The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Amazon's rewards infiltrate Whole Foods
Amazon is
Amazon's move places Prime more firmly in traditional brick and mortar, creating an e-commerce/in-store combo for Prime members that makes it even harder for
Visa and Mastercard's new button
Visa and Mastercard are planning a combined online payment button that could succeed Visa Checkout and Masterpass, according to
In interviews, executives from the two card brands told the
Mastercard and Visa didn't position their strategy as a competitive play against mobile apps, but likened it to a discontinuation of an older payment terminal in favor of something faster. Masterpass dates to 2012 and Visa Checkout launched in 2014.
American Express separately showed interest in a move to combine payment buttons, according to
Google jet set
The private carrier also supports Apple Pay, enabling travelers to book and pay for private jet travel via mobile apps.
Skyjet's app also has a live chat feature and account management. Google Pay will be available for the carrier's premium and one-off passengers.
Shop in a snap
Fresh off of adding more support for restaurant ordering and payment technology,
The button is on an expanded version of Snapchat's lens product, called the "Shoppable AR" lens.
Emerging supply chains
CDC Group and Standard Chartered Bank will collaborate on a supply chain payment system for developing markets in Africa and South Asia.
The program will start in Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana and Kenya, where payments for supplies often lag for up to three months due to a gap in automation and B2B payments structure.
CDC and Standard Chartered will provide financing, with shared risk, that will allow suppliers and buyers to execute payments quickly.
TransferWise gets faster
It's the first nonbank to become a member of the U.K.'s Faster Payments scheme, opening a settlement account with the Bank of England, reports
The bank extended direct access to nonbanks last year as part of an effort to encourage more financial innovation.
From the Web
Yahoo Finance | Wed Apr 18, 2018 - Refueling your Chevy car or truck is about to get a little easier with the launch of Chevy’s new in-dash payment system. The service, which is being beta tested in Detroit, Seattle and Houston, is part of General Motors’ Marketplace commerce platform and will allow drivers to pay for their gas from inside their vehicles via their infotainment systems.
Reuters | Wed Apr 18, 2018 - Ant Financial’s rapid climb to become the world’s biggest super unicorn valued by some investors at around $150 billion showcases investor enthusiasm for the biggest Chinese tech companies and also how quickly valuations can shift. Just two months ago, bankers and investors were tentatively talking of a figure closer to $100 billion.
South China Morning Post | Thu April 19, 2018 - Hong Kong’s taxi drivers have frequently faced criticism for their refusal to move with the times and fully embrace electronic payments as an alternative to cash. That has not stopped some of the biggest players in the mobile payments game trying to capture market share in the hope that one day more customers will be reaching for their smartphones instead of their wallets to settle their cab fares.
More from PaymentsSource
LevelUp had a lot of failed experiments along the way, but it still won over major partners and is seeing new results in the restaurant industry.
American Express Co., long known to issue cards that had to be paid off in full every month, now wants its customers to take their time paying it back.
Before Paytm became one of India's most popular mobile wallets, it was a little-known bill payment app that launched in 2011 and spread by word of mouth. Now Paytm is revisiting that history in Canada, though its challenges in North America are very different than what it faced in India.
E-commerce payments technology provider Stripe is launching a fraud prevention tool for security professionals at large organizations.
