8.21.18 Your morning briefing

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

Glitch contagion reaches Australia
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is the latest financial institution to report a card outage, in this case a data center glitch that shut off internet banking, cards and mobile banking for most of Monday.

Local news site ABC reported scores of customer complaints, including uncertainty as to when the outage was over. The bank reported in the afternoon that the glitch had been fixed, but also noted in the evening that it was still working to repair parts of the system.

Other banks and card networks have suffered system outages over the past few months, drawing attention to aging core processing systems as companies add more digital banking technology.

Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

No cashier and no Amazon
A no-cashier store called Zippin has opened in San Francisco, providing an alternative to Amazon Go, which itself is a no-cashier alternative that's gotten off to a deliberate start, if not an outright slow progression.

Wired reports Zippin, named for the company that developed the supporting technology, uses mobile scanners and QR codes to check in and check out.

The store is small, about 180 square feet, consistent with most cashierless concepts that have emerged.

Go big
Most contactless payment apps have transaction limits, usually just above or below $50 depending on the jurisdiction.

In the U.K., 42% of consumers want to see the limit increased, with 38% wanting limits in excess of about $75 and 9% desiring limits above about $140, according to research from GoCompare Money.

The current U.K. limit for contactless payments is about $50.

Deducting paper
Alipay is introducing a mobile tax refund service in South Korea, making it one of the few markets in the world where consumers can complete the tax process without paper.

Like many of Alipay's initiatives, the tax service is designed to serve travelers or temporary residents from China who incur taxes on purchases that result in a rebate later. An earlier version allowed consumers to receive rebates by scanning a QR code at specified airport counters.

The new version enables application and claims directly via mobile phones.

From the Web

Misplace your credit or debit card? Just turn it off for a while
NBC News | Tue Aug 21, 2018 - This month, American Express joined the list of banks and major credit card companies offering this on/off feature for consumer and business cards. A “freeze” lasts for seven days, unless canceled, and does not affect recurring transactions, such as subscriptions or monthly bills posted to the account.

Costco now supports Apple Pay across all of its US stores
TechCrunch | Mon Aug 20, 2018 - Apple has landed a big new partner for Apple Pay in the U.S. after Costco began accepting the mobile payment service across 750 stores. The retailer plans to include support at its gas stations, but that isn’t yet complete.

WeChat launches e-wallet, offers free Money Packets
The Star Online | Mon Aug 20, 2018 - WeChat users can now pay using their app with the roll out of its e-wallet component, WeChat Pay My. “As Malaysia embraces the digital economy, we are excited to launch WeChat Pay My, which aims to facilitate the development of the Malaysian market by introducing local users and businesses with a simple, secure and convenient mobile payment experience,” says Tencent International Business Group vice president Poshu Yeung.

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