Friday September 13, 2019 –
Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.
First Data, Visa, Samsung come together to launch contactless payment solution SoftPOS
First Data (now part of Fiserv), Visa, and Samsung are preparing to pilot SoftPOS in Poland that allows mobile phones to accept contactless payments without the need for any additional hardware or equipment.
U.S. Bank Acquires talech, Gains Digital Capabilities as It Transforms Its Business for the Future
U.S. Bank has acquired talech, a software company that provides an integrated POS system to restaurants, retailers, and professional services companies.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-bank-acquires-talech-gains-193000693.html
JP Morgan takes on Stripe and Square with faster payments for merchants
Chase is rolling out same-day settlement deposits to merchants using its WePay platform and who also have bank accounts with Chase.
Stripe to Offer a Corporate Card, Joining Brex and Others
Stripe is launching a corporate charge card targeted at startups and small businesses that have an account with Stripe and/or use its payments platform.
Deutsche Bank dives into ‘Blue Water Fintech Space’
Deutsche Bank has launched its first innovation hub ‘Blue Water Fintech Space’ in China to accelerate the bank’s digital and innovative offering to clients in China and facilitate partnerships with the fintech community.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/34374/deutsche-bank-dives-into-blue-water-fintech-space
Mastercard partners with R3 to develop blockchain enabled cross-border payments offering
Mastercard is partnering with R3 to develop a new blockchain-enabled cross-border payments solution that will initially focus on connecting global faster payments infrastructures, schemes, and banks supported by a clearing and settlement network operated by Mastercard.
Grab in talks to merge Indonesian payment firms to overtake Gojek
Grab is in discussions to merge OVO, an Indonesian digital payments firm in which it owns shares, with DANA an Ant Financial-backed local payments company to rapidly build market share in the Indonesian payments sector.
Max Levchin’s Affirm seeks capital amid surge in fintech funding
POS installment lender Affirm is reportedly raising $1.5 billion in debt and equity to continue its business and market expansion; valuation is estimated at $3 billion.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/12/affirm-fintech-explosion/
Australia sets up Senate Inquiry into fintech competitiveness
Australia is to set up a Senate Select Committee Inquiry into the competitive and regulatory barriers hampering the development and growth of the country’s fintech sector.
France, Germany blast Facebook’s Libra, back public cryptocurrency
France and Germany have criticized Facebook’s Libra suggesting that it posed risks to the financial sector and instead are backing a public digital currency under development by the European Central Bank.
