Latest global banking news

September 21, 2022 10:24 AM

This week in global news, Google faces scrutiny for its payment policies, Apple raises App Store prices in Europe and Asia, and Revolut confirms a cyberattack.

Here's what's happening around the world.

Indonesia investigating Google for potential competitive violations

KPPU, an Indonesian regulator, is probing Google for breaking anti-competition laws based on the technology company's payment policies. Google charges between 15% and 30% for developers that sell on Google Play, a fee that has been subject to legal and regulatory complaints in a number of countries globally including a high-profile lawsuit from Epic, the maker of Fortnite, in 2020. Apple also faces similar scrutiny in a number of countries over a similar fee structure for App Store payments. —John Adams

Apple raising App Store prices in Europe, Asia

The prices of apps and in-app purchases are going up in Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all territories that use the euro, Apple said. In Vietnam, the price hike reflects new rules for collecting value added tax and corporate income tax. Apple did not provide an explanation for raising prices in other regions, though Engadget suggests it reflects the euro's current weakness against the U.S. dollar. Apple requires app developers to use its App Store to collect payments on iOS devices, and has faced pressure in Europe and elsewhere over this practice. —Daniel Wolfe

Revolut confirms data breach

The U.K. fintech Revolut has confirmed that it suffered a targeted cyberattack that exposed the personal details of tens of thousands of customers, or 0.16% of its clients, TechCrunch reports. That percentage equates to about 32,000 customers, though Revolut's breach disclosure to Lithuanian authorities says 50,150 customers were affected, according to the article (Revolut is licensed in Lithuania, which has endeavored to become a fintech hub in Europe following Brexit). Revolut identified the incident on Sept. 10 and has notified affected customers. —Daniel Wolfe

Cross-border payment startup Payall raises $10 million

Payall, a four-year-old startup based in Miami Beach, Florida, with offices in Moldova and Portugal that's focused on streamlining bank-initiated cross-border transactions, has raised $10 million in a seed funding round to expand product capabilities. Payall's software expedites international transfers, while providing a data trail of the transaction's path with automatic consent management to handle privacy and data-disclosure requirements. Andreessen Horowitz of Menlo Park, California, led the funding round with assistance from Motivate VC, PS27 Ventures and Bridgeport Partners, among others. —Kate Fitzgerald

Amazon joins digital euro developers

The European Central Bank has assembled a group of partners to contribute to its digital euro project. The participants are Amazon, CaixaBank, Worldline, Nexi and EPI, which will work on prototypes for transfers and the mobile app that will support the central bank digital currency. Other tasks include in-store payments and the user experience for sending and receiving payments. The European Central Bank's work is among the dozens of CBDC projects underway globally, with most initiatives still in the early stages. —John Adams