Cross border payments

More than a dozen large European banks plan to launch a payment system that would rival U.S. payment companies and technology firms, an idea that hasn’t worked in the past but may have a better chance given the current global health, economic and political crises.

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are considering revoking Wirecard AG’s ability to process payments on their networks in a move that would cause further pain for the firm after it started insolvency proceedings.

Wirecard AG filed for insolvency, the culmination of a stunning accounting scandal that led to the arrest of its CEO and left the German payment-processing firm unable to find over $2 billion missing from its balance sheet.

Three years ago, Alipay began its brick-and-mortar conquest of North America, promoting acceptance of the Alibaba affiliate Ant Group's mobile wallet at shops targeting Chinese tourists, eventually reaching thousands of U.S. and Canadian stores.

James Freis took charge of Wirecard AG on Friday and the question he faces on Monday is what, if anything, he will be able to salvage of the payment company.

The move to digital providers could mean cheaper cash transfers for a demographic that has been hard hit by this pandemic, with both senders and receivers being financially affected.

Given American Express was reporting a 95% hit to one of its core businesses less than two months ago, announcing access to the world’s largest digital payments market has to be a major sigh of relief — even if there’s still entrenched competitors, an international virus and a cold war to navigate.

MineralTree has retooled its platform so midsize corporations may process domestic and international invoices through one channel, and the firm has also formed a partnership with TransferMate to improve users' global currency payment options.

Paysafe is expanding the reach of its Skrill digital wallet to U.S. consumers who will be able to use it to send funds to 18 countries.

Japanese credit card giant JCB plans to use technology from FIS to enable cross-border QR code payments as digital wallet use rises across Asia.