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Ease of entry
PayPal is partnering with African payments firm Flutterwave to improve connections between businesses in Africa and PayPal's base of more than 377 million users. Flutterwave will integrate with PayPal, enabling merchants to support transactions from outside the continent.
The connection is designed to improve regulatory and security inconsistencies that have made it harder for PayPal to build a large presence in Africa, reports
Flutterwave has similar collaborations with

Fintech performer
Web browser Opera has hired former PayPal and WeChat Pay executive Allen Hu to lead Dify, Opera's fintech division.
Hu was regional head of global core payments for PayPal; and earlier in his career was general manager of TenPay, where he launched WeChat Pay, according to
Launched in February,
Real-time incentives
DailyPay plans to build an instant reward disbursement portal for HR executives and managers to expedite bonuses and other one-off payouts to workers.
The product, called REWARD, is designed to boost engagement through smaller payments to workers in addition to regular salaries. It is also positioned to accommodate more people working remotely, making a quick digital payment more accessible than an in-person payout or a check.
Remote work has led to
Getting fit
Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay have found a route to offer services in Ecuador through an integration with payment software firm Quipo.
Banco ProCredit Ecuador is the first bank in the country to support the two payment apps, which allow consumers to add Mastercard functionality to fitness bands from both companies.
Garmin and Fitbit have made similar deals with other banks. Garmin for example, has added
From the web
TECHCRUNCH | Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Dija, the London-based grocery delivery startup backed by Blossom Capital, Creandum and Index Ventures, has acquired Cambridge, U.K.-based Genie, in what looks in part like an acqui-hire.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | Wednesday, March 17, 2021
British Airways is offering to hold passengers’ vaccination details to smooth travel plans
TECHCRUNCH | Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Dutchie, a nearly four-year-old, Bend, Oregon company that charges cannabis dispensaries a monthly fee to create and run their websites, process their orders and track what needs to be prepped for pick up, has raised $200 million in Series C funding at a $1.7 billion valuation. That’s roughly eight times the valuation the company was assigned last August, when it closed on $35 million in Series B funding. In fact, $200 million is exactly how much backers thought it was worth last summer.
More from PaymentsSource
2021's Most Influential Women in Payments honorees demonstrate how a diverse background and a unique perspective can prove crucial in difficult times.
The major card networks have postponed a planned interchange fee hike yet again in light of the reality of an ongoing pandemic, pleas from merchant groups and pressure from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Showcasing contactless ATM access and enabling easier use of stimulus funds are among the ways the megabank and digital upstart are tailoring services to customers acquired during the pandemic.
Any failure by retailers to fully and effectively execute on all post-purchase business requirements and that promise will quickly turn to pain, says Inmar Ingellince's Ken Bays.
North Korea and other rogue actors present a whole new threat to transaction security, says Capco's Julien Bonnay and Bryce VanDiver.
True Name, which launched on Mastercards issued by Citi, allows members of the transgender community to have their chosen first name appear on their payment card.
Visa and Mastercard are postponing plans to boost the fees U.S. merchants pay when consumers use credit cards online, pushing back the changes another year to April 2022 because of the pandemic.
After postponing enforcement for years, the card brands are implementing an EMV liability shift at fuel stations, which still struggle to make the upgrades necessary for chip-card acceptance.
Facing accusations of illegally using client accounts to move money to its U.K. headquarters from a Brazilian bank, Wise (formerly Transferwise) vehemently denied those actions and said it is the target of a smear campaign.
Bank of America is confident in its growth prospects even as competition intensifies from fintechs including Walmart’s startup.
Payservices, a money transfer company in Delray Beach, Fla., is applying to form a digital bank.
The e-commerce giant's Amazon One palm-scanning can enroll consumers for building access and other use cases that require an ID.
Mastercard is working to adapt its payments network to support a system that allows health care providers and other organizations to verify patients' coronavirus vaccination status.