Payments

South Africa’s payments industry wants to displace cash by enhancing its B2B-focused digital payment system to add instant low-value mobile P2P transactions.

Payroll advance provider Branch has partnered with Mastercard and Evolve Bank & Trust to offer a debit card that allows hourly workers to instantly access a portion of their earned wages ahead of their periodic paycheck.

Incumbents and challenger fintechs dominate the remittance market, leading Majority to forge a very narrow use case for its initial corridor.

Majority, which will launch nationwide later this quarter, will use networks of immigrants to sell a mobile phone-based account that features unlimited remittances and international calling services.

Intuit has partnered with Visa to enable QuickBooks users to get faster access to funds through Visa Direct, the network’s debit push payments service.

Merchants with multiple Square accounts will have a new app designed to help analyze business data and trends through Square's partnership with business management company Domo.

Ripple is collaborating with financial software company Finastra, boosting both companies' reach in the cross-border transaction market.

Any entity questioning Libra runs up against the longstanding legal precedent set by private label gift and GPR, and myriad other prepaid account offerings, says payments consultant and researcher Richard Crone.

Companies like Stripe provide a needed source of capital, but should expand lending beyond their existing base, says Become's Eden Amirav.

Europe's PSD2 doesn't directly impact Hong Kong, but its monetary decision makers support open banking frameworks, sparking a network of banks to support that effort through the help of HSBC and Swift.