“Merchant processor Square Inc. is making it easier for its restaurant clients to use third-party delivery services, while at the same time fortifying itself against bigger merchant acquirers slated to merge into even bigger ones. San Francisco-based Square, which has its own restaurant delivery, pick-up, and catering service called Caviar, on Thursday announced integrations for its Square for Restaurants payment and business-management service with delivery services Postmates Inc. and DoorDash Inc. The company also said Square for Restaurants is now integrated with Chowly Inc., a Chicago-based software provider that feeds third-party delivery orders into restaurants’ point-of-sale systems, including those from Grubhub and Uber Eats.”

“The number of point-of-sale terminals worldwide accepting contactless cards shot up 41% in 2017, the most recent year for which data was available, to reach 40.9 million, according to RBR Research, a London-based firm. That represents 42% of all payment terminals, the firm says.Rapid growth also is expected on the card-issuance side. The number of contactless cards globally will reach 10.7 billion, or 57% of all cards, by 2023, RBR forecasts. That contrasts with 5.25 billion cards in 2017, or 35% of all cards that year. That works out to a 12% average annual growth rate over the six-year span, RBR says.”

“Criminals need your card information and PIN, so they install tiny cameras to watch you entering your numbers. “I always tell people: Cover the freaking PIN pad when you enter your PIN,” says Mr. Krebs. “Having your bank-account card or account number exposed kind of sucks, but having the PIN exposed is a lot worse.” That’s because without your PIN, criminals can’t make ATM withdrawals, even if they can often make purchases at retailers that don’t require a PIN.”

“The specification enables the creation of a virtual payment terminal and the icon facilitates easy consumer recognition of remote-checkout environments that offer a consistent card-based payment acceptance experience”

“The SRC payment icon is available for use in connection with implementations of the EMV® Secure Remote Commerce Specification. The SRC payment icon image files are provided following execution of the EMVCo Trademark License Agreement for SRC payment icon and may only be used in conformance with the Secure Remote Commerce (SRC): Payment Icon Reproduction Requirements .”

“One in 10 adults in the UK are now choosing to live a largely cashless life as contactless and mobile payments explode in popularity, official data reveals. Among those aged 25 to 34, the figure rises to more than one in six (17%), said the banking body UK Finance . It defined an almost cashless existence as when people either make one cash payment per month or none at all. Meanwhile, the number of contactless payments made in the UK surged by 31% in a year to reach 7.4bn in 2018. Around seven in 10 people in the UK now use contactless, though London, which once led the way on this form of payment, has been overtaken by the south-east, East Anglia and the Midlands.”

“Bank of America Corp. is joining the wave of companies issuing tap-to-pay cards.    The lender will send 4 million contactless cards this month to customers in New York, Boston and San Francisco who have Visa debit or credit cards, according to Mark Monaco, enterprise payments executive at Bank of America. It plans to measure usage in those markets before deciding on a broader rollout at the beginning of next year, he said.”

“MoneyGram (NASDAQ: MGI ) a global provider of innovative money transfer services, has announced a new digital money transfer service with Canada Post , enabling money transfer consumers to start a transaction online and conveniently complete it at select Canada Post locations. To initiate a transaction, consumers simply visit moneygram.ca, create a profile, start a transaction and choose the ‘Cash at a Location’ option. From there, users visit one of Canada Post’s more than 5,200 locations that offer MoneyGram services to complete their transaction. For added convenience and security, consumers can use the provided barcode, which contains their transaction details.”

“Mastercard today launched the Mastercard Digital Wellness program, a host of technologies and resources that enable all businesses, especially small and independent merchants, to better serve today’s digital-first consumer. As part of this program, Mastercard will deploy EMVCo’s specification for fast, click-to-pay check-out for digital commerce. The specification replaces laborious key-entry guest check-out with a consistent, simple and secure guest checkout experience, no matter where a consumer shops online, or which device or card they use.”

To help foster adoption of contactless payments in the MTA and beyond, beginning in July, all newly issued and replacement U.S. American Express Consumer Cards will be contactless. The contactless feature is now available on all U.S. American Express Consumer Cards upon request through AmericanExpress.com, the Amex Mobile App, or by phone.

“The deal will see Line Pay become compatible with Visa’s 54 million merchant partner locations worldwide, boosting the service outside of its native Japan, where it has been pitched heaviest so far and where Line claims 80 million users. The tie-up will allow Line users to use the app’s payment system even where Line Pay isn’t accepted. That’s through a ‘virtual’ visa card that’ll show up in the chat app. Beyond that, the two sides said they will explore “ways for merchants to interact with the Line Pay service” and its digital wallet. That’s pretty lukewarm, and it’s hard to imagine that it’ll make much of a dent outside of Japan. Line’s three other major markets, in terms of users, are in Asia: Thailand (44 million), Taiwan (21 million) and Indonesia (19 million.)”

“Wealthfront may be one step closer to becoming a super robo . The Palo Alto, California-based digital firm is teaming up with the banking and financial services company Green Dot to offer clients a Visa debit card and the ability to direct deposit paychecks from employers, Green Dot CEO Steve Streit said in a May earnings call . Streit cited the successful launch of the Wealthfront cash account in February that attracted $1 billion in deposits in just a few months. The robo advisor recently upped the annual percentage yield to 2.51% one of the highest rates in the industry.”

“Fintech startup Bunq provides full-fledged bank accounts. But if you’re happy with your existing bank, the company is launching a new free tier so that you can cut down on banking fees. The Bunq Travel Card is a Mastercard without any foreign exchange fee. The company uses the standard Mastercard exchange rate but doesn’t add any markup fee — N26 also uses Mastercard’s exchange rate. Most traditional banks charge you 2 or 3 percent for foreign transactions. When you get a card, you can then top up your account in the Bunq app. You can also send and request money with other Bunq users. But it isn’t a full bank account.”

“JPMorgan JPM -0.55% Chase & Co. is killing an experiment to attract younger customers to a new digital-banking app a year after making it available nationwide. The nation’s largest bank began informing clients Thursday that it is shutting down Finn, the no-fee banking brand designed to meet the financial needs of younger consumers, and transferring their funds to new Chase checking and savings accounts. It is a quick about-face for a product JPMorgan hoped would help it lure new customers to its online and mobile banking options, a hot spot of competition among the nation’s banks and financial-technology startups.”

“Salesforce doesn’t break out revenue for its ecommerce and marketing software suites. Its Commerce Cloud software is comprised of the CloudCraze and Demandware software it acquired in recent years for B2B and retail ecommerce technology. Although still by far the smallest contributor to revenue, the combined ecommerce and market software suites accounted for the sharpest gains in revenue from the company’s software suites, which also include its flagship Sales Cloud CRM suite and its Service Cloud customer service software.”

“The promotion has driven nearly £500,000 (US$635,117) of in-store sales and increased the average basket value by 5% compared with traditional paper vouchers. The firm partnered with UK start-up The Mobile Wallet Company to issue print-based coupons in national newspapers that customers added to their mobile wallets by using either a QR code or a link. By linking the vouchers to a mobile device, the retailer was able to measure and track redemption values from a number of different voucher placements to the point of sale.”

“Grocery delivery has become a a big business: 36% of shoppers will spend 26% to 40% of their grocery budget online as soon as next year, up from 10% in 2018, according to the Personalization in Digital Food Retail – Shoppers Expect More study by IDC Retail Insights and Precima . This market could reach $100 billion in annual sales by 2022, according to data from Food Marketing Institute.”

“Step , the new modern-day financial services company built for families and teens, today announced that it has closed $22.5 Million in Series A funding for its all-in-one banking solution that integrates certain key features and benefits of checking, savings, credit and debit cards into one easy-to-use no fee account. The funding round was led by Stripe, with participation from Will Smith’s Dreamers fund, Nas, Wndrco, Ronnie Lott, Matt Rutler, Kevin Gould, Noah and Jonah Goodhart as well as existing investors Crosslink Capital, Collaborative Fund and Sesame Ventures. The investment comes as Step’s waitlist demand exceeds 500,000 people since its offering was announced just a few months ago.”

“Airfox today announced banQi , its free and flexible digital challenger bank designed specifically for the Brazilian market and its 50 million people who are not served by traditional banking establishments. Developed by Airfox with strategic partner Via Varejo , a leading Brazilian retailer, the banQi platform evolved from the Airfox digital wallet that launched in Brazil in 2018 — continuing an evolution that is emblematic of the Boston fintech startup’s rapid growth.”

“Alipay is making big inroads in Europe as Chinese tourists flock to the region, according to the leader of the Chinese firm’s European division. Roland Palmer, head of Europe for Alipay, told CNBC on Tuesday the company has tripled the number of European merchants accepting its online and mobile payment platform to “tens of thousands” in the past year.   “We’re talking about tens of thousands of merchants who are really excited about the opportunity that Alipay provides them to tap into those wealthy and middle class consumers who are traveling to see the world and want to buy great brands from Europe,” Palmer said in an interview from the Money20/20 Europe conference in Amsterdam.”

“Online lending platform Biz2Credit announced on Tuesday it secured $52 million through its Series B funding round, which was led by WestBridge Capital. Founded in 2007, Biz2Credit is on a mission to provide small businesses with lending solutions throughout their lifecycle in a flexible and transparent environment. The lender also offers the Biz2X platform to banks and other financial institutions to allow them to better manage loan processes and related risks.”

“Coffee giant Starbucks has begun rolling out its Starbucks Now mobile-based, pre-order and pay service to 300 stores in Beijing and Shanghai . The company plans to introduce Starbucks Now across China this year as it seeks to build a closer relationship with its customers in the country. The Mobile Order & Pay service is available to customers who are members of the Starbucks Rewards loyalty programme, via the Starbucks China mobile app.”

“Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) (TSX:SHOP), the leading multi-channel commerce platform, today released its first global State of Commerce report* with insights on what’s driving direct-to-consumer (DTC) commerce and buying behavior. Over the last year, the retail industry has experienced tremendous disruption, and within this changed retail landscape, customers and merchants have found new opportunities to buy and sell goods.”

“LabCorp is the latest laboratory testing giant this week to confirm it’s affected by the same third-party data breach. The Burlington, North Carolina-based medical giant said 7.7 million patients had their personal and financial data stolen by hackers, which hit the payment pages of the American Medical Collection Agency, a third-party vendor that processes payments for LabCorp and other companies. The admission comes a day after Quest Diagnostics around 11.9 million patients had their data stolen.”

“While we continuously discuss the demise of cash, should we be thinking more about how the decrease in use of paper money would affect the vulnerable? It could be argued that cash should remain in circulation until innovators can ensure that digital payments can be inclusive. Notably Sweden leads the way for cashless payments, so much so that only 10% of the 20 SEB banks in Stockholm hold cash, and some shops and restaurants have started to refuse cash – the opposite to what has been seen in some U.S. states.”

“Facebook is creating an independent foundation to govern its cryptocurrency, according to a report by The Information. The social media giant has reached out to dozens of financial institutions and tech companies who contribute capital to the foundation and help manage the cryptocurrency’s network. According to The Information’s sources, Facebook plans to license out the right to operate nodes on its new cryptocurrency network, charging companies $10 million apiece for the privilege. Node operators will also be allowed to send a representative to the independent foundation. Facebook hopes to launch its network with 100 nodes, generating $1 billion in licensing fees. The firm then plans to use these fees to back its cryptocurrency with a basket of currencies and low-risk securities from different countries.”

“On Tuesday, Gautheir said Amazon Pay’s latest research had found that roughly 40% of consumers think smart assistants would be used in some part of their shopping journey over the next three years. To be sure, the data recognizes that consumers could use their voice at any point on the path to purchase, not just for the transaction itself. Amazon Pay said over 10,000 consumers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India and Japan were contacted in the double-blind survey.”

Released for testing late last year, Real-Time Bill enables users to view and pay their dining bills directly from the Glance Pay app without waiting for a paper bill. The app identifies the user’s bill based on Quick Response codes or near-field communication tags at the table. It settles the bill in real-time from the merchant’s point-of-sale system, Glance says. Real-Time Bill is active at nine restaurant locations.

“Geoswift, a leading provider of cross-border payment solutions between China and the rest of the world, has partnered with Discover Global Network, the payments brand of Discover, allowing Geoswift’s merchants to accept more methods of payment than ever before. Geoswift merchants will now have the ability to accept Discover, Diners Club International and affiliate network card payments.”

“Today, Visa (NYSE:V) announced a new strategic agreement with Western Union (NYSE:WU), a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement. Western Union will implement Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time1 push payments platform in an effort to bring speed and transparency to the process of sending money around the world. This collaboration reinforces Visa’s commitment to modernize how payments are made around the world. Once Western Union’s implementation of Visa Direct is live, Western Union will be able to offer customers an expedited remittance service onto cards with more transparency and an enhanced user experience for both senders and receivers. Western Union and Visa share a vision for modern money movement; this expanded service is intended to make cross border payments more reliable and efficient than ever before.”

“The WFTR 2019 identifies a dual challenge: FinTechs are struggling to scale their operations and banks are stalling on FinTech collaboration. As a result, industry players are looking to leapfrog beyond Open Banking towards Open X, which is a more effective, structured form of collaboration, facilitated by Application Program Interface (API)1standardization and shared insights from customer data. The era of Open X will create an integrated marketplace, with specialized roles for each player that will enable a seamless exchange of data and services, improving customer experience, and expediting product innovation.”

“As part of this investment, ACI and Mindgate will deliver a joint real-time payments solution that will combine ACI’s proven Universal Payments software solutions with Mindgate’s digital overlay services. The advanced, end-to-end real-time payments solution will be offered to banks, financial intermediaries and merchants in India and other international markets via an on-premise, public cloud or hosted model. This investment will also provide Mindgate with the ability to expand its footprint globally. UPI is a mobile-based, real-time payments platform in India developed and managed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). UPI enables all bank account holders in India (of banks participating in the UPI scheme) to send and receive money from their smartphones with a single, simple identifier. UPI can be used for Person-to-Person (P2P) payments and Consumer to Business (C2B) payments.”

“Women are a driving force for increasing global economic growth and security, representing more than half of the world’s population and 80 percent of household buying decisions. They are critical to ensuring that growth is inclusive, extending these benefits to everyone, everywhere.”

“PayPal Holdings Inc has invested 10 million euros ($11.2 million) in Tink, a Swedish company that enables banks and financial technology startups to access financial data more easily, the companies said on Tuesday.  The San Jose, California-based payments company will use Tink’s technology to allow customers to connect their bank accounts to their PayPal accounts, the firms said. Tink will use the funding to expand its team, build new products and connect to more banks, it said. The company had last raised 56 million euros ($62.7 million) in February from investors including Insight Venture Partners and the venture capital arms of banks Nordea and ABN Amro Group NV.”

“Dutch private equity firm Velocity Capital has launched a 105 million euro ($120 million) venture fund aimed at investing in early stage companies focusing on banking, payments, credit and other fintech areas.    The Amsterdam-based private equity firm, which has invested in fintech companies since 2007 including online brokerage firm TradeKing Group Inc. and South African point-of-sale provider Yoco, said on Tuesday it’s launching its first fund in order to create more investment possibilities as the size of its early stage investments increases.”

“Automated accounting is an interesting space. For instance, Roger just raised $7.35 million last week. But Georges focuses on one type of company in particular — people working on their own as freelancers, coaches, doctors, architects, lawyers, etc. The product is dead simple. First, you connect Georges with your professional bank account. The company leverages Bankin’ to connect to the vast majority of French banks. After that, Georges automatically tags revenue and expenses to calculate your annual revenue, VAT, etc.”

“Walmart will update an existing Toronto location with a new “Urban Superstore Concept” designed to meet the needs of young city-dwelling families. The location will feature tighter e-Commerce integration, more in-store technology and an improved product assortment, among other enhancements. One of the store’s key features is Fast Lane checkout technology, which leverages the My Walmart app to let shoppers scan products on their own mobile devices as they shop. The order is automatically billed to a credit card on file, and the customer only needs to show the receipt to an associate to check out. Use of the Walmart app will be further encouraged through store-specific deals and free in-store WiFi and phone chargers.”

“A group of financial firms led by UBS Group AG plans to start using a bitcoin-like token to settle cross-border trades, one of the biggest developments yet in the effort to make use of nascent blockchain technology. The 14 firms — a group that includes big banks in the U.S., Europe and Japan — have created a new company to control development of the token, called the utility settlement coin, or USC. They have collectively invested GBP50 million ($63.2 million) in the company, Fnality International.”

“Midigator’s The Year in Chargebacks report takes an in-depth look at payment disputes. The data provides unprecedented insight into why chargebacks happen, how to prevent and fight chargebacks more effectively, and what’s in store for the future. At Midigator, we believe data analysis is one of the most impactful elements of a successful chargeback management strategy. Data-driven decisions produce far better results than guesses and assumptions. The Year in Chargebacks report is designed to help you recognize the value of data analysis and the role it can play in chargeback management.”

“Imagine an economy with two people, one of whom has $1 of wealth and the other $99. Imagine further that the poorer individual’s wealth drops to nothing the next year, while the other’s remains unchanged. A nationally aggregated statistic will observe $100 of wealth in the first period and $99 in the next, which represents a 1 percent decrease in net wealth. The poorer individual, however, experienced a life-changing 100 percent decrease. Given how the top 1 percent in our country has around 40 percent of all wealth, this contrived example is not entirely unlike the real world. Life-changing shocks to net wealth at the lowest percentiles may be entirely invisible under near trivial changes at the highest percentiles.”

“Kenya has fired a direct shot at the nation’s endemic corruption: by issuing a new generation of banknotes. In a surprise move, the government announced the 1,000 shillings ($10) note will be discontinued by October 1 in a bid to fight corruption, counterfeit, and money laundering. Central bank governor Patrick Njoroge said people who want to exchange amounts between 1 million and 5 million shillings will have to go to their banks to do that.”

“Teresa Smith hoped she could keep news of her impending divorce a secret, until Square Inc. blabbed about it to one of her friends. The day after Ms. Smith, a horse trainer living outside Washington, paid the retainer for a local divorce attorney in late 2016, an acquaintance forwarded her an email full of details about the transaction. The attorney had swiped Ms. Smith’s credit card through a Square device, and the payments company automatically generated the receipt that wound up her friend’s inbox.”

“Once every few weeks, Myra Haq withdraws $100 or so from Earnin, an app that lets people borrow small sums of money. “I started using Earnin when I was a minimum wage intern so I could pay for [things like] the bus to work and food,” Haq said. Now that she’s no longer an intern making minimum wage — she currently works as a nanny, handles a children’s clothing company’s social media accounts, and sells clothing online — she still occasionally finds herself needing extra cash for doctor appointments or other unplanned expenses, and that’s where Earnin comes in.”

“While banking has evolved dramatically in the digital age, financial institutions have lagged when it comes to improving processes for cross border payments. Fortunately, Toronto-based fintech Buckzy Payments Inc. announces today its financial institutions network solution, enabling banks to offer next generation real-time cross-border payments capabilities to their customers.”

“Troovo , the world’s leading digital B2B payments processing company for the travel industry, today announced the launch of a complete, end-to-end solution that will automate enterprise payments across any ERP system, credit card processor, bank or currency. Using its rules-based robotics process automation (RPA) technology, Troovo helps companies integrate their disconnected vendor payment systems, expense management platforms, paper-based payment processes and accounting platforms. Troovo’s unique technology eliminates payment fraud, labor costs and errors.”

“While the industry transformation has the potential to completely alter how consumers and businesses interact with financial services, Mastercard’s new suite of services will deliver practical answers to the real challenges that risk inhibiting open banking from realising its full potential.

• They will incorporate a pan-European directory of third party providers to help banks to ensure that parties seeking access to a customer’s account are legitimate.
• The new services will also include a sophisticated fraud monitoring service (based on Mastercard’s extensive safety and security solutions), which will enable banks to better assess the risk associated with a given third party.
• They will also provide a dedicated dispute resolution mechanism, spanning both a clear set of rules and a communications platform and leveraging our extensive expertise of handling disputes in today’s payment card industry.
• Finally, they will also feature a connectivity hub that will help third parties establish and maintain communication with banks.”

“With the PSD2 requirement for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) going into effect on Sept. 14, 2019, Worldpay, Inc. (NYSE: WP ) will launch the Exemption Engine for Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) merchants operating in the European Economic Area (EEA) to reduce friction from the online checkout experience. Under the SCA requirement, only an acquirer can file exemptions with issuers on behalf of the merchant. Worldpay’s Exemption Engine for SCA, which requires little-to-no integration, is a first-of-its-kind solution that employs machine learning to apply the most applicable SCA exemption to an individual payment. The Exemption Engine for SCA’s predictive model is built by analyzing Worldpay’s market-leading payment data in the region as well as proprietary issuer profiles, which inform the solution’s decisioning.”

“PayFi announced today it has committed to bringing real-time payments capabilities to community banks on PayFi’s Branch99TM Real-Time Platform. PayFi will accelerate community banks’ participation in real-time payments on the RTP® network developed by The Clearing House (TCH).”

“The new design helps customers easily and quickly identify the correct way a card should be inserted into a cash machine. The flat design also makes it easier to fit into a wallet or purses and helps to increase the lifespan of the card. The larger card lettering helps make it easier for customers to identify in poor lighting. As part of the development of the card design, NatWest has been working closely with the Alzheimer’s Society to make sure the new cards also help customers with dementia. Extra features such as the notch and raised dots, differentiate the card from others and act as a reminder to dementia customers which way around the card should be. Additionally with all customers having the same card any stigma associated with a special card is taken away.”

“We are at a moment in time where we can finally put the same tech and capabilities in the hands of all businesses regardless of size. We are bringing our vision of open commerce and partnership to life with the PayPal Commerce Platform – to power commerce in a way that allows more businesses and more people to participate in the benefits of the digital economy. I’ve said many times before – when I think about the world I want to wake up in a decade, I don’t want there to be only one place to buy online. I want to wake up in a world where there is a thriving, vibrant, and diverse ecosystem of merchants, sellers, entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes. That’s our goal. We want help more businesses get started, grow and thrive in today’s complex digital world. It’s that simple.”

“The value of remittances globally continues to rise , and today a startup that has built a business targeting money transfers into emerging markets has raised a large round of growth funding to capitalize on that. WorldRemit , the London startup that has focused on enabling competitively-priced, quick money transfers from migrant workers and immigrants living in developed countries back home, typically in developing countries, has raised $175 million in a Series D round of funding from TCV, Accel and Leapfrog.”

“Executing European Open Banking legislation (PSD2)’s requirements remains an ongoing challenges for most financial institutions (FIs), which face a mandatory September 14, 2019 deadline to furnish regulated third party providers (TPPs) with access to transactional customer account data, or face the wrath of regulators.”

“The services frame themselves as tools that make it easy for their millennial and Gen Z user base to pay back a bar tab or split the cost of lunch. But some straddling tight budgets are also turning to payment apps as crowdfunding tools for bills, emergencies and the costs of daily life. Tweets linking to Venmo and Cash App accounts are common in some pockets of Twitter, as users seek to crowdfund a few hundred dollars for rent or food , burdensome expenses such as medical bills , surgery, immigration fees, a family member’s funeral , and even a couple dollars for a cup of coffee or a trip to the nail salon .”

“PayPal is rolling out a new e-commerce platform that gives small businesses the same access to the online shopping infrastructure as tech giants like Facebook. The new platform brings together existing parts of PayPal’s payments business — letting merchants accept money online and shoppers to check out through PayPal. It also opens up back-end systems like fraud protection, compliance, and authenticating an account, which would be expensive and “almost impossible” for a small start-up to build on its own, PayPal COO Bill Ready said.”

“China UnionPay will issue debit and credit cards in Europe from this month as its eyes global expansion to compete with Mastercard and Visa. The state-controlled Chinese firm teamed up with Tribe Payments, a UK-based back-office technology start-up. This partnership also allows banks to offer branded cards to customers.”

“NAB, Israel’s Bank Leumi and Canada’s CIBC have launched an online portal intended to facilitate collaboration with fintechs. The site solicits pitches from fintechs to address a range of challenges facing the trio of banks. A representative of a fintech can select which problems they think they can address, choose which bank they want to pitch to, enter details about their business, and then submit their idea.”

“The days of fumbling for loose change at the school fete or footy match sausage sizzle could soon be numbered, after the New Payments Platform (NPP) revealed it’s working quickly with banks, merchants payment services providers to hook-up scan-to-pay QR codes to its real time network.”

“SBI Ripple Asia , a joint venture between blockchain startup Ripple and Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings, last week announced the launch of a demonstration test of its Money Tap app that would allow in-store payments. Launched last October, Money Tap offers real-time settlement for domestic payments in Japan. It uses xCurrent – Ripple’s enterprise software for messaging and international transaction settlement.”

“For decades, PIN entry has been restricted to specialized hardware devices, such as PIN pads on ATMs and at the point of sale. On Monday, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based software company headed by a former Visa Inc. executive said it will start offering to retailers in Japan its technology for PIN entry on ordinary, off-the-shelf mobile devices. MagicCube Inc. said it will work with NTT Data Corp., a Tokyo-based information-technology firm. No information was immediately available regarding how soon the partnership will begin operating.”

“Away from the limelight of urban cities, where an increasingly growing number of firms are fighting for a piece of India’s digital payments market, a South Korean startup’s app is quietly helping millions of Indians pay digitally and enjoy many financial services for the first time. The app, called True Balance , began its life as a tool to help users easily find their mobile balance, or topping up pre-pay mobile credit. But in its four-year journey, its ambition has significantly grown beyond that. Today, it serves as a digital wallet app that helps users pay their mobile and electricity bills, and it also lets users pay later.”

“Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -4.52% on Monday said it has made more than 10 million products available for free one-day delivery to Prime members in the U.S., the latest salvo in a battle over speedier shipping speeds with rival Walmart Inc. WMT +0.36% The e-commerce giant is touting the arbitrary milestone about three weeks after Walmart announced it would begin offering free next-day delivery shipping on about 200,000 products for shoppers on some orders in a handful of cities. The two rivals have been one-upping each other with announcements of faster shipping options as they seek to cater to ever-demanding online shoppers.”

“Payments processing company Stripe is now offering a chargeback protection service to prevent businesses from incurring costs from fraud disputes. Built on Stripe’s machine learning-based fraud prevention tool Radar, the chargeback service offers automatic reimbursement for the cost of a disputed charge and any associated fees.”

“JCB International .Co. Ltd, the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., and ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions , today announced an alliance to introduce “JCB Web API Service” using ACI’s UP eCommerce Payments solution. JCB Web API Service provides acquirers with a web API-based interface for authorization and clearing with 3D Secure 1.0 / 2.0. JCB Web API Service allows acquirers to connect to the JCB network in an easier and faster manner to accept transactions from more than 130 million JCB cardmembers.”