4.25.17: Your morning briefing

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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:

BBVA extends B-to-B in Mexico: BBVA's aggressive pursuit of digital technology now includes an extensive business payments network in Mexico. The bank has closed on its acquisition of Openpay, which supports real time business payments in Mexico through its Paynet network. More than 1,000 businesses in Mexico use Paynet, which got on BBVA's radar through a developer competition in 2015, when the startup was a finalist among more than 650 projects from 63 countries. Openpay hopes to triple the number of transactions it processes by the end of the year with BBVA's backing, bringing further automation B-to-B payments, a segment that often lags consumer payments in digital adoption. BBVA has made several moves over the past few months to expand its reach into automation and e-commerce, including installing Amazon boxes in its branches, adopting "selfie" authentication, acquiring small-business technology specialist Holvi and embracing agile software development techniques to improve flexibility and speed to market for new innovation.

bbva sign
A BBVA logo sits on display outside a Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA bank branch in Madrid, Spain, on Tuesday, July 22, 2014. BBVA, Spain's second-biggest bank, agreed to purchase state-run Catalunya Banc SA for 1.19 billion euros ($1.6 billion) as the government lined up buyers for nationalized lenders. Photographer: Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg
Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg

Ant's battle with Tencent reaches bicycles: Ant and Tencent both have aggressive plans to extend transaction technology into new areas, and that includes bike sharing. TechCrunch reports Ant Financial has invested an undisclosed sum in Ofo, the Chinese bike-sharing startup. Ofo plans to work with Ant on internet and credit card payments, as well as Ofo's international expansion plan. Ofo, which has a valuation of about $1 billion, has previously drawn investment from DST Global, Matris China and China's largest car hailing app, Didi Chuzing. Ant also has an existing rental technology collaboration with Ofo. The investment places Ant in competition with Tencent, which is an investor on Mobike, Ofo's main bike sharing competitor in China. Tencent also powers one of China's largest digital operations through its WeChat messaging service. TechCrunch reports Mobike also has international ambitions.

Canada's play in Myanmar: The National Bank of Canada has purchased a 22% share of the Myanmar-based mobile payment company Ongo, according to Telecompaper. Ongo is a brand of Ronoc Asia, a unit of Ronoc, an emerging markets investment company. Ronoc is pushing Ongo as part of an expansion program in Myanmar that includes retail payments, payroll and business-to-consumer payment services with a goal of reaching 1 million consumers over the next three years. Myanmar is starting to open to outside countries after years of Western sanctions due to an autocratic regime. That regime has lifted and the country is building a market economy, attracting companies such as Mastercard.

Japanese ledger in Cambodia: The National Bank of Cambodia is collaborating with Soramitsu to build a new payment infrastructure using the Hyperledger Iroha, according to Finextra. The Iroha is administered as part of the Linux Foundation's hyperledger project. Iroha is designed to quickly process data to handle digital payments, contract administration, ID and supply chain management. Details of the Cambodian payment system are still pending, but Finextra reports the central bank will contribute to the open source development of Iroha as part of building new payment infrastructures.

From the Web (powered by Wiser)

Mashreq Bank talks about Samsung Pay, Snapp and the future of digital banking
Absolute Geeks • Kevin Sebastian
With Samsung Pay coming out in full force, Mashreq Bank has already embraced a new advent in digital banking with open arms. It has already began to offer its customers early access to Pay service. Samsung Pay allows a user to us...

Retail Stores Preferred by Consumers, Just Need ‘Digital Update’
Women's Wear Daily • Arthur Zaczkiewicz
The consumer preferences were revealed in research from fintech firm Adyen.

WeChat users spend more time than Facebook users but not on brand pages
The Drum • Danielle Long
WeChat users are spending more time on the messaging app each day but they are not engaging with official brand accounts. One third of WeChat’s 889.3 million monthly active users spend more than four hours per day on the messaging app, according...

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Global remittance volume drops 2%: World Bank
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Amazon targets subscription sales with self-service merchant portal
Amazon is using its substantial scale to rapidly diversify beyond its e-commerce core, with its latest move being a self-service subscription hub.

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