In today’s top news in digital-first banking, Mastercard has added a new account-to-account (A2A) product to its Track Business Payment Service, while Recognise has received a restricted banking license from U.K. regulators. Plus, U.S. consumers are paying down payments on credit cards as COVID-19 continues to hamper spending opportunities.
Mastercard Adds Account-to-Account to Business Payments Service
Mastercard has added a new A2A offering to its Track Business Payment Service. “This milestone is another step in the journey away from paper-based frustration, incomplete data and manual reconciliation work — to a fully digitized business payments process,” said James Anderson, executive vice president of global commercial and B2B solutions at Mastercard.
UK’s ‘Recognise’ Gets Its Restricted Banking License
City of London Group subsidiary Recognise has been given a restricted banking license by British regulators. A complete license could reportedly come as soon as Q1 of next year. Recognise was formed in 2018 with a mandate to work with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). City of London Group has spent the last couple of years developing the team to operate the new bank and get its IT backbone ready.
Banks’ Margins Suffer as US Consumers Pay Down Credit Card Debt
American consumers have been paying down credit cards as COVID-19 continues to negatively impact spending opportunities, which has brought about dramatically decreasing bank card loans. The overall amount of card loans at U.S. banks was $755 billion, down $100 billion from pre-COVID.
BOE: Banks Don’t Get Protection from Digital Currencies
A Bank of England (BoE) official said it isn’t his job to protect banks from the future shift to cryptocurrencies. The move could reportedly drastically reshape how customers feel about having physical money kept in financial institutions. Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said, per a published report, that it isn’t the BoE’s job “to protect bank business models.” The BoE is among the global watchdogs considering how to contend with cryptocurrencies.
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