9.10.18 Your morning briefing

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:

Amazon takes Manhattan
Big news for the Big Apple: Amazon is hiring to staff one of its cashierless stores in the New York Area, The Information reports.

The e-commerce giant now operates three of its Go stores in Seattle, and reportedly plans similar stores in San Francisco and Chicago.

The Amazon Go model uses cameras and sensors throughout the store to track and identify shoppers and their purchases, after the shopper first checks in through a mobile app. The concept has inspired many imitators, often with a different technology approach.

David Ryder/Bloomberg

Former Verifone chief Paul Galant becomes Softbank mobile unit's CEO
Former Verifone CEO Paul Galant has taken the top position at Brightstar Corp., a Miami-based mobile technology company. Galant will also become an operating partner at Brightstar's owner, Softbank.

Galant was most recently CEO of Verifone, leaving the the role shortly after Francisco Partners paid $34 billion to acquire the payment processing and technology company. Galant, a former Citigroup executive, was seen as instrumental in turning Verifone around, adding more technology and merchant services.

Michael Pulli, former CEO of U.K. broadband provider Pace, became CEO of Verifone when the Francisco Partners deal closed in August.

After the storm
Visa has launched a service to publicize when small businesses reopen after natural disasters.

The Visa Back to Business Project leverages data from Visa and third-party service providers to determine when a business in an affected area processes a Visa transaction after an outage, the network announced this month.

The information shows up on a Visa website where consumers may use filters to find businesses in their area that are open following federally declared disasters, Visa said.

Hacking suspect extradited
Andrei Tyurin, the Russian citizen suspected of performing a massive financial hack of JPMorgan Chase and about a dozen other companies, was extradited to New York from the republic of Georgia, Bloomberg reports.

The incidents took place years ago, though the suspect's name was only disclosed Friday in an unsealed indictment, the article says.

An Israeli, Gery Shalon, is accused of being the scheme's mastermind, Bloomberg says.

Told you so
Ever wonder if your smart TV has been spying on you? In the near future, Vizio TVs may have to confess their spying habits to their owners, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Vizio is in the process of settling a class action over its data collection practices, and the latest court papers suggest that part of the settlement will require Vizio to notify customers of those practices via their TVs, the article says.

From the Web

Alibaba’s Jack Ma, China’s Richest Man, to Retire From Company He Co-Founded
The New York Times | Fri September 7, 2018 - Alibaba’s co-founder and executive chairman, Jack Ma, said he planned to step down from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday to pursue philanthropy in education, a changing of the guard for the $420 billion internet company. The retirement makes Mr. Ma one of the first founders among a generation of prominent Chinese internet entrepreneurs to step down from their companies.

Cryptocurrency traders in China find ways to get around state regulators despite tighter scrutiny
South China Morning Post | Sat September 8, 2018 - Industry observers are certain that Chinese investors will always find ways to circumvent increasingly tightening controls over cryptocurrency trading by mainland authorities, making it practically impossible to ever impose a complete shutdown on trading. Despite multiple attempts by Beijing to shut down all local exchange platforms since September 2017, cryptocurrency trading had continued to prosper, with many Chinese exchanges attempting to skirt the ban by reincarnating themselves under different domain names.

Razer Pay to launch in Singapore by Q1 next year
The Straits Times | Sat September 8, 2018 - Razer Pay, the e-payment platform set up by Singaporean-founded gaming company Razer, will launch in Singapore by the first quarter of next year. This comes after Razer Pay was rolled out in Malaysia in July. Razer co-founder and chief executive Tan Min-Liang said the company had a year ago committed - in an e-payment proposal to the Singapore Government - to spearhead support for an e-payment solution for Singapore.

More from PaymentsSource

Data: Real-time payments go corporate
New architecture for real-time payments went live in recent months in key global markets, expanding B2B payment options for financial institutions and their corporate customers.

Israeli payments firm joins many who see Lithuania as their gateway to EU
The Bank of Lithuania has been courting fintechs which need an EU payments or banking license to operate in Europe. In July 2018, it introduced an e-licensing tool that makes it cheaper and quicker to submit the information necessary to obtain an operating license.

New laundering schemes can thwart even the best protections
Businesses without the substantial resources of a Danske Bank are sitting ducks for even more esoteric scams, like transaction laundering, writes Ron Teicher, CEO of EverCompliant.

As even small merchants sell globally, payments industry faces bigger demands
International e-commerce is booming these days and so too are the opportunities—and challenges—for payments players.