“Goldman Sachs Group Inc. leaders have been coy about backing up their recent assertion that the Apple Inc. card is the industry’s most successful credit card launch ever. Regulatory filings this week offer a first glimpse into the numbers that had the bank gushing.”

“Paidy , a Japanese financial tech startup that provides instant credit to consumers in Japan, announced today that it has raised a total of $143 million in new financing. This includes an $83 million Series C extension from investors, including PayPal Ventures, and debt financing of $60 million. The funding will be used to advance Paidy’s goals of signing large-scale merchants, offering new financial services and growing its user base to 11 million accounts by the end of 2020.”

“Indian digital payments took off when the government pushed demonetization in 2016, invalidating most of the country’s high-value currency notes in a move to curb corruption and push Indians away from cash. The Unified Payments Interface or UPI has now surpassed a 100 million users three-and-a-half years after its launch, thanks to booming smartphone use and wireless data rates among the lowest in the world.”

“China has among the fastest rates of adoptions when it comes to non-cash payments. According to a 2018 McKinsey report, 40 per cent of in-person spending in China was through mobile digital wallets. The report said that China alone will generate half a trillion dollars in net new annual payment revenue by 2022. However, the technology raises concerns over privacy, security and surveillance – and not everyone is on board with it. Brenda McPhail, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association specializing in privacy and security, points to the potential for breaches and hacks, and mentions there is no infrastructure in place to protect people whose biometric data is stolen.”

“Testing and certification have been cited as one of the biggest challenges for EMV chip implementation at the automated fuel dispenser (AFD). With the AFD fraud liability shift slated for October 2020, the U.S. Payments Forum has released guidance for streamlining this process and reducing redundancy, implementation time and effort required to achieve certifications for systems using electronic payment servers.”

“Apple Pay has been growing at a brisk pace recently, and Tim Cook is making a point to emphasize that fact. During Apple’s Q4 2019 earnings call today, Cook touted that revenue and transactions for Apple Pay doubled year-over-year as the service continues to outpace PayPal.”

“The “pivot” to fintech has been a popular strategy among Asian tech and ride-hailing companies. India’s Ola made fintech a priority in 2015 after spinning out its payment service, Ola Money , into a standalone app. Indonesia’s Go-Jek started its Go-Pay service in 2016. “There is some precedence for success,” Bernstein analyst Harshita Rawat said of big tech platforms in Asia offering financial services. Companies like Uber know a lot about their workers, and can leverage that information to offer tailored loans and other services.”

“Rwandan businesses that declare a significant portion of their revenue via cashless avenues could soon start receiving tax refunds. The Government, through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, is currently conducting studies to determine the feasibility of the concept. Eric Rwigamba, the Director-General of the Financial Sector Development at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, told The New Times the findings of the feasibility will be out by the first quarter of 2020.”

“Payments executives are starting to go public with concerns about a growing type of ATM fraud call the cash-out attack. Unlike the well-known, single-machine attack known as jackpotting , cash-out frauds allow criminals to gain access to multiple machines simultaneously at the network level. They then employ accomplices to visit these machines to draw out the cash. “Once they gain control of the bank’s system, they need to monetize that access. Therein lies the ATM cash-out,” says Tia Ilori, senior director for fraud and breach investigations at Visa Inc. Ilori says Visa has detected cash-out attacks—some successful, some thwarted—at 97 financial institutions in the past year. Visa will not disclose how much has been stolen in these attacks.”

“In Apple’s Q4 earnings call, CEO Tim Cook announced that later this year, you’ll be able to buy an iPhone on an Apple Card, pay for it over 24 months with zero interest, get your 3 percent cash back on the purchase, and manage payments in the Wallet app with one fell swoop.”

“Zero, the San Francisco-based banking app, announced that it is now available for Android after its launch earlier this year on the iOS platform.  Zero provides a Zero Checking account and a credit card that provides users with the chance to earn a minimum of 1% cash back, with up to 3% back on certain purchases. The mobile app and card are offered at four different levels, including Quartz, Graphite, Magnesium and Carbon, with each level representing a different opportunity to earn points and additional features.”

“Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions, today announced an agreement with Desjardins Group, the leading cooperative financial group in Canada, to acquire its existing merchant acquiring business and portfolio of approximately 40,000 merchants. As part of the transaction, Global Payments will enter into an exclusive 10-year marketing alliance agreement under which Desjardins will refer members to Global Payments for payment technology and acquiring solutions.”

“Facebook has reached a settlement with the U.K.’s data protection watchdog, the ICO, agreeing to pay in full a £500,000 (~$643K) fine following the latter’s investigating into the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal. As part of the arrangement, Facebook has agreed to drop its legal appeal against the penalty. But under the terms of the settlement it has not admitted any liability in relation to paying the fine, which is the maximum possible monetary penalty under the applicable U.K. data protection law. (The Cambridge Analytica scandal predates Europe’s GDPR framework coming into force.)”

“In a country where mobile payments have spread by leaps and bounds in the past couple of years, some 1,000 convenience stores have already installed a facial payment system, and more than 100 million Chinese have registered to use the technology.   To receive the benefits, however, users need to first register their mug shots with smartphone applications offered by providers of facial payment services. A new regulation was also put in place in December requiring consumers to register their facial photos when signing up with a mobile service provider.”

“While much attention in the payments industry in recent months has focused on EMVCo’s Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) specification, another e-commerce spec from the standards body could be receiving some tweaks. These possible initiatives, which concern the 3-D Secure 2.0 standard, include a way of adding users’ travel data to help authenticate them, whitelisting known merchants, and recruiting voice recognition as a means of verifying user identity, according to Brian Byrne, director of operations for EMVCo., which is owned jointly by American Express Co., China UnionPay, Japan’s JCB card network, Mastercard Inc., and Visa Inc.”

“The National Bank of Cambodia has begun the rollout of a national mobile payments platform based on real-time funds transfers, QR mobile payments and a single electronic clearing system.”

“This morning Starling unveiled a new feature to quickly let account holders convert their existing Starling debit card into a euro debit card with only a few taps. The feature works by letting the card detect the currency being used, and automatically switching between either Pounds or Euros. “A single card that can buy things in both Euros and Pounds is long overdue and something that we know our customers will value both in their personal and business lives,” said Starling’s CEO Anne Boden.“

“The survey of more than 2,000 U.S. and U.K. adults, conducted by Propeller Insights on behalf of Marqeta, also found that digital banks are gaining strong market traction as secondary banking options used in tandem with traditional banks but still face some significant hurdles to mass adoption as primary banking solutions.”

“Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today announced that 100 partners have enrolled in its global transit partner program, Visa Ready for Transit, giving transit agencies access to an expanded network of technology solutions and expertise to make it easier to get around.”

“Mastercard Inc. switched 20% more transactions on its worldwide network in the third quarter than it did a year earlier as purchase volumes remained strong and new growth markets generated more transactions. “Growth was broad-based,” Mastercard president and chief executive Ajay Banga said Tuesday morning during the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call with analysts.”

“PayPal Holdings Inc. and Synchrony Financial have been sparing about the details of a new credit card they plan to issue for PayPal’s Venmo peer-to-peer payment service, but on Monday a top Synchrony executive said the partners are counting on a key characteristic of Venmo to help market the new card.  “We’ll use the social network of Venmo to drive utilization,” Carol Juel, Synchrony’s chief technology officer, told Digital Transactions News. Venmo was one of the first P2P networks to offer a Facebook-like experience that lets users fill in recipients on the purpose of specific payments and comment on new features. In cases like the new credit card, which is expected to debut in the second half of next year, the social network working alongside Venmo could help announce the product and induce at least some users to apply for it.”

“TrueLayer , the London startup that’s built a developer API platform for fintechs and other adjacent companies to utilise open banking, has agreed a strategic and commercial relationship with Visa. The partnership sees Visa also take a minority stake in TrueLayer as part of the company’s $35 million Series C funding announced in June.”

“Merchants and retailers may soon be able to accept contactless card payments on their phones. Global payments major Mastercard is set to launch a solution in India where a smartphone can become a contactless acceptance device.”

“It’s called the online installment loan, a form of debt with much longer maturities but often the same sort of crippling, triple-digit interest rates. If the payday loan’s target audience is the nation’s poor, then the installment loan is geared to all those working-class Americans who have seen their wages stagnate and unpaid bills pile up in the years since the Great Recession.”

“Amid increased competition in the digital payments space, Venmo today announced its first-ever rewards program, Venmo Rewards, which will allow users to earn automatic cash back on purchases when they pay with their Venmo card at select retailers. The company is kicking off the program with limited-time cash back deals, including 5% back at Target, 5% back at Sephora, 4% back at Dunkin’, 5% back and Wendy’s and more.”

“CITCON , the integrated mobile payment and commerce leader, today announced the release of CITCON UnionPay Pass at Money 2020. CITCON UnionPay Pass is the first complete suite of UnionPay products available online and offline globally, serving the world’s largest cardholder base of more than about 8 billion cards issued worldwide, particularly from China, South Korea and the United States.”

“BlueSnap, a global payments technology company listed among Inc Magazine’s fastest-growing privately held companies, announced today that it has acquired Armatic, a leader in accounts receivable and invoicing automation. With this acquisition, BlueSnap will provide B2B companies with an efficient quote-to-payment solution aimed at increasing sales and reducing costs.”

“ovation , a TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) company, today announced the results of its “ 2019 Financial Services Fraud and Consumer Trust Report ” at Money 20/20 USA . The report includes the analysis of tens of billions of global online financial services transactions that iovation and TransUnion have screened for fraud , as well as a survey of 1,604 consumers.”

“Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. ( JKHY ) is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry. The company announced today that the first 15 financial institutions – including Dallas-based Pegasus Bank – will implement JHA PayCenter™ to connect to the RTP® network from The Clearing House.”

“Bringing its scale and advanced technology to healthcare, Mastercard is transforming its business by moving beyond cards and reimagining how its technology and capabilities can benefit the healthcare ecosystem. These solutions build upon Mastercard’s established role in healthcare – helping businesses provide their employees with convenient, reliable access to healthcare funds through Mastercard-branded Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Health Savings Account (HSA), and Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) cards.”

“The company announced on Monday the formation of a new division called Uber Money to house its efforts, which include a digital wallet and upgraded debit and credit cards. The emphasis, at first, will be expanding Uber’s efforts to give its 4 million-plus drivers and couriers around the world access to a mobile bank account so they can get paid after each ride, according to Peter Hazlehurst, who will head the new division.”

“Mobile payment startup Stripe Inc. began operations in Mexico, three weeks after after the launch of a similar central bank-backed system aimed at boosting the amount of digital payments used in the nation’s cash-heavy economy.    Stripe, used by companies including Uber Technologies Inc., touts a key difference between it and CoDi, as Banxico-backed cobro digital is known: Its users can make and take payments worldwide. Distrust of established banks in Mexico is high, and remains one of the key obstacles to widespread CoDi adoption.”

“Apple Pay’s dominance, as well as increasing retailer adoption of proximity mobile payment technology, is driving transaction volume growth in the US, according to our latest forecast. We estimate US proximity mobile payment transactions will total $98.88 billion in 2019, growing 31.8% to $130.36 billion next year. By 2021, the total transaction value will reach $161.41 billion.”

“China remains the country with by far the highest mobile payments adoption rate, with 81.1% of smartphone owners making use of the technology, eMarketer reports .”

“Members of the BRICS trade bloc Russia, India, and China have decided to connect their financial messaging systems to bypass the SWIFT international money transfer network. Russia’s financial messaging system SPFS will be linked with the Chinese cross-border interbank payment system CIPS. While India does not have a domestic financial messaging system yet, it plans to combine the Central Bank of Russia’s platform with a domestic service that is in development. The new system is expected to work as a “gateway” model when messages on payments are transcoded in accordance with a certain financial system.”

“India’s very own Unified Payments Interface (UPI)- a real-time payment system has achieved the double milestone of one billion transactions as well as has crossed 100 million users in October. This makes it the fastest adoption of any payments system anywhere else in the world.”

“The American Cancer Society’s online store has become the latest victim of credit card-stealing malware. Security researcher Willem de Groot found the malware on the organization’s store website, buried in obfuscated code designed to look like legitimate analytics code. The code was designed to scrape credit card payments from the page, like similar attacks targeting British Airways , Ticketmaster , AeroGarden and Newegg .”

“Mastercard today launched Mastercard Accelerate, a global initiative that simplifies the way that Mastercard works with fintechs, giving them access to everything they need to grow quickly. Offering a simple, single entry-point to the company’s wide portfolio of specialized programs, Mastercard Accelerate gives start-ups and emerging brands support and assistance for every stage of their growth and transformation, from market entry to global expansion.”

“Paymentus Corporation, a leader in customer engagement and bill payment technology, today announced that billers on the Paymentus Instant Payment Network can soon offer customers a more intuitive way to interact with and manage utility bills via any Alexa-enabled device. With this announcement, customers of participating billers will soon be able to link their utility account to Alexa so they can simply ask for information about their bill including when their bill is due (e.g. “Alexa, when is my water bill due?”) and how their current bill compares to previous periods (e.g. “Alexa, compare my electricity bill to June last year.”)”

“Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments, and Marqeta, the modern card issuing platform, today announced a platform collaboration intended to ease global expansion for multi-national card programs. The project plans to provide a streamlined developer-friendly path for Visa issuers to build, test and launch digital-first card programs in 10 Asia Pacific markets. Asia Pacific is home to 4.3 billion people1, and with digital payments expected to increase in the region by $23 trillion over the next decade2, it is the world’s fastest growing digital payments landscape.”