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5G facial fares
Using the speed of a 5G network, a subway operator in Shenzhen, China, is testing facial recognition as a way to charge commuters for travel,
It's not as seamless as the scenes from "Minority Report" — consumers must go to a specific screen to scan their faces, much like they would have to scan a fare card at a turnstile, according to the article.
Though it seems invasive, The Verge notes that this is probably tracking the same data already provided by users' fare cards; and that major Chinese cities already have heavy surveillance systems.
Amex's product mix
American Express is in a highly competitive market for credit card rewards, and its reliance on transaction fees comes with some risk,
Though Amex's costs for rewards as a percentage of consumer spending came in lower than rivals such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, it also draws significant revenue on products such as charge cards, which don't allow users to carry a balance and thus don't allow Amex to charge interest, the article notes.
This, coupled with increased lending on traditional credit cards, increase Amex's exposure to an economic downturn, the Journal states.
Debit downer
MoviePass — which offered cheaper, subscription-based movie tickets by relying on
Itum's departure is the latest in a series of setbacks for MoviePass, including other leadership departures and an issue with overstating its subscription revenue by counting suspended accounts in its reporting, the article states.
MoviePass has always had a troubled business model, as its ticket service ran over the objections of movie theater chains like
Taking flight
Blackbird — basically a version of Uber or Lyft for planes — has raised $10 million in a Series A round led by NEA,
Blackbird is currently limited to California, and allows flyers to purchase their trips in bulk by paying for credit in advance and earning a discount of up to 25%.
Companies in the ride-sharing (or in this case, flight-sharing) market typically branch out into financial services and payments, such as
From the Web
TechCrunch | Wed March 13, 2019 - Ysplit, a company launching out of Y Combinator, wants to make it so you never have to owe anyone ever again. It works by creating a virtual card that automatically deducts money from everyone’s bank account.
Reuters | Thu March 14, 2019 - Network International, the largest payment processing firm across the Middle East and Africa, said it planned to list on the London Stock Exchange
Yahoo Finance | Thu March 14, 2019 - AliPay is currently accepted in some UK shops, restaurants and hotels but Barclaycard says it will now offer software that will enable retailers to update their existing point-of-sale systems to support Alipay.
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