Morning Brief 7.2.20: Australian open banking takes shape

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:

Australian open

The Consumer Data Right has advanced in Australia, enabling consumers to share banking data with third parties such as mobile wallets and fintechs.

Credit and debit cards, deposit accounts and P2P accounts can be shared, with mortgage and loan data scheduled to be added in November, reports Finextra. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will oversee open banking, which will work similar to PSD2 in Europe.

Australian open banking has been in development for several years, and was delayed earlier in 2020 to improve provisions for data sharing. About 40 fintechs are undergoing tests for accreditation, Finextra reports, and the company's four largest banks and other financial institutions are all expected to participate.

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Crypto shield

Bolt Labs has introduced a cryptocurrency payment product called zkChannels on Tezos, which is designed to be more private than similar options such as the Lightning Network.

While the Lightning Network can allow people to see other parties' accounts, or funding channels, zkChannel is uses protocols that are designed to hide that information, reports CoinDesk.

Lightning is also working on updates to keep that information hidden, according to CoinDesk.

No store

500 Startups and FEMSA Ventures are among a group of VCs that have made a $12 million investment in Justo, a Mexico City-based delivery-only online supermarket.

The model, similar to FreshDirect in the U.S., is more rare in Mexico, though the investors see an opportunity as the coronavirus keeps people away from stores, according to TechCrunch.

Justo contends its prices are similar to a traditional supermarket, and it's offering tiered delivery schedules running from express to the following day.

The droids they're looking for

Beijing-based e-commerce company Meituan-Dianping has invested about $15 million in Pudu, a robotics company that has developed a contactless delivery robot that's already deployed for hotels and food delivery apps.

The Shenzhen-based Pudu has sold 5,000 robots to clients including Sheraton and JD.com, according to VentureBeat. Beyond Pudu, robots have been piloted for a variety of retail purposes, such as taking orders, making deliveries or accepting payments.

Pudu will use the funding to expand overseas. The robots are decentralized; they can communicate with each other and with other devices, creating the potential to link the robot to digital retail shopping and transactions.

From the Web

SoftBank Seeks to End Partnership With Wirecard
_{THE WALL STREET JOURNAL | Wed July 1, 2020}
One of the world’s largest technology investors, SoftBank is seeking to terminate a five-year partnership its investment arm formed with Wirecard in April 2019, according to people familiar with the matter.

Demand for stolen credit cards has dropped in the pandemic
_{FORTUNE | Wed July 1, 2020}
The median price of stolen card-present data has more than halved, from $12.50 last December to $6.30 in June, said Stas Alforov, head of R&D for Gemini Advisory, a New York-based cybersecurity firm.

Remittances to Mexico jump in May to second highest level on record
_{REUTERS | Wed July 1, 2020}
Mexico received $3.38 billion in remittances in May, versus $2.86 billion the prior month and $3.28 billion in May 2019, the data showed.

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