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Walmart's Uber grocery service grows: Walmart is testing numerous options for digital grocery shopping, including kiosks and having employees deliver food on their way home. It also works with Uber and Lyft to deliver grocery orders placed online, having tested the service in Denver and Phoenix. It's now expanding the ride-sharing partnership to Dallas and Orlando, according to Engadget, which notes this expansion is relatively slow compared to rival services offered by Amazon and Target. Amazon, for example, is aggressively marketing its AmazonFresh delivery service, which stands to grow substantially through its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods.
A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. location stands in Brasilia, Brazil, on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to close 269 stores, including its experimental small-format Express outlets, in a push to streamline the chain that will affect 16,000 jobs. The effort includes the closing of 60 money-losing stores in Brazil, a country where Wal-Mart has struggled. Photographer: Lula Marques/Bloomberg
Lula Marques/Bloomberg
P-to-P booster: P-to-P payment apps have long been seen as a habit-changer that moves people over to broader adoption of digital financial services, and there's some evidence of that shift. U.S. Bank reports 47% of consumers prefer to use digital apps when paying another person, as opposed to 45% who prefer cash. The bank, which has an interest in P-to-P mobile payment growth given its backing of Zelle, also reports people are relying less on cash in general. Overall, 50% of consumers say they carry cash less than half of the time, and when they do, they carry less. More than half of consumers say they carry less than $20 when they do carry cash, and 76% of people keep less than $50 when carrying cash. Five percent say they never carry cash, according to U.S. Bank.
Ebix gobbles up Indian remittance share: Atlanta-based e-commerce technology company Ebix has made two acquisitions over the past several days to grab about a quarter of the inward remittance market in India. Hindubusinessline reports Ebix on Monday announced a deal to acquire the Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) from YouFirstMoney express Private Limited, following a deal to acquire the MTSS business of Wall Street Finance Limited on Aug. 17. YouFirst controls about 15% of the inward Western Union volume in India, and Wall Street Finance controls about 10%. Ebix plans to combine these acquisitions into a single unit to reduce redundancies. The deals will also increase Ebix's ItzCash financial network to more than 94,000 locations from its current 75,000.
QR codes march on: QR codes are holding on as an enabler of mobile payments, and the codes are also playing a role in extending mobile money in Africa and Asia. Youtap, a contactless mobile payment and financial services software provider, is adding QR code solutions for its clients in those markets as a way to broaden availability to more merchants and small businesses. QR codes are still more widely available than Near Field Communication, the technology favored by Apple Pay and Android Pay. Youtap, which additionally offers cash-in and cash-out transfers, airtime top-ups, bill payments and in-store payments, hopes to use QR codes to reach micromerchants that may not have a smartphone with mobile money services.
From the Web
UK credit and debit card spending growing at fastest rate since 2008 The Guardian | Mon Aug 21, 2017 - New figures show spending on credit, debit and charge cards is growing at the fastest rate since 2008, rising more than five times faster than earnings in a fresh sign of ballooning borrowing by consumers. The number of card transactions increased by 12.3% over the year to the end of June, according to the banking trade body UK Finance, coming amid a boom in consumer debt that has been raising alarm bells at the Bank of England. The pace of growth in card payments was 10.6% in the 12 months to the end of December.
Vegas visitors can now use their electronic wallet to pay hotel bills or buy show tickets, but not for gambling Los Angeles Times | Mon Aug 21, 2017 - Next time you visit Las Vegas, you might be able to leave your credit cards at home. Many hotel-casino resorts along the city’s famed Strip now let guests use their digital wallets to pay for their room, meals and more — but not for gambling. MGM Resorts has begun accepting various digital forms of payment at nearly all points-of-sale at its 12 Vegas properties (though there are some limitations at Circus Circus). The company has been installing the needed equipment for seamless transactions over the past three months. Instead of cash or credit cards, MGM Resorts’ guests can now use Android Pay, Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Samsung Pay.
Two credit card skimmers found at Naples gas station Fox | Mon Aug 21, 2017 - Two credit card skimmers were found on gas pumps at a Mobil station in Naples Friday, according to the Naples Police Department. The skimmers were discovered during a routine inspection by the Florida Department of Agriculture at the Mobil on U.S. 41 and Anchor Rode Drive. Earlier this month, three skimmers were located at another Mobil station in North Naples. So far this year, nearly 370 skimmers have been discovered at Florida gas stations.
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.
