A leading payments industry news source for more than 17 years. Glenbrook curates the news and keeps you abreast of the important daily headlines in payments.

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March 27, 2024

On the web

February 26, 2024

On the web

February 12, 2024

Top Post

January 30, 2024

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January 17, 2024

On the web

January 16, 2024

On the wires

December 13, 2023

On the wires

October 23, 2023

Top Post

October 11, 2023

On the web

September 6, 2023

On the web

Google Pay Autofill in Chrome Will Actually Name and Show Saved Cards

9to5Google

"Google Pay’s autofill experience in Chrome is set to get a big quality of life boost by better identifying your saved cards. Today, the Autofill payment info sheet that appears when you encounter a Card number field lists all your cards by their last four digits, when it expires, and payment network (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) with an accompanying icon at the left."

August 23, 2023

On the web

June 21, 2023

On the wires

June 1, 2023

On the wires

April 19, 2023

On the wires

Google to Open Up UK In-app Payments to Satisfy Regulator's Concerns

Reuters

"Britain's competition regulator said proposals from Alphabet Inc's Google to give app developers the freedom to break away from Google Play's billing system looked to be sufficient to address its concerns about in-app payments. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said in June that Google's complete control over in-app payments unfairly restricted developers by forcing them to use Google Play's billing system, reducing competition and hurting users."

January 31, 2023

On the wires

January 17, 2023

On the web

Google is Piloting its Own ‘Soundbox’ in India for Merchants to Get Audio-Based Payment Alerts

TechCrunch

Soundboxes — hardware used by merchants that emits sounds every time a mobile payment is made — have taken off in India, where point of sale activity can get busy and voice alerts from the soundbox help alert multitasking shopkeepers and assistants to a transaction going through. Now, to keep pushing ahead to build out its own payments business in the world’s second-largest internet market, Google is getting in on the act. The internet giant, which is currently one of the mobile transaction leaders in India with Google Pay, is piloting a soundbox of its own in the country to alert sellers of confirmations for UPI payments — a mobile payment standard developed and now ubiquitous in India for instant payments and transfers between banks, or two mobile users, or a customer and a merchant.

December 29, 2022

On the web

Chrome Now Supports Passkeys, the Password Killer

PC World

“The Google Chrome browser now supports something new to secure your life: passkeys, a stronger, leak-proof version of a password that can use your phone as a token to authorize you to websites. Passkeys can and will be stored inside the Google Password Manager, or inside apps that support passkeys within future versions of Android, Google said. Passkeys are enabled in the lastest version of Chrome in both Windows 11, macOS, and Android.”

December 23, 2022

On the web

Google Play Now Lets Children Send Purchase Requests to Guardians

TechCrunch

“Google already offers parents and guardians tools to restrict purchases their children make on Play Store using the family payment method. The company is now introducing an additional feature that will allow children to send a purchase request for the manager of the family account to approve when there is no present payment method. Children can ask for approval for both paid apps and in-app purchase when the family hasn’t set up a payments method.”

December 22, 2022

On the web

Google Wallet Adds Whimsical Pay Animations for the Holidays

9to5Google

“If you recently used Google Wallet on Android, you might have noticed a touch of holiday whimsy on the Pay screen. Normally, tapping your Android phone to an NFC reader shows the card used and a loading animation just above it. The blue circular progress indicator morphs into a checkmark with that circle, then shrinks to make way for the Google Pay logo. During the holidays, the blue checkmark can morph into any number of characters. One of the more elaborate animations is a cat wearing several holiday sweaters that rolls off your screen to reveal the G Pay icon. It features very smooth transitions, and you don’t even suspect it’s going to occur. The 3-second sequence nearly triples in length, though you can exit or lock your device at any time.”

December 8, 2022

On the wires

Brazil Central Bank Grants Google Pay Payment Institution Status

Reuters

“Alphabet’s Google Pay has received approval to operate as a payment institution in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, the country’s official gazette showed on Thursday, allowing it to initiate payment transactions. Payment initiators, according to Brazil’s central bank, initiate a transaction ordered by the final user but never manage the payment account, nor hold the funds of the transactions. A press spokesperson for Google confirmed the central bank’s authorization and said the move offered “more payment options to users through our platforms in Brazil.” Google Pay currently operates an app serving as a virtual wallet, which allows the user to include their credit and debit cards, vaccination cards and concert tickets, for example. The approval comes days after Brazil’s National Monetary Council also authorized fintechs to initiate payment transactions in the country.”

November 9, 2022

On the web

Amazon Pay Statistics 2022 – Market Share and Web Usage

Enterprise Apps Today

“Amazon being the world’s largest e-commerce website with millions of varied shopping articles has enabled Amazon Pay options for online payment platforms. Technology is stepping into advanced features, not long ago when Amazon was an online shopping site now, we can use it for paying other bills also. What is more exciting is that Alexa and amazon pay work very well together. You can simply ask Alexa to pay the bill and she will do it without you touching the device. This Amazon Pay statistics will give an insight into the features of Amazon Pay, its pros and cons, general statistics, and a comparison between Amazon pay and google pay.”

November 3, 2022

On the web

Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay Divided on UPI Market Share Cap; Government Won’t Intervene

The Economic Times

“The Centre will not “actively intervene” in the matter of conflicting demands by India’s top payment providers over the issue of enforcing a 30% cap on the market share of. apps operating on the unified payment interface (UPI), top officials told ET. This follows contrasting demands on the issue by digital payment providers in recent weeks.While Paytm, the third ranking payment app “believes market capping should be implemented as per the timeline (December 2022), “ market leaders Walmart-owned PhonePe as well as Google Pay had independently approached UPI regulator National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for an extension of the deadline by at least three more years.Senior officials told ET that the mandate to decide on this issue lies with the NPCI and the Reserve Bank of India. However, the Centre will monitor any decision that could potentially affect consumers, they added….As per latest NPCI data for the month of September, PhonePe and Google Pay had market shares of 46.7% and 33.3%, respectively, in terms of volumes of UPI transactions handled.”

October 14, 2022

On the web

Coinbase Inks Google Deal

CoinGeek

“Coinbase is celebrating a new deal with Google that appears a lot less than it seems, while critics are savaging a self-financed documentary on the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder Brian Armstrong. On Tuesday, Coinbase announced a deal with the Google Cloud platform that the exchange framed as “a strategic web3 partnership.” Coinbase claims the deal reflects the Google Cloud team’s recognition of “the importance of expanding crypto services and building in web3.” The deal has four components, including Google Cloud, allowing “select customers” to pay their cloud service bills via “select cryptocurrencies.” These payments will be handled by Coinbase Commerce, the exchange’s effort to expand non-crypto firms’ capacity to accept “crypto” based payments from their customers. This feature is expected to be rolled out early next year.”

October 12, 2022

On the web

Google To Allow Crypto Payments With New Coinbase Deal

Forbes

“While Google’s Cloud Next conference may not pull the crowds like Apple’s annual presentation or even Tesla’s AI Day, there have nonetheless been some interesting developments to come out of this year’s event. Given that Google is now one of the aging stalwarts in the tech industry, it may come as a surprise to some that they plan to begin to accept crypto as payment for some of their cloud computing services. They’ll be relying on Coinbase to facilitate these transactions, which is expected to be operational in early 2023.”

September 2, 2022

On the web

Google Allows Alternative Payment Systems in More Countries

TechCrunch

“Google announced today it’s expanding the user choice billing program for Play Store — which lets users choose alternative payment systems for in-app purchases — to India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan and the European Economic Area. The company is calling all non-gaming developers globally to apply for this program, and if they qualify, they can use third-party payment systems in the above-mentioned regions. The search giant introduced a similar policy for non-gaming developers and users in the EEA region in July. The new guidelines are an extension of that. The company gave a 3% discount on fees for developers using third-party billing in the EEA region. With the new announcement, Google is offering a 4% discount on fees to developers. The company said it will reveal more details about that in the coming weeks and months.”

August 23, 2022

On the web

Google’s Mobile Payment System, Google Wallet, is Now Available in South Africa

Techpoint Africa

“Google Wallet, a mobile payment system, has officially launched in South Africa today, Tuesday, August 23, 2022. It is a virtual wallet that allows users to pay and transfer money directly from their phones. In South Africa, Google Wallet is currently compatible with six banks: FirstRand, Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank, Discovery Bank, and Investec. Google Wallet has partnered with four international airlines —  United, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air France, and Singapore Airlines — that serve South Africa, allowing digital boarding passes and tickets to be stored in Google Wallet and accepted by airlines.”

August 4, 2022

On the web

EU Antitrust Regulators Quiz Developers on Google App Payments – Sources

Reuters

“EU antitrust regulators have asked app developers whether Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit Google’s threat to remove apps from its Play Store if they use other payment options instead of its own billing system has hurt their business, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Critics say fees charged by Google and Apple (AAPL.O) at their mobile app stores are excessive and cost developers collectively billions of dollars a year, a sign of the two companies’ monopoly power…The U.S. tech giant has said apps would be removed from its app store starting June this year if developers do not use its billing system.”

July 21, 2022

On the web

Google Begins Rolling Out Its New Multifunction Mobile Wallet to 39 Countries

NFCW

“Google has begun rolling out a multipurpose digital wallet that enables users to store, use and present digital credentials such as identity cards and health passes as well as payment cards, transit and event tickets and hotel keys in 39 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia. Google announced the new Wallet in May and has now begun rolling it out as an update replacing Google Pay in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, UAE and the UK. Google is also launching Wallet in the USA and Singapore but Android users in both countries will also still be able to use Google Pay for peer-to-peer payments and money management.”

July 19, 2022

On the web

Google to Allow App Developers to Use Rival Payment Systems, to Cut Fees

Reuters

“Alphabet unit Google said it will from Tuesday cut fees to 12%, from 15%, for non-gaming app developers on its Google Play App Store which switch to rival payment systems, as it moves to comply with new EU tech rules. The world’s most popular internet search engine said the fee cut applies only to European consumers while the freedom to use another payment system will eventually be expanded to gaming apps as well. The move underscores a change in Google’s strategy since last year where it now prefers to bow to regulatory and antitrust pressure with offers of concessions rather than embark on lengthy and distracting fights. The EU rules known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will come into force next year, require tech giants to allow app developers to use rival payment platforms for app sales or risk fines of as much as 10% of their global turnover.”

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