“Singapore police brought their first criminal charges against an individual linked to the suspected fraud at Wirecard AG WDI -3.16% , the one-time German technology star that collapsed at the end of June after admitting more than $2 billion of cash on its balance sheet was fake. The city-state’s white collar crime division charged R. Shanmugaratnam, a director and owner of Citadelle Corporate Services Pte Ltd., with falsifying papers that showed more than €100 million ($118 million) in three separate escrow accounts held on behalf of Wirecard, according to charge sheets reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.”

“Some Americans who qualified for stimulus checks received an unwelcome surprise when the $500 payments for their children under 17 were not included. Starting today, the U.S. government plans to send out the missing cash.   That applies to those individuals and couples who are not required to file a tax return and used the IRS non-filer tool to provide information on their qualifying children.”

“The Western Union Company, a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, today announced an expansion of services between its Western Union Business Solutions division and Banco SEMEAR in Brazil to offer the WU® GlobalPay for FI platform, the Company’s solution for financial institutions that enables customers to make international payments simply and efficiently.”

“The Kroger Co. today announced the launch of a contactless payments pilot across the QFC division, located in Seattle, Wash., allowing customers to use their mobile device for a more seamless checkout experience. The pilot includes the acceptance of Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay, mobile banking apps and contactless chip cards, underpinned by near-field communication (NFC) technology.”

“Rellevate™, a digital fintech company aimed at facilitating access to consumer financial services for middle and lower income Americans, officially launched its platform today. The announcement was made by Stewart A. Stockdale, Rellevate’s Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, who also announced that the Rellevate platform will facilitate banking services through Sutton Bank.”

“BankMobile Technologies, a subsidiary of Customers Bank, and one of America’s largest digital banking platforms, and Megalith Financial Acquisition Corp (“MFAC”), a special purpose acquisition company, announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement.  Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company (the “Company”) will operate as BM Technologies Inc. and expects to be listed on the NYSE. The transaction reflects an enterprise value for the Company of $140 million.”

“Indians averaged about 3.85 digital transactions per person between July 2019 and July this year with Chandigarh leading at 38.4 transactions per person. Delhi averages about 9.3 transactions per person, according to the Digidhan database maintained by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It tracks digital transactions across National Payments Corporation of India ( NPCI ) operated channels.These include RuPay cards, BHIM — the Unified Payments Interface interface of NPCI–and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)-based mobile transfers over a twelve-month cycle.”

“Japan’s biggest banks said they will jointly build a cheaper money transfer network catering mainly to small transactions among individuals, a move that may spur the nation’s drive toward going cashless. Five major banks including the domestic lending units of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. will start planning the new payments infrastructure, which will cost less to operate than the existing one, they said Thursday.”

“A top banking regulator has fined Capital One Financial Corp. $80 million over a 2019 hack that compromised the personal information of about 106 million card customers and applicants. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the bank failed “to establish effective risk assessment processes“ before transferring information-technology operations to the public cloud and “to correct the deficiencies in a timely manner.””

“Goldman Sachs is renewing its push into Wall Street’s digital future. The firm made Mathew McDermott , a managing director who ran the investment bank’s internal funding operations, its new global head of digital assets last month, CNBC has learned exclusively.”

“PayU, India’s leading online payment solutions provider, has enhanced its flexible fund source management and beneficiary management capabilities with its enhanced Payouts product suite. With the newly launched Payouts from Payins feature, merchants can receive payins (settlements and payments) directly into virtual accounts created by PayU, eliminating the need for constant recharging. From pay-ins received in the accounts, merchants can make bulk disbursals to vendors, partners, employees and customers directly, streamlining operations.”

“DashMart is a new type of convenience store, offering both household essentials and local restaurant favorites to our customers’ doorsteps. On DashMart, you’ll find thousands of convenience, grocery, and restaurant items, from ice cream and chips, to cough medicine and dog food, to spice rubs and packaged desserts from the local restaurants you love on DoorDash. DashMart stores are owned, operated, and curated by DoorDash.”

Bill.com, a leading provider of cloud-based software that simplifies, digitizes, and automates complex back-office financial operations for small and mid-sized businesses, has extended its long-standing partnership with Intuit Inc., the makers of QuickBooks, TurboTax and Mint. The enhanced partnership will add advanced bill payment and workflow automation capabilities for QuickBooks Online Advanced customers as part of Intuit’s application ecosystem, in addition to continued support for the Simple Bill Pay service in QuickBooks Online.

“As the retail industry continues to adopt innovative solutions amidst the global pandemic, Lightspeed announces the initial availability of Lightspeed Capital , powered by Stripe . Through financing offers, this new product will help U.S.-based merchants with overall business growth, more specifically to buy inventory, invest in marketing, or manage cash flows. It is available for retailers using Lightspeed Payments in the U.S. and provides financing of up to $50,000 USD per retail location.”

“Its peer-to-peer Cash App, a competitor to PayPal’s Venmo, helped drive Square’s performance in the second quarter. Gross profit for the app rose 167% year-over-year to $281 million. Stored funds, or the amount of money customers keep on the app, jumped 86% from the prior quarter. The app had 30 million users as of June, up from 26 million at the end of last year, according to the company.”

“CloudPay provides managed global payroll services to multinational organizations through a single, unified cloud solution. It processes payroll in line with often complex local and country-specific requirements, eliminating error-prone manual processes and ensuring timely payments. CloudPay’s solution guarantees accurate payroll processing across 130+ countries in more than twenty-five languages.”

“U.S. losses from coronavirus-related fraud and identity theft have reached nearly $100 million since the pandemic emerged in March, while complaints of COVID-19 scams have at least doubled in most states, a consumer protection group said on Tuesday. A report from the group, based on government data, highlighted the vast scope of a fast-growing criminal cottage industry – from phony stimulus-check offers to shopping scams and fake cures – preying on Americans already distressed by the pandemic and its economic fallout.”

“As small and micro businesses (SMBs) worldwide continue to endure the financial impact of COVID-19, one thing is clear: rethinking the checkout or point-of-sale (POS) experience is essential for survival on Main Street. Visa today released the Visa Back to Business study assessing this dramatic shift to digital commerce in response to the pandemic, driven largely by changing consumer expectations for a safe and touchless payment moment.”

“Emburse , a global leader in expense management and accounts payable automation solutions, announces the first in a series of its Emburse Pay suite of global payment solutions encompassing employee spend, reimbursement and invoice payments. In the initial rollout, Emburse Pay launches with integrated pre-approved and policy-backed virtual cards that can be issued within the company’s Chrome River EXPENSE solution.”

“Bottomline, a leading provider of financial technology that makes business payments simple, smart and secure, today announced the launch of Pay Direct. This new Open Banking payment initiation service gives companies a more efficient and cost-effective way to receive online payment from customers. With the introduction of Open Banking, innovative financial applications are coming to market, and Bottomline’s Pay Direct is one of them. As an alternative to the raft of payment methods available for making an online purchase, Pay Direct gives merchants and customers a new, convenient and pennywise way to pay and get paid.”

“Klarna, the leading global payments and shopping platform, today announced the launch of followable Wish lists for shoppers, a new feature that allows customers  to create, share and follow shoppable Wish lists on the Klarna app. Users can also follow and share Wish lists curated by brands, influencers, Klarna’s shopping experts and others to discover new products and find shopping inspiration from within the Klarna app.”

“Bankers’ Bank , a correspondent bank that specializes in providing banking products to community banks, is now live with its Funding Agent solution and is providing funding and liquidity management services for IncredibleBank℠ on the RTP® network developed by The Clearing House.”

“Lord & Taylor was one of the first retailers to allow employees to become stockholders, to introduce a lunch counter, to usher in the Christmas season with animated window displays and to take risks on new American designers. That innovation stopped in the 1980s, former executives say, sending the once-grand department store chain on a long march toward bankruptcy that culminated Monday, when the 194-year old company’s lenders said it would liquidate if it can’t find a buyer by October.”

“Citigroup Inc. plans to let credit-card customers finance big purchases on Amazon.com over longer periods of time — a deal that may spur sales at the e-commerce giant while boosting the bank’s interest-bearing balances.    Cardholders who’ve shopped on Amazon in the past 12 months can choose to pay off transactions of at least $100 on a longer schedule and at a lower annual percentage rate, the lender said in an emailed statement.”

“Grab announced today that its financial unit, which previously focused mainly on services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, is launching a slew of consumer products, including micro-investments, loans, health insurance and a pay-later program.”

“The People’s Bank of China is hoping its new digital currency will reduce the dominance of Alibaba and Tencent in digital payments, according to several people familiar with the thinking of the central bank. The experimental digital currency is on trial in a number of Chinese cities and the PBoC intends to use it to simplify digital payments and interbank settlements.”

“Jobber, a leading provider of home service management software, today announced an expanded partnership with technology platform Stripe to offer flexible financing and instant payouts to its customers in North America. Jobber is deploying Stripe Capital to make it easier for home service providers to access the capital they need to invest in their businesses and grow. In addition, Jobber’s customers have access to instant payouts, powered by Stripe and Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time push payments platform, to receive the funds they’ve earned within seconds.”

“Intuit is excited to announce that we have entered into an agreement to acquire TradeGecko, the inventory and order management platform that makes omni-channel commerce easy for small businesses. Integrating QuickBooks’ suite of financial, payment, reporting and accounting tools with TradeGecko’s robust inventory and order management system will help product sellers run and grow their business, all on one powerful platform. The transaction is expected to close in September 2020.”

“As shoppers are increasingly turning to eCommerce, Etsy Payments allows sellers to offer more payment options while protecting their shops and streamlining their finances. We’re proud to announce that we’ve completed the expansion of our payments platform in seven new markets, giving more sellers access to our full suite of payments tools. Sellers in Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, Turkey and the Philippines can enroll today.”

“ACI Worldwide, a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced that Altech Card Solutions (ACS), a division of Altron, one of South Africa’s leading technology companies, is utilizing ACI’s UP Retail Payments to better serve its large multi-national retail customers in South Africa and across the African continent.”

“As customers’ needs have evolved, American Express continues to bring innovative features and benefits to Card Members. Starting on August 1, Card Members have more ways to pay for the things they buy with the expansion of Pay It Plan It to its iconic U.S. Consumer Green, Gold and Platinum Cards, and Pay Over Time – already available on Green and Gold – to Platinum Cards.”

“Google is expanding its plans to offer digital banking services in the U.S. The company announced today it’s partnering with half a dozen more banks to offer digital checking and savings accounts to Google Pay users in the U.S., starting sometime next year. The new partners include Bank Mobile, BBVA USA, BMO Harris, Coastal Community Bank, First Independence Bank, and SEFCU. They join Google’s existing partners, Citi and SFCU, announced earlier, for a total of now eight banks lined up for the project.”

“The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is thinking of ways to limit the Unified Payment Interface’s (UPI) dependence on any single third-party application.It proposes to do this by restricting the share of transactions of any single payment company, people familiar with the matter said.NPCI owns and operates UPI in the capacity of a not-for-profit “umbrella body”.The burgeoning UPI ecosystem is currently dominated by Google Pay, Paytm, Walmart-owned PhonePe and Amazon Pay, who together control over 90% market share.”

“The House passed a package of appropriations bills Friday including $2 million for the U.S. Postal Service to launch postal banking pilot programs across the country. The amendment to the appropriations bills was put forward by Reps. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who argued that postal banking could be a valuable resource to unbanked Americans as well as low-income neighborhoods.”

“Kabbage, the fintech startup that outperformed many large lenders during the Paycheck Protection Program, is weighing a sale, two people familiar with the situation said. The Atlanta company has hired FT Partners after receiving expressions of interest, the people said. Kabbage could sell for $750 million to $1 billion, one person said.”

“When unemployment soared this spring at the start of coronavirus lockdowns, credit-card debt and delinquencies were widely expected to surge as struggling households borrowed more to make ends meet. Instead, amid the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the opposite happened. Credit-card debt in the U.S. and other advanced economies has fallen. Fewer people are late on their credit-card payments. Consumer demand for new borrowing—through credit cards, personal loans and even pawnshops—is down sharply.”

“Global Payments Inc., a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions, today announced that TSYS, its Issuer Solutions business, has signed a multi-year payments agreement with TD Bank Group, including TD Bank in Canada and TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, in the United States.”

“Today, American Express and Marriott Bonvoy™, Marriott International’s travel program, are announcing rewarding limited-time offers available to the Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Cards. As travelers plan to explore locally and take more road trips, these benefits will reward Card Members for purchases at U.S. gas stations, U.S. restaurants and participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels. In addition to current Card benefits, the enhanced offers will be available from August 3 to October 31, 2020, for eligible Marriott Bonvoy, Brilliant and Business Card Members.”

“Volante Technologies Inc., a leading provider of payments and financial messaging solutions in the cloud, today announced that it has raised USD 35M in growth equity financing led by Wavecrest Growth Partners with strategic participation from BNY Mellon, Citi Ventures, PostePay and Visa Inc.”

“Paya, a leading integrated payments and commerce solution provider, and FinTech Acquisition Corp. III (“FinTech III”), a special purpose acquisition company, announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company (the “Company”) will operate as Paya and will be listed on NASDAQ under the new symbol PAYA. The transaction reflects an implied enterprise value for the Company of approximately $1.3 billion.”

“Finexio, a fintech company offering a comprehensive accounts payable payments-as-a-service solution, today announces its partnership with Billtrust, the leader in B2B order-to-cash solutions, to provide faster digital payments to its suppliers and support the continued growth of its supplier network. Billtrust’s Business Payments Network (BPN) bridges the world of B2B payments by connecting buyers and suppliers on one powerful platform. This partnership expands the coverage of suppliers that can be paid electronically through Finexio’s network.”

“The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is issuing this advisory to alert financial institutions to potential indicators of cybercrime and cyber-enabled crime observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many illicit actors are engaged in fraudulent schemes that exploit vulnerabilities created by the pandemic.”

“Today, Global Payments Inc. and Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced a new, multi-year collaboration agreement to provide a cloud-based issuer processing platform to financial institutions around the world. As part of this agreement, Global Payments and AWS will strategically collaborate to transform Global Payments’ core issuing platform to deliver secure, innovative solutions for the payment industry at scale.”