Monzo suffers an outage that leaves thousands of customers unable to make payments. Two years after halting payments following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, American Express gets permission to sell its assets in Russia. That and other news from the world of payments.
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Mastercard courts issuers with expanded open banking
The card network will make Argyle's technology available across Mastercard's international issuer network, enabling banks to reduce the manual documentation required to apply for a loan.
Mastercard's open banking technology powers the connection between the applicant's bank accounts and the lender. With the applicant's permission, these lenders can use analytics that measure the potential borrower's financial health by assessing changes in account balances over time, cashflow trends and payment records for bills such as rent and utilities. Small businesses can also make their data available to Mastercard to expedite their small-business loan applications.
Through partnerships such as the Argyle collaboration, Mastercard is seeking a global market for open banking, which could provide a boost to the payment company's diversification. Both
Tapping open banking is a big part of that strategy for Mastercard, which acquired data-sharing technology from its
Mastercard's recent open banking-related collaboration deals include bank technology seller FIS, buy now/pay later lender Zip, JPMorgan Chase and Verizon.
In an earlier interview , Jess Turner, executive vice president of open banking at Mastercard, said, "
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Standard Chartered encourages clients' ESG policies
The bank's ESG Cash Account links interest rate or payment fees to the client's ESG performance compared with an external benchmark, the ESG success of the client relative to competitors or the client's ESG improvement over past performance.
The benchmark and the client's success are required to be relevant to that client's business, and there are rules that govern a minimum level of ambition or goal-setting. Standard Chartered's ESG account is launching in Hong Kong and Singapore, with additional markets to be added in the coming months.
In a recent interview on CNBC, Chief Executive Bill Winters said
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Monzo outage temporarily cuts off payments
About 2,500 complaints concerning Monzo access were filed with
In an email, Monzo's public relations office said the incident was resolved as of midday Tuesday London time, and all of its customers have been moved back to the fintech's normal operating systems.
A technical issue caused Monzo to be unable to process some card payments and outbound transfers, and consumers were temporarily moved to backup systems that successfully processed 99.99% of transactions. Other functions such as ATM access, balance checks and customer contact centers were unaffected.
Monzo is in the midst of a
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Wise gets clearance to expand payments in India
Wise was previously limited to $5,000 per transaction for outbound payments from India. The new license lifts that limit, helping a strategy to offer lower-cost larger cross-border transactions that are processed mostly by international banks.
The U.K. fintech will update its payment-processing systems to follow Indian tax and financial reporting regulations. Wise has entered into a
Wise competes with other payment firms such as Ripple and banks to execute international payments without relying on correspondent banks to manage compliance and foreign exchange conversions, thus cutting time and fees. —John Adams
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Amazon adds Barclays card to its European payments strategy
The new card offers 1% rewards on Amazon purchases and 0.5% rewards for non-Amazon spending. Prime members earn 2% cash back from Amazon purchases during shopping events such as Prime Day.
Consumers can also track rewards balances and redeem rewards for Amazon gift cards in the Barclaycard app.
Amazon and Barclay's existing installments program is a reusable credit account that can finance purchases via monthly payments. That exists alongside
Amazon has recently entered a similar card co-brand partnership in Europe with Banco Santander that had initially launched in Germany earlier this year. —John Adams
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Russia revokes American Express' banking license
Amex is one of thousands of financial services and payment companies that
Putin's revocation of Amex's license this week allows the company to sell those assets and follows a request from Amex to formally exit the country. Amex didn't respond to a request for comment by deadline. —John Adams
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Cash usage sets record at UK postal system
These numbers could grow more. The Financial Conduct Authority has issued regulations to ensure access to cash. The
While cash and checks are more expensive than digital payment methods, a large segment of the economy is reliant on paper payments, leading to regulations in multiple countries to protect access. —John Adams
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HSBC won't shut branches in short term
HSBC said it won't close branches until at least 2026 and will invest about $70 million upgrading its network of 327 branches.
HSBC also recently opened cash pods, or a slightly larger version of an ATM that can be deployed quickly in underserved areas.
The bank's branch network has shrunk significantly, with HSBC closing more than 740 branches since 2015. —John Adams