Reuters
Walmart-backed PhonePe said on Thursday it raised $350 million from private equity firm General Atlantic at a $12 billion valuation, making it India's most valuable payments firm and giving it funds to expand into the lucrative lending space. A second tranche of investments from marquee global and Indian investors is expected to close next month, a PhonePe spokesperson said, declining to give further details.
Reuters
Mastercard Inc and Visa Inc will rely on China reopening to give travel spending a boost, Wall Street analysts said, as the pace of growth in other parts of the world eases from a post-pandemic boom. Executives at the payments companies on Thursday pointed to further room for travel recovery in China, which earlier this month reopened its borders after dropping its stringent COVID-19 control measures.
Reuters
Digital payments firm Stripe has hired Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to explore a public listing and alternatives to allow employees to cash out stakes in the private company, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The move, communicated to Stripe employees in an internal memo earlier on Thursday, would give them an opportunity to sell shares in the company either to private investors or in a public market, the sources said.
Cointelegraph
Internet payment processor Stripe is reportedly eyeing a public offering and has set a 12-month timeline to explore the possibility. Stripe has hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to advise on the feasibility and timing of a public-market debut, according to a Jan. 26 report by The Wall Street Journal. A source with knowledge of the matter told the Journal that Stripe's executives will either take the company public or allow employees to sell shares in a private transaction.
Biometric Update
The new biometric payment card from Giesecke+Devrient has been launched under the brand name ‘Convego YOU.’ Benefits to issuers include a compelling new offering for high-value customers, an enjoyable user experience, inherently secure authentication, robust onboarding and G+D extensive experience as a partner, according to a company announcement.
PR Newswire
Mastercard and Ubirider, Portugal-based makers of the mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platform Pick designed to serve riders, transport operators and cities, have entered into an agreement to jointly offer Innovative digital solutions that combine operational, payment and ticketing resources and data for public transport agencies and operators. Through this partnership, Mastercard and Ubirider will look to expand on the early success of the products in Portugal to simplify access and payments for mobility services.
Businesswire
Wise, the global technology company building the best way to move money around the world, launched 15 new partnerships in 2022 and enters 2023 with a total of 60 partners globally. These partnerships are made possible through Wise Platform, which allows banks and businesses to embed the power of Wise into their existing platform. Almost 10 million new customers gained access to Wise, via Wise Platform, in 2022 alone.
ZoodPay
ZoodPay, a leading digital lending platform for e-commerce in the Middle East and Central Asia, has entered into a strategic partnership with Mastercard to launch the first-of-its-kind prepaid virtual installment card in the Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) region. This collaboration will expand financial and digital inclusion, benefiting the underbanked population and those with no credit data or limited access to finance.
U.S. Payments Forum
The U.S. Payments Forum today announces its 2023 Steering Committee and Officers. The group serves as a leadership organization within the Forum, essential in enabling efficient, timely and effective implementation of emerging and existing payment technologies in the U.S. market and beyond. The group is comprised of payments leaders representing top global and domestic payment networks, merchants, issuers, acquirers and industry suppliers. The following members have been elected as Steering Committee officers for 2023...
Bold Commerce
Bold Commerce, the ecommerce technology company that powers checkout and subscription experiences for leading retailers and DTC brands, today announced a new integration with PayPal, the financial technology company that empowers consumers and merchants to join and thrive in the global economy with its payments and commerce platform. PayPal is working with Bold Commerce to bring payments and commerce together as the fintech company moves into the growing headless commerce market.
Clik2pay
Payment service provider Clik2pay announced it has developed an industry changing application which allows any Shopify store to seamlessly offer a direct-from-account payment option to customers. When using Clik2pay, payments are completed safely and securely using Interac e-Transfer™, one of the most trusted money transfer systems in the world.
Klarna
Klarna, the global leader in the generational shift away from credit cards, today announced the launch of Money Story in the US Klarna App - a personal spending summary of 2022 that provides millions of consumers with useful insights into their spending habits and helps them be informed and in control of their finances. Using the animated “story” format popularized by social media, Money Story reveals spending habits to consumers in an engaging and familiar way.
Modern Retail
For one buy now, pay later platform, sizing down its operations may unlock the path to profitability amid changes in consumer spending and a tightening of the BNPL market. Australia-based BNPL platform Zip Co. shut down its operations in the United Kingdom and Singapore late last year. In turn, it decreased its cash burn and ended the year with $78.5 million in cash and liquidity, according to its second-quarter earnings report released Tuesday.
EIN News
OnlineCheckWriter.com, a leading b2b payments platform, announced that its customers can now easily integrate their FreshBooks accounts with its platform to handle payments and accounting tasks. The integration allows FreshBooks users to streamline their payment process, from invoicing to issuing payments, all in one place.
J.D. Power
Ever find yourself away from home without your smartphone? It feels like you accidentally left an appendage behind. Modern life virtually requires that each of us has our devices accessible at any time. So how is it that most Americans still find that using a credit card is more convenient than a mobile wallet? According to J.D. Power data, mobile wallet usage among Americans continues to grow in stores, but the percentage of customers that still say it is easier to use a physical credit/debit card than a mobile wallet is on the rise.
Business Travel News
Digital tipping platform eTip is partnering with Visa to speed up the process and adoption of its tool, the company announced. The platform enables guests at hotels and other service industry customers to tip housekeepers, bellhops, valet attendants and other staff with their digital wallet or credit card, including corporate cards. Guests can scan a QR code or NFC tag—or some hotels opt to send the tipping information via text—and can provide their payment information, eTip CEO Nicolas Cassis said. With the new Visa collaboration, eTip can use the Visa rails so that the tip payments can go immediately into the employees' digital wallets, he said.
Reuters
The digital version of the euro currency will be free to use and available to all but the European Central Bank does not want to keep any personal data on its users, ECB board member Fabio Panetta said on Monday. The ECB is working on a digital version of its currency and is in the process of outlining the broader design, also hoping to alleviate concerns that the digital currency could disrupt the financial system and give the central bank too much data on citizens.
Reuters
Germany's cartel office regulator said on Monday it had initiated proceedings against payment company PayPal Europe over the possibility that it hindered competition. The subject of the proceedings was PayPal's rules for extra charges and the presentation of PayPal in the terms of use for Germany, the watchdog said. PayPal did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The regulator is investigating in particular rules that say merchants may not offer their goods and services at a lower price to customers who choose a cheaper payment method than PayPal.
The Irish Times
Irish-founded payments technology company Stripe has signed an expanded deal with Amazon that will see the fintech process more of the online retailer’s payments. The new agreement will see Stripe become a strategic payments partner for Amazon in the US, Europe and Canada, processing payments for Prime, Audible, Kindle, Amazon Pay, Buy With Prime and other Amazon services. That accounts for a significant part of Amazon’s total payments volume.
CNBC
Several banks are reportedly working on a digital wallet that links with debit and credit cards to compete with Apple Pay and PayPal. According to the Wall Street Journal, the digital wallet would be operated by Early Warning Services, a joint venture from several banks that also runs Zelle. The major banks involved include Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, according to the report.
PR Newswire
BNY Mellon and Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology, have joined forces to deliver additional capabilities for real-time foreign exchange (FX) rate quotes for payments from U.S. financial institutions. Using innovative application programming interface (API) connectivity, financial institutions leveraging Payments Exchange: Foreign Exchange Services from Fiserv can now seamlessly access BNY Mellon's real-time FX rate quotes in over 120 currencies without the need for additional integration.
Federal Reserve
We study credit card rewards as an ideal laboratory to quantify redistribution between consumers in retail financial markets. Comparing cards with and without rewards, we find that, regardless of income, sophisticated individuals profit from reward credit cards at the expense of naive consumers. To probe the underlying mechanisms, we exploit bank-initiated account limit increases at the card level and show that reward cards induce more spending, leaving naive consumers with higher unpaid balances. Naive consumers also follow a sub-optimal balance-matching heuristic when repaying their credit cards, incurring higher costs....
DevPro Journal
The current economy has significantly altered consumer buying behaviors and business operations...Let’s explore ways that you can help merchants mitigate the ongoing pain points by offering solutions that help them increase authorization rates, which results in more sales and revenue.
Businesswire
Bluefin, a leader in integrated payments and data and payment security, today announced it has teamed up with Visa for network tokenization. Through this collaboration, Bluefin will integrate directly with Visa to provide network tokens across card brands.
Businesswire
Paymentus Holdings Inc., a leading electronic bill presentment and payment provider, today unveiled expanded Cash Bill Pay capabilities on its Instant Payment Network®. Powered by Green Dot Corporation’s expansive Green Dot Network, billers connected to the Instant Payment Network will be able to accept cash payments from customers made at more than 90,000 retail locations.
Businesswire
CTM File
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is reportedly drawing up plans to link credit cards issued by Visa and Mastercard to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the country's popular online payments protocol. According to news portal The Morning Context, two industry executives have said that the central bank will decide before April. A decision in favour of the two US companies would mark a distinct change in; as Bloomberg comments: “India’s dealings with American card networks has been frosty.
BIS
Multilateral platforms – cross-border payment systems that are multi-jurisdictional by design – could enhance cross-border payments by reducing the need for intermediaries and allowing payment service providers in different jurisdictions to transact directly with each other. This joint report released by the CPMI, the BIS Innovation Hub, the IMF and the World Bank, identifies challenges to address and approaches to establishing a multilateral platform.
PR Newswire
Playter, the UK's leading provider of B2B Buy-Now-Pay-Later for SMEs, is once again shaking things up in the world of alternative lending, with its newest credit offering, "Paid". Playter's mission to help SMEs release cash flow for growth and investment by offering flexible financing, continues apace with the addition of Paid.
Businesswire
Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, today announced its new web push provisioning product. With web push provisioning, Marqeta customers can reduce friction at the point-of-sale and enable their users to pay directly from their mobile wallets without requiring them to download a mobile application.
