Fintech

The Trump administration has barred the use of TikTok and WeChat inside the U.S., including a direct ban on WeChat Pay, setting up potential retaliation against U.S. companies that could interrupt international payment flows.

The humble QR code — invented for automobile manufacturing in 1994 — had been on the rise as a payment method for many years, but the pandemic expanded its use in the U.S. in some unforeseen ways.

In countries where the use of cards is less prevalent, other digital payment methods, particularly mobile wallets, are proliferating, changing the payments landscape rapidly and radically, says Standard Chartered's Tarek Elyafi.

After two years of helping banks connect globally to domestic faster payments rails, Swift is planning to expand on that concept.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced retailers and consumers alike to consider the benefits of shopping via a mobile app, providers of shopping and loyalty apps were seeking partnerships with security vendors to deploy fraud prevention technology.

Apple's legal dispute with Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite, has exposed a potential nuclear option that the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant can use against any company that sells online.

Deal activity, already on pace for its slowest year in more than two decades, will likely remain suppressed until bankers get a handle on credit exposure and more clarity on valuations.

The new unit plans to connect the startups it backs, such as the global payments network Veem, with experts at the company who can provide business advice.

The fintech, which spent most of the last decade touting various alternative ACH-powered faster payments approaches, is adding the more mainstream option of debit push payments in its latest iteration.

The central bank said it would keep interest rates at current levels through at least to help the U.S. economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.