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Welcome to the PaymentsSource Morning Briefing, delivered daily. The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Alipay gets another ticket to America: Mobile payment and marketing platform is collaborating with Alipay, Ant Financial's popular payments service, to allow North American merchants to accept Alipay for travelers. Citcon will provide its mobile point of sale technology, API and software for bot online and offline payments, marketing and analytics. China's Alipay has been lining up partners to expand to North America. It recently collaborated with First Data and Verifone to extend acceptance at payment terminals, and is also expanding availability at U.S. airports through a partnership with travel retail company DFS Group.
The Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Alipay.com Co. website, displayed on a Samsung Electronics Co. tablet, is seen in an arranged photograph in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Alibaba, Chinas largest e-commerce company, will go public in 2014 after talks with Hong Kongs exchange on a proposed corporate governance structure fell apart, said people with knowledge of the matter. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
Disaster giving: Mobile technology has proven useful in powering fundraisingtransactions, and Hyperwallet hopes to take the model a step further by hosting a hackathon to spot ways to speed payments processing for charitable giving, particularly after a disaster. Visa is "supporting" the hackathon, which will take place on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 in Austin, according to a release form Hyperwallet. Developers will use Hyperwallet's sandbox and API integrations and the Visa Direct network, and will have eight hours to complete solutions. Executives from Visa, Hyperwallet and HomeAway Software will judge the competition, which will offer cash prizes.
Prep for Chatbots: Payment companies are rapidly embracing chatbots, and there's signs that's a good idea as the next generation is using chatbots extensively. Nearly two thirds of U.S. consumers aged 18 to 34 have used a chatbot for shopping, according to merchant technology company Retale, which also found that nearly three quarters of the same demographic is interested in using branded chatbots. Also, 71% of the 500 millennials Retale polled said they are interested in using chatbots from consumer brands, while only 18% said they are not. The biggest problem young people have with chatbots is accuracy. Retale reports 55% of respondents said they are frustrated with chatbots' inability to "understand" what the user is looking for.
Brexit plaza: The fallout from last year's Brexit vote on the financial services and technology industries is getting more tangible, or perhaps speculative, depending on the perspective. Amid reports that fintech companies, payment startupsand financial institutions are leaving the U.K., Paris is creating space. Finextra reports Parisian developers plan to build more than a half dozen new skyscrapers over the next half decade in anticipation of picking up business in these industries from London. The buildings, which will total about one million square feet, will include flexible working spaces designed for technology development and other space suitable for financial services companies. The development will be focused near La Defense, the city's business district.
Going digital in Germany, where cash is king How much do Germans like cash? Consider the following common German phrase: "Geld stinkt nicht," which roughly translated means, "money doesn’t stink."
Ant Financial buys stakes in Kakao Pay and Mynt China’s Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba, is continuing its acquisition spree by purchasing stakes two digital payments firms, including South Korea’s Kakao Pay and the Philippines’ Mynt.
An appeals court's decision will make it harder for consumer-lending-focused fintechs to operate in Colorado. But the impact could eventually be felt more widely, according to both industry groups and consumer advocates.
As opportunities grow for private student lending, Sallie Mae has entered a multiyear "strategic partnership" with the world's largest private equity firm.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, building on an executive order by President Trump, wants to eliminate the legal framework of "disparate impact" from its implementation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
Acquisition talks fell through in the final hours, according to reports. Also: Visa launched another stablecoin pilot on Visa Direct; the Bank of England seeks input on stablecoin restrictions; and more in this week's global payments roundup.
The Treasury secretary highlighted the impacts the bond market has on affordability and previewed regulatory tweaks the administration is eyeing to keep yields stable and credit flowing.
