The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web. In today's briefing:
PayPal, Facebook add juice to 'bot' payments: PayPal and Facebook are extending their collaboration, with PayPal executive vice president and chief operating officer Bill Ready announcing consumers can use PayPal to conduct transactions on Messenger. Facebook Messenger first announced it would support payments in chatbots earlier this year, adding it would work closely with PayPal, as well as e-commerce gateways such as Stripe and the credit card networks. The latest PayPal integration embeds payments deeper into Facebook Messenger, which was one of the goals when the social network hired David Marcus, who had been president of PayPal, in 2014. A series of collaborations with payments companies have followed as Facebook rapidly deploys payments technology, including Amexsupport of Messenger bots, a Facebook initiative to extend payments to millennials in the U.K, and a partnership with both PayPal and Uber to embed car payments in Facebook.
Attendees visit the PayPal booth at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. The conference, which includes over 100 sessions and 500 speakers, explores the evolution of payments and financial services and the innovations that are driving trends in the mobile, retail, marketing services, data and technology sectors. Photographer: Jacob Kepler/Bloomberg
Jacob Kepler/Bloomberg
The "Siri effect" takes shape: Named virtual assistants such as Siri are starting to proliferate, and financial technology companies are taking notice of the innovation's potential to make mobile payments easier. Enacomm's new VPA, Eva, is designed to allow consumers to make payments, check credit card balances, review transactions and receive information about bank accounts through direct vocal commands, such as "ask my bank for my recent checking account transactions." Two traditionally early adopters, USAA and U.S. Bank, have separately added voice command technology for customer service, and the ability to securely use verbal commands may prove attractive as more card issuers such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo add touch biometric authentication for mobile wallets, making voice-activated payments a natural progression.
U.K.'s fintech position fades: The U.K. is losing ground as a center for financial technology as companies from China and other countries ascend. The U.K. is home to 13 of the world's largest financial technology companies, down from 18 in 2015, according to an analysis by KMPG and H2 Ventures. That's still second to the U.S., which had 24 on the 2016 list, though companies from China occupied four of the five largest spots--including two companies with ties to the payments industry, Ant Financial (Alipay) and installment payment company Quidian. Firms from 17 countries made up the the top 50 ranking of "established companies," up from 13 in 2015, with new companies from France, Mexico and South Africa making the list. Overall, funding is up substantially, with the largest 50 established companies attracting $14.6 billion of capital, an increase of more than 40% over last year. The trends are not necessarily tied to Brexit, since the report covers a full year and largely precedes this past summer's referendum vote.
Wearable payments become a teaching tool: Singapore's POSB Bank has tested an in-school wearable program that helps young people learn about budgeting, called the POSB Smart Buddy Program. According to a report in the Finextra U.K. technology wire, the devices, usually a watch or a card, have been outfitted with contactless payment technology and can access a mobile app that tracks expenses and savings in real time. Similar to ventures that have existed in the U.S such as Oink/Virtual Piggy, parents can pre-set daily allowances for purchases from places such as the school cafeteria or book store. Parents can also assign excess cash to savings accounts.
The brains behind Samsung Pay have roots in U.S. banks What do forward-thinking, innovation-oriented bankers do when they feel they can't push through the industry's inertia? In the case of Thomas Ko, the answer was to move to South Korea to join the Samsung Pay team.
Carvana and Plaid, with the help of Cross River Bank, have launched Request for Payment, which combines billing with The Clearing House's RTP Network. The option has been slow to gain traction, but the companies are betting large-ticket purchases, such as for an automobile, will be popular.
Lenders have been working to shrink their rent-regulated real estate loan portfolios since a watershed state law passed in 2019, but those plans may be accelerated.
Consumer spending and exports fell slightly in the latest estimate, leading to a downward revision. Imports, which dragged down overall output during the first three months of the year, also came in smaller.
Banking has long been overseen by independent agencies, though that independence has been waning for years. With the Supreme Court poised to weigh in, experts are questioning where — and whether — to redraw the line between politics and policy.
The regulator and conservator of two influential loan buyers with government ties has directed them to look at digital currency's use in qualifying borrowers.
