Fintech

American Express has announced it will spend $1 billion to promote racial, ethnic and gender equity internally and externally via a recently established corporate diversity office.

U.K. fintech Currensea has launched its first open banking-based debit card for British small businesses trading internationally. The card, which links to users’ existing high street bank accounts, builds on the pre-open banking concept of a decoupled debit card.

Visa has seen tepid returns of payments volume as economies reopen, but the renewed virus cases and government responses have created an extra layer of uncertainty — particularly for cross-border transactions and travel.

Both developments are part of the company’s strategy of becoming a full-service bank for its young, affluent customer base.

After selling the rights to its Ethereum-based technology, the bank is rebranding a venture related to cross-border payments and creating a new umbrella group to oversee all blockchain-related efforts.

After selling the rights to its Ethereum-based technology, the bank is rebranding a venture related to cross-border payments and creating a new umbrella group to oversee all blockchain-related efforts.

Amid the global explosion of e-commerce and demand for digital money transfers, Visa is acquiring YellowPepper to help drive tokenization and real-time payments in Latin America.

Cross-border payments provider dLocal has expanded its network services in Africa and developed new partnerships in Nigeria and Egypt.

Expect to see other credit card companies join the race to customize rewards to customers to maximize appeal and customer lifetime value, says RevTrax's Jonathan Treiber.

Even as consumers shift more spending away from cash and the market for personal travel picks up, the coronavirus pandemic is still exerting a heavy toll on Mastercard's consumer and corporate spending.