10.15.18: Your morning briefing

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

India's paywall
India has waffled back and forth on China-style local data storage rules for external payment companies, and the protectionist stance appears to be gaining favor.

The Reserve Bank of India plans to implement a directive that requires global payment companies to store data locally, Reuters reports.

That would be bad news for U.S. payment companies, which will have to invest more in local operations and were lobbying ease the rules. It's good news for Paytm, which pushed for the stricter regulations.

Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg

Putting on payments
Westpac has released what it called "Centsitive Objects," which are a range of designer wearable computing devices that can perform payments.

ZDNet reports the devices include a band and chain, a silicon tag that can be attached to a watch and a patch that can be sewn into clothing.

Like other recent wearable payment initiatives such as those from Danske and Global Platform, Westpac's strategy is to offer a wide range of wearables, as well as attachments, to compensate for what's likely to be widely varied consumer preferences.

Turns out New Zealand's not investing half its money in bitcoin
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden's image has been fraudulently used in an attempt to sell cryptocurrency.

Stuff, a local publication, reports the prime minister's office spotted Facebook ads that included a photo of the prime minister and directed users to a site designed to look like CNN. A "story" on that site reported New Zealand's Treasury was investing half of its wealth in a bitcoin startup.

Facebook took the ads down after the prime minister's office reported the fake stories.

Where to Go
Amazon's plans for its cashierless Amazon Go stores in Chicago provide some clues as to how it's picking sites, with a focus on large business centers and commuter facilities.

Amazon's first Go store in Chicago opened in the Loop close to the Willis Tower (Sears Tower), once the largest skyscraper in the U.S.

Curbed Chicago reports the next two locations are 114 S. Clark Street, close to the Chicago Board of Trade building, another busy structure that for years was Chicago's largest building; and 500 W. Madison Street, in a space connected to the Ogilvie Transportation Center, one of the busiest train stations in the U.S. outside of New York.

From the Web
The world is embracing digital currency, and the US is falling behind
CNN | Sun October 14, 2018 - For many people all over the world, paper cash and metal coins are already items of memory. Mobile payment providers, like Apply Pay and Samsung Pay, are being used at cash registers in countries like the United Kingdom and Japan, and people have responded well to the ease of this system and some of the benefits it provides.

Facebook Hack Included Search History and Location Data of Millions
The New York Times | Fri October 12, 2018 - Facebook said Friday that an attack on its computer systems that was announced two weeks ago had affected 30 million users, about 20 million fewer than it estimated earlier.

Why Is Tencent Investing $180 Million in a Brazilian Banking App?
The Motley Fool | Sat October 13, 2018 - Tencent recently invested $180 million in Nubank, a Brazilian fintech start-up, in a deal that values the company at around $4 billion. Nubank offers a virtual credit card from Mastercard to five million active customers.

More from PaymentsSource
RBC's augmented reality payments rely on a human touch
Banks are still in their experimental phase of using virtual and augmented reality to interact with customers, and the key to their success will be embracing the technology's social nature. And sometimes that means making an app designed for non-customers.

Simple adds faster payments, P2P as rival fintechs encroachFinancial crisis-era rebel Simple is turning to payments innovation — along with its traditional combativeness on fees and rates — to stay relevant against the many fintechs lurking at the edges of the banking world.

An Ingenico takeover could end the era of independent POS hardware
The fintech wave has nearly devoured the entire point of sale industry, as lone major holdout Ingenico weighs an unsolicited bid from an investment bank’s payments group.

Financial firms reap benefits of hot venture capital market
A $245 million funding round for the payments processor Stripe contributed to heavy venture capital investment in the third quarter.

Visa demos ‘couch commerce’ for future Olympic games
Visa showcased payment technologies it’s developing for future Olympic games, including in-home “couch commerce” leveraging augmented reality.