WhatsApp Hits Another Snag; Why Square Uses Reserves: 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-19 Impact

As the global health crisis recedes in some areas, cashless payments are likely to stay. Naturally, the coronavirus pandemic has led to more people choosing digital payment methods to avoid contact with others. But according to a Visa survey, Singapore’s consumers are sticking with their cashless habits. Retailers who are ready to innovate and embrace new technology can benefit from this trend. From Tech Wire Asia.

COVID-19 likely to accelerate demise of cash, PayPal CEO says. The company has seen growth comparable to typical two to four-year patterns because of the pandemic shift to digital. This is according to PayPal CEO Dan Schulman, who credits part of PayPal’s success to its consideration of its employees’ financial health. “There is no bigger competitive advantage than talented, passionate, engaged, secure employees,” he said in this interview. From CTech by Calcalist.

WhatsApp Pay Stalls

Shortly after finally launching in Brazil, Facebook’s WhatsApp payments service has been suspended. The app introduced its payments feature in Brazil just last week after testing it in India for months. Brazil’s central bank announced that it would suspend the service to evaluate the potential for risk to the country’s overall payments system. From Bloomberg.

Digital India

The RBI is asking for help from payment providers. Despite its own attempts to warn Indians about safe digital payment use, the Reserve Bank of India is seeing increased incidents of fraud. In many cases, the fraudsters are using well-known methods such as tricking consumers into disclosing personal information. It has asked participants in the payment system to do their part in educating the public and raising awareness of basic digital safety measures. From The Hindu Business Line.

App-based payments are on the rise in India. According to an S&P Global Market Intelligence report, mobile payments initiated from within apps – including account-to-account transfers and payments made from stored value accounts – were up 163% in 2019 to US$287 billion. Mobile payments are expected to overtake card payments, which rose 24% during the same period, the 2020 India Mobile Payments Market Report said. From Livemint.

Indian PF MobiKwik is collaborating with ecommerce companies to expand digital payments. The company is enabling partners such as Flipkart and Snapdeal to enable bill payment through their apps. The new product, which it calls MobiKwik Biller Stack, enables consumers to use their choice of payment method to pay bills from within the ecommerce apps. From The Hindu BusinessLine.

Industry News

Square: Why Square Uses Reserves

Square: Square Announces On-Demand Delivery for Square Online Store Sellers

BlueSnap: DENmaar Selects BlueSnap to Offer Mental Health Practitioners & Patients a Hassle-Free Payment Experience

Mastercard: Mastercard to Acquire Finicity to Advance Open Banking Strategy

Visa: Facilitating Safer Payments Experiences with Token ID

Mastercard: Mastercard Research Shows Surge in Digital Payments as E-commerce Reaches New Heights Around the World

Klarna: Klarna Says “Hello!” to Belgium with Unique Payment Proposition

Shopify: Shopify Partners with Indigenous Organizations Reducing Barriers to Entrepreneurship

Mastercard: In Stores or on the Couch, Asia Pacific Consumers Shift Rapidly to Digital Commerce and Show No Signs of Turning Back

Paytronix: Paytronix Helps Restaurants Offer a True Touchless Experience with Contactless Dining

FIS: Pay by Bank Account? Worldpay from FIS Enables Instant Payments from Your Bank Account through Open Banking Hub

Checkout.com: Checkout.com Triples Valuation to $5.5bn in Series B Fundraise

Sphere: Sphere and Sikka Software Launch an Integrated Payment Platform for the Veterinary Market

Planet: Payments Company Planet to Acquire 3C Payment