Samsung may add payments to smart ring, Amazon gets a license in India

Samsung has launched the Galaxy Ring, a wearable device that might support Samsung Pay, while Amazon has received a payment aggregator license in India.

Here's what's happening around the world:

Samsung considers expanding wearable payments

Samsung has launched the Galaxy Ring, the company's latest foray into wearable technology. The web-connected ring is initially being positioned for health care uses such as heart rate and sleep monitoring. But Samsung is also considering adding contactless payments to the ring's mix of functions, which would expand Samsung Pay to another device, according to CNBC, which interviewed Samsung executives at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. One of the pioneers in mobile payments, Samsung recently updated its payment technology to combine a credential app with one that supports contactless payments. It's a move similar to Apple and Google's mobile wallets, which have also more closely aligned authentication with mobile payments and a variety of other functions in an effort to increase user engagement. Samsung's support for contactless payments for its ring could also boost its appeal among younger consumers, who have shown enthusiasm for wearables, according to research from Arizent, American Banker's publisher. —John Adams

Amazon Pay gets broader payment approval in India

The Reserve Bank of India has granted a payment aggregator license to Amazon Pay, enabling the e-commerce giant to expand its payments business in India. While Amazon offers consumer-focused payment apps in India, the RBI license will allow Amazon to expand its payment services to merchants. India has traditionally taken a hard line on digital payment companies, but regulators have shown signs of softening in recent months. The RBI in late December approved payment aggregator licenses for several fintechs including CashFree, Open and RazorPay. Amazon competes with local payment companies in India such as Rupay, as well as Google Pay and Walmart. —John Adams

Sweden joins Europe’s instant-payment network

As Sweden clears the final hurdles in its plan to join NATO, the country also completed its migration to the Eurosystem TARGET Instant Payment Settlement, or TIPS, platform, according to a press release from the European Central Bank. The move enables Swedish citizens and businesses to send and receive real-time payments with the option to settle funds in two currencies: the euro and the Swedish krona. Eleven payment service providers in Sweden now support TIPS, including Swish, Sweden's domestic real-time peer-to-peer payments service. Sweden is the first country outside of the euro area to join TIPS with its national currency; Denmark and Norway have also expressed interest in joining the platform, the release said. —Kate Fitzgerald

Lloyds enhances international payments tech

Lloyds Bank has joined WaveBL, a platform that supports electronic trade documentation through electronic Bills of Lading, or eBLs. EBLs are used as a receipt for goods being shipped across borders. When a seller ships a product to a consumer, the eBL demonstrates that a payment (or an agreed-upon future payment) has been successfully executed, providing closure for the trade. While BLs are usually paper-based, the Lloyds partnership supports digital documents using a blockchain, and is designed to speed payment processing. This is part of a broader B2B cross-border payment automation strategy at Lloyds. "Paperless trade is the future, with tremendous benefits on offer in terms of economic growth, increased efficiency, reduced risk and environmental sustainability," said Rogier van Lammeren, head of trade and working capital products at Lloyds Bank, in a release. —John Adams

EU issues new rules for instant payments

The European Union Council has issued regulations that enable euro-denominated transactions to be processed within 10 seconds at all times in all jurisdictions. The council says this will help reduce reliance on "third country" financial institutions or infrastructures, suggesting the real-time rules are designed to offer an alternative to Visa, Mastercard and other non-European payment providers. Payment companies will be required to offer euro instant payments, and their fees cannot be higher than those charged for standard credit transfers. There will also be a requirement to have compliant fraud protections to manage the risk of payments sent to the wrong account, including providing a verification service without extra fees for the service. The law goes into effect in April, and payment providers will have 18 months to comply. The EU Parliament in 2023 agreed on language governing instant payments, setting the stage for the new regulations. —John Adams

Western Union adds U.S., Canada to Mercado Pago partnership

Western Union has enabled consumers in the U.S. and Canada to use Western Union agent locations, its mobile app or website to transfer funds to Mercado Pago wallet accounts in Mexico. The Brazil-based Mercado Pago is one of Latin America's largest payment companies. After consumers send funds via Western Union, recipients in Mexico can access the money for free via a debit card at a network of ATMs and stores. By expanding this partnership, both companies can reach more consumers on both the send and receive side of transfers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Mercado Pago's other U.S. partners include Mastercard, which has worked with the Brazilian fintech to expand contactless payments in Latin America. —John Adams

Kenyan bank to launch Mastercard products

Nairobi-based Kenya Commercial Bank has signed a five-year agreement to issue Mastercard products to customers across East Africa, according to Zacks.com. The pact enables the $13 billion-asset KCB to roll out credit cards with perks for travelers, along with corporate credit cards and prepaid cards for youths. KCB will also support e-commerce payments, cross-border remittances and options for merchants to accept payments via smartphones using QR code and tap-on-phone technology. The products and services will roll out to consumers and businesses in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, the release said. —Kate Fitzgerald

Call-center firm sinks on Klarna claims AI is doing agents’ jobs

Teleperformance SE shares plunged Wednesday after a statement from Swedish fintech Klarna rekindled concern that artificial intelligence will hurt the French company's call-center business. Buy now/pay later lender Klarna said its AI assistant, powered by OpenAI, is doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents and has had 2.3 million conversations, equal to two-thirds of the company's customer service chats, within the first month of being deployed. The AI tool resolved errands much faster and matched human levels on customer satisfaction, Klarna said.

Teleperformance shares fell as much as 29% in Paris trading, the steepest drop since November 2022, amid regular halts for volatility. The company already uses AI to manage simple processes on behalf of its clients, it said in a statement in response to the stock drop. "The group's current activity in no way reflects the negative conclusions in its business that could be drawn from the technological developments mentioned in this communication," Teleperformance said.

Teleperformance said in its 2022 annual report that it supplied services to Klarna through subsidiaries located in countries including Sweden, Finland and Colombia. The French company warned last year that as much as 30% of its call volumes could be automated in the next three years as chatbots become mainstream. —Paul Jarvis and Henry Ren, Bloomberg News