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Cashing out in India: India's seemingly abrupt abolition of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes has caused chaos among the country's citizens, and is drawing cheers from digital payment companies. According to Mashable, many people were lining up to withdraw 100 rupee notes, the largest denomination available, and there's been a general panic as the government announced banks and ATMs would be closed on Thursday and Friday. About 80% of the bills in circulation in India are 500 and 1,000 rupee notes. The government said it made the move to eliminate the practice of using cash to avoid taxes. Digital payment services are enjoying the fallout of the cash elimination. Paytm reports a 200% growth in mobile wallet app downloads and a 250% spike in transactions and transaction value. The Ola Money wallet app has seen a 1,500% in a span of about 15 hours. "The move marks the beginning of a significant step towards a cashless economy," said Pallav Singh, senior vice president and head of Ola Money, to Mashable.
People stand in line to exchange Indian five hundred and one thousand rupee banknotes outside the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) headquarters in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016. In a surprise announcement late Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned 500-rupee ($7.50) and 1,000-rupee notes effective midnight, sweeping away 86 percent of total currency in circulation. Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg
Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg
Glove ID: A Kickstarter campaign is raising funds for technology that allows gloves to work with Apple's Touch ID and other fingerprint biometric authentication features. Gizmodo reports the Taps stickers will enable users to access their mobile device's touchscreen and fingerprint reader to unlock the device or make a purchase, even while their fingers are inside gloves. The Taps stickers have individual and unique artificial prints ensuring that only the user's gloves can access their device. The Taps could prove popular with mobile payment apps, many of which use Touch ID for authentication.
Alipay goes to France: China's Alipay has made a string of moves recently to expand internationally, including moves in the U.S. and Australia. It is now focusing on France, as Printemps Haussmann becomes the first department store in the country to support Alipay's mobile app, according to Finextra. Like most of Alipay's international ventures, the French deployment is aimed at Chinese travelers and is interconnected with Chinese social networks. In Paris, that means consumers will receive targeted and geographic offers tied to the app's users, particularly as the app expands to other parts of France.
Denmark's fintech focus: Denmark has opened a new fintech hub, Copenhagen Fintech, according to FinTech roundup. The center's a joint venture by Financial Services Union Denmark, The City of Copenhagen and the Danish Bankers Association. The center is the first such space in Scandinavia, and joins cities such as Toronto in setting up dedicated urban centers to develop and share ideas to advance financial services and payments innovation.
Android Pay Finally Gets Support For Capital One Ubergizmo • Adnan Farooqui Google’s mobile payment service – aptly called Android Pay – is competing with the likes of Apple Pay and Samsung Pay in a bid to move us all to a cashless society. Dozens of banks and financial institutions in the United States.
European millennials prefer bank offered mobile payments The Paypers The U.K. operator VocaLink has revealed that millennials from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK would prefer to see mobile payments services delivered by either their banks or by PayPal.
Increase Sticky Behavior to Prevent Credit Card Switching Business 2 Community • Fred Ulrich Competition among credit cards is becoming increasingly intense. And with the current market offering low introductory offers and rich acquisition incentives, it is becoming harder and harder to retain loyal customers. A 2016 survey conducted by CreditCards.com revealed that 24% of respondents.
CFPB's precarious future under Trump WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces an uncertain and precarious future under President-elect Donald Trump, who some say might seek to oust Director Richard Cordray and boost legislation to significantly weaken the agency.
Investors back payment-focused PFM, but what comes next? Machine learning can revolutionize online financial management tools by not only tracking payments, but creating a way to change payment habits in the future, says John Frankel, a founding partner of the New York-based ff Venture Capital.
The regulator and conservator of two influential loan buyers with government ties is considering digital currency's increased use in qualifying borrowers.
The Texas attorney general has accused WEX Bank of "debanking" a firearm supplier, but the Maine-based bank said it does not discriminate against any industry.
Der Spiegel and other European publications say the company continued to serve porn sites and money launderers even after regulators cracked down on it.
Regulators proposed a rule to replace the 2% enhanced supplementary leverage ratio with a capital charge equal to half of a bank's global systemically important bank surcharge. Low-risk assets will continue to count toward leverage requirements under the proposal.
