Asia

Paytm Ecommerce Pvt., the latest entrant into India’s online retailing market, is taking a hard line with suspect merchants to avoid backer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s reputation as a haven for fakes.

India is considering tracking digital currencies like bitcoin through the central bank and capital markets regulator along with intelligence agencies to monitor money laundering and terrorist financing, people with the knowledge of the matter said.

Payments technology provider Cardtek and partner Axis Bank have launched a national open-loop payment system featuring a contactless card for public transportation and other purchases in India.

Google's Android Pay is moving closer to its launch in India, pending approval by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as more U.S.-based companies including Uber and Amazon work to add technology supporting India’s central bank-approved unified payments interface (UPI) to their portals.

Apple and Australia's largest banks have been battling for more than a year over mobile payments access.

Mastercard has expanded its relationship with Pizza Hut to support mobile ordering in Japan.

Chinese bettors withdrawing money from some ATMs in Macau need to do more than punch in their PIN code. They also have to stare into a camera for six seconds so facial-recognition software can verify their identity and help monitor transactions.

Chinese tourists visiting Spain will be able to shop at Spanish stores using their Alipay mobile wallets through an agreement between BBVA Group and Ant Financial Services, the Alibaba affiliate that operates Alipay.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will invest another $1 billion to raise its stake in online mall Lazada Group SA to 83 percent, securing control of a fast-growing startup at the vanguard of its Southeast Asian expansion.

India’s largest digital-payments company, Paytm, is seeking a license to set up a money market fund where users can store cash and earn interest, in competition with the country’s banks, according to a person familiar with the matter.