The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Uber's ongoing breach pain
France's data protection agency has fined Uber more than $460,000 in connection with a data breach in which the records of more than 57 million drivers and customers were exposed. The breach would have been preventable if better controls were in place, reports the
Since then, the ride sharing company has been accumulating more than $1 million in
Welcome to Australia
Commonwealth Bank of Australia's new deal to support Alipay includes location-based marketing and promotions aimed at Alipay users before they land in Australia.
The move is designed to attract local businesses, which can accept Alipay and the marketing capabilities via a download on the bank's touchscreen device.
The bank also hopes to reach Chinese tourists, who are driving an
Big gig
Account management and payment app Coconut has launched a invoicing tool for freelancers, self-employed people and owner-managed businesses.
The feature automates bookkeeping, tax records and money management tasks by analyzing incoming and outgoing payment data. About 5,000 users have pre-registered for the service, according to Coconut.
Coconut operates in a market that include
Earnin
A group of VC heavyweights including DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, and Spark Capital have invested $125 million in Earnin, a flexible salary payments app.
The company, formerly known as Activehours, had an original model that helped employees track earnings and transform funds into checking accounts, reports
Earnin's technology backs the early withdrawals, and then debits the employee accounts on payday. There's no interest or fees, but the employee can tip the app, which then funds the next withdrawal.
From the Web
ABC News | Fri December 21, 2018 - Thursday, Caribou Coffee, Bruegger’s Bagels, and Coffee & Bagel Brands posted letters to their websites notifying customers of a recent data breach. According to officials, the company noticed unusual activity on their network on Nov. 28.
South China Morning Post | Fri December 21, 2018 - Facebook is working on making a cryptocurrency that will let users transfer money on its WhatsApp messaging app, focusing first on the remittances market in India, according to people familiar with the matter.
Verdict | Thu December 20, 2018 - Bangladeshi lender Mutual Trust Bank (MTB), in collaboration with payments software provider Compass Plus, has introduced UnionPay International (UPI) cards in the country.
More from PaymentsSource
The digital ID market has massive potential, but many fundamental problems that must first be overcome. Among them: The companies best positioned to provide a viable digital ID platform are not the ones best positioned to benefit from it.
The battle between Apple Pay and the Swiss banks' payment app, TWINT, is nearing a conclusion with Apple agreeing to no longer interfere at the point of sale when a consumer is attempting to make a purchase with TWINT. However, the counterclaim that the Swiss banks are colluding to suppress their payment cards from being used on Apple Pay remains unresolved.
The ubiquity of plastic payment cards makes it hard to imagine a future without them, but Japan’s JCB card network already envisions it.
Established as a transit-fare and small-value payment card in Hong Kong nearly 20 years ago, the Octopus Card is making a transition to a virtual prepaid card for online shopping.
The SEC is already ramping up action in the cryptocurrency space, with stronger moves in the year ahead, and market participants should be preparing to respond, according to Aaron Kaplan, a securities lawyer and founder at Prometheum.
