The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Continent hopping
U.K. fintech Revolut has launched in Singapore, contending it's starting with 30,000 pre-signed consumers and pushing "free" cross-border payments to Europe.
Singapore is a fast-growing technology and banking hub, with about $7 billion in outbound cross-border payments volume yearly, reports
With the Current
Wellington Management Co. and the venture capital arm of CUNA Mutual Group are part of a $20 million round in youth payment app Current, which has expanded from a teen debit card to personal checking accounts and other financial services.
Current has passed 500,000 in accounts and has raised $45 million in total funding since its debut in 2015, reports
Current uses an API platform that supports integration with banks that can issue the card or opt to add customized features. It contends it's on pace to pass one million users by 2020.
Virtual agent
Amex's investment arm American Express Ventures has made an undisclosed investment in Isreali startup Voca.ai, which develops artificial intelligence for customer service.
The startup's core product is a virtual agent that uses speech-to-text to capture queries, then uses its internal systems to analyze and process text before communicating back to the consumer. These Voca Agents also adjust accent, language and vocal inflections to mimic a human experience, explains
While security risk is the primary use of AI for payment companies,
Cross-Atlantic sand
Several U.S. regulators have joined the Global Financial Innovation Network, a regulatory sandbox that falls under the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority.
The SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FDIC and OCC will all support the FCA's sandbox, reports
From the web
VERDICT | Thu October 24, 2019
Australian SaaS company simPRO has partnered with Square to offer fast payment processing options to field service professionals. The collaboration will involve the integration of Square payment platform with simPRO to provide the businesses with an on-spot payment option.
VERDICT | Thu October 24, 2019
Japanese firm Kyodai Remittance has entered into a new partnership to enable fund transfers globally through Western Union. The collaboration will enable customers to utilise Kyodai’s multi-channel remittance services in Japan to send money globally. The service will support payments across bank accounts in more than 100 countries and Western Union’s global retail network.
CNET | Thu October 24, 2019
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey gave a resounding negative answer when asked whether his social media platform would be joining Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency project, according to multiple reports. During a Twitter event in New York City Thursday, Dorsey said "hell no" to the prospect.
More from PaymentsSource
PayPal announced a record-breaking quarter on multiple fronts including overall growth in total payment volume (TPV), an acceleration in monetization of Venmo users and a surge in Venmo TPV, yet one issue still dogs PayPal — it loses money on the majority of Venmo users.
The online platform lender Kabbage is making the move beyond just providing working capital loans to small businesses, putting it in direct competition with alternative acquirers and payment companies.
Fewer than half of bank customers pay their bills through online banking, and Fiserv hopes to increase that proportion by overhauling its electronic bill payment service for banks.
Responding to the fast pace of payments technology and its impact on privacy and data security, Mastercard plans to recruit a range of companies, educational institutions and agencies to produce a set of best practices.
