Time for a fresh, Friday fintech news recap and there’s lots to report starting with Barclays exploring bitcoin with UK regulators and fintech companies. While the EU innovates, fintechs have a one-time opportunity to displace banks with the Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which must be implemented by early 2018.
Payment app Venmo is testing its own debit card to enable purchases in bricks-and-mortar stores. The ATM is 50 years old and research shows only 42% of consumers in the UK use ATMs compared with Germany (48%), Spain (47%) and France (40%). Alipay launched in South Africa to serve Chinese tourists and continue its global expansion.
Backed by seven regional banks, Singapore mobile phone users will soon be able to transfer funds with their phone number using the PayNow app. Swedish payments 
app iZettle just added mobile money transfers in Norway, Denmark and the UK. Swiss Rail will test a mobile app that lets you pay automatically on arrival.
Boston-based Circle and Flywire are both having success in international payments and money transfers. BostInno profiled 14 Boston fintech startups to watch including: Toast, Quilt, Kensho and Circle.
Barclays spoke to regulators about bringing bitcoin ‘into play’
Barclays has been in discussions with regulators and financial technology – or fintech – firms about bringing cryptocurrencies like bitcoin “into play”, the bank’s U.K. chief executive told CNBC on Monday.
Ashok Vaswani revealed that the banking giant has met with Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) watchdog to talk about how to make bitcoin safe in response to a question about whether Barclays could support bitcoin.
“We have been talking to a couple of fintechs and have actually gone with the fintechs to the FCA to talk about how we could bring, the equivalent of bitcoin, not necessarily bitcoin, but cryptocurrencies into play,” Vaswani told CNBC at the Money 20/20 fintech conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Vaswani did not expand on to what extent Barclays could be involved with bitcoin. Barclays has recently been involved in the digital currency space. Last year the bank partnered with social payments app Circle. The start-up, which received a license from the FCA last year, allows users to send money to each other in messages, and supports bitcoin. Barclays provided Circle with an account to store sterling, as well as the payments network to transfer money. Via cnbc.com
FinTech Gold Rush: PSD2 Will Be Once in Lifetime Opportunity to Displace Banks
Europe is seeking to drive innovation in financial services, while at the same time it is strongly committed to safeguarding the safety of the financial market infrastructure. The EU is actively looking to embrace the digital transformation occurring in our society and deliver efficient and meaningful services to participants in its economy.
In the context of these developments, there is a certain demand for instant payment solutions by end users. The financial industry is expected to deliver these to support innovation and stay relevant in the global race taking place in this field.
The revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which must be implemented by early 2018, is one of these frameworks. It aims to increase pan-European competition and participation in the payments industry, including by non-banks. Via cointelegraph.com
Venmo is testing its own physical debit card
Venmo has been testing its own version of a physical debit card that would allow people who use its app to make purchases in brick-and-mortar stores using money stored in their Venmo account, according to multiple sources.
The Venmo feeds of some employees seem to confirm public testing of these cards, showing Venmo purchases being made at fast-food chains like Chipotle and Taco Bell, as well as small mom-and-pop shops.
Up to now, the Venmo app has served as a way for people to transfer money to other Venmo users or to pay for items in digital apps that have partnered with the company. Via recode.net
Happy Birthday ATM: What’s Next for Fintech After 50 Years of the Cash Machine
For the 50th anniversary of the first ATM, YouGov has conducted a global poll of 8000 consumers on behalf of ACI Worldwide to survey the usage of automated teller machines. As the world slowly starts to transform into a cashless society, it is interesting to see how trends have changed over the past 50 years and whether it’s time for a payments makeover.
The survey found that only 42% of British consumers use ATMs just as much as they always have, while 48% in Germany, 47% in Spain and 40% in France believe the same, perhaps because of the widespread availability of alternative digital payments. However, according to the research, consumers are still have high hopes for the ATM but expect a more innovative and user-friendly service. 29% of UK consumers, 31% of French, 38% of Spanish and 43% of Italian would prefer this as well as a more secure way of payment authentication.
Alibaba’s payments app Alipay expands into South Africa, targeting Chinese tourists
Alibaba’s payments app Alipay unveiled the latest step in its global expansion strategy Monday. The platform is to launch in South Africa with the intention of servicing Chinese tourists.
Rita Liu, head of Alipay EMEA, told CNBC’s Street Signs that the firm would work with tour bus operator City Sightseeing, facilitated by its partner ACI Worldwide and local company Peach Payments “to enable Chinese tourists to purchase tourists more conveniently from City Sightseeing buses. We see big potential in Africa,” Liu added, saying that Alipay was actively looking for further areas of expansion across the world “where we see a Chinese footprint.”
Alipay has had its eyes on markets further afield than the Middle Kingdom for a while, aggressively acquiring and investing overseas. Alibaba’s affiliate Ant Financial, behind the Alipay app, merged with Singapore-based payments platform helloPay in April this year and made a $1.2 billion bid for U.S. firm Moneygram that same month. Earlier in March, the Chinese behemoth invested $177 million in Paytm, India’s biggest mobile commerce platform. Via cnbc.com
New way to pay up in Singapore
SINGAPORE — Consumers will soon be able to transfer funds directly to one another using their mobile phone number, with the PayNow service.
Seven banks — Citibank Singapore, DBS Bank/POSB, HSBC, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and United Overseas Bank — will offer this scheme from July 10, according to a statement by the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Tuesday (June 27).
The new digital fund transfer system will enable customers of any of the seven participating banks to send and receive money instantly using their mobile phone number or NRIC/FIN. This removes the need for customers to know the fund recipient’s bank account details to transfer funds. Via todayonline.com
iZettle’s CEO just announced a new way to pay in Norway and Denmark
iZettle, Europe’s leading provider of app-connected credit and debit card payments, will expand to mobile money transfers in Norway, Denmark and the U.K.
This means merchants using iZettle for card payments can start accepting Vipps in Norway, Mobile Pay in Denmark and Pay By Bank in the U.K.
“We need to make sure that companies don’t lose sales, and we do that by satisfying their customers’ specific payment needs. And that means local mobile payments in many countries,” de Geer said at Money 20/20, an ongoing fintech conference in Copenhagen, reported Di Digital.
iZettle spearheads the solution in its home country, Sweden, where local payment app Swish will be accepted among merchants by the end of June. Via nordic.businessinsider.com
Swiss Rail to launch app that lets you pay when you arrive
Swiss Rail plans to test a new smartphone app that will charge you when you arrive. The app will automatically search for the cheapest fare once the journey has ended, promising users the lowest possible fare. The new app, which will be added to Mobile Preview, will be tested in 2018.
Two companies, Lezzgo and Fairtiq, already offer a similar service. Their apps track your phone and require you to check in and check out when you reach your final destination. If you switch off the device’s location services the apps deactivate. This means you’ll be travelling without a valid ticket. And, if your phone runs out of juice you’ll also end up ticketless, although this is unlikely to happen given most Swiss trains have charging points.
Both apps currently have limited coverage. Lezzgo works in parts of central and western Switzerland. Fairtiq works in parts of central and eastern Switzerland – neither work in Geneva, Basel or Zurich. Via lenews.ch
Circle & Flywire Make International Payments Easier & Cheaper
After Brightcove co-founder Jeremy Allaire stepped down as CEO in early 2013, he got together with Sean Neville, who previously worked with Allaire as a senior software architect, and began talking about money. More specifically, they were exploring a question: Can you make money work like Facebook and other popular Internet services?
In recalling the origin of Circle, a Boston fintech startup the two started in 2013, Neville said he and Allaire were ultimately exploring ways to make the act of transferring cash to friends and family like sending a tweet or messaging a friend — fast, easy and free, with the ability to do so across the world, from any country.
Using blockchain technology to power Circle’s backend, the company’s platform, which includes apps for iPhone and Android, reached over $1 billion in transactions last year while its global customer base has grown 300 percent in the past 12 months. Recently, the company announced that customers in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe can now transfer money with no fees or markup on foreign exchange rates.
But Circle isn’t the only Boston startup that’s shaking up the way money changes hands. While Circle focuses on peer-to-peer money transfer, an MIT-born startup called Flywire aims to make it easier and cheaper to transfer large dollar amounts across country borders to businesses, hospitals and academic institutions. Via bostinno.streetwise.co
14 Boston Fintech Startups to Watch: Toast, Quilt, Kensho, Circle
There are a number of things feeding into Boston’s fintech scene, including large financial institutions such as Fidelity Investments, State Street and MassMutual, as well as a few big exits, including Samsung’s $250 million acquisition of LoopPay and PayPal’s $280 million purchase of Paydiant. There are also emerging technologies fueling Boston fintech, like machine learning and blockchain.
While many Boston fintech startups are focused on the enterprise side, there are a number of companies that are consumer-oriented, including Circle, Insurify, Quilt and RateGravity.
From international payments and easier ways to buy insurance to student loan payments as an employee benefit, these 14 fintech startups in Boston have been making some big moves recently. Via bostinno.streetwise.co
July Long Weekend Publishing Schedule
Because of the Canadian and US July long weekend holidays, PaymentsNEXT will be enjoying a high level meeting with our barbecue on Monday, July 3rd. We’ll be back on Wednesday, July 5th with more payments industry news you can use. Enjoy your long weekend and celebrations with family and friends until then.
LET’S CONNECT