The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Driving payments
Wirecard is teaming up with several partners to test digital payments and authentication for autonomous driving concepts.
Wirecard will provide payments connections for prototype vehicles Rinspeed is building along with partners, SAP, Osram, DEKRA and Zurich Insurance to be unveiled at CES in Las Vegas early next year, according to a press release.
Use cases for the mobile commerce vehicles include retail logistics and transportation, with payments technology powering "grab and go" store purchases and shopping enabled with biometric hand scanners for cars that are electric, driverless and cashless, Wirecard said.
Zero control
Zero, a mobile banking app targeting budget-minded young adults, has expanded to Android after launching in July on iOS, a press release said.
Customers may earn up to 3% cash back on credit purchases with a Zero Mastercard issued by WebBank, but spending is restricted to the amount users allocate to the card from a checking account provided by Evolve Bank & Trust, to avoid irrational purchases and overdrafts.
The San Francisco-based startup aims to build scale by encouraging users to gradually improve their credit card reward earning rate by referring other customers or increasing their card spending. Users may move from a starting base of 1% cash back rewards to 3% after referring four customers or reaching $100,000 in annual spending. Zero has raised $47 million in venture capital financing from backers including SignalFire.
Text to pay
Japan’s instant-credit payment service Paidy, which enables users to pay at Japanese merchants without establishing an account, has raised an additional $143 million in new funds and debt financing.
PayPal was among participants in the latest round, along with Soros Capital Management, said Paidy in a press release.
Paidy uses machine learning to underwrite transactions in seconds and guarantees payments to merchants. The Tokyo-based firm, which has raised a total of $225 million, plans to use the new funds to increase its user base to 11 million by the end of next year.
Cashless in China
China continues to outpace the rest of the world in mobile payments adoption, with 577 million people regularly making mobile payments primarily via Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay, according to an
About half of China's citizens regularly use mobile payments, expected to rise to 60% by 2023.
Overall China accounts for 61% of all mobile payment users worldwide, but that share is on track to decline as mobile payments gain momentum in other markets including India, where usage of the bank-operated biometrics-powered UPI payments technology is rapidly expanding.
From the web
REUTERS | Fri November 1, 2019
A mandatory 24-hour delay on all first-time payments from one bank account to another would cut mounting fraud in finance, UK lawmakers said in a report on Friday.
TECHCRUNCH | Mon November 4, 2019
Curve, the London-based “over-the-top banking platform,” has added support for Samsung Pay in the U.K., making it easy for Samsung smartphone owners to pay using their mobile phone, regardless of who they bank with.
CNBC | Fri November 1, 2019
Starbucks will open its first mobile pick-up cafe Nov. 5 in New York City. Customers will use Starbucks’ app to order and pay for their orders. The opening of the store, located in Manhattan’s Penn Plaza, comes as the coffee chain tries to address consumers’ desire for convenience.
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