“Deluxe, trying to diversify from its declining checking-business model, has developed a platform enabling EAF recipients to receive relief funds via ACH, PayPal or a virtual prepaid card instead of a check. The EAF works with about 60 major corporations, most of them based in the U.S., to distribute IRS-approved employee hardship grants, typically sending out 2,000 payments per month. During the pandemic, more than 5,000 people per month are qualifying for EAF aid. Less than two years ago, the EAF began working with Deluxe to notify disaster-fund recipients of available money via email addresses typically on file with employers. Through the Deluxe Payment Exchange , EAF sends messages to prospective payees with instructions to securely input their bank or PayPal account details or opt for a virtual Visa card that’s immediately activated via email.”

“American financial services, Visa and Mastercard, along with the Payment Council of India (PCI), have sought the Reserve Bank of India’s nod on relaxation on ‘tap-and-go’ contactless payment limit through debit and credit cards allowed without a PIN from current Rs 2000 to Rs 5000.  Currently, a person can make contactless payments worth Rs 2000 through the ‘tap-and-go’ feature, any transaction above that would require a PIN number. In the wake of Covid-19, financial services want the limit to be relaxed to Rs 5,000. This relaxation would make card payments safer for both the customers and the merchants. It would eliminate the requirement of handing over cards at payment terminals and avoid touching the swipe machine to enter the PIN for a larger base of transactions.”

“Gemini Trust Co., the cryptocurrency venture run by the Winklevoss brothers, is partnering with Samsung Electronics Co. to allow users to more easily trade and store digital assets on mobile phones. Gemini is the first crypto exchange to let U.S. and Canadian users of Samsung’s blockchain wallet view balances in their wallet app. Customers wishing to trade will be directed to Gemini’s mobile app, but won’t have to go through another log-in to start buying and selling.”

“Businesses and governments across the globe are looking for resources to help better manage the health, safety and economic risks presented by the recent pandemic. To assist in these efforts, Mastercard has launched Recovery Insights, a set of tools, innovation and research that can provide some certainty today and support data-driven decision-making for a more digital tomorrow. The initiative draws on Mastercard’s analytics and experimentation platforms, its longstanding consulting practice and unique data-driven insights.”

“Vesta , a fintech pioneer in fraud protection and fully guaranteed payment technologies, has secured $125 million in new growth capital from private equity firm Goldfinch Partners . The funding will provide Vesta with the resources to invest in growth and continue the global deployment of its fraud protection and e-commerce payment solutions. Vesta enables e-commerce companies to grow their businesses by focusing on revenue rather than risk, with its zero-risk and zero-liability payment guarantee. Vesta’s real-time decisioning platform — built on data science and machine learning with more than 25 years of intelligence — analyzes customers’ online payment transactions to assess the risk of fraud.”

“2Checkout, the leading all-in-one monetization platform for global businesses, today released the key findings from its recent consumer subscription usage survey, conducted on a global audience during the months of March and April 2020. The survey results provide valuable insights into consumer sentiment across multiple dimensions, including popular subscription categories, adoption rates, preferred billing cycles and payment methods used for purchasing plans, amongst others.”

“Today (Friday 29 May 2020) Pay.UK is pleased to launch the Request to Pay Framework – the message standards, rules, and terms and conditions for the development of Request to Pay services.   The new Framework can now be used by organisations to create the first Request to Pay propositions, set to underpin a vibrant new market of payment messaging services.”

“Western Union, a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, and Mama Money, a rapidly growing international money transfer company, have joined forces to enable Mama Money customers to send money to their loved ones around the world via Western Union’s Global Network. This collaboration will gear Mama Money’s more than 500,000 customers in South Africa to send money from their smartphones for payout into billions of bank accounts in over 100 countries around the world or in cash at Western Union Agent locations across more than 200 countries and territories.”

“Welcome Technologies announced today the launch of a bank account in partnership with Green Dot Corporation (NYSE: GDOT ). The account and Visa card, PODERcard, aim to help close the banking gap for immigrants and will be offered first to U.S. Hispanic consumers. According to the most recent FDIC National Survey , less than 50% of U.S. Hispanic households are “fully banked”. Aiming to change that statistic for the better, PODERcard offers affordable financial services and an experience geared toward making it possible for this community to enter the financial system and access banking services tailored to them.”

“American Express Co. is shifting “hundreds and hundreds” of employees in its sales units to handle collections and other credit work, and plans to set aside more for loan losses this quarter. As the coronavirus pandemic sent unemployment rates soaring, the credit-card company quickly began moving sales workers to credit and collections, Chief Executive Officer Steve Squeri told investors at a virtual conference Thursday. The additional loan-loss reserves will probably be about as large as the $1.7 billion posted in the first quarter, he said.”

“India’s antitrust body is looking into allegations that Alphabet Inc’s Google is abusing its market position to unfairly promote its mobile payments app in the country, five sources familiar with the case told Reuters. The complaint was filed in February and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has kept the identity of the complainant confidential, the first source with direct knowledge of the case said. The complaint alleges the U.S. tech giant more prominently showcases its Google Pay app inside its Android app store in India, giving it an unfair advantage over apps of competitors which hurts consumers, the source added.”

“Four years after the EMV chip card standard became the law of the U.S. payments land, the number of credit and debit cards with an EMV chip now exceeds 1 billion, and 63% of U.S. card-present transactions in 2019 involved an EMV card being read by an EMV-capable terminal, up from 53.5% in 2018. Those numbers are some of the highlights in a report released Thursday by EMVCo, the standards body owned by the global card networks. The U.S. EMV credit and debit card count was 1.07 billion as of 2019’s fourth quarter, an increase of 232 million, or nearly 28%, from 842 million in late 2018.”

“PruPay, a Denver-based payments technology company, is working with PayPal to develop and launch a simpler way for merchants to request one-time payments from consumers via text messaging. While paying via text is already widely available from several providers, PruPay’s technology lab was able to add a few simple tools that help both merchants and consumers with their real-world problems. Currently, PruPay is waiving its normal fees to help small/medium businesses during the global pandemic.”

“Leading global payment solution provider Checkout.com announces the acquisition of Australian startup, Pin Payments. The move represents the next chapter of Checkout.com’s momentum across APAC as it continues to support both international and domestic merchants to grow their businesses.”

“Marqeta, the global modern card issuing platform, announced today that it has raised an additional $150 million in new capital from a leading institutional investor, valuing the company at $4.3 billion. This latest financing comes on the heels of Marqeta’s previously announced $260 million equity financing in May 2019, which was led by Coatue and included participation from Vitruvian Partners and several others. Marqeta is also backed by Visa, Goldman Sachs, 83North, Granite Ventures, and ICONIQ Capital.”

“Fattmerchant, an integrated payment technology provider that simplifies the payment processing experience for business owners, today announces its partnership with Finix, a payments infrastructure platform, to power Finix Flex. The new offering allows SaaS platforms, independent software vendors (ISVs), and value-added resellers (VARs) to start processing payments immediately within their platforms and future-proof their payments strategy.”

“Remitly, the largest independent digital remittance company in North America, today announced a partnership with financial technology leader and bank holding company Green Dot Corporation to launch Cash Deposit, a new feature for Passbook by Remitly. At a time when many are experiencing financial turmoil due to the current global crisis, Remitly is expanding banking and cash access for underbanked immigrants in the United States. Passbook customers can now deposit cash to their Passbook accounts at nearly 90,000 retail stores across the country, including participating 7-Eleven and Walgreens stores, utilizing the Green Dot Network. The vast majority of these in-network stores are essential businesses that remain open amid the COVID-19 crisis, providing customers access at a time when it’s needed most.”

“Visa has facilitated the first request to pay message sent and received using standards developed by Pay.UK. The messaging service enables billers to directly request funds rather than sending traditional invoices. For each request, receivers are asked whether they would like to pay in full or in part, request an extension, communicate directly with the biller, or decline to pay.Initially scheduled for release at the end of April, Pay.UK has delayed the publication of its R2P framework (the message standards, rules and terms and conditions) to avoid increasing the load on banks as they deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“Airtel Payments Bank has partnered with Mastercard to build customised solutions for payments such as tap-and-pay NFC, credit facility and other neighbourhood banking services for farmers and SMEs. The companies aim to cater to underbanked spectrum of users and enable digital adoption via the partnership.”

“Fraudsters are increasingly using pilfered credit-card numbers and phishing attacks to prey on overwhelmed consumers and banks during the coronavirus pandemic. There has been a big jump in attempted credit- and debit-card fraud since coronavirus shut down the U.S. economy earlier this year, according to Fidelity National Information Services Inc., known as FIS, which assists about 3,200 U.S. banks with fraud monitoring. The dollar volume of attempted fraudulent transactions rose 35% in April from a year earlier, FIS said, a trend that appears to be continuing in May.”

“Stripe, the online payment infrastructure provider powering Amazon, Facebook, Shopify, Zoom, Slack, and millions of businesses across 39 countries, announced several ambitious investments in Japan to accelerate the offline to online transition of the economy and help Japanese firms export globally.”

“Stripe, a global technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet, today announced its official launch in the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Malta. Europe is home to some of the largest and fastest-growing online economies in the world. This growth is even increased by the accelerated shift from offline to online that the COVID-19 crisis has brought with it, making the need for financial infrastructure and accessibility more apparent than ever. Stripe’s availability now enables more European entrepreneurs and businesses to start accepting payments online from around the world in a matter of minutes.”

“Fundbox, the leading B2B payment and credit network, announced a fresh equity investment from MUFG Innovation Partners Co., Ltd., the corporate venture capital arm of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan’s largest financial group and the world’s fourth-largest bank holding company. With this financing, MUFG Innovation Partners tripled its investment in Fundbox’s recent Series C round, bringing the total equity funding in the round to almost $200 million.”

“Q2 (NYSE: QTWO), a leading provider of digital transformation solutions for banking and lending, announced today it is bringing its Banking-as-a-Service (“BaaS”) offering under the Q2 brand banner – as Q2 BaaS. As part of this transition, Q2 and StoneCastle dissolved their partnership, known in the market as Cambr.”

“Samsung Electronics America, Inc., today unveiled Samsung Money by SoFi, a new mobile-first money management experience that brings a cash management account and accompanying Mastercard debit card along with exclusive benefits to Samsung Pay, in partnership with innovative fintech company SoFi. The account is secure, with no account fees and rewards users for saving—earning higher interest relative to the national average of transactional accounts. At a time when people are turning to their technology to take care of essential tasks without leaving home, Samsung Money by SoFi makes it easier for them to manage more of their financial life in the Samsung Pay app.”

“A new setting to allow Voice Match to confirm purchases made through the Google Assistant has been spotted in the Assistant’s Payments and Security settings pane. We’ve confirmed with Google that the new feature is part of an early but limited pilot that allows you to authorize purchases in a handful of categories with just your voice via the Assistant. Piles of Google’s support documents have been recently updated to reference the feature.”

“Looking to make their reloadable prepaid card more attractive as retailers and consumers alike deal with the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic, Walmart Inc. and Green Dot Corp. on Tuesday said they are now offering a 2% rate on the Walmart MoneyCard’s associated savings account.  The rate is applicable for balances up to $1,000. Previously, no rate applied as users earned the chance to win prize savings instead, a Green Dot spokesperson says. The prize program is still in effect.”

“Wirecard has postponed the publication of its 2019 annual results for the third time this year as its auditor EY needs additional time to finish its work, the German payments company said in a regulatory statement issued after markets closed on Monday night. The Aschheim-based group is facing accusations of accounting manipulation raised by whistleblowers and reported by the Financial Times.”

“HSBC’s digital payment platform PayMe is enjoying a surge in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic, hitting a new milestone since its introduction in 2017, as consumers go online to pay for everything from face masks to virtual social games. Its users reached the 2 million landmark last week, the lender said, representing a 25 per cent jump from a year earlier. The increase, together with 10 other e-wallets in the city, helped underpin a three-fold surge in transactions through the faster payment system (FPS) maintained by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).”

“ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced the launch of a series of new capabilities in its UP Immediate Payments solution. To address the increased demand for new real-time and digital payments during and beyond the pandemic, UP Immediate Payments now offers extended API capabilities for simple integration into any digital channel—including internet banking, mobile banking, mobile wallets, eCommerce portals, bill pay apps and social media payments.”

“Today, we’re excited to introduce Novi — the new name and brand for the digital wallet that will help people send and hold Libra digital currencies. While we’ve changed our name from Calibra, we haven’t changed our long-term commitment to helping people around the world access affordable financial services. Whether you’re sending money home to support the family members who supported you, or you’re receiving money from your friends no matter where they are, the Novi wallet will make money work better for everyone.”

“TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions), a leading cloud platform for managing corporate payments and cash flows, today announced it has raised $20 million in additional financing led by Aquiline Technology Growth, an early- and growth-stage fund managed by Aquiline Capital Partners. The round also included participation from existing investor 83North. Aquiline joins previous investors 83North, Target Partners and Zobito. The company plans to use the new funding to further accelerate product development and to scale operations in Europe and in the US, in order to meet growing international demand.”

“WorldRemit has today announced a new partnership with Onfido, the global identity verification and authentication company, to make it easier and quicker for customers to open an account with WorldRemit, to send money abroad. Partnering with Onfido will allow the FCA regulated international payments company to further automate the Know Your Customer (KYC) decision-making process to verify the identification of customers.”

“MoneyGram International, Inc., a global leader in cross-border P2P payments and money transfers, today announced a partnership with Uber to provide drivers and delivery couriers a discount on digital money transfers sent to family and friends in over 200 countries and territories. Anyone who earns on Uber’s platform, including the Driver app, Uber Eats, Uber Freight and Uber Works, is eligible for this discount. This promotional partnership has initially launched in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.”

“The Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA) of North America today announced it has added four new members, boosting the organization’s roster of member companies and organizations united behind the notion that consumers and small businesses should have full utility over their own financial data.”

“To combat a growing threat that’s expected to drive $48 billion in annual online payment fraud losses by 2023,1 Experian® today announced the launch of Sure Profile™. Experian is the first company with an offering to combat synthetic identity fraud that is integrated into the credit profile with market-leading assurance. With Sure Profile, Experian is putting “skin-in-the-game” by sharing fraud losses with the lender if the losses occur on assured profiles.”

“When John Furner became chief executive of Walmart Inc.’s WMT -0.53% U.S. operations last year, the biggest challenge was Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -0.40% Now Mr. Furner—who began his career at the company in 1993 as an hourly store worker and most recently led Walmart’s Sam’s Club—is leading the largest business unit at the country’s largest retailer during a global pandemic , working to keep stores open and speed the company’s shift to e-commerce.”

“KKR & Co. said it negotiated its biggest Asian transaction, a $1.5 billion deal to buy stake in Mukesh Ambani’s India-based digital platform business, in 10 days. The New York-based private equity firm on Friday said it’s buying a 2.3% stake in Jio Platforms Ltd., the telecom and digital services holding company controlled by Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. The deal was done over Zoom calls, said Sanjay Nayar, chief executive officer of KKR’s India unit. KKR said Ambani’s goals of becoming a top e-commerce and payments operator in India, the world’s second-most populated nation, helped KKR accelerate the decision. Private equity firms often take months to conduct due diligence and negotiate terms of an investment.”

“The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority issued renewed guidance on payments firms amid concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic has put additional pressure on many startups that depend heavily on investor support and may not be able to meet original performance targets. “The guidance is part of a broader programme of work the FCA was planning to consult on later in the year, to set out its expectations for the payments sector,” the agency said in a statement on its website Friday. “This has now been brought forward due to pressures the coronavirus pandemic is placing on firms’ finances.”

“The Department of Transportation said Friday it tapped GCash to help equip taxis with scan-to-pay systems, as part of a pandemic normal that requires cashless payments. The joint venture of Jack Ma’s Alipay and Globe Telecom’s Mynt allows users to scan merchants QR codes and deduct the amount due from their mobile wallet. Digital payments will limit direct physical contact between drivers and passengers thus reducing the chance of spreading COVID-19, the Department of Transportation said.”

“CITCON , the leading mobile payment platform and Tulip , the global leader in store associate cloud-based mobile solutions, announced today a strategic partnership to enable QR mobile payment solution for luxury and fashion retail brands that will streamline their omnichannel payment process and increase revenue from global mobile wallet users.”