Payments industry news

Global payments news from PaymentsNEXTWe’ve got a brand-new payments industry news roundup to keep you current on the latest payments news around the globe. EU members are required to incorporate PSD2 into their national legislation by January 13, 2018, providing increased consumer protection but signaling some disruption to the payments industry status quo. At a World Economic Forum ASEAN Summit, MasterCard’s General Counsel Tim Murphy said with every one percent increase in adoption of electronic payments, GDP can grow between one-third and one-half percent in developing countries.

Turkish banks collaborated to develop and launch TROY, the country’s first national payments card. The All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) said more than 500 small businesses have outstanding payments from India’s Snapdeal which it wants paid before a potential merger with Flipkart. Samsung Pay finally launched in the UK in its effort to catch up, two years after Apple Pay.

Payza and Boleto partner on Brazil paymentsPayments processor Lock Trust hopes to reengineer the collection of taxes on  e-commerce in the US and EU, including gaming and medical marijuana sales. Global payments processor Payza announced a new service for merchants to  retain payments in Bitcoin rather than have them automatically converted to standard currencies. Starbucks payment systems challenges continue as an outage at numerous US and Canadian stores occurred during a routine technology update.

Pakistan and Alibaba signed an MOU to promote Pakistan business exports and e-commerce. Alibaba will also help businesses with online and off-line training. According to a study of 170,000 US translation projects conducted by One Hour Translation, US companies are making early efforts to sell internationally to the Middle East.

The revised EU directive on payment services in the internal market

http://in-cyprus.com/the-revised-eu-directive-on-payment-services-in-the-internal-market/The Revised EU Directive on Payment Services in the Internal Market, commonly abbreviated as PSD2, was adopted in December 2015. It replaces the original Payment Services Directive of 2007, which was transposed into Cyprus legislation in 2009.

PSD2 sets out a common legal framework for businesses and consumers when making and receiving payments, whether within the European Economic Area, which comprises the 28 European Union Member States plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, or outside the EEA. PSD2 includes provisions to promote innovative mobile and internet payment services, to make it easier and safer to use internet payment services, to improve consumer protection against fraud, abuse and payment problems, and to strengthen consumers’ rights.

PSD2 will provide consumers with greater choice by enabling customers of banks to use third-party payment services providers (TPPS) in order to make payments, with the aim of increasing competition and making payments easier, safer and less expensive. PSD2 will allow TPPS to use banks’ application programming interfaces to enter into the financial market. It obliges member states to ensure that banks do not block or hinder access to payment accounts and that payment services providers have access to credit institutions’ payment accounts services in an objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate manner. Via in-cyprus.com

E-payments to dethrone cash

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/e-payments-dethrone-cashWhile digital payments show great promise to drive economic growth and increase financial inclusion in Southeast Asia, targeted approaches that address local cultural barriers are key to the widespread adoption of e-commerce and e-payments, industry players said during the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Asean summit, which wrapped up on Friday.

“There is a clear correlation between the share of electronic payments and the opportunity for GDP growth,” Tim Murphy, general counsel and chief franchise officer for MasterCard, told The Post on the forum’s sidelines.

“With every 1 percent increase in the share of electronic payments of a country’s personal expenditure, you can see somewhere between a third and a half of a percentage point increase in GDP.” Via phnompenhpost.com

“TROY, Turkey’s Payment Method” Now in Wallets

http://www.fintech.finance/01-news/troy-turkeys-payment-method-now-in-wallets/Banks in Turkey joined forces to create “TROY, Turkey’s Payment Method”. Launched for consumers this week, TROY is the first ever national card payment method of Turkey. BKM CEO Dr. Soner Canko set the target as to have all banks issue cards with the TROY logo by the end of the year. Canko added: “Turkey has always inspired the world with the innovative solutions in payment technologies, now it also leads the world with its own brand.”

Following the completion of necessary infrastructure, TROY – the payment method and brand developed by Turkish banks’ shared platform BKM- is now in wallets and ready for mass distribution. Via fintech.finance

E-Commerce Industry Body Seeks Intervention in Snapdeal-Flipkart Deal

http://www.pioneernews.in/2017/05/16/e-commerce-industry-body-seeks-intervention-in-snapdeal-flipkart-deal/E-sellers’ representative body AIOVA has sought government intervention on the proposed Snapdeal-Flipkart deal, alleging that the city-based online marketplace has not settled dues with many sellers.

In a letter to the corporate affairs ministry and commerce ministry, the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) said over 500 sellers have complained about “unsettled financial matters with the current management of Snapdeal”.

It did not, however, quantify the dues. “We, therefore, request you to hold the winding down/sale/merger of above mentioned company (Snapdeal), subject to approval by 75 percent of sellers doing active business on the platform,” it said in the letter. When contacted, a Snapdeal spokesperson said payments to sellers are made as per pre-defined payment cycles and these continue to be made as per normal practice. Via pioneernews.in

Samsung Pay launches in UK to take on Apple Pay and Google Android Pay

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/16/samsung-pay-mobile-payments-galaxy-mastercardSamsung has finally launched its contactless mobile payment solution in the UK, almost two years after its chief rival Apple Pay rolled out, and a full year after Android Pay.

The new contactless payment system allows users of recent Samsung Galaxy S smartphones to pay for goods and services by tapping their handsets on contactless terminals, and pay for travel on Transport for London’s network of tube, train and bus services.

While Samsung Pay was one of the first mobile payment systems to market in South Korea and other countries, it is late to the game in the UK. Android Pay has been available on Samsung and other manufacturers’ Android smartphones since May 2016 in the UK, and has third-party app support with payments inside on-demand food delivery apps, for example. Via theguardian.com

Lock Trust, Inc. Reinvents Payment Processing

LockTrust Lock Trust announces a proposal to the Trump administration for automated tax collection for all e-commerce sales. Lock Trust would act as a portal to all online transactions with patents pending in both the United States and European Union. Lock Trust disrupts the payment industry with innovative technology.

Lock Trust, Inc. envisions closing the digital gap by making the internet universal, affordable, and safe; and strengthening stringent regulations that are hindering the growth of the digital economy, and nurturing accountable institutions. Clients will benefit from features such as recurring billing, and multi-currency transactions in addition to governmental needs to regulate and collect tax on real-time transactions.

Lock Trusts’ technology can track and monitor transactions such as gaming and Medical Marijuana; we can decline transactions to stop cross border risk and mitigated with real time monitoring of transactions instead of using outdated BIN databases of issued cards to stop these illegal transactions. Via zergwatch.com

Global Payment Platform Payza Goes Full Bitcoin

https://news.bitcoin.com/global-payment-platform-payza-goes-full-bitcoin/Payment technology company Payza helps more than 13 million members in over 190 countries and 26 currencies process online payments. Monday’s announcement adds cryptocurrency exchange services to the mix. The company announced that it has become the first e-wallet provider to treat bitcoin like any fiat currency.

Payza began offering Bitcoin services to account holders in August 2014, starting with the ability to buy bitcoin using funds in their Payza accounts. In October that year, the company announced a service to allow users to sell bitcoin in order to fund their Payza accounts. Customers’ bitcoins were automatically exchanged into USD “at a competitive exchange rate that is updated in real-time,” the company noted.

Additional bitcoin services introduced on Monday include “instant bitcoin-fiat exchanges and the option to hold bitcoin alongside fiat currency within Payza e-wallets.” Payza’s members can now hold bitcoins directly in their Payza e-wallets, bypassing the need to have a separate bitcoin wallet to exchange between bitcoin and fiat currencies. Via news.bitcoin.com

Starbucks Payment Systems Crash After Company Updates Technology

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-16/starbucks-payment-systems-crash-after-company-updates-technologyStarbucks Corp., the world’s biggest coffee-shop chain, suffered crashes at some of its payment systems following a routine technology update. The problems struck cafes in North America, preventing an unspecified number of registers from working, according to company spokesman Reggie Borges.

“We were doing a technology update for our store registers in the U.S. and Canada, and a limited number of those locations remain offline,” he said. “Stores are still open. Customers are still able to get their orders.”

The glitch hit at a time when Starbucks’ payment technology is facing more scrutiny. Its mobile-ordering systems have caused congestion at pickup counters, irking customers and weighing on sales. In some ways, the technology is a victim of its own success. Starbucks’ smartphone app has become increasingly popular: At some of its busiest U.S. locations, the mobile order-and-pay system handles at least 20 percent of transactions. Via bloomberg.com

Pakistan signs MoU with Alibaba to promote exports through e-commerce

http://dunyanews.tv/en/Business/388550-Pakistan-signs-MoU-with-Alibaba-to-promote-exportsPakistan on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Alibaba Group Holdings Limited to promote country’s worldwide exports by Small and Medium Enterprises through e-commerce.

The agreement between Alibaba and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan was signed by Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir and Michael Evans, President of Alibaba Group, and Douglas Feagin, Senior Vice President of Global Business of Ant Financial, on behalf of Alibaba, during the visit of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to the headquarters of the company.

Under the terms of the MoU, Alibaba, Ant Financial, and TDAP agreed to foster growth of worldwide exports of products by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan through e-commerce. Online and offline training programs for the SMEs would also be conducted by Alibaba in a bid to assist SMEs with on-boarding on to Alibaba’s platforms and optimizing exports through e-commerce. Via dunyanews.tv

American e-commerce websites increase penetration into the Arab world

http://www.internationalsupermarketnews.com/news/28177A study conducted by One Hour Translation, the world’s largest online translation agency, has identified a growing demand for e-commerce websites in the United States to reach out to Arab speaking audiences around the world. The study analyzed approximately 170,000 translation projects carried out by One Hour Translation for e-commerce companies in the U.S. The latest data, based on the translation projects completed in the first quarter of 2017, indicates that Arabic as a target language accounts for 12.9% of projects. In the overall tally recorded from 2016, Arabic was the target language for 11.8% of projects. This prevalence of Arabic as a target language is particularly impressive compared to 2015 data, where Arabic did not even break the top 10 of the most in-demand languages.

According to Yaron Kaufman, co-founder and CMO of One Hour Translation, “based on the numbers we’ve collected, the Arab world constitutes an important growth engine for e-commerce companies in the United States and the world. Localization into languages such as Chinese, Spanish, German and French is often the first move toward global expansion made by e-commerce companies based in the United States. The data we’ve mined reveals that many e-commerce websites have already passed this phase of expansion and are now looking for their next growth engines, often finding them in the Arab world and other areas in the developing world.” Via internationalsupermarketnews.com