Payments

Star Alliance — the largest of the three global airline groups — is planning to offer a co-branded credit card that will allow cardholders to redeem points across all 26 members.

The buy now/pay later provider Klarna Bank is pushing further into the retail industry by offering traditional stores a platform to stream and video-chat with online customers.

The tech giant abandoned the Google Wallet brand years ago as it refined its mobile payment strategy. The 11-year-old brand now returns as a means to store vaccine cards, event tickets and more.

Deserve, a credit card technology startup, said it secured a $250 million credit facility from banks led by Goldman Sachs Group. 

Remittances to war-ravaged Ukraine are forecast to jump by over 20% this year to a record, even as those to fellow former Soviet republics in Central Asia will likely fall “dramatically” given Russia is their main source.

In global news this week, the U.K. debates a plan to protect cash, the EU sets a timeline for its Digital Markets Acts, PayPal and Standard Chartered invest overseas, and more.

The card company and financial institutions are collaborating with cross-border settlement platform Carbonplace to improve processing and risk management for environmentally-focused transactions.

Card issuers have pushed for more direct access to iPhones for years, and with the tech giant's policies facing fresh political and legal heat, Wells Fargo exec Ukrike Guigui says a more open mobile payment market would benefit merchants and consumers.

Twenty companies have joined the “Visa Ready” list of suppliers offering streamlined connections to installment loans online and at the point of sale.

The standards body's new guidance would prevent vendors from managing multiple protocols in different countries.