“Scalapay , a buy now, pay later (BNPL) technology provider that has made significant headway with retailers and consumers in Europe and in categories like fashion, has closed a round of funding that it will be using to fuel its expansion ambitions. The startup has raised $155 million at a $700 million valuation. Tiger Global is leading this round, with new backers Baleen Capital and Woodson Capital also participating, alongside Fasanara Capital and Ithaca Investments, which had backed Scalapay in its previous $48 million round earlier this year . (Scalapay has now raised $203 million in total.)”

“The company had 7.1 million active customers as of the fourth quarter, up from 5.4 million in the previous period. The blockbuster earnings report comes after Affirm last month announced it’s teaming up with Amazon to launch the e-commerce giant’s first partnership with an installment payment player. The partnership allows Amazon customers in the U.S. to split purchases of $50 or more into smaller, monthly installments.   When asked how the partnership with Amazon came together, Levchin said on a call with investors that large retailers are realizing the buy now, pay later trend isn’t just a fad or a feature.”

“Monzo and Revolut, two of Britain’s best-known financial technology firms, are planning to enter the booming “buy now, pay later” industry. Buy now, pay later, or BNPL, plans are an increasingly popular method of payment that lets users spread the cost of their purchases over a series of interest-free instalments. The trend was pioneered by the likes of Swedish fintech Klarna and Australian firm Afterpay .”

“Michael Anderson mined bitcoin in his dorm room and left a corporate job to invest in cryptocurrency projects. When he bought his first home in San Francisco this year, he didn’t turn to a bank. Instead, he borrowed against his cryptocurrency. Crypto enthusiasts such as Mr. Anderson are tapping their holdings to buy homes, cars and, often, more crypto. They are getting these loans from upstart nonbank lenders and automated, blockchain-based platforms.”

“MTN Group widened a partnership with merchant payment technology provider Flutterwave to expand acceptance of the operator’s mobile money platforms to the latter’s customers in three new African markets. Prior to the new deal, Flutterwave customers in Uganda and Rwanda were able to accept payments through MTN’s mobile money platforms. This has now been expanded to Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Zambia.”

“In a first-of-its-kind, 10-year partnership, Square has been selected as the exclusive point-of-sale (POS), payments, software, and merchant services provider for the new SoFi Stadium , home to the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, and Hollywood Park , the 300-acre mixed-use development being built by Los Angeles Rams Owner/Chairman and SoFi Stadium developer E. Stanley Kroenke. Together, Square, SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, and Legends are ushering in a new standard for fan experience and commerce that enables seamless commerce centered around delighting and engaging sports fans and concert-goers, while rising to meet the new challenges, needs, and opportunities facing the entertainment and sporting industry.”

“Visa (NYSE: V) today announced that the U.S. Spending Momentum Index (SMI) was 109.6 in August (seasonally adjusted), down 2.9 points from July. With the SMI reading still above 100, this signals that more consumers are still spending more than they did a year ago. By category, the SMI for discretionary purchases fell 2.0 points from the previous month to 105.8. The SMI for non-discretionary purchases was unchanged at 100.1. The SMI slowed across all regions in the United States, with momentum decelerating the fastest in the South, where it dropped 4.7 points to 108.7. By comparison, the August SMI was 109.3 in the Northeast, 108.3 in the Midwest and 111.2 in the West.”

“Uplift , the leading enterprise Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution serving the world’s top travel brands, and KAYAK, the world’s leading travel search engine, have deepened their partnership to provide travelers with greater payment flexibility when booking travel on KAYAK. Expanding on Uplift’s existing payment options, starting this fall, KAYAK users will have the added benefit of paying in interest-free monthly installments on select flights through the end of the year.”

“Expensify, the most widely used preaccounting software in the world, announced today the addition of the highly anticipated cash back perk for the Expensify Card. Companies can now automatically earn up to 2% cash back on all purchases under the following conditions: For every month you spend over $25K combined across all cards, earn unlimited 1% cash back. For every month you spend over $250K combined across all cards, earn unlimited 2% cash back.”

“Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) is working on a new type of point-of-sale system that can be sold to third-party sellers, Insider reported on Wednesday. The new system can handle both online and offline transactions and can also link to other services including Prime and Flex, the report added, citing an internal document… The move will allow Amazon to compete with Canada’s Shopify (SHOP.TO) and U.S. payments giant PayPal (PYPL.O) , which already offer POS systems for payments for small businesses, that have moved online during the pandemic to boost sales. Project Santos, created by an internal Amazon team to compete with Shopify, is leading the project, the report said.”

“Varo Bank has more than tripled its valuation after gaining a national banking charter last year, CNBC has learned. The company is set to announce Thursday that it raised $510 million in a Series E round led by hedge fund Lone Pine Capital and including dozens of new and existing investors. The firm’s valuation rose to $2.5 billion from approximately $700 million after its previous fundraising, according to people with knowledge of the matter.”

“Jetty, a fintech company which aims to give renters flexibility when paying rent, has raised $23 million in a funding round co-led by Citi and Flourish Ventures…In a nutshell, renters can pay their rent when it’s due and then have up until the 24th of the month to pay the money back to Jetty — either in a lump sum or via installments. They don’t pay interest charges or late fees, but rather a monthly subscription fee ranging from $15 to $25, depending on the renter’s risk profile. If the renter fails to pay back the money during the agreed upon time, they will not be able to borrow more for the following month.”

“A third of U.S. consumers who used “buy now, pay later” services have fallen behind on one or more payments, and 72% of those said their credit score declined, a new study published by personal finance company Credit Karma showed. The study, conducted by software firm Qualtrics, surveyed 1,044 adult consumers in the United States last month to measure their interest in buy now pay later (BNPL) and found 44% had used these services before. The usage figure was slightly up from a similar survey conducted by Credit Karma for Reuters in December, while missed payments was down from 38%.”

“Australian buy now, pay later giant Afterpay has told a Senate fintech committee that it believes a stablecoin based on the Australian dollar will appear soon. “There is currently no AUD-backed stablecoin with significant uptake. However, this is unlikely to remain true for long. An AUD-backed stablecoin would provide Australian cryptocurrency users and investors with an alternate store of value compared to the popular USD-denominated coins, with the associated benefits of blockchain technology,” Afterpay told the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre in a submission.”

“Mastercard (NYSE: MA) will extend its capabilities deep into the field of digital assets with an agreement to acquire CipherTrace , a leading cryptocurrency intelligence company with insight into more than 900 cryptocurrencies. As digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), become more intertwined with everyday activities — from the way people pay and get paid to how they invest — trust and security will be critical enablers to ensure broad adoption and scale.”

“MX, the financial data platform and leader in modern connectivity, and Payveris, the leading integrated money movement platform, are partnering to expand seamless, low-cost, and low-risk money movement services by improving account connectivity for nearly every U.S. financial institution or fintech company. With the new integration, organizations can deploy intelligent digital payment and money movement services to their customers and utilize the Payveris MoveMoney℠ platform and suite of open APIs, SDK widgets, and SSO products. The new experience is embedded into an integrated money movement solution.”

“Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ), the global modern card issuing platform, today announced a continued partnership with Zip Co. in Australia, completing the first year of powering the global Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) company which provides fast and seamless solutions that simplify how people pay, everywhere.”

“The updated French national eID card (CNIe) was launched in August 2021, and will enable French citizens to complete online transactions using their smartphone. Citizens will receive an authentication request on their smartphone. They will then place their CNIe on the back of their phone, which will communicate using Near-Field Communication technology. The mobile app will securely read and authenticate the personal data held in the card’s chip. Citizens will need to provide their consent before authentication.”

“Buy now, pay later is officially everywhere, and Latin America is no exception. Today, one startup in the region, Addi , is announcing a $75 million extension to its Series B, bringing the total round size to $140 million. In late May, the startup announced it had raised $35 million in an equity round led by Union Square’s Opportunity Fund, and $30 million in debt funding from Architect Capital.”

“JPMorgan (JPM.N) has struck a deal to buy a majority stake in German car giant Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) payments business ahead of a planned rollout of in-car technology that allows drivers to automatically pay for fuel or tolls. The U.S. bank has agreed to buy close to 75% of Volkswagen Payments S.A. for an undisclosed sum, subject to regulatory approvals…JPMorgan said it plans to invest in and rebrand the payments business and expand its mobility-focused payments to other industries.”

“The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Coinbase Global Inc. over a lending program the company plans to market and has indicated it would sue the company over the offering, Coinbase said Tuesday. Coinbase co-founder and Chief Executive Brian Armstrong disclosed the dispute in a series of tweets late Tuesday. He called the SEC’s actions “sketchy” and “intimidation tactics behind closed doors,” and said other crypto companies are able to offer such programs.”

“El Salvador faced a rocky transition in its adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender on Tuesday. The government’s app for facilitating transactions — its “digital wallet” — went offline temporarily, protesters took to the streets of the capital to denounce the move, and the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply, demonstrating the volatility of the cryptocurrency market. The country is the first to use Bitcoin as an official currency, encouraging businesses and citizens to use it in everyday transactions, and the authorities struggled to smooth out glitches in the new system.”

“MVB Bank Inc. and Victor Technologies Inc. on Tuesday said they were entering a partnership which will help MVB Bank integrate Bitcoin into its banking-as-a-service solutions. MVB Bank and Victor said they will work with NYDIG, a technology and financial services firm dedicated to Bitcoin. MVB said it will be able to offer its fintech clients Bitcoin-related products, “all powered by NYDIG’s secure, regulated, full-stack platform.”

“After launching it in Go stores and then bringing it to larger Fresh supermarkets, Amazon’s cashierless “Just Walk Out” tech will soon arrive in two Whole Foods locations. The service, which lets you pick up goods from shelves and (yep) just walk out, is coming to new stores in Washington DC and Sherman Oaks, California next year, the company announced .”

“Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions, today announced an agreement to purchase MineralTree, a leading provider of accounts payable automation and business-to-business (B2B) payments solutions, from an investor group led by Great Hill Partners, .406 Ventures and Eight Roads Ventures. MineralTree’s software-as-a-service (SAAS) offerings automate key procurement processes, including invoice capture, coding and approval, and enable virtual cards and integrated payments options across a variety of key vertical markets to digitize payables for thousands of customers.”

“Apto Payments, a next-generation cards and payments company, today announced its acquisition of challenger credit card startup, Vertical Finance. The move expands both Apto Payments’ product offerings and team. Through the acquisition, Apto Payments will gain Vertical Finance’s innovative credit card platform and rewards technology. Prior to the acquisition, Vertical Finance’s credit platform matched consumers with high-quality boutique merchants and authentic rewards to enhance their lifestyle pursuits.”

“Square , the globally trusted software, payments and hardware solution for businesses of all sizes, is raising the bar on customer experience with the launch of its Square Register in Canada . With 80% of Canadians reporting their commitment to buying local is more important now than before the pandemic, Square Register offers Canadian sellers a cashless new way to sell and run their businesses from a COVID-safe distance.”

“Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, has entered into a first-of-its-kind collaboration with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which leads the retail payments and settlement infrastructure in India with breakthrough products like Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Bill Payment System, and RuPay, to enable the launch of ‘nFiNi’, a ready stack of services that fintechs and banks can use to issue RuPay credit cards.”

“Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced the availability of Integrated Receivables, a new Accounts Receivable (AR) service that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic processing to help simplify payment and remittance data capture, re-association, and invoice matching…Artificial intelligence and machine learning technology enables Integrated Receivables to correct errors and improve matching logic over time, which can help companies devote less time and resources to manually applying payments.”

“Oracle Banking Payments is supporting SWIFT’s latest service to make global cross-border payments fast, easy, predictable, and frictionless for small and medium enterprises (SME) and consumer markets…As banks are managing their ISO 20022 migrations and implementing new services within the gpi program, Oracle aims to lower the total cost of ownership and ease customers’ transition by investing in its solutions and supporting key industry initiatives. With Oracle Banking Payments’ built-in integration with the new SWIFT service, banks will be able to minimize disruption to customers’ existing technology infrastructure to meet dynamic cross-border payment needs and lower the total cost of ownership.”

“Francophone Africa has its first unicorn, and if you’ve been following tech on the continent, you will be very unsurprised to hear that it’s coming from the world of fintech. Wave , a U.S. and Senegal-based mobile money provider, has raised $200 million in Series A round of funding. The investment is the largest-ever Series A round for the region, and it values Wave at $1.7 billion.”

“The increasing use of an instant money transfer app is driving express kidnappings in the Brazilian city of São Paulo – a crime that now requires no more than a password and a push of a button to rob victims of large sums. In an interview with BBC News Brazil, Tarcio Severo, an official with the anti-kidnapping unit of the São Paulo police, said law enforcement has seen a rise in express kidnappings in which victims are forced to transfer money via Pix, an instant payment system created by Brazil’s central bank that was launched in November of last year.”

“North American payments processors are focusing lately on bulking up resources in Latin America, largely via acquisition. The latest example is Montreal-based Nuvei Corp., which on Tuesday said it has acquired Paymentez LLC, a 10-year-old payments provider that enables more than 80 payment methods in Mexico as well as 10 countries in South America. Terms of the deal were not announced. The news follows a pair of acquisitions rival processor Paysafe Group Holdings Ltd. has lately executed in the South American market and throws into relief the efforts by established payments firms to seek out high-growth international opportunities.”

“Fintech firm Revolut is preparing to launch a ‘buy now, pay later’ feature, becoming a rival of ClearPay and Klarna.  The company will allow users to spread the cost of in-store and online purchases over a period of time, chief executive Nikolay Storonsky has said. “Simply a button which you switch on and then your card becomes a buy now pay later product,” the fintech boss told the Evening Standard.”

“To reach new consumers and businesses for savings and lending, Citibanamex isn’t just building new products — it’s building application programming interfaces, or APIs. This plan is also crucial for keeping existing customers who might move their accounts to a fintech. Rather than compete against those companies, Citigroup’s Mexico subsidiary (the 137-year-old Banamex, which Citi bought in 2001) is developing open banking APIs internally.”

“The option to buy now and pay later has soared in popularity, accelerating last year as consumers bought almost everything online at the start of the pandemic. But the little buttons under those Lululemon leggings or that new TV that suggest spreading your purchase over six weeks or more — often at no cost — are expected to change spending habits in lasting ways.”

“El Salvador bought roughly $20.9 million worth of bitcoin , one day before it formally adopts the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as legal tender .  In a series of tweets Monday, President Nayib Bukele revealed that the country had purchased a total of 400 bitcoin, the first step in a larger push to add the digital currency to its balance sheet.”

“JCB International Co., Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., and Checkout.com, the global payments processing platform, today announces the next evolution of their partnership with the rollout of J/Secure(TM) 2.0 which is compliant with EMV(R) 3-D Secure (EMV 3DS) to Checkout.com’s merchants in the UK.As Europe’s leading payment service provider for enterprises, Checkout.com is the first licensee partner in the UK to go live with J/Secure(TM) 2.0, JCB’s authentication programme for card-not-present transactions.”

“U.S. payments networks continue to cultivate their connections to what is for them a potentially massive market in China. In the latest development, Leshua Technology announced early Friday it will support acquiring for American Express Co.’s joint venture in China. AmEx last year became the first foreign payments company to win approval to clear domestic transactions in mainland China. The card company, which in 2018 had gained clearance from the Peoples Bank of China to enter the Chinese market, is part of a joint venture in that country with LianLian DigiTech Co. Ltd., a Chinese fintech.”

“Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is facing an antitrust challenge in India for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the apps market by forcing developers to use its proprietary in-app purchase system, according to a source and documents seen by Reuters. The allegations are similar to a case Apple faces in the European Union , where regulators last year started an investigation into Apple’s imposition of an in-app fee of 30% for distribution of paid digital content and other restrictions.”

“SurePay , inventor and provider of Confirmation of Payee (CoP) in the UK and Benelux, has raised a €12.2 million round led by Connected Capital with Iris Capital, joining Rabo Frontier Ventures to boost the company’s international expansion. The company will use the funding to support the hiring of new business development teams in Germany, the UK, a cross-border team, and new IT experts to scale the technology platform and to further develop new solutions for their customers.”

“The United States has told financial institutions that they may process personal remittances to Afghanistan, a Treasury Department spokesperson said on Thursday, a move taken in tandem with steps to ensure the continued flow of humanitarian aid. The decision to allow money transfers could provide some relief for the Afghan economy, which is nearing collapse after moves by the United States and other countries to halt foreign aid and freeze some $9 billion in Afghan assets after the Taliban takeover on Aug. 15.”

“Shopify has expanded its integrated retail hardware for Shopify POS . In addition to Shopify Payments for in-person transactions to retail merchants in Germany. The company says merchants will benefit from unifying the online and offline shopping experience. The pandemic ushered in a new standard for shopping everywhere. Shopify’s research on consumer behaviour in Germany reveals that shopper preferences have fundamentally changed as a result.  As the majority of German consumers look to shop in physical stores post-pandemic.”

“India’s top banks five years ago built the interoperable UPI rails and enabled over 150 million people in the South Asian market to pay digitally. Scores of firms — including local firms Paytm, PhonePe, CRED and international giants Google and Facebook — in India today support the UPI infrastructure, which is now reporting 3 billion transactions each month. Banks are now ready for their second act. On Thursday, eight Indian banks announced that they are rolling out — or about to roll out — a system called Account Aggregator to enable consumers to consolidate all their financial data in one place.”

“Mastercard sees itself as a central player in the open banking regime, and is using an acquisition in the United States to build data analytics services, including for loan assessment and invoice management, as it moves beyond its traditional focus on cards and payments. Mastercard applied to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for accreditation to become a data recipient under the government’s consumer data right and is building integrations with banks to allow it to receive bank account data when customers consent.”

“Everis, a consultancy that is part of the NTT DATA Group, has said it will be working with the British Standards Institution (BSI), Bank of England, University College London (UCL), and the University of Edinburgh on Project FIRE (Future Infrastructure for Retail Remittances). Proposed by UCL and funded by The PETRAS National Centre of Excellence for IoT Systems Cybersecurity, the project aims to understand the devices and infrastructure required to enable the use of a token-based retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) that replicates certain key features of cash; accessibility, non-discrimination, privacy, and custodianship by the owner.”

“Since central bank digital currency (CBDC)-related projects made way in some countries, many more joined the party. Based on reports, India is considering launching a trial for digital rupee in December 2021. The project will be the country’s first digital currency trial initiative, said Governor Shaktikanta Das to CNBC.”

“Israel’s Bank Leumi announced Thursday that it signed an agreement with Google to roll out Google Pay, the tech giant’s digital payments app for Android users, in Israel. According to the deal, Leumi bank customers will be able to use Google Pay, as well as Leumi’s existing digital wallet, Pepper, to make purchases in stores and online.”

“Azimut, a self-service solutions provider specializing in kiosks for banks and telecoms, recently debuted its Reverse ATM, a self service kiosk that helps customers convert cash into an active EMV card that they can start using right away, according to a press release.”

“Amazon has begun informing Australian customers that it would prefer they do not use a Visa card when buying things through its platform. From November 1, Amazon will apply a 0.5% surcharge to purchases made using Visa credit cards on Amazon.com.au. According to Amazon, costs for transactions should be going down, not up.”

“PayPal (Nasdaq: PYPL) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) announced that they are continuing the global expansion of the popular PayPal Business Debit Mastercard in four new European countries – Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, and Portugal. This is in addition to Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and United States where the PayPal Business Debit Mastercard is currently available.”

“PhonePe, India’s leading fintech platform, today announced the launch of PhonePe Pulse, India’s first interactive website with data, insights and trends on digital payments in the country. The PhonePe Pulse website showcases more than 2000+ Crore transactions by consumers on an interactive map of India. With  over 45% market share, PhonePe’s data is representative of the country’s digital payment habits.”

“Walgreens and InComm Payments ™, a leading global payments technology company, today announced the launch of Scarlet 1, a bank account and debit card powered by Mastercard and issued by MetaBank®, available exclusively at Walgreens. Scarlet helps make the path to financial wellness simpler than ever with Walgreens Cash rewards, as well as personal finance planning tools and payment solutions. Scarlet will be available at more than 9,000 Walgreens stores nationwide, online and via the Walgreens mobile app.”