Alibaba has added Adyen as a processor, giving the Chinese e-commerce giant an added option to acquire merchants to feed its business for Chinese travelers.
Adyen will support Alibaba and its affiliated Alipay app for transactions on AliExpress, Taobao, Tmall and Alibaba.com brands.
Signage for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is displayed at the company's offices in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, May 5, 2016. Alibaba's HK$1 billion fund for Hong Kong entrepreneurs is investing in GoGoVan, a hauling and delivery service that's one of the city's biggest startups, and other online services. Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg
Justin Chin/Bloomberg
Ant, Alipay and Alibaba built their international business largely by acquiring local merchants through collaborations with payment processors.
Alibaba's Adyen announcement follows affiliate Ant Financial's $700 million acquisition of WordFirst, a London-based payments company, which gave Ant and its brands more of a foothold in Europe — and a counterplay against Amazon and Western Union's collaboration in the region.
Coming off of one of Europe's largest technology IPOs in 2018, Adyen has broadened its merchant reach through recent deals to support Interac's debit network in Canada and The Gap in Europe. Adyen's big coup in recent years was luring eBay's payment processing business away from PayPal in 2018.
Backed by tech billionaires, the crypto-focused digital startup bank's timely application reflects the current administration's openness to new tech-driven banking models — and raises concerns about regulatory impartiality, considering its backers' political ties.
The application follows on the heels of Circle and Wise, as crypto and payment companies seek crypto custody approval and direct access to the Federal Reserve payment system.
The credit union regulator, responding to a recent executive order, has established strict new standards for prosecuting financial crimes. Regulators are now supposed to make criminal referrals only in cases where putative defendants appear to have known they were breaking the law.
Three bank trade associations recommended phasing out paper checks to reduce government payment fraud in a joint statement submitted to the U.S. Treasury.
Baton Rouge-based Investar Holding Corp. has agreed to pay $84 million for Wichita Falls Bancshares, which operates five branches in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
