Asia

The deployment comes as Singapore is in the midst of a broad digital initiative for the entire city.

The Western Union Company agreed to pay $586 million and admitted to a lapse in anti-money laundering controls in an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department and other U.S. authorities.

UnionPay customers can now transfer funds from Canada to China without fees through a partnership with Canadian bank CIBC.

The Financial Conduct Authority has given the green light to Geoswift, the Hong Kong-based cross-border payments company, to operate collection and settlement services between the U.K. and China.

The online payment service Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba, is extending its collaboration with luxury travel retailer DFS Group as more Chinese citizens increase their travel frequency to overseas locations.

Axis Bank, one of India’s largest private-sector financial institutions, has reportedly become the first bank in the country to partner with Ripple for a blockchain-powered approach to cross-border payment.

Bitcoin extended Friday’s tumble amid concern China will tighten rules on the digital currency to curb capital outflows.

Around the same time PayPal spun off from eBay Inc. to become its own company last year, it also took on the global money transfer provider Xoom. This acquisition may have been overshadowed by PayPal's bigger news, but it remains key to the company's post-eBay strategy.

India’s latest efforts to shift to digital payments and reduce the nation’s tight grip on cash are in the spotlight, following the government’s recent cash recall and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) giving its blessing to about a dozen digital payments startups. The newest, BHIM, is controlled by India’s government and is off to a fast start after its first week.

Fime test labs in France and Taiwan now support terminal manufacturers and kernel developers seeking to enable acceptance of China UnionPay QuickPass.