The U.S. Central Bank will embark on its biggest investment in payments since becoming an ACH operator more than forty years ago. FedNow will be an interbank real-time gross settlement service (RTGS) with integrated clearing. It will support 24/7 real-time transfers of up to $25,000 between any banks in the U.S. and will be available
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Klarna, a payment company offering micro credit for online transactions like PayPal Credit, serves consumers and merchants in Europe and the United States while preparing to launch in Australia and New Zealand. They recently announced an equity funding round raising $460 million, valuing the credit terms alternative payment provider at $5.5 billion. The number of
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Amazon Cash is the latest payment method and feature supported by Amazon and was designed for the under- and unbanked. Consumers can request a barcode that is linked to their Amazon account, and when checking-out at a partner retail store location the customer can add between $15 and $500, using cash, which will become stored
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Ant Financial Services Group, the Alibaba Group affiliate formerly known as Alipay, announced the acquisition of major money remittance company Money Gram for $880 million. While already the online payments leader in China, this acquisition would greatly increase Ant’s international and U.S. presence, with the acquisition expected to close in the second half of the
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Amazon announced in February they would be acquiring Emvantage, an online payment gateway that processes alternative and card-based payments in India, for an undisclosed sum. The privately held startup offers a platform and technology that Amazon will leverage to develop and build out their Indian eCommerce site and payment platform. The acquisition of Emvantage benefits
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Following Visa Checkout and MasterPass, American Express launched their new Amex Express Checkout service in July, but doesn’t want it to be labeled a wallet. Cardholders that login to view or pay statements online can use the same user ID and password to submit payments online via PCs, mobile web browsers and mobile apps, and
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Four members of the House of Representatives formed a bipartisan committee known as the Congressional Payments Technology Caucus (CPTC) announcing the new group on March 19th. The group’s focus is to serve as a key resource of information for any discussions on future legislation around payment-centric topics such as data security, new payment technologies and
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In late March Optimal Payments, the company behind the e-wallet Neteller, reached an agreement to acquire one of their primary competitors, Skrill, for €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) in a reverse-takeover deal. Both companies offer digital wallets and payment services while both are also well known in Europe and in the online gaming and gambling markets.
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Visa launched their e-wallet, V.me, in late 2011, but this was discontinued in July, 2014 in favor of Visa’s new, although quite similar service, Visa Checkout. Since launch Visa has signed on notable merchants to accept Visa Checkout and will soon begin a major advertising push to drive consumer adoption. Visa has discontinued their original
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