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Another deal for Ant: Even as it ups its offer for MoneyGram, Ant still has funds for other merger and acquisition business. It has reached an agreement to merge with Lazada, a Southeastern Asian e-commerce platform that operates HelloPay. HelloPay will consolidate into Ant Financial and be rebranded as Alipay Singapore, Alipay Malaysia, Alipay Indonesia and Alipay Philippines. TechinAsia reports the former HelloPay will remain distinct from the Alipay app. As it tries to enter the U.S. market, Ant has also been grabbing a substantial piece of the Asian market. It has recently collaborated with Emtek on a financial services venture, and has investments in Paytm in India, Kakao Pay in South Korea, and Mynt in the Philippines.
Signage for Ant Financial Services Group's Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is displayed outside a store in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016. The urgency to prepare regulatory environments for fintech is growing as banks begin offering digital services such as biometric authentication and as mobile-payment systems such as Apple Pay and AliPay are introduced around the region. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
Sports payment consolidation: The market for social networks and other apps that serve stadium ticketing, purchase and payments is expanding, and one of the market's most recognizable players, SeatGeek, is diversifying through the acquisition of TopTix, an Israeli ticketing company. Fortune reports TopTix's platform will allow SeatGeek to expand Open, its distribution platform. SeatGeek Open allows apps and websites to sell and embed transaction capabilities directly within their own interfaces. As an example, Fortune reports an Uber rider can order and pay for a concert ticket without leaving the Uber app. The deal also allows SeatGeek to expand its reach in the stadium and arena related payments business, with different companies chasing payments for ticketing, concessions, parking and other functions.
Shoney's day at the breach: Data breaches at retailers have reached a record pace, with nearly every merchant category at risk. Shoney's restaurant chain is the latest, as The Nation's Restaurant News reports the Atlanta-based chain suffered a breach that started in December and was contained in march. The incident affected more than three dozen locations in the South, all non-franchise corporate-owned outlets. Shoney's hired Kross Cyber Security to launch an investigation after receiving a report that payment card numbers had been stolen. Kroll found malware was installed remotely on point of sale equipment, searching for data such as the cardholder's name, card number, expiration date and verification code. Other fast food restaurants, including Wendy's and Arby's, have also been recently hit by hackers.
Complex payments transfer for Simple: Digital financial institution Simple has contacted many of its customers to advise them to open new accounts and cancel pending digital payments because of a timing problem tied to its migration to new owner BBVA Compass. Finextra reports Simple is moving more than 100,000 customer accounts to BBVA, which acquired Simple in 2016. Simple, which is the first user of BBVA's API in the U.S., is severing its prior relationship with the Bancorp Bank. But the timeframe for the transfer agreement is about to expire on May 15, causing Simple to alert its customers to cancel their pending transactions.
Aspire Systems Launches ‘Phygital’ PRIOS Platform Retail TouchPoints • Glenn Taylor Aspire Systems has released PRIOS, a solution designed to unify brand experiences across the physical and digital retail spaces. The platform’s goal is to accelerate in-store operations and real-time multichannel sales performance for increased foot traffic and sales conversions.
Why Mobile Payment Is Important Today? Valuewalk.com • Guest Post The consumer changing behavior continues to grow rapidly due to the technology advancement and influences such as Internet, mobile data and devices. As it evolves in the fast pace, security issue has become a major concern for consumers.
Apple Pay's surprising use case in remittances Apple Pay still struggles to displace cash and cards in the U.S., but its recent integration with Western Union shows the mobile wallet has some untapped potential.
PayPal goes mobile in Android Pay partnership PayPal Holdings Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google deepened their relationship with a new agreement that enables payments through the tap of a phone from PayPal accounts at thousands of new retail locations.
House Republicans overcame internal divisions to narrowly pass President Trump's tax and spending package Thursday afternoon. The measure would cut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding level, among other provisions.
Atlanta-based CoastalSouth's initial public offering prices at $21.50 a share; Valley National Bancorp announces Lyndsey Sloan will succeed Gary Michael as general counsel; Webster Financial Corporation taps a new chief risk officer and appoints a new board member; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
Capital One closed the deal to buy the credit card provider in May and as part of the review process, decided to exit its home equity lending business.
