In today’s top news, PayPal is planning a cross-border digital wallet in China, and Visa and TripActions have partnered on digital travel expense management. Plus, Mastercard is acquiring identity verification firm Ekata.
PayPal Plans Cross-Border Payments Wallet In China
PayPal is planning to launch a digital wallet in China that will focus on cross-border payments, since the company’s “value” is primarily overseas, according to Hannah Qiu, the China CEO for PayPal.
Visa, TripActions Team On Spend Management
Travel and entertainment platform TripActions is collaborating with Visa to support the expansion of “digital-first payment solutions for business travel.” The partnership will support expense management for TripActions’ large business clients throughout the U.S., and will also offer new tools to process payments.
Mastercard To Buy Identity Verification Firm Ekata For $850 Million
Mastercard will acquire identity verification firm Ekata for $850 million to deliver a more comprehensive identity service that can power real-time decision-making needs, from new account openings to helping “merchants assess potential fraud before a payment transaction is authorized.”
UK Taskforce To Examine Design, Launch Of Digital Pound
The Bank of England is setting up a task force focused on exploring the design and launch of a digital version of the pound. The BoE wants to promote London as a continuing center for financial innovation against a backdrop where a slew of central banks, globally, are examining the issuance of digital fiat – sooner rather than later.
People’s United’s Fuels Digital Push With Back-End Automation
Same game, different playing field: Fighting fraud without creating undue friction is a battle that insurance providers must address, too. In the Monetizing Digital Intent Tracker, Stothard Deal, vice president of insurance solutions at TransUnion, explains how behavioral analytics gives insurers deeper insights into the frictions that legitimate customers face, and flags activities when fraud is in play.
Behavioral Analytics Helps Insurance Providers Fight Fraud And Friction
More than 161 million U.S. consumers are expected to use digital channels for banking by the end of 2021, and financial institutions are revamping their systems to keep pace with this demand. In this month’s Digital-First Banking Tracker, Ravi Vakacherla, chief transformation officer at People’s United Bank, explains how robotic process automation can help FIs prepare.
Bitcoin Sees Flash Crashes And Flashing Signals
Bitcoin prices plummeted roughly 20 percent across the weekend – where they were near all-time highs not all that long ago. The volatility (and mystery behind the flash crash) speaks volumes to the “growing pains” confronting bitcoin and its brethren.
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