The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Fee battle
U.K. retailers are asking the government to pressure Visa and Mastercard to lower fees because the percentage of card payments is growing so quickly.
The British Retail Consortium reports card usage grew from 54% of payments in 2016 to 61% in 2019, a percentage that's likely jumped in 2020 due to the pandemic. The BRC also says the cost to retailers for accepting cards was more than $1.2 billion in 2019, reports
Merchants in the U.K. scored a victory in court earlier in 2020 when the
Quick turn
Emburse is streamlining cross-border corporate expense management through a partnership with global remittance provider TransferWise.
San Francisco-based Emburse, which serves 14,000 companies, has launched Emburse Global Reimbursements so its clients can quickly reimburse employees for out-of-pocket expenses across multiple countries and currencies, according to a press release.
The partnership relies on TransferWise’s international network of local banks to exchange funds using the mid-market exchange rate, with transfers completed within minutes after submitting expenses.
Making a deal
The pandemic has led more companies to adopt digital payments for
The combined company will focus specifically on accounts receivable automation and integrated B2B payment products, totalling $10 billion in yearly payments volume for more than 8,000 businesses.
The new company will operate under Versapay's brand, and follows Boston private equity firm Great Hill Partners' February acquisition of Versapay.
Reupping
Payment technology firm Worldline has extended a partnership with PSA Payment Services in Austria, giving it a continued 100% share of Austrian debit card payments.
That partnership yielded more than 1 billion debit transactions in 2019, and helped drive Austria's push to cashless payments, Worldline reports.
Earlier this year, Worldline entered an
From the web
REUTERS | Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Latin America's top e-commerce firm is revving up its digital payments engine as shops shift online amid the coronavirus pandemic, and is looking toward China for inspiration to bring the region's un-banked and cash-loving savers online.
THE VERGE | Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Amazon Prime subscribers now get free one-hour grocery pickup at all of Whole Foods’ 487 US stores, Amazon announced today. The news marks an expansion of Whole Foods’ existing pickup service, which was previously only available at select stores, according to CNBC.
TECHCRUNCH | Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Amazon has launched a new program that directly pays consumers for information about what they’re purchasing outside of Amazon.com and for responding to short surveys.
More from PaymentsSource
As merchants and consumers increasingly favor contactless payments over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Visa is removing obstacles to contactless acceptance.
Even though mobile payments are gaining adoption during the coronavirus pandemic, the chicken-and-egg problem still persists: The wallets only work when both the issuer and merchant have the technology in place.
Idaho has tapped ClassWallet’s cloud-based classroom-expense management platform to mete out $50 million in state education funds to help 30,000 families pay for remote-learning tools, according to a Tuesday press release.
Mexican payments startup Klar has raised $15 million in a Series A round in an effort to challenge traditional banks by expanding access to debit cards and credit lines.
At a time when contactless payments via QR codes are on the rise, Incognia is launching a fraud protection solution for payments providers, retailers and restaurants.
During the pandemic, some industries have experienced a boom while others struggle to reinvent themselves with new products and services. For many, the biggest challenge is to find the time to focus on strategy, something that’s harder to do with the business environment in flux and staff working remotely. As a result, finding new ways to improve efficiency has become a priority.
Capital markets play a key role in a modern economy because they move money, stocks or bonds from people who have them to those who need them to execute trades, secure equities or invest. But as core a function as this is, it hasn't been very fast.
Alipay’s assembling a portfolio to stitch together a multinational financial services ecosystem. The mobile payments titan’s IPO will provide an enormous war chest to develop new services, turbocharge international expansion, and fund acquisitions, says Intrepid Ventures' Eric Grover.
Fewer consumers are relying on physical banks to get payment cards, giving Visa and Mastercard an incentive to bet on technology that expedites the work of neobanks and fintechs.
