Asia

Hong Kong’s leader said she’s having trouble using her credit cards after the U.S. imposed sanctions targeting Chinese officials and their allies in the city.

With the stroke of a pen on Thursday night, Donald Trump made his strategic fight with China hit home for potentially billions of people, generating confusion, panic and fear around the globe.

Citing the benefit of making purchases from home during the coronavirus pandemic, China's UnionPay International is partnering with digital platform Glovo to enable its cardholders in Europe to participate in on-demand shopping.

Three months ago, Stephen Squeri, the chairman and CEO of American Express, declared a global "economic free fall" due to the coronavirus. Its second-quarter earnings show how far a fall it has been.

Ant Group is planning one of Asia’s largest IPOs while the world’s afflicted by a global pandemic, political turmoil and historic economic stress. Despite the chaos — or perhaps because of it — the timing could be right for Ant to challenge the global order in e-commerce and digital payments.

Afterpay has launched a version of its online installment payment method for in-store use in the U.S. by leveraging Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Tokyo-based payment card network JCB International is positioning itself for post-pandemic tourism growth by signing a deal with 3C Payments to expand payment acceptance in Europe, beginning in Spain.

Three years ago, Alipay began its brick-and-mortar conquest of North America, promoting acceptance of the Alibaba affiliate Ant Group's mobile wallet at shops targeting Chinese tourists, eventually reaching thousands of U.S. and Canadian stores.

Three banking trade associations told the FDIC that Rakuten Bank America, even after revisions to its earlier application to the agency, would still violate the separation of banking and commerce as well as present consumer privacy concerns.

China has a huge market and entrenched payment firms, but a record of digital adoption that makes it a prime market, says PPRO's Steve Villegas.