The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Test pilots
British Airways will test a new payment settlement system from the International Air Transport Association that's designed to streamline payments by building a more direct connection to third parties such as travel agents.
The airline will work with Click Travel on the project, which will debut later this fall with an internal test, with a more formal beta early in 2020, reports
Called Settlement with Orders, the service allows travel agents, airlines and other stakeholders to use a single reference number for transactions and changes to itineraries, rather than the distinct reference numbers for all changes that usually accompany travel bookings.
Checking out
South Korean retail company Shinsegae is the latest to pursue checkout-free technology, planning a Emart24 high-tech store.
The first model store will open at Sinsegae's data center in Gimpo, and will launch later at a more traditional shopping center, according to
Amazon Go has garnered the most attention among
Speaking up
Starbucks and Alibaba are extending their retail technology partnership in China to include voice ordering.
The coffee chain will use Tmall Genie, Alibaba's voice assistant, with a 30-minute time frame for the full transaction.
Starbucks also added new technology last week in Japan by offering an
Making Douugh
"
Douugh, an alternative financial institution that serves a more general audience than most youth-oriented apps, has expanded its subscription financial services product to include a Mastercard debit card and a gamified savings/payments feature.
Called "savings jars," the product uses encouragement and payments tracking to build savings toward specific goals. Mastercard also plans to partner with Dough on added payment products.
From the web
COINDESK | Fri September 20, 2019
JPMorgan’s blockchain payments platform has just onboarded its first Singapore-based bank. With the addition of OCBC – the second-largest bank in Southeast Asia by assets – JPMorgan’s Interbank Information Network (IIN) now has around 345 banking members across the globe. Roughly 40 percent of those are from the Asia-Pacific region.
YAHOO FINANCE | Fri September 20, 2019
Using Conduent's ExpertPay platform, users can now make payments to child support agencies in all 50 states via their PayPal accounts. The accounts are easily linked to ExpertPay, which securely and quickly distributes the funds to the agencies. This eliminates the need for credit card or bank information for the transaction.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | Sun September 22, 2019
The future of money might be a digital version of the cash that’s already in people’s wallets—potentially upending the currency system that the world has known for many decades. Such a future, of course, might be a disappointment to many libertarians and tech-savvy investors who are pinning their hopes (and in some cases their money) on private cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
More from PaymentsSource
Cross River Bank in Fort Lee, N.J., this week became one of the few small banks to join The Clearing House’s real-time payments system. Strengthening its niche as a bank to fintechs was a clear motivator.
Infosys has joined Visa B2B Connect, a four-month old Visa hub that cuts indirect processes and intermediaries out of global business transactions.
The promise of real-time payments and the reality of the market are often at odds. That’s not a bad thing — it’s a sign there are pockets of demand that weren’t originally foreseen.
Whether you are initiating electronic international payments through a fintech solution or buying physical currency, the chances are high that a bank will be involved. The relationship between banks, as well as the role of intermediary banks, often eludes the general public, who are content with the process as long as it works.
