Paytm and PhonePe's rivalry stokes diversification; XRP loses Voyager Digital

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App stack

Rival Indian payment services Paytm and PhonePe have added more financial services to gain share as India embraces digital services during the pandemic.

Paytm has added instant personal loans that can be accessed at all times, mostly aimed at small-business owners and salaried employees at those businesses with limited credit histories, reports Business Standard. Walmart's PhonePe has concurrently launched term life insurance in partnership with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

Paytm and Walmart have been gradually moving closer to banking over the past two years building off of their mobile payment bases. Both companies are also in competition with Google, which dominates the Indian mobile payment market.

Paytm signage
Bloomberg News

XRP drain

Cryptocurrency exchange Voyager Digital plans to suspend XRP trades, the latest signal of pressure on Ripple following an SEC's suit alleging Ripple's XRP should be regulated as a security.

The suspension is scheduled for Jan. 18, reports Coindesk. Several other exchanges have also dropped XRP in the wake of the suit, which would require heavier regulation for XRP.

Ripple contends XRP is a utility and is distinct from Ripple. Ripple has threatened to leave the U.S. as a result of its dispute with the SEC, which goes back several years.

'Click'

Omnichannel payment firm Qualpay has added a single click integration for merchants to add Google Pay.

Qualpay, which offers a payment gateway, merchant acquiring and processing, hopes to reach merchants and stores that are moving away from cash amid the pandemic.

Contactless mobile payments in particular have accelerated as a way to avoid contact with physical point of sale terminals.

Checkout page

Nets' Finnish payment unit Paytrail has reached an agreement to acquire Checkout Finland, OP Finacial's e-commerce unit. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close int the first half, were not disclosed

Checkout Finland has a client base of about 8,000 merchants and expects to report revenue of about $16 million in 2020, reports Finextra. Paytrail and Checkout Finland have a merchant acquiring partnership, and the move is designed to respond to consolidation of payment processors that is occurring both locally and globally.

Nets made a similar acquisition early in 2020, buying PeP to expand its merchant network in Poland.

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