Google is to begin offering checking accounts to consumers from next year, in partnership with banks and credit unions, according to The Wall Street Journal... More
Fintech
Facebook Pay launches on Facebook and Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp to follow
Facebook has unveiled a unified payments service designed to provide “a convenient, secure and consistent payment experience across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp”... More
EU banks plot pan-European rival to Visa and Mastercard
A group of 20 European banks are working together on “setting up a pan-European payment system to challenge the dominance of Visa, Mastercard and technology companies such as Google and PayPal,” French news agency AFP reports... More
Mastercard partners with Tappy Technologies for wearable payments in Asia
PARTNER NEWS: Mastercard has announced a strategic partnership with Tappy Technologies that will see the two companies working together to let fashion brands easily add contactless payments to watches, jewellery and other accessories... More
Visa invests in US ultrasonic payments startup
Visa has made “a financial injection” in Lisnr, a US startup that is using ultrasonic data transmission as an alternative to NFC and QR codes for mobile payments... More
Open banking pilot goes live in Korea
A new open banking system which is set to cut transaction fees by 90% has now entered pilot testing, Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has announced... More
Sierra Leone puts national ID cards on the blockchain
The government of Sierra Leone is to introduce a blockchain-based national identity system at the end of this year, enabling citizens to “grant access to approved institutions to assert and verify identity and also build credit histories,” the country’s president has announced... More
CaixaBank reports 87% rise in mobile payments users
One million CaixaBank customers are now using their mobile phone to make in-store payments, up 87% on this time last year, and 100,000 customers are making payments using wearable devices, the Spanish bank has reported... More
Saudi Arabia combines NFC, QR and faster payments to speed move to cashless society
Saudi Payments, Saudi Arabia’s national payments infrastructure operator, is to use a combination of NFC and contactless payments, a new faster payments system and the introduction of a common QR code platform to reduce the use of cash and speed up its move towards a cashless society, managing director Ziad Al Yousef has told NFCW... More
IMF reports on the impact of digital money on banking business models
IMF warns banks to evolve or be ‘left behind’ amid competition from big tech firms — CNBC — “IMF authors Tobias Adrian and Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli said the two most common forms of money today, cash and bank deposits, will ‘face tough competition and could even be surpassed’. But banks are ‘unlikely to disappear’ as they face growing threats from big tech companies and fintech start-ups, the paper said. ‘Some will be left behind no doubt,’ the authors wrote. ‘Others will evolve, but must do so quickly’.”
Uber eyes move into banking and payments business
Uber is making a fintech push with a New York hiring spree — CNBC — “There are many possible payment and lending innovations Uber could come up with: It has 93 million active users globally, most of whom use linked credit cards or fund a wallet called Uber Cash to pay for rides and food delivery… Creating a bank account has been discussed at a high level at Uber but may be years away, or the company could decide against it.”
Visa seeks product manager for cryptocurrency team
Technical Product Manager, Visa Fintech — Visa — “As a product manager on the Visa Crypto team, this person will have responsibility for executing Visa’s product strategy within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This highly motivated individual will be responsible for managing a product roadmap and collaborating with key stakeholders across the strategy, risk, research and engineering organisations.”
Monzo lets customers collect and track digital receipts and loyalty rewards
UK challenger bank Monzo has rolled out a service allowing customers to collect digital receipts and loyalty rewards within its app... More
Ant Financial to pivot away from Alipay?
Exclusive: Ant Financial shifts focus from finance to tech services: sources — Reuters — “Ant Financial Services Group, the dominant Chinese fintech company, is shifting its main focus to technology services and away from payments and consumer finance as Beijing’s crackdown on financial risk deepens, four sources with knowledge of the matter said… They said the move was propelled, in part, by growing regulatory pressure on Ant’s core financial businesses, including payments, micro lending, credit rating and wealth management.”
Ant Financial seeks US$9bn in new funding
Jack Ma’s Ant Financial to raise $9bn, become world’s biggest unicorn — Wall Street Journal — “Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s financial technology business is about to vault into the ranks of the world’s most valuable companies. Ant Financial Services Group, carved out of his e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd seven years ago, is preparing to raise US$9bn in a private funding round, according to people familiar with the matter. That ups a previous fundraising target of US$5bn.”
AirAsia to enter the mobile payments market
AirAsia is entering the digital payments race — Tech in Asia — “The driving factor behind AirAsia’s move into fintech was a realization that it could monetize the wealth of ‘high resolution data’ it has collected from around 63 million passengers over its 16 years of operation… The eventual plan is for AirAsia customers to be able to use their BigPay e-wallets on the ground too, using the app to pay third-party merchants and potentially cutting the cost of currency exchange rates as they cross from one Southeast Asian country to another.”
Acer adds donations and discounts to prayer beads
Buddhists go high-tech: Acer to launch smart prayer beads — EJ Insight — “The smart product looks just like traditional Buddhist prayer beads except that one of the beads has an embedded chip which can connect with the user’s smartphone and show the number of times a mantra is recited on the mobile app…. The smart Buddhist beads also come with fintech functions for electronic payments, facilitating donations and offering discounts at certain shops and restaurants in the Buddhist community.”
Amazon plots move into mobile payments and financial services
Are you ready for an Amazon-branded checking account? — Wall Street Journal — “Amazon.com Inc is in talks with big banks including JPMorgan Chase about building a checking-account-like product the e-commerce giant could offer its customers, according to people familiar with the matter… Converting its shoppers into financial account holders could also aid Amazon as it ramps up its efforts in payments… The company is now trying to bring Amazon Pay to brick-and-mortar stores, according to people familiar with those plans. It is likely to begin with Whole Foods, which Amazon bought last year for roughly US$13.5bn.”
US regulators simplify licensing process for fintechs
State regulators take first step to standardize licensing practices for Fintech payments — Conference of State Bank Supervisors — “Seven states have agreed to a multi-state compact that standardizes key elements of the licensing process for money services businesses (MSB). The agreement: If one state reviews key elements of state licensing for a money transmitter — IT, cybersecurity, business plan, background check, and compliance with the federal Bank Secrecy Act — then other participating states agree to accept the findings… Other states are expected to join this compact.”
Commonwealth Bank introduces chatbot that can answer 200 banking and payments questions
Commonwealth Bank launches chatbot named Ceba — Commonwealth Bank of Australia — “Commonwealth Bank has launched its chatbot Ceba to assist customers with more than 200 banking tasks such as activating their card, checking account balance, making payments, or getting cardless cash… Available 24/7, Ceba can recognise approximately 60,000 different ways customers ask for the 200 banking tasks and will eventually be able to tell customers what they are spending their money on.”