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Location, Location, Location: Snapchat has sometimes dabbled in payments and commerce, such as building its SnapCash P-to-P system on top of Square's technology back in 2014, and it is reportedly taking a deeper dive by acquiring a location analytics platform. SnapChat has spent more than $200 million to buy Placed, a Seattle-based startup with more than 100 employees, according to GeekWire. Placed tracks consumer behavior to determine how advertising spend translates to in-store sales and how Amazon "showrooming" affects brick-and-mortar shopping; by joining SnapChat, Placed's location technology can enhance the new Snap to Store tool, which serves a similar purpose of tracking ad campaign effectiveness at physical retail stores, the article states.
The Snapchat ghost is displayed during the TechFair LA job fair in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017. Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than forecast last week amid holiday-related volatility, while remaining low by historical standards. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
Apple's buried news: Apple drew a lot of attention at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference by announcing P-to-P payments and other upgrades, but a few upgrades didn't make it into the company's hours-long presentation. For example, Apple is finally adding support for QR codes on iOS devices, according to The Verge, which suspects QR code reading will be built into the default iOS camera app. QR codes are used by many mobile wallet apps (but not Apple Pay); though considered an older technology, QR is used prominently in several recently developed mobile payment and loyalty efforts from JPMorgan Chase, Alipay and Facebook.
Amazon's big push on the small screen: Amazon has already embedded its payments technology into everything from video-enhanced versions of its Echo speakers to major appliances, and yet there still seems to be more turf for it to take over. The e-commerce giant's latest move takes it to more TV screens, with an Amazon Fire TV app that lets viewers browse items from Amazon's website, TechCrunch reports. Oddly, the Fire TV app isn't as feature-rich as the Apple TV version that Amazon published in December, the article notes; voice search on the Fire TV version is limited to digital content, whereas the Apple TV version allows full search via Siri.
Metadata matters: Encryption is vital to protecting sensitive personal and corporate data, however it can also present an obstacle to law enforcement investigations. But encryption isn't everything, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Encryption "doesn’t mean no information. Metadata exists and that’s very important for building a profile," Cook told Bloomberg News, explaining how Apple was able to aid U.K. law enforcement agencies without compromising Apple's own security standards following the recent string of terror attacks. Apple has previously pushed back against law enforcement requests to weaken or bypass its encryption, and this new development doesn't indicate a change in policy, Cook added. "In cases when we have information and they have gone through the lawful process we don’t just give it but we do it very promptly," Cook told Bloomberg News. Apple's security came under its harshest scrutiny back in 2014, just ahead of the launch of Apple Pay, when its iCloud service was implicated in a massive leak of intimate photos of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and other celebrities.
From the Web
Alibaba’s Fight for Data The Wall Street Journal | Mon Jun 5, 2017 - The e-commerce giant’s recent flap with a big delivery company points to its insatiable need for customer information.
Why our credit cards keep getting hacked USA Today | Mon Jun 5, 2017 - Time and money, say experts. It takes time for companies to rebuild point of sale systems more securely and shift from magnetic stripe credit and debit cards to more secure chip cards. They need money to hire tech staff to secure those networks, money to buy software to do the securing and money to buy new, encrypted point-of-sale machines.
The Durbin amendment: The ultimate double whammy The Hill | Mon Jun 5, 2017 - The Financial CHOICE Act, which begins to untangle the web of harmful rules that Dodd Frank put in place, is likely to pass the House this week. That’s very good news for community banks and credit unions, but it doesn’t mean Congress’s work on financial reform is done.
More from PaymentsSource
Two providers craft a single API for cross-border payments Amidst all of the complexities that e-commerce businesses have in completing or accepting cross-border payments, PayU says the application programming interface (API) can make the biggest difference.
Audits, RegTech can close gaps in risk, onboarding As payments get more complex, money laundering and other risks increase. Audits and advanced regulatory technology can help companies keep up, writes Performline CEO Alex Baydin.
Apple makes iMessage the heart of its P-to-P strategy Apple formally announced the debut of its rumored Venmo-like P-to-P service, and as with anything Apple-related, it's deeply embedded into the overall Apple ecosystem.
Walmart’s Seinfeld-esque scheme to battle Amazon Walmart is piloting a delivery program that leverages its store staff as delivery drivers in a decidedly manual response to the digital threat of Amazon.com. And it just might work.
Over 6 billion chip cards issued worldwide, EMVCo says By the end of last year, the number of EMV chip cards in global circulation had increased by 1.3 billion from 2015 to a total of 6.1 billion, according to EMV standards body EMVCo.
As it rolls out dozens of new products to up its game in stablecoins and artificial intelligence, the payment company is also working with sellers wishing to expand activities involving non-U.S. corridors.
Jim Richards, who served as the bank's head of anti-money-laundering compliance, says the Federal Reserve is wrongfully denying him compensation that was designed to keep him employed at Wells Fargo.
New Jersey-based ConnectOne Bancorp received FDIC approval for its merger with First of Long Island Corp; lending-services fintech Oportun makes changes to its board of directors; Associated Banc-Corp's Steven Zandpour will succeed David Stein as head of consumer and business banking; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
The Trump administration says it will nominate Jonathan McKernan to serve as Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance. McKernan has already been nominated as the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
