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Welcome to the new PaymentsSource Morning Briefing, delivered daily. The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Trump promotes net neutrality foe: President Trump promoted Ajit Pai to chairman of the FCC, replacing the outgoing Tom Wheeler. The move makes the end of net neutrality more likely, given Pai's well-known opposition. Wheeler and President Obama supported net neutrality, which bars companies from charging fees for faster internet access, creating slow and fast lines for the internet. Smaller startups, including alternative financial services providers like Dwolla andStripe, have long advocated for net neutrality, contending the open access makes developing new services more cost effective. Larger companies, such as Amazon, eBay and PayPal, also support net neutrality. Republicans including Sen. Ted Cruz (R, Texas) have generally opposed net neutrality as overreach on the part of the FCC and have said the concerns over the impact of ending net neutrality are being overblown. Trump has likened net neutrality to a conspiracy to stifle conservative content on the internet. Pai, who was first appointed by President Obama in 2012 as part of a tradition to have two of the five member FCC board be members of the opposite party, can serve as chair until the end of 2017 without Senate approval.
Ajit Pai, a commissioner with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), speaks at INTX: The Internet & Television Expo in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, May 6, 2015. The event, formerly known as the The Cable Show, has been the reimagined for doing business in the digital economy by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA). Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Ajit Pai
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Deutsche Börse's 'CollCo' collateral: Deutsche Börse group has built a proof of concept for system that uses blockchain and the Börse's post-trade infrastructure to execute peer-to-peer commercial bank payments. According to FinancialIT, the collateralized coin, CollCo, will be used to execute transactions based on tokenized commercial bank money and Eurex Clearing rules. The Börse says CollCo can eventually address other uses, such as managing margin requirements, executing credit risk free payments and to cut costs from other transactions. The Börse is also developing use cases as part of the Liquidity Alliance of financial companies that are examining uses for blockchain such as settlement and other trading functions.
A bank shot for Amazon's Locker: Amazon's infiltration of traditional brick and mortar is extending to bank branches. BBVA announced it is testing Amazon Locker at 11 Austin-area branches. It's the first time Amazon Locker is available in a bank in the U.S., and makes the e-commerce retailer's remote fulfillment product a way for the bank to attract more traffic to its branch network. Consumers can choose the Amazon Locker when checking out, and receive an email when the item arrives at the Locker. The email includes a code to access the Locker, which is a free service from Amazon.
Churn alert: The independent sales organizations that sell point of sale systems and other services to merchants often find themselves behind the tech curve, but they may soon have new software that anticipates merchant abandonment before it happens. Called Retention Intelligence, the software from Womply mulls over billions of data points such as processing volumes, online activity, market trends, geographic patterns, customer service calls and other factors. This data is run against Womply's models to form real-time alerts for merchants that may be at risk of leaving the ISO, in theory giving the acquirer a chance to approach the merchant to make changes beforehand. The alerts can go either in an email or be sent directly to the ISO's CRM system.
Does Cart Abandonment Really Come Down to Cost? eMarketer Cart abandonment is a major concern for online retailers, and according to new research, shipping costs and overall price are the two major factors that are causing digital shoppers to abandon their items.
European Payment Card Statistical Yearbook Payments Cards & Mobile • Alex Rolfe Understanding the different characteristics and new dynamics of the individual European domestic markets by country is essential. This European Payment Cards Yearbook edition provides a historical context for the current state of the marketplaces while looking forward to see opportunities for growth,...
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Trusteer co-founders put new funding toward the password's demise Nobody seems to like passwords, yet passwords never seem to go away. A pair of technology entrepreneurs hopes the flexibility provided by mobile technology and open development tools can finally kill off the stale authentication method.
Android Pay goes live with PayPal, Visa Checkout Google is following through on promises to integrate the major payment networks’ digital wallets within Android Pay, this week adding support for PayPal and Visa Checkout.
Tesco launches mobile payment app at all U.K. stores U.K. supermarket giant Tesco has long supported Apple Pay at its contactless-enabled checkout locations, and now it also supports mobile payments through a proprietary app it’s rolled out to its nearly 7,000 stores.
As it rolls out dozens of new products to up its game in stablecoins and artificial intelligence, the payment company is also working with sellers wishing to expand activities involving non-U.S. corridors.
Jim Richards, who served as the bank's head of anti-money-laundering compliance, says the Federal Reserve is wrongfully denying him compensation that was designed to keep him employed at Wells Fargo.
New Jersey-based ConnectOne Bancorp received FDIC approval for its merger with First of Long Island Corp; lending-services fintech Oportun makes changes to its board of directors; Associated Banc-Corp's Steven Zandpour will succeed David Stein as head of consumer and business banking; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
The Trump administration says it will nominate Jonathan McKernan to serve as Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance. McKernan has already been nominated as the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
