Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.
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:
Barclays' API investment: Barclays has placed a major emphasis on cloud computing and other strategies to speed development and ease innovation's path to market, and it's made a $5 million investment in Form3, a company that provides an API-based point of access to different payment schemes. The U.K.-based Form3 offers real-time interbank payment processing through UK Faster Payments, Bacs, Chaps, Sepa and Swift. The startup will use the funding to support growth in the technology and financial services startup markets, and it will aid the bank's expansion in Europe and North America. Sepa real-time payments will be introduced in November and U.S. instant payments will follow in 2018. "Our clients quickly see the benefits of our cloud-native platform, often starting with a single payment type to improve their client proposition," said Michael Mueller, CEO of Form3, in a press release. "There is no rollout of complex projects with big teams and monolithic payment hubs, gateways, integrations, etc."
A logo sits on display outside the offices of Barclays Plc bank in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016. The South African Reserve Bank said it will collaborate with Barclays Plc to manage the flow of money and minimize risk of causing fluctuations in the rand as the British bank prepares to reduce its stake in Barclays Africa Group Ltd. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
Swatch payments in China:Swatch has launched its contactless payment watches in China, bringing the product to a market that is rapidly embracing contactless and mobile payments. Swatch is launching with the support of UnionPay and 11 banks, and will deploy four models of its contactless watch in 28 cities. After buying the watch, consumers download an app and scan to activate the watch, which is operational after a few minutes to activate the tokenization security process. Users then add bank details and can make contactless purchases at stores that have UnionPay's QuickPass.
TransferWise's top job: TransferWise CEO Taavet Hinrikus is resigning that position and will turn over the job to co-founder Kristo Kaarmann, reports FNLondon. Hinrikus, who is also a former Skype director, will remain involved with TransferWise as a part-time chairman and will play an active role in TransferWise's future. TransferWise, which allows people to send money from 38 countries and receive in 61, has a 10% global market share, has reached the $100 million yearly revenue market, and is now turning a profit. TransferWise has quickly added markets and attracted investors and is considering an IPO, according to Hinrikus.
Diebold-Nixdorf has mixed results in patent fight: Diebold Nixdorf is batting .750 in its patent fight with Korean ATM maker Nautilus Hyosung. The International Trade Commission has ruled in favor of the Canton, Ohio-based Diebold Nixdorf in three of four claims, but also found a "technical violation" of a Hyosung U.S. patent that involves older Wincor technology that Diebold acquired. Diebold said it would appeal that fourth decision, and contends it has no bearing on existing products in the market. Hyosung is also claiming victory, saying the decision affirmed an earlier ruling that Diebold is infringing on Hyosung's patented technology, and it would push for the ruling's enforcement in the U.S.
From the Web
UK to crack down on 'rip off' card fees Reuters | Wed Jul 19, 2017 - Britain will stop companies ranging from takeaway food apps to airlines from charging an extra fee to consumers who want to use credit cards and other payment services, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. The total value of surcharges for the use of debit and credit cards, which have also included fees from government departments, was estimated at 473 million pounds ($617 million) in 2010, the ministry said. "Rip-off charges have no place in a modern Britain and that's why card-charging in Britain is about to come to an end," Stephen Barclay, economic secretary to the Treasury, said in a statement.
N26 and Lydia announce Apple Pay support in France, but major banks are still missing TechCrunch | Tue Jul 18, 2017 - Apple Pay hasn’t really been a major success in France so far. France’s biggest banks still don’t plan to support Apple’s payment service. But two companies announced today that they were going to add Apple Pay support before the end of the year — Lydia and N26. Crédit Mutuel Arkea’s banks also recently announced that they were working on that feature as well.
Start-ups raise record $1.27 billion selling bitcoin and other cryptocoins CNBC | Tue Jul 18, 2017 - Fintech start-ups have raised a record $1.27 billion by selling bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies through initial coin offerings (ICOs), the initial public offerings (IPOs) of the digital world, a report has found. Funds raised by ICOs far outstripped venture capital investment in start-up companies, according to the report by equity and research firm Autonomous. It found that the level of ICO investment rose from $26 million in 2014 to the enormous sum of $1.27 billion in the first half of 2017.
Amex tackles part-time T&E The evolution of the workforce away from traditional 40-hour per week full-time staff is making it harder to handle corporate travel expenses.
Amazon needs Alexa, Echo to secure its future in payments Voice commerce, which is the act of audibly purchasing items from a virtual assistant, hasn’t been around very long, but Amazon knows how important the technology is to their future long-term goals.
PayPal, Visa extend partnership to Europe to drive two-way acceptance PayPal and Visa are extending their strategic agreement to Europe with a deal enabling PayPal to offer Visa debit accounts in Europe, expanding the locations where PayPal’s European consumer and business customers may make purchases with PayPal funds.
The bank, which owns 48.5% of the Greek fintech, is battling with the company's owners over how to determine valuation, among other disputes. JPMorgan says it is reviewing aspects of the legal case but is still seeking a $1 billion claim in Greece.
Three executives at Space City Credit Union in Houston will get a total of $6.75 million if the cooperative's members approve a merger. The 12,000 or so members will split $5 million.
The Trump administration has withdrawn from the Federal Register a proposed rule that sought to protect consumers from having their sensitive financial information sold.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is accusing Capital One of deliberately deceiving customers and obscuring higher interest rates. The lawsuit comes less than three months after the CFPB dropped a similar case against the bank.
A joint study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank for International Settlements found that a shift to widespread tokenization would not impact central banks' ability to transmit monetary policy, and that the technology could even prove beneficial.
