Lots of global payment news rolling out as PayPal cancels international BNPL fees, Paysafe spends $441 million to acquire SafetyPay, record half-year VC fintech investment of $98 billion, T-Mobile’s disastrous hacking, increased automated fraud, and retail companies reporting the latest quarterly results (Walmart, Target) and much more news you can use.
PayPal cancels BNPL late fees globally
PayPal announced it will no longer charge late fees for missed payments on buy now, pay later products globally. Starting October 1, new customer purchases with Pay in 4 in the United States, Pay in 3 in the United Kingdom, and Pay in 4X in France will no longer be subject to late fees – joining PayPal’s buy now, pay later solutions in Germany and Australia which do not charge late fees for missed payments. 33% of consumers say that no late fees are important in choosing a buy now, pay later payment option. Read more…
Paysafe to acquire SafetyPay for $441 million
Paysafe announced the acquisition of SafetyPay for $441 million in an all-cash transaction. SafetyPay enables e-commerce transactions via a choice of open banking and eCash solutions, operating primarily in Latin America. For Paysafe, this strengthens its strategic foothold in Latin America, building on its recent acquisition agreement with Peruvian payments platform, PagoEfectivo. Read more…
Record-breaking $98 billion in VC investment in fintech in H1 2021
Global fintech funding across M&A, PE, and VC deals soared to a new high in H1’21, according to KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech, a bi-annual report on fintech investment trends. Dry powder cash reserves, increasing diversification in hubs and subsectors, and strong activity across the world contributed to the record start to 2021, with funding rising from US$87.1 billion in H2’20 to US$98 billion in H1’21. Corporates were particularly active in venture deals, participating in close to $21 billion in investment over nearly 600 deals globally. Read more…
T-Mobile says 47M+ current & former customers hit by hack
Preliminary analysis is that approximately 7.8 million current T-Mobile postpaid customer accounts’ information appears to be contained in the stolen files, as well as just over 40 million records of former or prospective customers who had previously applied for credit with T-Mobile. Importantly, no phone numbers, account numbers, PINs, passwords, or financial information were compromised in any of these files of customers or prospective customers. Read more…
FedEx announces peak surcharge increases for the holiday season
FedEx will increase various surcharges for peak season, focused on Express and Ground home delivery services. FedEx will raise its surcharges for packages that require additional handling, are oversized, or are unauthorized for its Ground network from $3.50 to $5.95 and $30 to $62.50 through January 16, 2022. FedEx will also implement per-package surcharges for Ground Economy shipments, starting at $1.50 on November 1 and peaking at $3.00 from November 29 to December 12, among other charges. Read more…
Boku launches mobile payments network M1ST
London-based fintech Boku announced the launch of a new mobile payments network M1ST (Mobile First). The firm claims M1ST is the “largest mobile payments network in the world,” reaching 5.7 billion payment accounts in 90 countries. It says the platform has been designed to make mobile payment acceptance easier for merchants, allowing them to accept more than 330 mobile payment methods, including mobile wallets, direct carrier billing, and real-time payments schemes through a single API integration. Read more…
Report: significant increase in automated fraud in retail e-commerce
The PerimeterX Automated Fraud Benchmark Report analyzed billions of online transactions revealing dramatic shifts in online behavior during 2020, including a new normal of higher volume, frequency, and sophistication of account takeover (ATO), carding, scraping, and checkout attacks. Here are five key takeaways retailers should be aware of as they respond to this new, digitally transformed world. Read more….
Airtel Africa’s mobile money business receives $200m from QIA
Airtel Africa’s mobile money business, Airtel Mobile Commerce (AMC), has secured $200 million of investment from Qatar Holding. Qatar Holding is a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which will grab a minority stake in AMC. Airtel Africa’s mobile money services are branded as a “leading digital mobile financial services platform.” The group has seen a 64.4% year-on-year growth in transaction volume and a 24.6% increase in its customer base to 23.1 million. Read more…
Walmart raises forecast as people return to stores; online sales slow
The pace of Walmart’s online growth slowed dramatically to 6% from 37% in the first quarter. Still, Walmart is on track to reach $75 billion in global e-commerce sales by the end of the year – the retailer reported its biggest ever online sales growth of 97% last year as people used its quick delivery services to order essentials at the height of the pandemic. Sales at Walmart’s US stores open at least a year rose 5.2%, excluding fuel, in the second quarter ended July 31. Read more…
Shoppers flocking back to stores boost Target sales, outlook
US shoppers returning to stores ahead of the back-to-school season helped Target forecast higher same-store sales growth after beating quarterly estimates on Wednesday, even as online demand sharply dropped from pandemic highs. Traffic rose about 13% in the second quarter, in sharp contrast from a year ago when customers mainly relied on its speedy delivery services for their shopping needs. Read more…
Lloyds and Mastercard sign open banking payments partnership
Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking has signed a partnership with Mastercard to launch a new open banking payment solution. The new platform, dubbed “PayFrom Bank” and focused on Lloyds’ business customers, allows consumers to directly make payments on a firm’s website from their bank account. The bank says it provides a cost-effective payment method that supports their working capital by settling funds immediately on the merchant side. Read more…
Recent PaymentsNEXT news you can use:
BNPL heats up with Visa, Apple, PayPal, Discover initiatives
Could US unemployment payment fraud tsunami hit $100 billion-plus?
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