PAUL UK Teams With Yoyo For Mobile App; Khalti Earns Payment Service Provider License

Welcome to The Axis, your late look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes Khalti receiving a “payment service provider” license in Nepal. The PAUL UK bakery chain has teamed up with Yoyo for a mobile payments app in Europe, Repay Holdings, LLC, along with parent company Hawk Parent Holdings, is expanding into Canada and WorldRemit is working with Paga for remittances to users in Nigeria.

Khalti has earned a license as a “payment service provider” via the Payment and Settlement Bylaw for Wallet Services of Nepal Rastra Bank, The Kathmandu Post reported. The company, which was started in 2017, can now provide mobile financial services and a domestic money transfer facility in Nepal. It is reportedly looking to grow its payment offerings in remote and rural parts of the country while adding various verticals. Overall, Khalti offers a host of services from newspaper subscriptions to payments at eCommerce sites and movie ticketing, among other offerings. As it stands, statistics from the central bank indicate that more than 6 million people tap into mobile banking in Nepal.

In Europe, the PAUL UK bakery chain has teamed up with Yoyo to create a new app for mobile payments that will let diners accumulate rewards points, MobileMarketing magazine reported. The new app can be downloaded starting May 20. To make a payment, diners will have to connect their debit/credit card to the app. That app makes a quick-response (QR) code, which a staff member scans at the cash register. PAUL Managing Director and Chairman Maxime Holder said, according to the report, “Launching a mobile payment and loyalty app is an instrumental tool for building on overall customer experience across our 37 UK shops.”

In North American payment news, vertically-integrated payment solution provider Repay Holdings, LLC, along with parent Hawk Parent Holdings, LLC — together known as REPAY — is growing its integrated payment services into Canada, the company said in an announcement. Through the company, merchants can take payments via online payment portals that are consumer-facing along with white-labeled mobile apps, IVR/phone pay and SMS/text pay. “We combine reliable and secure payment processing with an integrated technology platform to bring speed and convenience to the debt repayment process.” REPAY CEO John Morris said in the announcement. “We believe we have an attractive opportunity to deliver new and exciting payment technology that brings innovation to the consumer and auto finance markets in Canada.”

And WorldRemit is working with Paga, a Nigerian mobile money company, to help support international money transfers, according to reports. It was reported that the country’s diaspora lives in over 50 countries ranging from the U.S. to Australia. And those consumers can now use the company’s website or app to send remittances to more than 11 million users of Paga in Nigeria. WorldRemit said, according to reports, “The new partnership will considerably grow WorldRemit’s footprint in Nigeria, expanding the company’s service offering from bank transfer and airtime top-up to include mobile money.”