The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the web:
Central station
Hoping to push usage of its new payment app, Facebook is piloting an accounts center that centralizes several of its services. Consumers will be able to post content across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, as well as save payment information for use across the different platforms.
The social network will
Dumping plastic
Singapore's United Overseas Bank is one of the city's early users of a Visa API that allows consumers to directly add cards to third-party apps without requiring a plastic card.
Consumers use a menu on UOB's app to add debit or credit cards to apps without entering a card number, expiration date and security code — an experience that's designed to be easier than taking a card out of a wallet.
The bank has signed firms including Fitbit, Grab, and Singapore Airlines to support incentive marketing redemption and digital payments.
Fintech bet
Stripe has led a $12 million investment in PayMongo, a one-year old Filipino online payments firm that has gotten a rush of business as payments moved online during the pandemic.
Similar to Stripe, PayMongo offers a platform that merchants can use to support online payments. It will use Stripe's funding to add more engineers and broaden its product line.
Golden State rules
California will expand its regulation of cryptocurrencies, with an expanded office dedicated to monitoring innovation and more power to investigate coronavirus scams. The state has renamed the Department of Business Oversight, which will now be called the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.
This regulator will have added power to oversee virtual currency, reports
California is also forming an Office of Financial Technology Innovation that will reach out to new companies to encourage job creation within California; and a Division of Consumer Financial Protection that will monitor cryptocurrency development. The law, which Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed, goes into effect Jan 1, 2021.
From the web
TECHCRUNCH | Wednesday, September 30, 2020
French fintech startup October has raised some fresh capital to invest in small and medium companies on its lending platform. Overall, the company has gathered $300 million (€258 million) from various partners that will be deployed over the next few years.
THE VERGE | Wednesday, September 30, 2020
At a highly polarized time, Brian Armstrong’s controversial blog post is an act of wishful thinking
REUTERS | Wednesday, September 30, 2020
The European Union (EU) is preparing to force big technology companies to share their customer data with smaller rivals, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing an early draft of its landmark ‘Digital Services Act’ regulations.
More from PaymentsSource
Processing transactions quickly enough to serve digital commerce comes with arduous upgrades and complicated choices, but that's only the stick. The carrot is people like faster payments, so there's plenty of opportunities to boost payment revenue.
Embedded finance isn't new, but the influence of online payments and banking create vast new scale, says Kunai's Sandeep Sood.
Amazon's palm-reading payment system is the sort of product that could probably succeed only at this point in time.
Looking to expand beyond its current role in providing compliant digital payment options for legal cannabis businesses, AeroPay has caught the attention of fintech investors.
With customers avoiding cash, abandoning ATM withdrawals and flocking to contactless cards and digital wallets, instant card issuance has never been more important to the payments sector.
It’s about time that we stopped ranking personal data theft on perceived severity. Any breach in which personal data is stolen needs to be treated as highly serious and punishable, says Juniper Networks’ Laurence Pitt.
Social media has spawned thousands of ways for individuals to get paid by touting products in videos, photos and blogs, but the payments flow between companies and these so-called influencers can be rocky.
Since July, Visa has noticed an uptick in unemployment insurance fraud with prepaid cards being used as a key disbursement vehicle. And the best solution may be rooted in technology, not law enforcement.
Digital financial services proponent Mobey Forum has added the Payments Expert Group, joining other domains pertinent to its mission, such as open banking, artificial intelligence, data security and digital identity.
