Today In Payments: Discounts Kickstart Economy As China Reopens; Big Businesses Tap $124B From Credit Lines

In today’s top payments news, businesses in China are offering steep discounts to encourage people to start spending again, and big businesses in Europe, North America and South America have drawn at least $124.1 billion from credit lines. Also, Brex buys three companies to expand its product offerings.

Discounts Kickstart Economy As China Reopens, Urging People To Spend

Businesses are offering steep discounts to encourage people to spend as China starts to reopen for business following the coronavirus pandemic. Some businesses worry that the lockdown could have after-effects regarding spending and are using discounts as an incentive to get people to leave the house.

Big Businesses Tap $124B From Credit Lines To Stay Afloat

Over 130 businesses across Europe, North America and South America have drawn cash from at least $124.1 billion in credit lines to stay afloat during the coronavirus crisis. This figure is just what has been disclosed — the real number for funds borrowed is probably much greater.

Brex Buys Three Companies

San Francisco-based FinTech startup Brex has acquired Neji, Compose Labs and Landria to help it build out its product offerings for growing businesses.

Fed Looks To Small Banks To Bail Out SMBs

The Federal Reserve is enlisting smaller regional and local banks to help bail out smaller businesses and individuals impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Banking Bots: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Automated bots can wreak havoc on banks, but building an airtight defense can risk impeding a good user experience. The challenge is separating the good bots, such as search aggregators, from bad ones, such as fraud. In this month’s Digital Fraud Tracker, PYMNTS spoke with Raghu Valipireddy, senior vice president and chief information security officer for Axos Bank, about why too many financial institutions (FIs) could be overzealous with their anti-bot firewalls.

Helping FIs Maximize Card Portfolio Returns In Volatile Times

It’s a fact: Financial institutions need to have multiple relationships with consumers across credit, debit and prepaid card portfolios. Ava Kelly, head of global product at i2c, told Karen Webster in a recent podcast that for FIs, getting to “top of wallet” status means using data to examine time-to-market for new products and services, tailor offerings to different segments and personalize interactions.

The $2T Stimulus Phase 3: Everything You Need To Know

The Senate passed a $2 trillion Phase 3 coronavirus relief package early this morning, and the bill is on its way to the House of Representatives for the lower chamber’s vote. The text of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill has as yet not been publicly released, but leaders have already begun outlining the highlights.