and email alerts so far this year from the company, giving them timely information about bank account activity and tools to manage their money. Wells Fargo customers have the opportunity to sign-up for more than a dozen different consumer alerts.  (Read More)

Ingenico Said to Join Bidding for Payments Firm Worldpay; Bloomberg

Ingenico Group, a French payments-processing company, has joined the race to buy Worldpay Ltd. ahead of the U.K. rival’s planned initial public offering, according to a person familiar with the matter.   (Read More)

Consumers Believe Nontraditional Providers Will Drive Financial Industry Innovation, Says Research from Raddon Financial Group; Press Release

While nearly half of all U.S. consumers believe nontraditional providers will drive innovation in the financial services industry, only 38 percent said they would consider a nontraditional provider for future financial services needs, according to a survey from Raddon Financial Group, a leading provider of financial industry research and trends data. However, likelihood to use a nontraditional provider such as PayPal, Amazon, Apple or Google broke down sharply along generational lines, with younger consumers much more likely to consider doing so.    (Read More)

Wirecard Said to Join Worldpay Contest With $9.4 Billion Bid; Bloomberg Business

German payments processor Wirecard AG has joined the bidding for U.K. rival Worldpay Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the matter.Wirecard is competing against private-equity bidders, including a joint proposal from Blackstone Group and Hellman & Friedman, as Worldpay also prepares for a possible initial public offering, the people said, asking not to be identified because the process is private.    (Read More)

NCR Small Business Releases All-in-One Tablet POS System; Press Release

NCR Small Business today announced the launch of NCR Silver Register™, an all-in-one, tablet point-of-sale (POS) system that is built for purpose, runs NCR Silver™ in the cloud and excludes third-party user applications to help maximize employee productivity and help minimize security risks. (Read More)

How to scale: Lessons from Stripe CEO, Patrick Collison; khosla Ventures

Stripe CEO, Patrick Collison, talks with Keith Rabois about culture and recruiting. Hear why Stripe tries to hire people who are intrinsically happy, why they’re willing to recruit people who are not initially enthusiastic about the company and what makes their onboarding process unique. (Read More)

Barclays expands contactless wearables; The Guardian

Bank launching key fobs, an updated wristband and stickers so that customers can pay for everyday items.  (Read More)

Turmoil in Payments; Filene Report

The evolution of payments is perhaps the most dynamic topic in financial services today. To paint a picture of the shifting landscape, Filene completed more than two-dozen expert interviews, conducted a survey to gauge credit unions’ challenges around payments and what they’re doing about them, and examined existing literature.   (Read More)

EBA Chairman: Banks Must Understand Blockchain Tech; CoinDesk

Banks need to understand blockchain technology and explore its long-term benefits, according to the head of group payments and operations at the Bank of Ireland and chairman of the European Banking Association (EBA) working group.   (Read More)

PayPal is Forever Changing Commerce, Everywhere; PayPal Stories 

The entire commerce experience will be rewired in the next three to five years. With the move to mobile, people can shop on more devices, in more contexts and across more locations than ever before. There are currently more mobile devices than people on the planet, and that opens up the opportunity for consumers and merchants to connect in more meaningful ways. As one of the most trusted, widely-used digital wallets in the world, PayPal is uniquely positioned to deliver this experience.   (Read More)

New Costs Imposed on Banks by Same-Day ACH Could Reshape Pricing Approach; Digital Transactions

Merchants that use the automated clearing house network to accept transactions may not be happy about a new fee expected to be part of a proposed same-day settlement plan, but the plan will impose significant new costs on financial institutions as well. And those costs could reshape banks’ approach to how they price ACH services, according to experts who spoke this week at an ACH conference.  (Read More)

ICICI Bank launches ‘Tap n Pay’, a contactless payment service in arrangement with Tech Mahindra; Telecom Tiger

ICICI Bank in arrangement with Tech Mahindra Limited, on Monday announced the launch of ‘Tap n Pay’, a contactless payment service based on the Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. This innovative payment service enables anyone (account holder of ICICI Bank or not) to make over-the-counter payments without using cash. It allows users to just tap the NFC enabled tag or mobile phone at the merchant’s point-of-sale device to make payments.   (Read More)

India Tech Startups: Seven Things That Blew My Mind; re/code

For the last two years, I’ve been fascinated by the rise of the tech industry in India as investors and big American companies like Amazon have poured billions into the country to either support or combat powerful homegrown players such as Flipkart and Ola Cabs. So a little over a week ago, I traveled to India to speak at the India Internet Day conference and to meet with the startups and investors who are building the hottest tech ecosystem outside of the U.S.  (Read More)

Remitly raises $12.5M to help immigrants send money to friends, family abroad; GeekWire

Sending money to friends and family abroad can be inefficient and expensive. Seattle-based startup Remitly has created a tool that aims to fix this problem — given the company’s growth and its most recent investment round, it’s certainly finding success doing so.  (Read More)

U.S. Bank Becomes Member of clearXchange to Bring Customers Faster, More Secure Digital Payments; Press Release

U.S. Bank, lead bank of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), has made an investment in and joined clearXchange, the largest bank-focused digital payments network in the United States. With the addition of U.S. Bank, the clearXchange network now includes 5 of the largest banks in the United States, along with multiple regional financial institutions, who together serve over 100 million online banking and 50 million mobile banking customers.   (Read More)

Alibaba takes a 25% stake in Indian online payments provider Paytm; FirstPost

Ant Financial Services Group has just announced its first investment in an Indian company by picking up 25% stake in One97. Ant Financial includes Alipay, the payment platform of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which was spun off in 2004. (Read More)

Bitnet Partnership Opens Up 260 Airlines to Bitcoin Payments; CoinDesk

Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP), a payment network owned by major international airlines such as American Airways, British Airways and Lufthansa, has partnered with bitcoin payment processor Bitnet. (Read More)

Cashless ecosystem: National Payment Corporation building platform for payment mechanisms; The Economic Times

BENGALURU: Apple Pay may not be launching in India any time soon, but India is planning a major push to unify different payment mechanisms to create a cashless ecosystem in the country. The National Payment Corporation of India, an organisation for all retail payments supported by India's largest banks, is building a single interface platform for all transactions. (Read More)

BitBeat: Kenya’s BitPesa Raises $1.1 Million, Expands Operations; MoneyBeat

BitPesa, the Nairobi-based startup that’s taken aim at the global remittance business, announced that it’s raised $1.1 million in a second round of funding led by San Francisco-based Pantera Capital. Dan Morehead, Pantera’s CEO and founder, joined the startup’s board of directors. (Read More)

Block Chain 2.0: The Renaissance of Money; WIRED

From 2008 to date, no other technology has been the subject of such fervent debate. Irrespective of your opinion, the rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies cannot be ignored. Today, there are a number of billion dollar businesses that accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. These include Dell, Reddit, Expedia, PayPal, and most recently, Microsoft. So for the uninitiated who have not yet grasped what Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are, you ought to catch up. This is not something that should be ignored and there is a vast array of resources that explain the concept. In this post I’ll try to make sense of the Block Chain Protocol and the emerging ecosystem that is growing on it. (Read More)

Much more than digital cash; The Economist

BITCOIN may well be the world’s worst-performing currency. In 2014 it lost more than half of its value against the dollar, beating even Ukraine’s hryvnia and the Russian rouble. But measured by the number of new books it has inspired, bitcoin is top of the pile. Nearly 200 titles about the crypto-currency came out last year, according to Amazon. Another dozen will hit the shelves in the coming months. (Read More)

Academic Research on Bitcoin Tripled in 2014; CoinDesk

Academia is increasingly focusing on bitcoin, and hundreds of papers on the subject have now been published, according to research by author and alternative finance commentator Brett Scott.  (Read More)    

Australian Regulator: Bitcoin is Not a Financial Product; CoinDesk

Digital currencies are not a financial product and operators do not need licenses to trade or hold them, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has said. (Read More)

Money20/20 insights and reflections; The Green Sheet

Money20/20 2014 turned out to be a great place to hear what's new in payments around the globe, as well as to gather views and perspectives from industry executives and innovators.   (Read More)

PayPal is the biggest threat to British banks; paymenteye

The threat to UK lenders by challenger banks like Metro Bank and Virgin Money pales in comparison to that posed by PayPal, according to new research.  (Read More)

Though Under a Cloud of Doubts, Bitcoin Marches Past 100,000 Mark in Daily Transactions; Digital Transactions

While governments and established payments networks around the world reckon with Bitcoin, the upstart digital currency has itself had to reckon this year with volatility that has seen its price plunge about 50% since its $700-plus January high.  (Read More)

Orange County, CA’s FIRST 2-way Bitcoin ATM machine; Press Release

ezCoinAccess is launching Orange County’s first Bitcoin ATM, by ZenBox, on December 13th at the newly constructed Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC). The ATM will be located at the Mission Market Express, which is in the Grand Foyer of the new train station.  (Read More)

Earthport, the largest open network for global bank payments to offer real-time international payments capability using Ripple: Press Release

Earthport and Ripple Labs today announced a global partnership which will see the two companies use their combined expertise and technology to offer real-time cross-border bank payments. Earthport’s new offering will integrate the Ripple protocol alongside its payments network and platform, bringing a wider choice to financial institutions, in particular to optimize their liquidity management and minimize the need to pre-fund a payment account while executing cross-border transactions.  (Read More)

Virgin Money agrees strategic partnership with Monitise; Press Release

Virgin Money has announced a seven-year agreement with Monitise to help develop elements of the bank’s future digital banking services and to provide its customers with innovative mobile solutions.  (Read More)

How HelloBit Plans to Become the Uber for Global Remittance; CoinDesk

Remittance, the ability to send cross-border payments from one party to another, has emerged as a major use case for bitcoin, and a number of companies are already seeking to build global remittance platforms using the digital currency.  (Read More)    

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