Payments

Merchant acquiring is a very face-to-face, sales-oriented business. And that culture has to change before any acquirers can convince their clients that they know how to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to the U.K.’s coronavirus lockdown, many British people are socially isolated in their homes, and rely on friends to get their groceries for them. They face the problem of how to reimburse people for their expenses, since cash is no longer acceptable.

Business payments gateway Cashfree has established new features for its insurance, web aggregator and broker clients in India to streamline policy premium collection, claim settlement and payouts to agents and hospitals.

Veem specializes in cross-border payments, but when small-business customers clamored for help this month with emergency SBA loans, the fintech responded.

For Good Causes has emerged from pilot in the U.K. to help consumers and businesses convert loyalty rewards points to digital cash donations for charities impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Telecommunications company Tigo Tanzania has expanded digital money transfers, allowing customers to send and receive money from their mobile wallets with other providers in the East African region.

Overall credit card spending is down 32% while debit card purchases have declined by 12% for the week ending April 12.

When we go back to normal, it's our opportunity to start making long-overdue infrastructure upgrades, says Nvoicepay's Derek Halpern.

Fast-moving payments innovation was already threatening comfortable connections between consumers and businesses before the pandemic turned the trend into an outright crisis.

The U.S. Treasury Department is in talks with some airlines about accepting their loyalty programs as collateral against government loans to help them weather the coronavirus crisis.