Cross border payments

At least two cryptocurrency companies, Coinbase and ivyKoin, have talked to federal regulators about obtaining a bank license, but there is skepticism that it will happen. Here's why.

With the use of global standards, merchants can also strengthen and consolidate their relationships with vendors and minimize expenditure on hardware and software solutions and maintenance, writes Normand Provost, liaison chair of Nexo.

Blockchain's potential for revolutionizing the world’s payment systems has captured the imagination in recent years, and last month Santander became the U.K.'s first bank to use the technology to create a new international payments service.

Retail and hospitality payments software provider Veea Inc. is partnering with cross-border mobile payments provider Citcon to allow businesses using Veea services in the U.S. to accept Alipay and WeChat Pay mobile payments.

Robotics and automatically triggered transactions will pressure how data is collected and made trustworthy enough to be actionable, according to Raphael Davison, worldwide director of blockchain for Hewlett Packard Enterprises.

It's an important pivot point for the industry — consumer trust is threatened by a steady flow of data breaches, and consumers are divided on whether they want to stick with plastic or move on to mobile and wearable payments.

The banks contend distributed ledger technology (DLT) makes it easier to coordinate trade finance deals. And the use of smart contracts can help parties comply with contractual obligations such as staged payments.

Both executives assume their new roles as the Citi unit faces competition from both large banks and fintechs in the cross-border payments market.

Flywire has partnered with Billtrust, which specializes in B2B payments, to improve processing of cross-border payments.

Given the scant use of cryptocurrencies for payments relative to their use for investment, some companies are rooting for the kind of government oversight and monetary policy that used to be considered an assault on the alternative currency movement.