Asia

Neither Amazon nor Starbucks could be described as a traditional retailer. But they both use their shared headquarters city as a playground for developing digital and in-store innovations that all merchants and payment companies will have to respond to the years ahead.

PayPay, a mobile payments company backed by SoftBank Group Corp., Yahoo Japan Corp. and India’s largest digital-payments company Paytm, said it’s updating its app to strengthen security after multiple complaints from users of wrongful charges.

The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, plans to introduce a digital currency of its own. But unlike the decentralized blockchain-based offerings, this one could give Beijing more control over its financial system.

Ripple's cross-border payments engine is gaining share in India, where it's partnering with Currencies Direct to deliver real-time remittances through Ripple's xCurrent payment protocol.

Japanese credit card brand JCB has signed several deals to expand its global acceptance online and at the point of sale.

Kenya’s Family Bank Ltd. will collaborate with London fintech SimbaPay to launch a transfer service to China with WeChat.

Indonesia’s Go-Jek plans to roll out a preliminary version of its ride-hailing app in Singapore Thursday, bringing fresh competition to the hometown of arch-rival Grab, according to people familiar with the plan. Both companies combine ride hailing technology with payments and other financial services.

The Australian government is evaluating a set of proposals to radically reform its payments industry, including abolishing interchange and opening up access for new entrants to core infrastructure.

Chinese payment companies have successfully lured merchants outside of China by enabling payments for Chinese tourists, a use case Tencent hopes will work in Japan, where rival Alipay lurks.

Seeking a stronger foothold in the growing India payments landscape, Visa has made a minority investment in digital payments platform BillDesk.