Asia

Grab and Mastercard have formed a partnership extending the reach of the ride-hailing app by making a prepaid card available to Grab’s 110 million users across Southeast Asia.

Ant Financial, Alibaba’s finance affiliate controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, agreed to buy a stake in the Brazilian payments firm StoneCo Ltd after the company prices its initial public offering, joining Warren Buffett in investing in Brazil’s booming financial-technology startup landscape.

Indian wallet provider Paytm has entered the Japanese market in a joint venture with SoftBank Group and Yahoo Japan.

India’s government has been aggressively (and, at times, dramatically) pro-digital commerce — but not necessarily when it involves foreign companies.

The vast majority of card fraud in post-EMV Australia affects digital payments, a trend that has prompted government action, expedited security projects, and financial pressure on banks from retailers.

Visa showcased payment technologies it’s developing for future Olympic games, including in-home “couch commerce” leveraging augmented reality.

Fleet card and corporate payment provider WEX has partnered with Melbourne, Australia-based fintech Payment Logic to support automated vehicle registration for fleet operators in Australia.

Angela Clark will be CEO of Beem It, which launched in May and has the backing of National Australia Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank.

Singtel Group, owner of Singapore Telecom, launched a QR code-based cross-border mobile payments alliance with Thailand’s largest digital bank, Kasikornbank and Thailand’s largest mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service or AIS.

PayPal launched a new merchant app called PayPal for Business, aimed at driving usage and adoption of its invoicing and payments services among freelance workers and small businesses in India.