Friday December 20, 2019 –
Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.
Citi and PayPal expand partnership to institutional payments
Citi and PayPal have expanded their partnership to enable Citi’s institutional clients to make payments into customers’ PayPal digital wallets; under the extended arrangement, Citi’s clients will be able to pay directly into PayPal digital wallets via Citi’s WorldLink cross-border payments platform.
Deluxe Adds Lockbox Processing Assets and Establishes Reseller Agreement With Fiserv to Solidify Treasury Management Market Position
Deluxe has acquired the Remittance Solutions assets of Fiserv (which include lockbox processing), complementing its Deluxe Treasury Management portfolio of solutions; under the terms of the agreement Fiserv will become a reseller of Deluxe lockbox processing.
State Street and Gemini Launch Digital Asset Pilot
State Street has announced a new digital asset pilot in collaboration with Gemini Trust Company, LLC , a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian; the pilot builds on ongoing research and development in the digital asset space to combine Gemini Custody™ with State Street’s back office reporting.
McDonald’s Follows eBay in Mobile-Payments Tech
Adyen has won a deal to handle McDonald’s mobile app payments starting with the UK in early 2020; according to McDonald’s, they will subsequently roll out Adyen’s payments platform to several international markets.
Goldman Sachs leads $15M investment in Indian fintech startup ZestMoney
ZestMoney, an Indian POS lender has raised $15 million from Goldman Sachs and existing investors Naspers Fintech, Quona Capital and Omidyar Network as part of an extended Series B round; ZestMoney works with 3,000 merchants and currently has 6 million customers.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/zestmoney-goldman-sachs/
Ripple raises $200 million to improve global payments
Ripple has raised $200 million in a Series C funding round lead by Tetragon with participation from SBI Holdings and Route 66 Ventures; according to Fortune the company is now valued at $10 billion.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/20/ripple-raises-200-million-to-improve-global-payments/
Euronet Worldwide and Visa Partner Together to Fuel Fintech Growth in Asia Pacific, the World’s Fastest Growing Digital Payments Landscape
Euronet and Visa are collaborating to support the growth and development of fintech companies in the Asia Pacific region; specifically, Euronet will be using its Digital Integrated Payment Cloud (DIPC) and its full stack APIs to enable fintech companies to manage their card issuing programs.
Ant Financial takes stake in Vietnam’s eMonkey
Ant Financial has reportedly taken a sizeable stake in Vietnam’s e-wallet eMonkey to accelerate its entry into Vietnam; eMoney was created by a small Vietnamese fintech firm M-Pay Trade and holds partnerships with major banks in the country.
Federal Reserve to host ‘fintech innovation office hours’
The Fed will be hosting ‘fintech innovation office hours’ throughout 2020 to meet with banks and startups to discuss fintech developments and answer questions; the sessions will be co-hosted with local Reserve Banks, with the first session at the Atlanta Fed in February.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/34985/federal-reserve-to-host-fintech-innovation-office-hours
Intesa Sanpaolo to offload merchant acquiring business to Nexi
Intesa Sanpaolo is to sell its merchant acquiring business to the local Italian payments processor Nexi for €1,000; under terms of the deal, Intesa will take a 9.9% stake in Nexi and continue to support sales activities related to new merchant acquisition.
Garanti BBVA introduces QR codes for consumer and corporate transactions
Garanti BBVA is introducing a QR code feature for its business and retail customers allowing for cardless deposits, withdrawals, and funds transfers.
Worldpay enters Japan with JCB
FIS has announced an agreement with JCB whereby Worldpay will provide JCB card acceptance to e-commerce merchants in Japan.
https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/81023/worldpay-enters-japan-with-jcb
