India

Singapore OCBC Bank will use Google Pay to support P2P transactions starting early in 2020, following a similar path as India, where banks have increasingly embraced Google Pay for transfers.

Western Union has gone live with a service enabling real-time cross-border remittances to India harnessing Unified Payments Interface, the central bank’s payment rails.

South Africa’s payments industry wants to displace cash by enhancing its B2B-focused digital payment system to add instant low-value mobile P2P transactions.

Infosys has joined Visa B2B Connect, a four-month old Visa hub that cuts indirect processes and intermediaries out of global business transactions.

India has taken a hard line on cryptocurrency, but other blockchain payments innovation is thriving.

Long overshadowed by food delivery startups such as Uber Eats and on-demand delivery service players such as Postmates, delivering fuel to a consumer’s vehicle is a convenience service that is growing in the U.S. and other markets.

Russia and its BRICS partners are developing cross-border alternatives to U.S.-dominated payments systems such as Swift, driven by the rise in cross-border trade and a desire to find non-dollar alternatives to international payments systems vulnerable to sanctions by the U.S. government.

The system has made it easier for mobile wallets and other technology providers to enter India's payments market, and will push the next steps toward real-time payments and cash reduction, says Somya Patnaik, senior product manager at ACI Worldwide.

Indian consumers and businesses would be best served if New Delhi confined itself to discrete interventions to reduce structural barriers to payments competition, rather than imposing price controls, dispensing subsidies and promoting national favorites, says Eric Grover, a principal at Intrepid Ventures.

Samsung has reached an agreement with an online marketplace for financial products in India that will allow consumers to apply for credit cards and loans through the Samsung Pay app.

Facebook Inc has no plans to offer its Calibra digital wallet services in its largest market, India, the social giant said, just as a top government official expressed skepticism about its newly-announced cryptocurrency Libra.

The U.S. card brands are already pushing Indian regulators to relax their data storage rules, and a new quirk in the country’s tax code creates a battle on an entirely different front.

The latest skepticism to Facebook Inc.’s plans for its new cryptocurrency called Libra comes from India as Asia’s third-largest economy is not keen on allowing the digital currency in the country.

India’s soaring digital payments market has prompted Mastercard and Visa to increase their investments in India, targeting one of the world’s largest cash displacement opportunities while complying with local regulations such as expensive data store requirements.

Facebook grabbed the spotlight this week with the announcement of its Libra cryptocurrency initiative, and its list of high-profile supporters suggests that it's the only game in town. But banks have their own projects in the works.

India’s government has taken drastic steps to encourage and standardize digital transactions, and those moves appear to be paying off.

The new initiative could help expose American credit unions to best practices in biometrics, payments and monitoring collateral from their counterparts in Africa, Asia and beyond.

Visa and Mastercard are driving digital transactions by financially empowering women in emerging markets who are unbanked but manage their families’ spending. The card networks are particularly targeting women in gig economy jobs and women-owned businesses.

PayU is expanding its umbrella of payment companies in developing markets in a $70 million deal to buy Wibmo, a Cupertino, Calif.-based digital payments company that integrates with banks in 20 countries for payment authentication and security.

Today’s global citizens face risks that extend far beyond crumbling highways. Although reliable physical infrastructure is necessary for economic growth, immature and anemic payment infrastructures may present another serious threat to the global economy, writes Tomas Likar, head of business development and strategy at Hyperwallet.