The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Square bank
Nearly a year after receiving key regulatory approvals, Square has opened its bank, which will offer both deposit accounts and loans to merchants.
Square Financial Services is an industrial bank headquartered in Salt Lake City. It will become the originator of small-business loans that the San Francisco-based company already offers to retailers that use its technology to process their card sales.
Previously, Square Capital loans were issued under a partnership with Celtic Bank, another Utah-based industrial bank. “Bringing banking capability in-house enables us to operate more nimbly,” Amrita Ahuja, Square’s chief financial officer, said in a press release Monday.
Influential
Three months after U.K. regulators banned a
The ban followed a campaign that encouraged consumers to use Klarna's point of sale credit to cheer themselves up and boost their mood during the pandemic. Other influencers mentioned buying clothes and splurging on skincare products. Point of sale credit products have soared in the past year;
As part of its promised improvements to social media marketing, Klarna cited commissioned research from Censuswide that found about a third of U.K. consumers have acted on indirect advice from an influencer or a celebrity, with the percentage rising to 53% for GenZ (18-24) consumers.
Go to high street
Amazon Go is set to open a store in West London, part of plans to launch more than dozen other checkout-free stores in the U.K.
The e-commerce company has been planning its
Amazon Go has also looked to
Crime report
Financial crime tied to cryptocurrency totalled an estimated $10.5 billion in 2020, with a hint of good news as that total was slightly lower than 2019's tally.
Two thirds of the activity was due to fraud and hacks, reports
Crypto crime is also still far less costly than traditional financial crime, which totalled about $3.5 trillion in 2020, Coinsesk reports, referencing
Ad merger
Digital payments advertising platform Cardlytics has agreed to buy incentive marketing firm Dosh for $275 million in cash and stock.
Dosh specializes in a consumer app that supports cash-back offers over a network of thousands of merchants and millions of consumers. It also embeds in digital wallets from financial institutions and firms like Venmo, Betterment and Ellevest.
From the web
REUTERS | Tuesday, March 2, 2021
China's Ant Group is working on measures to help staff with "short-term liquidity problems", its executive chairman said in internal messages, after the halting of the fintech giant's $37 billion IPO dashed employees' hopes of cashing in their shares.
TECHCRUNCH | Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Rohlik, a Czech startup that has built an online grocery ordering and delivery business combining your usual grocery fare — which it procures itself wholesale, or offers in concert with established businesses like Marks & Spencer — with items sourced from local small businesses, has picked up €190 million ($230 million at today’s rates).
THE VERGE | Monday, March 1, 2021
Every Apple Store location in the US has reopened as of today, roughly two weeks prior to the anniversary of the first store closures due to the coronavirus pandemic that began on March 13th, 2020. The news, reported by 9to5Mac this morning, coincides with the last of Apple’s Texas retail stores reopening on Monday.
More from PaymentsSource
For many years, PaymentsSource’s Most Influential Women in Payments has been celebrating top-performing senior executives. Now we invite you to take part in a new opportunity to advance the mission of gender parity.
The insurance industry has shied away from crypto, but as the market gets larger opportunity will arise for insurers, says InsuranceQuotes.com's Brian O'Connell.
CardX, which enables merchants to add a fee for accepting credit cards, won by showing how its product provides transparency to consumers.
Two executives behind the Apple Card at Goldman Sachs are now on Walmart's payroll, giving the big-box chain the expertise it needs to become more competitive in payments and other financial services.
Klarna Bank said it raised $1 billion at a valuation of $31 billion, triple the price investors gave the Swedish payments firm during its last funding round, following rapid growth in its U.S. business.
Jumia Technologies is expanding in online food delivery as the pioneering Africa e-commerce business looks to grow beyond its main market of trading phones and electronics.
Clearly it's been a difficult year for the travel industry, but there’s reason to believe the travel will again reach great heights by optimizing payment technology and capitalizing on new customer behaviors.
The council plays a critical role ensuring technology meets robust security needs as fraud risks rise, says MYPINPAD's Justin Pike.
Supermarkets and restaurants were already starting to go digital when the pandemic pushed hard on the gas. Expect more mobile and virtual experiences —and much less space for sit-down dining.
The U.K. should overhaul its stock listing rules and visa requirements to help the country’s fast-growing fintech industry compete after Brexit, a government-backed review has found.
More people are joining the gig economy, and a major driver of this trend — particularly for those working multiple gigs — is a need for faster access to cash to meet expenses.
New payment methods such as real-time payments, initiatives such as open banking, and technologies like biometrics, all contribute to a constantly evolving ecosystem. The potential for innovation and optimization is clear.
