“Mexican fintech startup Credijusto has raised $100 million in debt from Credit Suisse Group, a move that will help it extend more loans to small and mid-sized businesses as banks gauge how to respond to the impact of coronavirus, its joint CEO said.”

“A popular technology company that has helped launch thousands of online retail sites has become a favorite tool for fly-by-night businesses looking to cash in on the coronavirus pandemic. New e-commerce sites that use the company’s services are filled with wildly exaggerated claims about virus-fighting products that may not even exist.”

“Introduced in a new bill on March 17 by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the plan does not directly mention blockchain or cryptocurrencies, but an explanatory note mentions distributed ledger as one of the technologies that could be explored in the new “experimental regulatory regimes.”  Such regimes can be established to live-test the new technologies in medicine, transporation, distant learning, financial markets, online commerce and other sectors. The bill gives Russia’s regulators scope to deal with novel tech in a more flexible way, the document says. It’s also suggested that the country’s regions would be able to set up their own local sandboxes.”

“Despite the outbreak of coronavirus, China has clarified that it will be launching its national blockchain network in April 2020, as scheduled earlier. The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform developed by the Chinese government in conjunction with tech companies and financial institutions.”

“Brex wants to help startups get the money that traditional big banks won’t lend them, and it just acquired three companies to help it do so: Neji, Compose Labs and Landria. Per Brex, 12 new people will be joining Brex in total from the three companies.”

“Digital-payment services are facing a surge in demand as efforts to stem the novel coronavirus pandemic result in housebound shoppers stocking up on groceries, prescription drugs, audiobooks and movies online. Many e-payment providers are falling back on contingency plans put in place to handle seasonal bursts in online shopping, such as Black Friday, in part by tapping additional on-demand capacity in the cloud, industry analysts said.”

“Mobile banking app Revolut, which has more than 10 million customers in Europe, is launching today in the US, the company announced. Like Monzo, a UK-based banking app that made the jump to the US last June, Revolut is entirely app-based and doesn’t operate any brick-and-mortar locations. That means you can sign up for an account and a debit card in just a few minutes right from within the app. That account is insured for up to $250,000 by the FDIC.”

“Industry group Financial Innovation Now urged Congress in a letter to provide capital to online lenders including PayPal and Square Inc., and to permit the firms to disperse Small Businesses Administration loans. The group’s members also include Inuit Inc. and Stripe Inc.”

“It all started with a tweet from 11:FS co-founder Simon Taylor. If the U.K. government could be persuaded to provide financial support to the self-employed during the Coronavirus crisis, as it has already pledged for full-time employees, then Open Banking technology could be used to self-certify lost income, and therefore overcome one of the main hurdles of administering potential compensation.”

“The spending limit for contactless card payments in the UK is being increased from £30 (US$35.33) to £45 (US$52.99), UK Finance has announced. The new spending limit will begin to roll out from 1 April 2020. “The changes were already under consideration by the industry, but the process has been expedited as part of the industry’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak to support consumers who choose to pay using contactless at this time,” UK Finance says.”

“The Russian central bank already keeps banknotes for up to 14 days before distributing them and is now asking other banks to do the same, Vladimir Demidenko, deputy head of its cash circulation department told Reuters.”

“Demand for secure online and contactless payments is surging in South Africa on the back of fears around the spread of coronavirus, with many people reluctant to use cash or to touch point of sale machines.  As the number of confirmed cases increases daily, growing numbers of retailers are scrambling to get online payment systems in place to meet a spike in demand from customers looking for contactless payment options, said Thomas Pays, the Chief Executive of online payment platform Ozow.”

“Specifically, the deal was reached with iGraal’s majority owner M6 Group and consists of €35 million in cash; the remaining is made up of an exchange of shares. The acquisition is said to be one of the largest in the cashback and loyalty space in recent years, with iGraal considered the leading digital cashback player in France.”

“Singapore and Australia have wrapped up negotiations on a digital economy pact that will see both nations collaborate on multiple fronts, including artificial intelligence (AI), cross-border data flow, and e-payments. The trade agreement aims to provide a framework to facilitate “deeper cooperation” to “shape” international rules and establish interoperability between digital systems.”

““More than half of payments currently being made by card are contactless, compared with 35% before the coronavirus crisis hit, according to the German Credit Agency (DK),” the publication says.”

“Metlink , the transportation agency for the Greater Wellington region of New Zealand, has ceased accepting cash payments on all buses, trains, ferries and stations “to stay one step ahead of Covid-19 and give our passengers and staff more peace of mind”.”

“Cash is fighting an uphill battle to remain a payment option during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Over the past week, a number of toll-highway authorities and at least two bridge authorities have ceased accepting cash to limit the spread of the highly infectious disease.”

“Users with Visa debit or credit cards will have the option on the PhonePe app to activate the new payment feature through a one-time validation process to register their card. Users can then carry out transactions on recharges, bill payments, switch platform and many more use cases on the PhonePe app without having to enter an OTP or CVV for every subsequent transaction.”

Ireland to raise contactless transaction limit to €50

ANZ waives contactless debit card fees for small businesses in New Zealand

National Bank of Georgia recommends contactless and mobile payments

Desjardins increases contactless limit for Canadian credit cardholders to C$250

Poland doubles contactless payment transaction limit

UAE urges consumers to use online banking services

Turkey to double contactless limit as transaction volumes soar

Saudi Arabia triples contactless card transaction limit

Dutch banks raise cumulative contactless payments limit to €100

“French startup October wants to reduce the pressure on small and medium companies going through the coronavirus crisis. In order to give them some headroom, companies that have borrowed money on October won’t have to pay back their loans for the next three months.”

“Finastra, a company that provides a range of technology solutions to banks worldwide, said it was shutting down key systems in response to a security breach discovered Friday morning. The company’s public statement and notice to customers does not mention the cause of the outage, but their response so far is straight out of the playbook for dealing with ransomware attacks.”

Coronavirus quarantines are hurting local businesses, but Instagram  co-founder Mike Krieger  wants to help them keep revenue rolling in. Krieger and his wife Kaitlyn this week launched SaveOurFaves, a directory of Bay Area restaurants selling gift certificates to offset lost income amidst “shelter in place” orders across the region. Users can search for restaurants or browse by neighborhood, and then click through to buy gift certificates straight from the eateries with no added fee from SaveOurFaves.

“U.S. consumers are facing what could become the biggest credit crunch since the Great Depression. Lenders and credit-reporting firms aren’t sure what to do about it. As coronavirus spreads, thousands of wait staff, bartenders and airline employees are out of work and could be on the brink of missing payments on mortgages, credit cards and other loans.”