“Americans may soon be able to withdraw cash from ATMs around the country using only their phones. While there are several clear benefits, especially for those without a bank account or debit card, there may also be security risks, according to some experts.   Mastercard and a technology partner, Pin4, have been rolling out a service over the past several months called Mastercard Cash Pick-Up, which gives anyone with a cell phone fast access to cash.”

“Subscription services were up 32% to $5.24 billion. This segment mainly constitutes Amazon Prime , which the company has expanded to offer deals at places like Whole Foods . Keeping in line with this strategy, Amazon announced today that Prime members now get free delivery through Amazon Fresh, which normally costs $14.99 per month. Amazon Prime membership was the main takeaway that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wanted to focus on this quarter. He shared that Amazon now has over 150 million paid Prime members, up from 100 million Prime members in April 2018.”

“PayPal’s social payments platform Venmo processed more than $29 billion of TPV, up 56% over the same period last year. The company also announced that Venmo’s active user base sits at 52 million as of the fourth quarter, up from the 40 million that PayPal last disclosed in April.”

“As part of this investment, CBA and Klarna will now have 50:50 ownership rights to Klarna’s Australian and New Zealand business, which is expected to rival credit payment service Afterpay. CBA will also have a right to partner with Klarna in Indonesia. According to CBA, the additional investment will help Klara Group increase its “strategical alignment, bring additional rights, and gain exposure to Klarna’s international growth”.”

“Flux, which is an alumnus of Barclays’ London-based fintech accelerator — Rise — and was launched in 2017, integrates with mobile banking apps, allowing it to show digital receipts in the apps whenever a consumer pays with their bank credit or debit card at partnering merchants.”

“The company has been starting card programs for fintechs including Brex Inc., Revolut Technologies Inc. and TransferWise Inc., and has unveiled programs designed to make it easier for startups to join Mastercard’s network. That helped boost customers’ spending on the firm’s cards to $1.28 trillion in the quarter, in line with analysts’ estimates.”

“Lloyds Banking Group confirmed that it will close 56 bank branches across the U.K., as customer preferences continue to move toward digital banking and reduced dependence on physical branches.  The group, which has more branches than any other financial institution across the U.K., includes Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and several other mortgage, auto finance and wealth management brands.”

“Digital payments have had a huge impact on the global payments industry traditionally dominated by cash, credit cards , debit cards, and prepaid cards. The surge of smart devices and a growing eCommerce market has led to the rapid adoption of digital payments, in both developed and emerging countries. According to data gathered by LearnBonds.com, the worldwide digital payments market will jump to a record $4.7trn transaction value this year, with a 15.3% year-over-year growth rate. This rising trend is set to continue in the following years, with the entire market reaching $6.7trn by 2023.”

“Travelex has said that its international money transfer service in the UK is fully operational as the firm seeks to recover from a damaging cyberattack . A majority of Travelex services are still down The attack, which occurred on New Year’s Eve 2019 , forced the foreign exchange company to shut down its websites and resulted in the suspension of FX services that several major UK banks.  According to Reuters sources, losses incurred by the firm will be covered by a cyber insurance policy arranged with risk management firm and broker Gallagher. The main Travelex website remains down.”

“A draft of India’s national strategy on blockchain and distributed ledger technology suggests a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital Indian rupee, and a national blockchain. The National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG), a non-profit public body incorporated by the government of India, has published a draft document on the country’s national blockchain strategy. Issued on Dec. 30, the document appears to have been published recently as major local publications such as The Economic Times of India reported on the draft strategy on Jan. 28.”

“News emerged Wednesday from PayPal Holdings Inc.’s earnings call that Visa Inc. will serve as the network for a Venmo credit card PayPal announced in October. This development follows by one week PayPal’s announcement that it has struck a deal with UnionPay, China’s payment card giant, to integrate UnionPay cards in PayPal’s wallet and allow PayPal users to pay Chinese merchants.”

“Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: JKHY ) is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry. Its Jack Henry Banking ® division today introduced JHA BankAnywhereSM, a cloud-based digital banking system built on proven core and digital platforms. JHA BankAnywhere is available to any bank regardless of its existing core system and can be hosted by Jack Henry’s Gladiator® Hosted Network Solutions™ .”

“Chinese outbound tourism rose to approximately 81.3 million trips in the first half of 2019, up 14% year-over-year (YoY), per the Chinese Tourism Academy as cited in a report from Alipay and Nielsen, presenting payments providers with a valuable chance to rack up volume and build loyalty. And considering the most popular factor that affects Chinese tourists’ overseas shopping habits is the payment method (37%), which just beats out product quality (36%) and price (36%), payments companies’ operations may matter as much as which merchants they work with.”

“The rise of ‘buy now, pay later’ firms has sparked fears that shoppers are being loaded with too much debt. Firms such as Klarna, Clearpay and Laybuy allow consumers to split the cost of their shopping over a fixed period. But debt advice charities fear this is leaving customers vulnerable because some of the agreements are not covered by regulations set down by the Financial Conduct Authority.”

“The coworking and event space is just one of several of Berkshire’s planned brick-and-mortar locations that aren’t banks at all. Internally, the bank calls them storefronts, but they could be coworking locations, retail stores, or other possibilities. They’re all branded as Reevx (“Reev-ex”) Labs. Berkshire is planning to open more of them across its seven-state footprint in the Northeast. The storefronts are just one of several initiatives Lazu is shaping from her new position, all oriented toward bridging historic gaps between mainstream banks and communities of color.”

“The FCA said it has been in regular contact with major British banks to ask for evidence of how they arrived at their pricing decisions and how they plan to deal with the most affected customers.   The watchdog said it has asked lenders to identify the internal and external factors used in setting the new price changes and whether they considered “customers who will be worse off.””

“The victim of the ransomware attack had paid $950,000 in bitcoin to the perpetrator through an insurance company, according to a filing published last week by the England and Wales High Court (Commercial Court) and first reported by New Money Review . While some of the bitcoin was converted into fiat currency, the remainder appears to have been sent to an address on the Bitfinex platform.”

“Italy’s national postal service provider has added QR code-based payments to its mobile payments app, to support the country’s transition from cash to digital payments. Postepay’s QR function, Codice Postepay, also offers merchant features including geolocation, integration into Postepay’s loyalty and engagement programmes — including discounts and cashback — as well as money transfers to any bank account, says Poste Italiane .”

“This morning, Joust — the nation’s first all-inclusive banking app for freelancers and the self-employed — launched a new mobile app with a modern, intuitive design, and several key features which round out its original beta app. Based on customer feedback, these new features include an analytical dashboard, Joust Visa debit card management, invoice creation/payments, and more. Joust will continue to release a host of new app features throughout 2020.”

“Adyen announced a deal to become the exclusive in-store and online payments platform for Subway in North America.  Adyen will provide automated onboarding for franchisees and support for preferred payment methods, including mobile wallet, loyalty rewards, in-app payments, POS terminals, gift cards and other methods.”

“Online money transfer service Remitly has partnered with payment platform Alipay to enable international remittances for its customers. Remitly customers will be able to transfer funds using their smartphone or computer. Also, users can receive money in the Alipay app. Remitly is said to be the first online money transfer service to launch this feature in the US and offer the service internationally.”

““We continue to see a lot of activity focused on enhancing existing POS capabilities and omnichannel integration, when we had expected an increase in plans for the implementation of a single, unified commerce platform,” Ryan Grogman, RCP managing partner, says in an email to Digital Transactions News.“While this might just be a short-term trend, it is interesting to note that with roughly 11% of all retail transactions coming from the digital channel, we only saw one in 10 retailers responding that they have a single commerce solution in place today that includes stores, digital and mobile.””

“The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has issued a call for Input on competition issues that could arise in the UK’s New Payments Architecture (NPA) The regulator is inviting all interested parties to respond to a ‘call for Input’ which seeks to gather feedback on the likelihood of competition issues materialising in the NPA and how harmful or significant they could prove to be. The overall aim is to provide greater clarity and more detail on the PSR’s expectations, concerns and regulatory approach.”

“Only about half of millennials believe their bank’s mobile app is secure. While less than half of baby boomers have faith in mobile banking security, the majority are still “app-rehensive’” to begin using mobile banking, payment and financial services platforms. By taking steps to improve the security of their apps, and informing consumers about how these measures protect confidential data from cybercriminals, companies can inspire consumers to become loyal customers who use their apps more frequently.”

“Published Monday, the Deutsche Bank report said digital currencies, while only a decade old, have already been shown to have the “potential to radically change payments, banking, central banking and the balance of economic power.” “We believe a new digital currency could become mainstream within the next two years,” according to the report, with both China’s digital yuan initiative and Facebook’s Libra project expected to launch this year. The report said that could make digital currencies available to more than 1.5 billion Chinese citizens and 2.5 billion Facebook users – combined, more than half of the world’s population.”

“In late December 2019, fuel and convenience store chain Wawa Inc. said a nine-month-long breach of its payment card processing systems may have led to the theft of card data from customers who visited any of its 850 locations nationwide. Now, fraud experts say the first batch of card data stolen from Wawa customers is being sold at one of the underground’s most popular crime shops, which claims to have 30 million records to peddle from a new nationwide breach.”

“The criminals behind ransomware attacks are becoming dramatically bolder. The average payment demanded in fourth-quarter attacks reached $84,116, more than double the average sum in the third quarter, according to the latest data from Coveware Inc., a Westport, Conn.-based cybersecurity firm that tracks data from cases it has handled. Worse yet, that average ransom has been rising with frightening speed. Perpetrators extracted an average payment of $6,754 as recently as the fourth quarter of 2018. That number nearly doubled to more than $12,000 in the first quarter last year and then had soared to more than $41,000 by the third quarter. These are dollar averages, but perpetrators typically demand payment in Bitcoin.”

“Development of the technology is in its early stages, but it was reported that the company has already began collaborating with Visa and Mastercard on the proposed tech. Alongside this, it has been claimed that Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Synchrony Financial have also considered their cardholder accounts being linked with the technology.”

“Grocers looking to fill online orders more quickly are testing micro-fulfillment systems that can spit out as many as 4,000 orders a week but can still be housed in the back of stores or in urban areas where space is at a premium. The store owners are evaluating whether automation can help tamp down costs while speeding up deliveries and they are turning to a new set of startups aiming to make e-commerce fulfillment more efficient in a small footprint.”

“Early Warning Services, LLC, the network operator behind Zelle®, today announced its Q4 2019 and 2019 full year results. In Q4 2019, the Zelle Network® processed 230 million transactions, totaling $56 billion in money sent — an increase of 14% and 17% quarter-over-quarter, respectively. For the 2019 calendar year, the Zelle Network processed $187 billion in payments on 743 million transactions. Year-over-year payment values increased by 57%, while transaction volume increased by 72%.”

“La Banque Postale , the banking subsidiary of France’s postal services’ operator, La Poste Group and one of France’s major banking networks with 10.3 million active customers today announced – as payment agent of Western Union – the expansion of global digital payment services, powered by Western Union (NYSE: WU), a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments.”

“Curve , the Over-The-Top banking platform that consolidates multiple cards and accounts into one smart card and even smarter app, today brings its customers Apple Pay, which is transforming payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay. With Apple Pay on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac, customers can make fast and convenient purchases in stores, in apps and on websites.”

“Financial technology start-up Currencycloud, which powers cross-border payments for a number of popular finance apps, has raised $80 million in a funding round backed by Visa . Based in the U.K., Currencycloud sells payment software for banks and fintech firms to process their international transactions. Though not as well-known as consumer-focused peers like Monzo and Revolut, the company provides some of the crucial “plumbing” in the background for such apps to operate.”

““They’re idiots, they’re really naive,” is how Stevie Graham, the co-founder of fintech Teller , once described Open Banking Limited, the body charged with delivering open banking in the U.K. His view back in 2017 — which now looks somewhat prophetic — was that open banking wouldn’t be the competition driver it was hyped up to be. Instead, incumbent banks were incapable of change and would act in a malevolent way to stop fintechs from walking through the front door and stealing their lunch.”

“Last year, the number of newly minted coins hit the lowest value on record and the number of banking branches continued to drop, according to data on Monday.The Bank of Korea, the nation’s central bank, said newly issued coins last year amounted to some 36.4 billion won ($30.9 million) in value, the lowest since comparable data started being compiled in 1992 and down 14.3 percent from a year earlier. The figure is even lower than the 39.6 billion won worth of newly made coins in 1998, when the nation’s economy collapsed amid the Asian financial crisis.”

“New York’s ban has at least highlighted a critical issue: A surprisingly large number of Americans still don’t have a bank account. Around 11% of New Yorkers are bankless , and some 22% use alternatives like check cashing stores, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs. In the US overall, about 6.5% of households (pdf) didn’t have a checking or savings account in 2017.”

“The automation study, carried out by fintech firm Avaloq , also found that increased used of open and collaborative platforms (34%) and more distributed ledger technologies and cryptocurrencies (26%) could play a major role in financial services going forward. As for what is aiding digital transformation in financial services currently, participants cited compliance under updating regulations (48%), improved customer experiences (46%) and improved cyber security (42%) as frequent drivers of improved performance.”

“The World Economic Forum’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Policy‑Maker Toolkit seeks to address the need for a concise CBDC decision guide that provides comprehensive and risk‑aware information to policy‑makers. This document serves as a possible framework to ensure that any CBDC deployment fully considers the costs as well as the potential benefits, appraising a multitude of risks and evaluating deployment and governance strategies, alternative solutions and other salient factors. Notably, it is not exhaustive and instead intends to serve as a complement to additional research that any policy‑maker considering CBDC should conduct.”

“Outside of in-app purchases in mobile games, subscription revenue from non-game apps helped to boost 2019’s mobile consumer spend — a figure that reached $120 billion globally last year, according to a recent report by App Annie. Now, new data from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicates U.S. subscription app revenue grew by 21% last year from the $3.8 billion generated by the top 100 subscription apps to reach over $4.6 billion in 2019.”

“N26 Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of one of Europe’s fastest-growing mobile banks, N26 GmbH, today announced it has reached 250,000 U.S. customers. Having only launched in the U.S. last August in partnership with Axos Bank, N26 has grown rapidly to become a leading force in changing how American consumers bank.”

“FDX represents an industry-wide movement to enhance consumer and business controls of financial data, through its FDX API and technical standards that prioritize the group’s Five Core Principles of Financial-Data Sharing – Control, Access, Transparency, Traceability and Security.   The growing membership is also reflected in the rapid adoption of the FDX API, as data sources, such as financial institutions, and data service providers (aggregators) are collectively transitioning to this modern data sharing standard. In October 2019, members reported over 5.26 million U.S. customers on the standard and were expecting to have it rolled out to 8 million customers by late 2019 and approximately 12 million by April 2020.”

“Skrill customers are only able to use the prepaid card to spend the balance of their digital wallet account. As a result, the product provides consumers with limited incomes such as students with increased control over their finances in a way that is not supported by traditional debit and credit cards. The Skrill Visa Prepaid Card is also the perfect solution for consumers with lower access to mainstream financial products.”