The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
Mobile globe
In Pakistan, Visa has launched a QR-code mobile payment system in partnership with HBL, one of Pakistan's largest banks, reports
Cryptoban
India is moving closer to an outright ban on all cryptocurrencies, joining
A draft of a bill has been sent to the pertinent government agencies, reports the
The bill also follows an
Sinemia shut down
A little over a month after altering its model to remove a subscription requirement, movie payment company
The company positioned itself as a rival to
Sinemia faced legal battles, including a patent fight with MoviePass and a class action suit from consumers over fees. The company said these contributed to its shutdown, reports
AML team
Anders Ekedahl, the bank's head of group IT, will lead the unit, which will focus on AML, counterterrorism, fraud, payments crime and other risks, reports
The bank has admitted some anti-money laundering failures, and is being investigated in connection with billions of dollars in suspect transactions, mostly involving parties in Russia, according to Finextra and wire reports.
From the Web
Forbes | Sat April 27, 2019 - Today, most restaurant transactions either involve a credit card or debit card. Although consumers are used to instant and cashless payments, the majority or restaurant employees still get paid with a check. However, the industry is slowly moving toward cashless payments for employees.
Reuters | Mon April 29, 2019 - The European Union said that it has accepted an offer by Visa and Mastercard to cut fees on payments made by tourists using cards issued outside the bloc to stave off fines and end an EU antitrust investigation. The commitments will cut such multilateral interchange fees by 40 percent on average.
Yahoo Finance | Sun April 28, 2019 - Samsung is another big-name company to consider issuing its own cryptocurrency. Similar stories have already emanated from the likes of Facebook and JPMorgan Chase, with analysts speculating on various use cases for these cryptocurrency tokens.
More from PaymentsSource
The restaurant food delivery market is booming, as it caters to America’s growing desire to get on-demand meals for a dine-at-home lifestyle. This trend is influencing how restaurant orders are placed and paid for.
Uber’s getting a half billion dollar investment from PayPal at a time when the ride-sharing app is prepping a $100 billion IPO and can least afford speed bumps in its user experience and payment process.
Because the cost of cross-border payments can substantially bite into profit margins for travel agencies, payments technology provider Ixaris and financial service infrastructure developers Banking Circle are partnering to eliminate that expense with virtual bank account numbers.
Vocalink, a Mastercard unit, is partnering with Saudi Payments, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) to launch real-time payments in the kingdom.
