Stripe Launches in More Countries; Checkout.com Acquires Pin Payments: News Roundup

PaymentFacilitator’s News Roundup is a curated mix of the past week’s news and articles from around the web, including company announcements, global payments news, and other coverage and analysis of topics relevant to payment facilitators.

COVID Impact

Regulators are warning of increased fraud thanks to the coronavirus. Financial institutions have been reporting plenty of illicit activity, such merchants selling bogus cures and vaccines, and price gouging on in-demand merchandise. The risk teams at payment companies such as PayPal have been responding with ongoing updates to the systems that enable them to sort out the good commerce from the bad. From The Wall Street Journal.

The National Bank of Rwanda asked telecom companies to waive fees on mobile transactions to encourage the use of digital payments over cash during the country’s coronavirus lockdown. The types of transactions included wallet transfers, P2P payments and merchant fees on payments. As a result, mobile transaction volume has taken off, with a growth rate of 397% between February 16 and April 19. From The East African.

Ghana’s government has launched a digital financial services policy that details actions for both public and private entities. The plan is intended to support financial technology innovation and develop a regulatory framework to support digital transactions, among other goals. While this policy was being developed before the pandemic, it’s also now a part of the country’s COVID-19 response. From CGAP.

Industry News

PPRO: PPRO Publishes Its 2020 Payment Almanac

Stripe: Stripe Launches in Five More European Countries

Shopify: Shopify Releases 2019 Sustainability Report and Economic Impact Report

Checkout.com: Global Payment Processor, Checkout.com Acquires Australian Startup Pin Payments

Wirecard: A New Age of Retail: Wirecard’s Six Digital Megatrends Report

SumUp: SumUp Releases New Tool to Help Businesses Go Cashless

RunSignup: RunSignup Survey Shows Race Organizations Expect 45% of Revenue in 2020

Blackbaud: Blackbaud Releases Eighth Annual Employee Engagement, Corporate Social Responsibility Trends Report

Modernizing Medicine: Modernizing Medicine Announces Integrated Payment Processing Platform modmed Pay

ParTech: Scooter’s Coffee Selects PAR Technology’s Cloud-Based Brink POS® Software

Interac: COVID-19 Accelerating the Move to Digital Payments Across Canada

Ontario Systems: Ontario Systems Accelerates Consumer Payment Engagement Strategy With SwervePay® Acquisition