Technology

The immediate lockdown of the nation’s economy in response to attempts to flatten the coronavirus infection curve has had a widespread impact on the revenues of all businesses, particularly small ones that are more susceptible to economic disruptions.

Lenders stock up on masks, Plexiglas barriers and cleaning supplies; lawmakers hope recent fixes will attract more borrowers, but small businesses remain wary after constant changes.

As innovation proceeds faster than expected, small firms will need to work with larger firms to meet the new demand, sayd DealRockit's David Carmell.

The coronavirus dealt a double blow to procurement, cutting off both goods and money. Banks and e-commerce firms are relying on partnerships to tweak payment tools to rescue the market.

Members of the Small Business Committee signaled backing for broadening Paycheck Protection Program access for the smallest companies, encouraging participation by nonbank lenders and other improvements.

In a sign of the rapid shift to digital transactions, MoneyGram reported that its digital transactions grew by 100% in May, compared to the same time last year.

In wealth management and consumer lending, banks are starting to win back clients they had been losing to startups.

Manual work is time-intensive and resource-draining, especially when it involves high volumes of data across disparate systems. When it comes to payments, this can get really complicated with all the moving pieces, says Global Payments Integrated's Ashley Jones.

The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic could lead to the ongoing expansion of workers’ access to early, or earned wages (EWA) through advances and instant payouts, including to new types of users.

Small businesses that took out the loans will soon be applying for forgiveness; U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo and one of HSBC's large investors criticized the bank for buckling to Chinese pressure.