11.28.18 Your morning briefing

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

Belgian Apple
Apple Pay is set to launch in Belgium as the mobile wallet quickly adds markets, but there's still some headwinds.

The launch in Belgium will be limited, according to Appleinsider, which reports the app will be available to Visa and Mastercard consumers at BNP Paribas Fortis and subsidiaries Hello Bank and Fintro. It will likely be several months before Apple Pay is available at other Belgian banks.

Apple faces other challenges in Europe, according to Appleinsider, which reports Swiss authorities are investigating Swiss banks for allegedly colluding to support the national TWINT mobile payment app over Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Deutsche's hookup
Deutsche Bank has participated in a new $16 million investment round in Modo, a fintech that support connections to payment systems and ensures "good funds" throughout a transaction.

Deutsche has worked with Modo to streamline the bank's payment systems and make it easier to support emerging non-bank payment companies and other fintechs that support the gig economy in the new PSD2-driven open banking environment.

The bank is using Modo in particular to connect to Klarna, PayPal, Alipay and WeChat.

How bad has U.K. financial IT been?
If it appears as though U.K. banks and payment systems have suffered a higher share of glitches, the data matches the impression.

Technology outages at U.K. financial institutions jumped 138 percent, along with an 18 percent jump in cyber-related incidents, reports The Independent, which cited government data.

While attributing part of the jump to better reporting from the institutions, Parliament's Treasury Select is launching an investigation into IT strength in the U.K.'s financial services sector. Parliament earlier this year pressured Visa to disclose more information about an outage by submitting a series of questions to the card brand's executives.

WorldRemit takes a bigger chunk of Bangladesh
WorldRemit is collaborating with BRAC Bank and bKash for mobile money transfers in Bangladesh, which has a rapidly expanding mobile payments market.

The move will give a boost to WorldRemit's goal to reach 10 million users in emerging markets in the next two years, a strategy that has spurred partnerships in New York and other locations.

Users can access WorldRemit's app or website to connect Bangladeshi users in more than 50 countries to execute electronic transfers, a more digital alternative to companies like Western Union.

From the Web

How Mobile Money Continues To Boom In Africa
Forbes | Tue November 27, 2018 - The tie-up of Kenya's mobile sensation M-Pesa with PayPal and remittance giant Western Union, coupled with the joint venture between two of the largest cellular operators – MTN and Orange – for a mobile wallet that operates across networks have capped a year that has seen significant developments in Africa's already blooming mobile payments market.

Singapore: Bill Tabled to Place Crypto Payment Services Under Central Bank Oversight
CCN | Tue November 27, 2018 - A new bill which will impact electronic wallets and digital payment tokens such as bitcoin has been tabled in Singapore’s parliament. This has come about following the growing usage of cryptocurrencies and the realization that the existing legislation does not cover them adequately.

Uber Fined $1.17 Million in Europe over Its Massive 2016 Data Hack and Cover-up
Fortune | Tue November 27, 2018 - Uber’s massive 2016 data breach, which exposed the details of 57 million people around the world — and which the company tried to cover up — has earned it $1.17 million in fines from data protection regulators in the U.K. and the Netherlands.

More from PaymentsSource

How Australia could be the first country to abolish interchange
The Australian government is evaluating a set of proposals to radically reform its payments industry, including abolishing interchange and opening up access for new entrants to core infrastructure.

How payment processors can learn from Netflix's approach to design
Atlanta-based Global Payments is working with startup InVision, a design company that works with companies like Google and Netflix, to design a portal that will allow merchants to quickly work with banks or customers to reconcile and troubleshoot transactions, including addressing disputes and chargebacks.

Tencent collaborates to counter Alipay in Japan
Chinese payment companies have successfully lured merchants outside of China by enabling payments for Chinese tourists, a use case Tencent hopes will work in Japan, where rival Alipay lurks.

How fraudsters surprised British banks
A decade ago, the U.K. instituted its real-time payments system, Faster Payments. In its first five days, it processed 334,000 transactions. Now the system handles more than 230,000 transactions an hour.