The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Mobile connection
MoneyGram has gained access to Airtel Money's 19 million customers through a new partnership, potentially reaching 14 countries in Africa.
Transfers from outside Africa can be made directly into mobile wallets, allowing MoneyGram to bolster its network effect while supporting real-time access through Airtel Africa's branches, kiosks and agents. The deal is still subject to local regulators.
Airtel will be able to access MoneyGram's footprint of more than 200 countries. Mobile money is a primary means of financial inclusion in Africa, and the MoneyGram collaboration follows similar
Going global
The National Payments Corporation of India plans to internationally sell technology that supports the RuPay network and United Payments Interface.
A subsidiary called NPCI International Payments Limited to supervise the strategy. Former Mastercard and Visa executive Ritesh Shukla will lead the effort, reports
RuPay is India's largest card network, while
Outbound
More than $50 billion in cryptocurrency transferred from inside China to other countries over the past 12 months, suggesting that Chinese investors are getting around restrictions in a nation that's taken a general hard line on investments in non-Chinese currency.
Chinese citizens can only buy $50,000 in foreign currency each year through a financial institution, explains
Crypto is also a challenge, given
The cost of 'silence'
Joseph Sullivan, Uber's former chief security officer, has been charged with obstruction of justice and other crimes connected to a 2016
Sullivan allegedly helped orchestrate a cover-up of the breach, reports
Sullivan is accused of trying to get the hackers to sign a non-disclosure agreement, then sending security staff to look for the hackers — who refused to sign the NDA.
From the Web
REUTERS | Monday Aug 24, 2020
A technology team from Wirecard , the German payments company that collapsed in June, is joining a new digital innovation unit being set up by Berlin financial technology group finleap.
ENGADGET | Sunday Aug 23, 2020
Apple’s row with WordPress over in-app purchases is over almost as soon as it began. Wordpress creator Matt Mullenweg has revealed that Apple “re-reviewed” the WordPress iOS app and determined that it doesn’t need to incorporate in-app purchases.
COINDESK | Friday Aug 21, 2020
Little-discussed types of SIM cards offer the ability to spoof any number, can be encrypted and in some cases allows the user’s voice to be altered and cloaked. Such SIM cards are favored by criminals, and they can make social engineering attacks like those that struck Twitter last month easier to execute.
More from PaymentsSource
The move online has given consumers more comfort with automated channels, writes Mobey Forum's Elina Mattila.
The “Just walk out” technology Amazon Go stores introduced a few years ago was revolutionary for shopping and payments, but it’s a model most supermarkets can’t easily copy, according to NCR.
The global digital currency race has heightened the threat to traditional monetary policy and the dollar’s dominance, enough for the Federal Reserve of Boston to make a concerted effort to keep pace.
Amazon.com Inc. has named logistics boss Dave Clark chief executive officer of its retail business.
Wirecard, which is trying to sell pieces of its embattled company while rivals pick up its clients, has struck a deal to sell its U.K. division, Wirecard Card Solutions, to Railsbank, an open banking and payments technology firm.
Fintech software provider Rapyd and LytePay, a payments provider for self-employed workers, are partnering to launch a digital business wallet and accompanying Mastercard for real estate agents in Singapore.
Unicomer Group, Latin America’s equivalent of Best Buy, has teamed up with YellowPepper to develop a digital credit app that acts as a financial services center for underbanked and unbanked consumers.
Many companies are creating innovative solutions to help keep people safe online, while also making it easier for them to transact and move freely.
The COVID-19 pandemic has teed up a growth opportunity for the buy now, pay later (BNPL) financial industry, as recession worries made people receptive to entering short-term payment plans that can fit in a budget.
Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Group generated about 9.2 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) of profit in the March quarter, offering investors a glimpse of its earnings power in the run up to its mega initial public offering.
Plaid has hired a former general counsel of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to fill the same post.
It is obvious that in the next couple of years we will see central bank digital currencies being issued for real around the world. According to a recent Bank for International Settlements survey, 20% of the world's population could have access to CBDCs in the next three years.
