The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
One, two, three, Go!
Amazon now has three Amazon Go stores open to the public in Seattle.
The new Seattle store is its biggest checkout-free location, and is in the heart of the company's urban campus,
The Amazon Go stores use customers' smartphones and a series of cameras and sensors to track people as they wander the store and pick up items to purchase. The model has inspired numerous imitators, ranging from scan-and-go projects to a full emulation of the Amazon setup.
Elavon's new fintech
U.S. Bancorp's Elavon unit has acquired a Virginia fintech called Electronic Transaction Systems, enabling it to integrate processing into ETS's software, Elavon announced.
The companies plan to offer payment processing as an integrated part of the software businesses use in their operations.
“The acquisition of ETS is part of our investment aimed at enhancing Elavon’s eCommerce offering and integrating Elavon’s payments capabilities into software its customers already use,” said Terrance Dolan, vice chairman and CFO of U.S. Bank, in a
Line Pay's investment
Line, a Japanese messaging app, is raising 148.1 billion yen (US$1.33 billion) to fuel its development of financial services,
The funding will support Line Pay — which handled 195 billion yen in transaction volume in its second quarter — and the development of other financial services by the end of 2021, the article said. Line has 164 million active monthly users in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.
PayPal's Australian gift card store
PayPal is opening a digital marketplace in Australia to sell gift cards from 40 brands, tapping into a recent trend towards digital gift cards,
The country's recent regulatory changes, which mandated a three-year expiration on gift cards sold within New South Wales, prompted many retailers to remove the cards from their stores and thus drive consumers online to purchase digital cards as an alternative, the article said. The nation's government is also considering a three-year minimum expiration period for gift cards.
From the Web
Nikkei Asian Review | Wed September 5, 2018 - Ant Financial Services Group and Yahoo Japan have formed a partnership, hoping to grab a slice of the mobile payments business in Japan, the two companies said Wednesday. Ant, a financial technology affiliate of Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding, also announced that it will work with regional banks in Japan to promote its Alipay payment platform.
International Business Times | Tue September 4, 2018 - IBM has introduced Blockchain World Wire, "the new financial rail that can simultaneously clear and settle cross-border payments in near real-time." The global financial network is based on the Stellar protocol and could be a competitor to Ripple's xRapid.
Deutsche Welle | Tue September 4, 2018 – US business magnate Warren Buffett has made a surprise entry into India's digital payment market, with his Berkshire Hathaway reportedly injecting some $360 million into Paytm, India's largest digital payments platform.
More from PaymentsSource
Uber’s latest app update adds a stored-value account that incentivises riders to dive deeper into the Uber ecosystem — and away from their bank or mobile wallet provider.
Counter to the trend — pioneered by Amazon — of launching cashierless technology in small stores to keep traffic under control, the U.K. supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has launched a trial of cashierless mobile shopping in one of its busy London stores, Clapham North Station Local.
Minal Hasan, a lawyer turned prominent fintech venture capitalist, has strong views on founder dramas, cryptocurrency, and why banks need to step up their technology game.
