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March 28, 2023
On the web
Apple Introduces Apple Pay Later to Allow Consumers to Pay for Purchases Over Time
Businesswire
"Apple® today introduced Apple Pay® Later in the U.S. Designed with users’ financial health in mind, Apple Pay Later1 allows users to split purchases into four payments, spread over six weeks with no interest and no fees.2 Users can easily track, manage, and repay their Apple Pay Later loans in one convenient location in Apple Wallet®. Users can apply for Apple Pay Later loans of $50 to $1,000, which can be used for online and in-app purchases made on iPhone® and iPad® with merchants that accept Apple Pay.3 Starting today, Apple will begin inviting select users to access a prerelease version of Apple Pay Later, with plans to offer it to all eligible users in the coming months."
EMVCo, FIDO Alliance and W3C Extend Collaboration to Promote Seamless and Secure Web Payments
EMVCo
"EMVCo, the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) have renewed the charter for the Web Payments Security Interest Group (WPSIG) for a further two years. Formed in 2019, the charter renewal will enable the organisations to continue collaborating to enhance the security and interoperability of web payments to support seamless e-commerce checkout experiences. The renewal follows the recent publication of an updated version of the ‘How EMVCo, FIDO and W3C Technologies Relate’ document to meet the evolving needs of the payments industry."
Multiplier Integrates Wise Platform to Enable Faster Client Payouts
PR Aasia
"Multiplier, a multi-award winning global employment platform, has announced its partnership with Wise Platform to streamline global payroll for international businesses. The integration enables Multiplier's clients to send payouts to its freelancers and contractors in 57 currencies around the world as part of Multiplier's optimised payments infrastructure, reducing transaction times and providing real-time visibility into payment progress."
On the wires
Ingenico Acquires Phos, Extending its Offer for Merchant Payment Acceptance via Smartphone
PR Newswire
"Ingenico, the global leader in payments acceptance solutions, announces its acquisition of 100% of Phos, a leading provider of software-only Point of Sale solutions (SoftPoS). Phos is a premier player in the fast-evolving SoftPoS space, providing best-in-class highly flexible solutions to a large number of acquirers and PSPs. SoftPoS enables off-the-shelf smartphones or tablets to become payment terminals while complying with the highest standards of payment security."
March 27, 2023
On the web
Early Warning Unveils Paze, Its Multi-Bank Wallet Aimed at Easing E-Commerce
Digital Transactions
"Early Warning Services LLC, a fintech owned by seven of the nation’s largest banks, will launch its digital wallet with a pilot this summer followed by general availability in the fall, the top official in charge of the project said Monday. The new wallet, called Paze and aimed exclusively at e-commerce use, will start with backing by the owners of EWS but will be “available to all banks regardless of size,” James Anderson, managing director of wallet at EWS, told Digital Transactions News. “Every financial institution will have access to it. It’s not a big integration.” Multiple issuers could be represented in a single Paze wallet, Anderson said."
MyFloc Sets Financial Management as ‘Tapestry’ Experience
AJC
"When Elizabeth Clubb found herself helping with financial caregiving toward the end of her father’s life, she saw that, as a former professor, he was surrounded by lots of people — caregivers, family, past students. “His solution for, really, expenses … when he couldn’t do those things himself was to give whoever was there in his life his checkbook,” she said. “That is not a good solution.”"
Sibstar is the UK’s First Debit Card and App Designed Specifically to Help People Living with Dementia
AltFi
"A new fintech Sibstar has launched to reduce financial vulnerability for people living with dementia. Founded by Jayne Sibley (pictured), Sibstar has a debit card and app that allows those with dementia to spend money safely. It has been in beta testing for the last nine months in a pilot of 65 people in the UK who are affected by dementia and their families. The company was launched in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society and Mastercard."
India's Paytm Wins Regulator Extension for Payment Aggregator Licence Application
Reuters
"Indian financial technology company Paytm Payments Services Ltd has received an extension from the country's banking regulator to apply for a payment aggregator licence and aims to reapply in about 15 days, the company said on Sunday. Paytm Payments Services, in the meantime, can continue with the online payment aggregation business for its existing partners, without taking on any new merchants, the company said in a notification to stock exchanges on Sunday."
On the wires
Equifax Introduces New OneScore Scoring Model to Help Expand Access to Credit and Drive Financially Inclusive Lending
PR Newswire
"Equifax® continues to support financially inclusive lending with the launch of OneScore, a new consumer credit scoring model that combines the company's leadership in alternative data insights with the power of the Equifax Cloud™ to provide U.S. lenders and service providers with a more comprehensive financial picture of credit seeking consumers. OneScore is unique to the industry because it is the first single score to combine traditional credit history with telecommunications, pay TV and utility payment data on over 191 million consumers, as well as Equifax DataX and Teletrack specialty finance data on 80 million consumers - including payment history from non-traditional banks and lenders - potentially increasing credit scores by up to 25 points and the scorable population by more than 20 percent."
Western Union Expands its Service Offering Across Peru
Businesswire
"Western Union announced today an expansion of its services across Peru, offering customers more ways to send and receive money in a fast, convenient and innovative way. Western Union customers in Peru can now receive money from friends and family around the world, pay their electricity, water and cell phone bills as well as buy and sell dollars and euros at 10 PlazaVea, Vivanda and Metro supermarkets strategically located in eight points in the capital and two key regional cities."
Delivering Funds Faster: Onbe’s Send to Wallet Simplifies and Accelerates Mobile Wallet Provisioning for Users
Businesswire
"Onbe, a leading disbursements financial technology company, today announces the launch of Send to Wallet. An early to market offering, Send to Wallet, gives users the ability to add their virtual card quickly, simply, and securely to their preferred mobile wallet, from a web browser, without downloading an app or inputting bank details. Users load their virtual card directly into a mobile wallet by following prompts from a web browser email, or on a mobile phone - and with a few simple clicks, the card is ready to spend. This new offering complements Onbe’s existing mobile wallet provisioning options, and delivers a smooth, modern experience for both merchants and the 73% of consumers in the US who prefer to shop and pay through digital methods."
Real-Time Payments Platform, Pidgin, Partners with Effectiv to Help Financial Institutions Mitigate Transaction Fraud
Businesswire
Pidgin, a secure, real-time payments platform built for the future of payments, has partnered with Effectiv, a fraud-fighting and compliance automation platform to help financial institutions monitor transactions to detect and prevent payments fraud in real time. Through the partnership, financial institutions using Pidgin’s faster payments platform will now have access to Effectiv’s robust fraud mitigation tools. With machine learning-driven fraud protection and AML/BSA parameters, Effectiv’s transaction monitoring and payment fraud detection solutions help keep account holders’ money secure while reducing fraud losses for financial institutions.
March 24, 2023
On the web
Microsoft is Building a Cryptocurrency Wallet into its Edge Browser
The Verge
"Microsoft is building a cryptocurrency wallet for its Edge browser even as the crypto markets struggle. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the software giant has been testing the Microsoft Edge built-in crypto wallet internally in recent months, with plans to eventually ship it to consumers. It’s just the latest feature coming to Microsoft’s increasingly bloated Edge browser. Screenshots of the crypto wallet leaked online last week thanks to Twitter user Albacore, who regularly documents unreleased features in Windows."
India's Tata Group Mulls Pumping $2 Billion into Super App Venture
Reuters
"Indian salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group is considering injecting another $2 billion into its super app venture to bolster its digital business, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The funds would help the group's online platform Tata Neu strengthen its digital offerings, fix technical glitches, and meet any new spending needs, the report said. The injection would take place over two years if the deal goes through, it added."
Visa Boosts Offer for Brazilian Fintech Pismo to $1.4B - Report
Seeking Alpha
"Visa has upped its offer for Pismo, a cloud-based banking and payments platform for banks, to $1.4B from its original offer of $1B, Valor Economico reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. In Brazil, Pismo, which is backed by Amazon and SoftBank, provides cloud infrastructure for banks such as Itaú , BTG+, Pactual's retail platform and part of Citi. It has been expanding globally, most recently into India and Singapore. Valor reported that Visa is in competition with at least one other potential party."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Introduces State Legislation Banning CBDC
Decrypt
CBUAE Launches the Central Bank Digital Currency Strategy “The Digital Dirham”
Central Bank
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.
Swiss Banking Association Proposes Deposit Tokens Focusing on Interoperability
CoinGeek
"The Swiss Banking Association (SBA) has presented a white paper detailing plans for creating a digital Swiss franc which it says will operate as a deposit token (DT) on blockchain technology. Designated in the mold of a stablecoin, the proposed DT will immediately offer users use cases in decentralized finance (DeFi), trading digital assets, and executing transactions in the Internet of Things (IoT) domain. According to the white paper, the DT could find substantial usage in both micro and corporate payments, with the next step for the SBA being feasibility studies."
Biometric Payments Get a Boost as JPMorgan Targets $6B Opportunity
Insider Intelligence
"JPMorgan will pilot biometric technology that lets shoppers pay by scanning their palm or face with select retailers in the US, according to a company statement. The first pilots will work with brick-and-mortar stores in the US and potentially the Miami Formula 1 Grand Prix. If the pilot is successful, the tech will roll out to more US merchant clients in 2024. JPMorgan also launched Commerce Solutions, a suite of payments infrastructure and applications, including cloud-based payments tech, aimed at helping merchants accept consumer and B2B payments."
Crunchfish Partners with IDFC FIRST Bank to Demostrate Offline Retail Payments in RBI's Pilot
Marketscreener
"IDFC FIRST Bank is set to be a part of RBI's pilot project to enable offline payments. This project will give access to digital payments even when there is no network. This unique digital payment solution was designed by Crunchfish for merchants and customers under the RBI's Regulatory Sandbox Program."
Swift Successfully Trials Blockchain for Corporate Actions
Markets Media
"How can the securities industry reduce costly frictions in communicating corporate actions? Learn more about the results of our latest collaborative experiments to find out. Together with six leading securities industry participants – including American Century Investments, Citi and Northern Trust – we’ve successfully piloted an innovative blockchain-based solution that could reduce costly frictions associated with communicating significant corporate events to investors. The testing concluded that the experimental solution could be beneficial for the industry, providing a clear and consistent view of corporate actions throughout the investor ecosystem, as well as quickly alerting when changes or updates occur."
JP Morgan to Pilot Dollar Blockchain Accounts in India’s GIFT City Financial Center
Ledger Insights
"Dollar payments in India are usually made by holding Nostro accounts at U.S.-based banks. In India’s GIFT City, an international financial center, JP Morgan’s recently created branch has been given the green light for a pilot to act as an international settlement bank for other GIFT City banks. In a month or so, banks will be able to have foreign currency accounts with JP Morgan in India as blockchain-based bank accounts, enabling 24/7 settlement instead of being restricted to U.S. opening hours, according to the Economic Times."
March 23, 2023
On the web
Click to Cancel: FTC Proposes Rule to Help Consumers Ditch Subscriptions
NBC News
"A new rule proposed by the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday would make it easier for consumers to cancel recurring subscriptions. The so-called click to cancel provision would require companies to simplify the cancellation process by allowing consumers to terminate services the same way they signed up for them — so if a consumer signed up for a subscription on a website, for example, they would need to be able to cancel it online rather than having to do it by phone or in person."
American Express Launches First Card Bill PayID Service in Australia on the New Payments Platform
American Express
"In a market-leading move, American Express in partnership with payments provider Cuscal, today announces the launch of the first card bill PayID service in Australia on the New Payments Platform (NPP). American Express Card PayID gives consumer and small business Card Members a faster, simpler and more secure way to repay charges on their American Express Card, directly from their bank account...American Express has partnered with Cuscal and connected to their APIs, which will allow American Express Card Members to create a unique PayID that they can save as a payee in their bank’s digital banking channel. This means that when Card Members makes a payment from their bank to their PayID it is routed in real time to their American Express Card account via Cuscal, creating an instant and seamless payment and a better customer experience."
Mastercard to Settle Transactions for Stablecoin Wallet in APAC
Cointelegraph
"Global payment provider Mastercard is launching a stablecoin digital wallet integration with the Australian stablecoin platform Stables. Mastercard and Stables on March 20 announced a collaboration to allow retail customers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region to spend their stablecoins anywhere Mastercard is accepted."
BIS's Project Nexus Prototype Successfully Links Eurosystem, Malaysia and Singapore Payments Systems; Partners in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to Work Towards Wider Payments Connectivity
BIS
"The BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre and partners today announced the successful connection of the test versions of three established IPS using the Nexus model and outlined the next phase of the project to work on the real-world potential of a multilateral network that could be scaled up across more countries. The year-long collaboration included the Bank of Italy, Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), plus the payment systems operators PayNet and Banking Computer Services (BCS). Test payments were initiated using only the mobile phone numbers or the recipients' company registration numbers via the Eurosystem's TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS), Malaysia's Real-time Retail Payments Platform (RPP) and Singapore's Fast and Secure Transfers (FAST) payment system."
Mastercard Send™ Will Soon be Available for Checkout.com Customers in Australia, Hong Kong SAR
IBS Intelligence
Checkout.com, a global payments solutions provider, and Mastercard announced that they will make Mastercard Send™ available to more Checkout.com customers in the Asia Pacific region, starting in Australia and Hong Kong SAR later this year. The Send™ service which powers real-time payments for consumers, gig workers, content creators and organizations of all sizes, wherever they interact worldwide is already available in Singapore.
On the wires
Group-IB's Fraud Protection Most Complete Anti-Fraud Solution on Market -- Frost & Sullivan
PR Newswire
"Group-IB, a global cybersecurity leader headquartered in Singapore, is proud to announce that its fraud protection platform has been recognized as the most complete anti-fraud solution currently on the market by Frost & Sullivan, an international research and consulting firm. Out of nine vendors and products surveyed by Frost & Sullivan in its Global Fraud Detection & Prevention (FDP) Market Study, Group-IB's Fraud Protection differentiated itself from other offerings by being the only anti-fraud solution to contain all seven key functionalities listed by Frost & Sullivan, including bot detection, behavioral biometrics, explainable AI, and API security."
Klarna Brings Smoooth Shopping to ChatGPT
PR Newswire
"Klarna, a leading global retail bank, payments, and shopping service is excited to announce its new collaboration with OpenAI, which will level up the shopping experience. Klarna's engineering teams have been working together with OpenAI to bring smoooth shopping to the hugely popular ChatGPT. As one of the first brands to work with OpenAI to use its protocol to build an integrated Plugin for ChatGPT, Klarna is set to go live with a highly personalized and intuitive shopping experience by providing curated product recommendations to users who ask the platform for shopping advice and inspiration, along with links to shop those products via Klarna's search and compare tool."
PrimePay Unveils New Payroll-Connected On-Demand Pay
PR Newswire
"PrimePay, LLC., a national human capital management (HCM) technology leader, today announced the launch of its Payroll-Connected On-Demand Pay in partnership with Clair, an embedded financial wellness solution that helps employees cover expenses in the moment. Clair is connected to PrimePay's payroll and HR technology, streamlining earned wage advance loans without disrupting working capital or payroll administration."
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