Retailers

The global coronavirus outbreak has up-ended daily life for many consumers, including where they shop and how they pay for things. The U.K. is no exception, as issues of health and hygiene have now been introduced as important factors when it comes to both planned and impulse shopping.

Starling Bank has raised £40 million (about $49 million) in its latest fundraiser as it steps up its support for small businesses, bringing its 2020 total to £100 million (about $123 million).

The modern mobile wallet no longer uses a card as a crutch. Instead, it sees it as an additional product that can add revenue from interchange, lending and loyalty.

Money transfer agent Remitly has launched a cash deposit service for its digital bank account holders on the Green Dot retailer network.

The coronavirus shutdowns have tossed businesses into disarray in numerous ways, most notably the tricky transactions that come with operating a restaurant as a drive-through for the first time.

Unlike past economic recessions where businesses and consumers have had to adjust their payment habits and debt levels over the course of months or quarters as the economy shrank, the coronavirus-induced economic crisis has forced many to make much more abrupt financial adjustments.

As many countries and U.S. states now begin to lift stay-at-home orders, fraudsters too are being unleashed to return to familiar targets such as bank branches, ATMs and retail stores.

The coronavirus pandemic has had an immediate impact on a wide swath of consumer spending habits and payment choices — some of which may remain in place for some time after the crisis subsides — as certain categories such as travel have fallen to the wayside and others such as grocery stores have risen as more consumers eat meals at home.

U.K. retail sales dropped in April by the most in at least a quarter of a century, according to industry figures that outline the impact of the shutdown on stores.

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, cybercriminals were shifting their attention away from point-of-sale terminals — but the retail industry still absorbs the most attacks seeking to compromise databases or networks.