China

The global efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak are leading to drastic actions that test the limits of what consumers will accept when governments and other entities use their payment data.

The financial services affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has agreed to buy a minority stake in Klarna, and will expand its international partnership with the Swedish payments firm.

Baidu Inc. predicted revenue may slide as much as 13% this quarter, joining its fellow technology giants in warning about the impact of the deadly coronavirus.

It’s an odd, and unwelcome, test of new retail technology that allows consumers to shop with minimal interaction with others.

Mastercard Inc. won approval to set up a bank card clearing business in China, gaining access to a $27 trillion payments market as part of the nation’s financial opening, though more regulatory steps will be required.

The timing couldn’t be worse for ag and energy lenders as well as global banks, which were all counting on the Chinese market to help bolster commercial lending and fee income.

Stock markets have endured dramatic swings since the coronavirus erupted in China and talks of pandemics surfaced. But the notoriously volatile bitcoin market has been steadily climbing as investors see value in crypto's ability to thrive as traditional financial rails are under pressure.

Competition between hundreds of national and global payment systems forces everybody to continually adapt, up their games, culling weaker and underperforming systems and inviting the search for better mouse traps, says Intrepid Ventures' Eric Grover.

Progress in the trade war is welcome news for Mastercard’s ambitions in China, though the coronavirus jeopardizes the rosy outlook.

Starbucks has invested heavily in building its business and payment technology in China, so the coronavirus weighs on an otherwise strong strong earnings performance.

French mobile payments app Lydia has raised €40 million (about $45 million) in a Series B fundraising round led by Tencent Holdings, owner of WeChat Pay.

China’s slow courting of U.S. payment companies made a tiny step forward this week, shortly after a similar gesture from the U.S. government that teases progress in the broader trade dispute.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. and China UnionPay Co. will soon unify the mobile codes that consumers scan to pay for purchases, granting the Chinese central bank-backed network a bigger foothold in a $27 trillion payments arena.

Online payment processor Allied Wallet is now accepting Alipay as part of its payment gateway to help simplify payments between the U.S. and China.

The Federal Reserve’s Lael Brainard this week tossed fresh regulatory pressure on Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project, comments that come as central banks around the world work on digital currencies to counter the social network’s cryptocurrency project.

Fresh off a public offering and shopping boost, Alibaba Group has entered into an agreement with Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to build digital finance services in areas such as cross-border finance and electronic payment settlement.

Payment companies looking for relief from international political chaos got a moment of clarity in the form of a decisive U.K. election and nominal progress in the trade war.

Most mainland investors can still only watch gains in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., as China’s most valuable listed company extends increases after its Hong Kong stock exchange debut.

Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial is planning to raise about $1 billion for a fund that will invest in startups from Southeast Asia to India and help strengthen its foothold in fast-growing mobile internet markets, a person familiar with the matter said.

Alibaba’s gigantic stock debut in Hong Kong gives it extra fuel to become a global payments empire.