Snippings

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“One interesting finding from the study is that while Issuers have lost revenue of EUR2,950 million per year. Acquirers, instead, have gained revenue of EUR1,200 million coming from lower interchange fees. Not surprisingly this is the part of the value chain that Apple targets through their newly acquired POS capabilities.”

Much was made of the threat from the Mobeewave buyout to companies like Square and iZettle, which sell card readers to merchants for processing contactless payments. Hernæs points out that the real value of Square lies in its unique positioning in the midst of its customer’s income stream, and the revenue-generating opportunities provided by offering small business loans via Square Cash.

Square recently received assent from federal and state regulators to open a bank in Utah, which means that it will soon be able to originate commercial loans to merchants that process card transactions through its payments system.

From What does Apple’s acquisition of Mobeewave mean for banks?:

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The RBI is now encouraging banks and non-banks players to develop offline payment technology, on a pilot basis, for cards, wallets and mobile devices, stressing that they will need built-in safety measures.

RBI plans offline digital payments pilot, sets up innovation hub:

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Never-ending data breaches continue to expose usernames, passwords, payment information, health records, and other personal information on the dark web, enabling fraudsters to log into user accounts and commit account takeover (ATO) fraud. Banks have been facing a concerning rise in ATO attacks against customers, with losses due to such schemes rising 72% from 2018 to 2019.

Traditional authentication methods such as SMS-based 2FA and knowledge-based authentication can no longer be trusted to protect online accounts since passwords and security questions can be easily bypassed or guessed with readily available information.

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for digital transformation

From Five Identity Verification and Authentication Trends to Follow:

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Thus, the question of whether
a CBDC is typically held in and used via special-purpose wallets purpose-built to
the CBDC, or generic wallets designed to manage a broader class of digital assets,
presents important issues and questions to be considered carefully

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The business value of the payments industry increasingly now also relies on the use of data that can be extracted at the front end of the digital payment value chain. The fees extracted from a payment play a lesser role, also because they have been capped in the European Union because of competition abuses

From The evolving role of central bank money in payments – Central Banking:

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The report notes the need of a balance between privileges offered to commercial banks and obligations imposed on them to preserve the integrity of the currency – in the words of the report, “a symbiotic relationship exists by which, on the one side, commercial banks help to extend the use of the currency while not putting its stability at risk, and, on the other side, the central bank provides them with privileged access to its credit and, where appropriate, to some form of safety net”.

From The evolving role of central bank money in payments – Central Banking:

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Zhou Xiaochuan, the former PBoC governor, had allowed Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay “to grow into monsters”.

“They got special love from the PBoC,” the person said. “All the banks and the CBRC (China Banking Regulatory Commission) complained. Now it is incredibly difficult to rein them in.”

From China’s new digital currency takes aim at Alibaba and Tencent | Financial Times:

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There appears to be a vibrant system of gift card remittance (many gift cards are purchased by expat Nigerians in the U.S., who immediately send pictures of the cards, plus receipts back to relatives who then trade for bitcoin). Indeed, gift cards are even described as a kind of “stablecoin” to the Paxful ecosystem;

From Where FATF Crypto Compliance Gets Interesting: Africa – CoinDesk:

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Mobile phone camera technology has developed over the years to allow consumers to get a clearer barcode scan from a safe distance, so consumers can now stand several feet away from a store shelf, a food vendor or street merchant, and complete a purchase without the need to exchange cash or directly touch a surface.

From QR codes get a new life as COVID-19 recovery spurs contactless payments | Mobile Payments Today:

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“It is about the role of a digital currency for domestic retail use,” said a senior executive at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority familiar with the thinking at the PBoC.

“They want a more level playing field for the banks. Retail payments are so dominated by Alibaba and Tencent while banks are less active in electronic payments.”

From China’s new digital currency takes aim at Alibaba and Tencent | Financial Times:

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