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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."
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."
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."
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."
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."
UnionPay Joins Forces with Kai Shing to Provide Property Management Fee QR Code Payment Services for Over 100,000 Property Units in Hong Kong
PR Newswire
"UnionPay has announced the launch of an industry-first property management QR code scanning payment service in Hong Kong SAR in cooperation with Kai Shing Management Services Co., Ltd. ("Kai Shing"), a member of Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited, and local acquirer, Easylink Payment Network (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. ("Easylink"). Business owners of over 100 housing estates and more than 100,000 units managed by Kai Shing can now easily pay property management fees by scanning a UnionPay QR Code printed on management fee statement using the UnionPay App or other local bank Apps*, without having to repeatedly enter the electronic bill number and the payment amount each time. Meanwhile, the new service allows tenants to earn cash rebates and bonus points from UnionPay cards, saving human resources and other costs for property management companies."
Enhanced Check Deposit Process from VALID Systems to Compete with Real-time ACH and P2P Payment Platforms
EIN News
"VALID Systems, a leading account-based decisioning and machine learning model provider, is proud to announce a strategic initiative to deliver a new check deposit solution that eliminates transaction risk and provides bank customers with immediate access to their check funds. The new check deposit solution is designed to compete with emerging real-time ACH payments and P2P platforms such as Zelle, Apple Pay, and Venmo."
Account-to-Account Payments Set to Revolutionize Shopping, with E-commerce Payments Reaching $525 Billion Globally: Worldpay from FIS 2023 Global Payments Report
Businesswire
"In 2022, account-to-account (A2A) payments continued to grow across the globe, with the expansion of real-time payment systems helping to provide faster, safer and more convenient payments for consumers at the checkout, according to a new report released today from global financial technology leader FIS® (NYSE: FIS). The Worldpay from FIS Global Payments Report 2023 examines how consumers pay today both in-store and online across 40 global markets."
FICO UK Credit Card Market Report: January 2023
Businesswire
"New data from FICO on UK card trends appears to reflect the contrasting picture of the economy. January saw inflation slightly pegged back compared to the end of 2022; retail sales also improved marginally in the new year. In a similar vein, the FICO data shows that many of those consumers missing one credit card payment in December continued to struggle with their debts in the new year, with a marked increased in two missed payments. However, the balance for two missed payments dropped, potentially reflecting curtailed spending."
March 22, 2023
Top Post
U.S. Payments Forum Unveils First-of-its-Kind Comprehensive Resource on Authentication Techniques for Remote and In-App Payments
GlobeNewswire News Room
"The U.S. Payments Forum today announces the publication of its most comprehensive white paper to date. The resource, “Device Authentication and Consumer Verification Techniques for Mobile In-App and Remote Payments,” aims to provide the payments industry with an in-depth reference point for the implementation of tools and techniques to reduce card-not-present (CNP) fraud."
On the web
SoFi Checking and Savings to Offer Access Up To $2 Million in FDIC Insurance
SoFi
"SoFi members – we are thrilled to announce that we will be offering the opportunity to get FDIC insurance up to $2 million on all bank balances¹, through the new SoFi FDIC Insurance Network, increasing from the industry standard $250,000 per account, over the coming days. This increased coverage is provided by allowing SoFi to seamlessly place members deposits beyond the standard insurance coverage with specifically identified FDIC insured partner banks. As always, there are zero account fees for SoFi Checking and Savings², and no fees to increase FDIC insurance coverage. All SoFi Checking and Savings members will receive emails notifying them they are now able to sign up over the coming days."
Checkout.com Launches Virtual and Physical Card Issuing
TechCrunch
"Fintech startup Checkout.com is better known for its payment processing service, but the company is launching a new product today: its customers can now create payment cards for their own customers. The company has been testing Checkout.com Issuing for a while, and millions of cards have already been created with the new service. Checkout.com supports physical cards as well as virtual cards that can be used multiple times or can be set to be disabled after the first payment."
IXOPAY Partners with Forter
IXOPAY
"Leading Payment Orchestration Platform provider IXOPAY today announced a new partnership with Forter, the Trust Platform for digital commerce, to deliver accurate, real-time decisions about customer trustworthiness. The instant, automated fraud decisioning from Forter will help IXOPAY merchants drive revenue growth, improve the customer experience and deliver a clear business impact."
Amazon and Panera Team Up to Help You Pay for Orders and Access Rewards with Just the Palm of your Hand
US About Amazon
"One in five Americans visit a Panera bakery-cafe every quarter—that’s over 66 million Americans dining in or taking away at more than 2,100 Panera locations across the country. Amazon One, our palm recognition service that lets customers enter, identify, and pay, will for the first time provide the additional capability of linking MyPanera loyalty memberships to customers’ Amazon One profiles. Panera is the first restaurant chain to offer Amazon One’s new loyalty linking capability, allowing guests to take full advantage of their MyPanera loyalty program, as well as pay for their purchases with just their palm."
On the wires
i2c Global Platform Enables Wirex to Expand Multi-Currency Card to Australia
Businesswire
i2c Inc., a global provider of banking and payments technology platform, today announced their partnership with Wirex, a next-gen borderless cryptocurrency and fiat payments platform, to deliver its multi-currency debit card to Australia. The collaboration builds on a longstanding partnership between the two payment leaders, expanding the Wirex prepaid crypto-enabled card program from the United States, APAC and European regions to Australia. Similar to the other programs, Australian Wirex cardholders will manage and use multiple currencies while traveling using a single card.
Cross River and Pay.com Partner to Create All-Inclusive Payments Platform for Businesses
Businesswire
"Cross River Bank, a leading technology infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, today announced a new partnership with U.K. based Pay.com. This partnership will enhance and expand Pay.com’s automated payment platform into the U.S. and drive additional growth opportunities. The partnership enables Pay.com’s current and future merchants to accept multiple payment methods, such as credit and debit cards, as well as alternative payment methods such as digital wallets, ACH transfers and more, all via Cross River’s one-stop-shop."
Comdata to Launch Premier C-Store Point-of-Sale Solutions Powered by GK
GlobeNewswire News Room
Comdata, Inc., a FLEETCOR company and world leader in payment innovation, today announced the upcoming release of a premier c-store point-of-sale (POS) solution for convenience retailers, travel centers, and truck stops across the country. The state-of-the-art Comdata CStore POS and payment solution, set to launch in late spring, is powered by GK CLOUD4RETAIL ensuring the most innovative and flexible solutions in POS and payment capabilities.
GTreasury Launches ClearConnect Gateway to Give CFOs and Treasurers the Industry’s Fastest and Most Comprehensive Banking API Integrations
GlobeNewswire News Room
"GTreasury, a treasury and risk management platform provider, today announced the launch of ClearConnect Gateway, a uniquely-comprehensive, out-of-the-box global bank API connectivity suite. ClearConnect Gateway offers GTreasury customers a giant step forward from the expensive, slow, and time-intensive connections commonly found in corporations today."
March 21, 2023
On the wires
Circle Applies for Regulatory Approvals in France, Doubling Down on European Expansion
PR Newswire
"Circle, a global digital financial technology firm and the issuer of USDC and EUROC, has today announced it has filed applications in France to become both a licensed Electronic Money Institution (demande d'agrément en qualité d'établissement de monnaie électronique) and a registered Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) (demande d'enregistrement en qualité de prestataire de services sur actifs numériques) under the rigorous requirements set out by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) and Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). Circle's intent to pursue full approval from the AMF could make it the first company to receive full authorisation under the DASP regulatory regime."
Finastra Partners with Aspire Systems to Facilitate Payments Modernization and Instant Payments for Financial Institutions Globally
PR Newswire
"Finastra, a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, today announced its partnership with Aspire Systems, a global technology services firm, to enable financial institutions worldwide to transform their payments operations and accelerate their instant payments offerings. With Finastra's Payments To Go and Aspire Systems' implementation and system integration capabilities, customers will benefit from an end-to-end, multi-rail payments processing SaaS solution, available on Microsoft Azure. They will have direct access to networks such as TARGET Instant Payments Settlements (TIPS) from The European Central Bank, the US real time payments (RTP) and FedNow, and SWIFT."
Visa Defines New Era of How Money Travels Abroad
Businesswire
Remittances are not only a lifeline for millions of migrant workers and their families, they are also vitally important for the prosperity of many developing economies around the world. As the amount of global remittance inflows continues to reach new records1, 53% of surveyed consumers are turning to digital apps to send and receive funds around the world. Visa today unveiled its “Money Travels: 2023 Digital Remittances Adoption” research report, a survey of over 14,000 consumers across ten countries, revealing that digital remittances are quickly becoming the most popular way to move money internationally, when compared to going to a physical bank or branch (34%); sending cash, checks or money orders by mail (12%); or giving money to another person who is traveling to their home country (11%).
Marqeta Announces Partnership with Stables in Australia to Power Prepaid Card
Businesswire
"Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, today announced a new partnership with Stables (formerly Tiiik) to power its new Mastercard prepaid card. Based in Sydney, Australia, Stables is a digital wallet that allows users to spend, send and earn stablecoins, all on one balance. With Marqeta’s dynamic spend controls and Just-in-Time funding capabilities, Stables’ customers will be able to convert stablecoins into fiat and spend wherever Mastercard cards are accepted online and in-store globally."
March 20, 2023
On the web
Flagstar Bank to Buy Some Signature Bank Assets, but Not Crypto Operations
TechCrunch
"Flagstar Bank, a subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp, has signed a takeover agreement with U.S. regulators for some of Signature Bank’s assets and loans. Earlier this month, after Silicon Valley Bank’s customers all tried to withdraw their funds at the same time, Signature Bank was the second victim of a bank run...So what is Flagstar Bank getting? “Today’s transaction included the purchase of about $38.4 billion of Signature Bridge Bank, N.A.’s assets, including loans of $12.9 billion purchased at a discount of $2.7 billion,” the FDIC said. In the coming days, the 40 branches of Signature Bank will be rebranded as Flagstar Bank branches as well. The FDIC is keeping a significant portion of Signature Bank’s assets — approximately $60 billion in loans, bonds and other assets. If the agency can’t find any buyer, it will just hold those assets for the time being. Flagstar Bank also confirmed that the transaction doesn’t include any digital assets, crypto-related assets or deposits."
On the wires
Fiserv and Central Payments Deliver Modern Issuing Capabilities to Fintechs and Financial Institutions
Businesswire
Fiserv, Inc., a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, and Central Payments L.L.C., a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) provider, are enabling fintechs, enterprise businesses and payment facilitators to bring financial products and services to market with greater speed and growth potential.
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