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Western Union has closed its 407 locations across Cuba, a sanctions-driven move that will leave thousands bereft of remittances on an island that depends heavily on them — or force them to use less reliable ways to bring in money

From Cubans receive last of remittances via Western Union Cuba island offices U.S. Western Union | The Independent:

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My good friend Chris Skinner was right to say that many fintechs will follow the likes of Varo, apply for new licenses and become more and more like traditional banks, but that’s because the traditional bank licence is all that is on offer to them. But this is an accident of history that jumbles together money creation, deposit taking and payments. It’s time to disentangle them and to stop, as Jack Ma said (shortly before Chinese regulators halted his IPO), regulating airports the way we regulate train stations.

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The main difference is regulation. When the UK firms like Funding Circle, Zopa, Ratesetter and others were getting off the ground, they create an industry self-regulating body – the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) – and reached out to the regulators to be regulated.

From Commentary: Thanks to China’s move on Ant, FinTech firms may look like banks soon – CNA:

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Using big data gleaned from their hold on online payments, firms such as Ant and Tencent have grabbed market share from commercial banks in the lucrative consumer loans space by providing easier access to credit for younger users, many of whom have little income or credit history.

From China Calls for Deeper Anti-Monopoly Oversight of Fintech:

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Although 40 per cent of Ant’s revenues came from the lending, they only came up with 2 per cent of that amount themselves, passing the rest of the exposure onto banks.

From Commentary: Thanks to China’s move on Ant, FinTech firms may look like banks soon – CNA:

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Equally a problem are the emerging limitations of GDPR and consent, which areentirely unsuited for protecting privacy in the onrushing “smart” world in which you are at the mercy of others’ Internet of Things. The new masses of data that our cities and infrastructure will generate will need a new approach.

From net.wars: Data protection in review.

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ECB board member Fabio Panetta, speaking today at a Bundesbank-convened future of payments conference

. “As private money goes digital, sovereign money also needs to be reinvented.

From ECB warns the future of money is at stake as Facebook preps January crypto launch.

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Investing in cryptocurrencies is like playing roulette, some experts say, because no-one really understands what’s happening.

From Analysis: Feeling lucky? Bitcoiners who missed rally express relief and regret | Reuters.

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Western Union has closed its 407 locations across Cuba, a sanctions-driven move that will leave thousands bereft of remittances on an island that depends heavily on them — or force them to use less reliable ways to bring in money

From Cubans receive last of remittances via Western Union Cuba island offices U.S. Western Union | The Independent:

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Invesre business case for Digital identity

 

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A rash of fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims filed under the names of jail and prison inmates, including more than 100 on death row, has bilked California out of hundreds of millions of dollars, a law enforcement task force said Tuesday.

From Unemployment Scam Using Inmates’ Names Costs California Hundreds of Millions – The New York Times.

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And officials admit they had confirmed thousands of people’s identities to the gangs that had stolen them – and passed on their National Insurance numbers.

From Benefit scams worth £1bn foiled during lockdown – BBC News:

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Banks, who retain their customer relationships by having a card in people’s wallets as well as serving the clients in their mobile banking app will lose this relationship in favour of players like Google (Pay) who will provide consumers with the money management, payment and commerce app that does it all. The customer relationship between bank and consumer will be lost while the account will simply act as the rails utilised by overlaying players. For the card networks and the banks involved in the acquiring side (enabling payment acceptance for merchants) the relationship will be challenged and eventually replaced with powerful commerce tools that have the payment part simply built in.

From The Payments King Is Dead. Long Live The New King.:

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