"Overseas Weekly" is an important information column of financial technology and mobile payment to go to sea created by mobile payment network, focusing on enterprises going to sea, overseas market dynamics, overseas regulatory policies, etc., in a simple way, to improve the efficiency of readers' access to information.
24 departments issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" Service Trade Development Plan, and many measures were taken to encourage cross-border payments
According to the news of the Ministry of Commerce on October 19, the Ministry of Commerce and 24 other departments recently issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" Service Trade Development Plan, which proposes that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the requirements related to cross-border payment include:
Steadily develop trade in financial services. Support domestic financial institutions to establish and improve overseas branches and service networks, and increase support for enterprises to explore the international market. Financial institutions are encouraged to innovate financial products and services that are suitable for the development characteristics of trade in services, and broaden the scope of collateral for loans of asset-light service trade enterprises. Promote the upgrading and improvement of the functions of the RMB cross-border payment system (CIPS) and promote the facilitation of cross-border payment. Under the premise of legal compliance and controllable risks, the use of new information technology to improve the level of financial services, enhance the competitiveness of China's financial services in the international market.
Improve the level of facilitation for overseas tourists in pre-departure booking, financial settlement, mobile payment, network services, document use, language exchange, etc.
Nielsen: The global POS and acquiring market at a glance in 2020 will change hands again in Asia Pacific
Recently, Nielsen released the 2020 Global POS and Acquiring Market Report, which shows that global POS shipments reached 135 million in 2020, up 7.9% from 2019.
Judging from the shipments of POS manufacturers in several major regions in 2019, the Rubik's Cube Electronics in the Asia-Pacific region replaced last year's Tianyu Information to become the first in the market, with shipments reaching 11.5 million units, of which 1 million units were mPOS and 500,000 units were two-dimensional codes and swipe terminals. In 2020, Rubik's Cube Electronics shipments in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 3.9 million units compared with 2019, an increase of 51.3%.
SPDB upgrades cross-border financial service system and releases "iPUhui"
On October 13, SPDB released the "i Puhui" cross-border financial service system, playing the "3+3+N" comprehensive cross-border financial service card, that is, 3 basic services + 3 characteristic solutions + N industry solutions, to meet the financial needs of foreign trade and foreign-funded enterprises in the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade with digital services. This is another comprehensive integration and upgrade in this field after the bank launched a new cross-border e-commerce global collection service in 2020.
Pan Weidong, President of SPDB, said that upgrading cross-border financial services is a due move for SPDB to support foreign trade and serve the real economy, and is also the basis for the development of the strategy of serving Chinese enterprises to go global and internationalize. SPDB should not only become a key innovation place in the service model of key areas, but also a deep cultivator of the industrial chain and supply chain.
Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Launches CIPS "New Equipment"
On October 15, under the guidance of the Cross-border RMB Business Department of the Shanghai Headquarters of the People's Bank of China, with the support of cross-border clearing companies and interbank cooperation institutions, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank successfully launched the CIPS standard transceiver, becoming the first inter-participating bank in Shanghai to successfully use the standard transceiver to handle business. This marks a new upgrade of the bank's cross-border RMB payment and settlement service capabilities, and a new step in integrating cross-border RMB receipt and payment channels and improving the efficiency of cross-border payment and settlement.
The U.S. has launched an investigation into payment data apps PayPal tech giants such as Amazon
According to foreign media reports, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will issue notices to relevant companies such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal and Square, requiring them to submit information about the company's payment system data application plan, related to data acquisition and profitability, and whether it includes restricted access and other consumer protection measures.
The CFPB plans to send two of the companies a 55-page document asking them to provide information on how consumer financial data is collected, used and marketed, people familiar with the matter said. The person pointed out that in recent years, these large technology companies have begun to provide digital payment services, which brings convenience to consumers, but also may bring new risks in terms of market fairness, transparency and competition. The CFPB authorities hope to use this survey to help monitor the risks faced by consumers and develop research results and policies that are in the public interest.
Fintech giant Stripe will acquire fintech company Recko
San Francisco-based fintech giant Stripe will acquire India-based payment reconciliation company Recko, marking the global fintech giant's first acquisition in the market.
The acquisition of Recko would require meeting customary closing conditions, which could strengthen Stripe's presence in India. The company will automate Recko's payment reconciliations to potentially try to offer services outside of its primary payments business. As part of the deal, Recko's team will join Stripe's remote engineering center to help build and scale Stripe's products globally. Existing Recko users will be able to use the company's products directly.
Indonesia suspended the issuance of licenses to lending platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises and individual consumers
Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered on Oct. 15 to stop licensing fintech companies engaged in loans to small businesses and individual consumers. The article pointed out that although the current market share of legal online loans in Indonesia is considerable, there are still some illegal acts that induce users to make illegal high-interest loans, and the Indonesian government plans to crack down on this.
According to statistics, a total of 107 fintech lending companies have been registered with the Indonesian Financial Services Authority. So far, Indonesian authorities have shut down a total of 1,800 illegal fintech lenders this year.
Germany introduces the most stringent Anti-Money Laundering Act in History
To date, Among the developed countries, Germany is one of the few countries where cash is still heavily used and digital payment methods lag behind. Although Germany has advocated for more hygienic contactless transactions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Bundesbank, 79% of transactions in Germany are still settled in cash. The large number of cash transactions exposed more and more illegal transactions, and Germany became one of the countries with the most serious money laundering and tax evasion.
Recently, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) has made new provisions on the Anti-Money Laundering Act, requiring banks to check the source of funds for cash deposits exceeding 10,000 euros, and depositors are also required to provide meaningful documents to prove the source of funds. If the bank cannot determine the source of funds, it may not accept the deposit, which also applies in the case of installment deposits totaling more than 10,000 euros. All cash deposits of less than €10,000 also do not mean that they are exempt from auditing, which banks can verify on the basis of risk assessment.
Facebook digital currency wallet Novi has launched a small pilot
David Marcus, head of Facebook Finance,Ltd., which oversees all of the company's payment programs, tweeted that Facebook has started small pilots of the Novi digital wallet in the U.S. and Guatemala to test the wallet's core functionality and operational capabilities in areas such as customer service and compliance for users to send and receive funds instantly, securely, and for free. Facebook hopes this will showcase a new stablecoin payment use case.
Specifically, the Novi pilot uses the stablecoin Pax Dollar (USDP) to send money through partnerships with Paxos and Coinbase. However, David Marcus also said that Facebook's support for Diem has not changed and intends to launch Novi with Diem after it is approved by regulators and launched. Regarding the business model, David Marcus said that Novi provides free payment services for individual users, but once we have a solid customer base, we will provide cheaper payment services to merchants and profit from it.
More than 100 banks around the world have signed up for SWIFT Go
SWIFT recently announced that since its launch in July 2021, SWIFT Go has been rapidly recognized worldwide, with more than 100 banks now signing up to the service. This also indicates a strong demand for small businesses and retail customers to achieve fast, predictable, highly secure and competitive small cross-border payment services through bank accounts. 10 banks around the world have launched SWIFT Go, and Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, and China Minsheng Bank have also launched the service recently. These 10 banks make more than 41 million small cross-border payments each year.
SWIFT Go is an important part of SWIFT's strategy to enable real-time, frictionless trading with 11,000 institutional users and 4 billion accounts in more than 200 countries. SWIFT also has the potential to achieve higher levels of financial inclusion to support more SMEs and individuals in emerging economies to send remittances across borders.
All metro stations in Moscow started the swipe payment service
According to the Russian "Izvestia" newspaper, all 240 stations on 14 subway lines in Moscow have started the face brush payment service. Citizens only need to register in the mobile phone app "Moscow Metro" and bind the subway card and bank card. In addition, users need to upload their own photos in the app to use as biometric keys.
The Moscow municipal government said that the face brush payment technology is very reliable, passengers can not rely on other people's photos to pass through the subway gate, all uploaded personal information can be safely stored. The black circle marked at the entrance of the subway station is the place where passengers "brush their faces". The face-brushing payment method can also automatically adjust the deduction standard according to the number of rides of the passenger. In addition, the Moscow Metro still retains the traditional method of payment. The city's deputy mayor, Riksutov, in charge of traffic issues, said Moscow was the first city in the world to apply facial recognition payment technology on such a large scale.
KakaoPay raised $1.3 billion in IPO
According to people familiar with the matter, Kakao Pay, South Korea's largest electronic payment service, raised 1.53 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) from its first public offering (IPO) after the issue price was set at the high end of the market range. According to people familiar with the matter, Kakao Pay was issued at a price of 90,000 won per share. The company issued 17 million shares, setting the issue price per share in the range of 60,000 to 90,000 won, compared with 96,000 won at the top of the price range.
The startup, backed by Jack Ma's Ant Group, raised $2.3 billion in an IPO three months ago by connected KakaoBank, the second largest in the South Korean market this year. Last quarter's Seoul Stock Exchange IPO proceeds surpassed Hong Kong's record for the first time since 2017, showing that South Korea's listing boom is exploding.
PayPal will spend $39 billion to acquire the e-commerce platform Pinterest
Payment services company PayPal has offered to buy social media company Pinterest for $45 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. If the deal goes well, it would be the biggest acquisition in the social media industry to date, even more than Microsoft bought the recruitment platform for $26.2 billion in 2016 LinkedIn.
The acquisition also means that financial technology and social media will cooperate more in the e-commerce space. More and more consumers are now leaning towards buying goods seen on social media. They often follow in the footsteps of so-called influencers on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. The acquisition of Pinterest will enable PayPal to gain more revenue from this wave of e-commerce growth and diversify their revenue through advertising.
Cross-border transfer platform MFS Africa acquires digital payments company Baxi
MFS Africa, Africa's largest cross-border cross-wallet transfer center, has officially announced the acquisition of Nigerian payments company Baxi. With this acquisition, MFS Africa extends its pan-African mobile payment network to Nigeria, helping to develop local cross-border payment businesses. In the future, relying on MFS Africa's global mobile payment network, Baxi's terminals will not only receive and pay funds locally in Nigeria, but also access a wider cross-border payment network.
MFS Africa is the largest cross-border cross-wallet transfer center in the African mobile money market, with operations in more than 35 African countries and more than 320 million mobile wallet users. The acquired party, Baxi, is a digital payment platform focusing on serving small and medium-sized enterprises in Nigeria, providing "last mile" payment value-added services for Nigerian users through more than 90,000 offline agents in Nigeria, including small cash access, remittance, utility bill payment, bill payment, etc., and the business has covered the whole territory of Nigeria.
UK payment giant Wise earnings: total payment transactions increased by 36% year-on-year
UK payments giant Wise (formerly Known as TransferWise) released its latest deal report on October 19, 2021. The company's revenue was £132.8 million in the second quarter, up 25% year-on-year and 8% sequentially, according to the data. Increased demand for retail transfers has driven Wise's revenue growth. The company revealed that nearly 4 million customers traded during the quarter. The number of active individual customers on the platform increased by 22%, while the number of active enterprise customers increased by 44%.
Wise's Q2 total transactions grew 36% year-on-year to £18 billion. However, due to lower transaction fees, the company's commission rate fell to 0.74% from 0.8% in the same period last year.
PhonePe revenue up 85% in FY21
PhonePe has dominated the unified payment interface, or UPI ecosystem, since the beginning of the year and is clearly ahead of its closest competitor, Google Pay. The company also led the competition in the last four months of fiscal year 2021, which clearly reflects its revenue data for the fiscal year ended March 2021.
PhonePe is managing to increase its collection from Rs.372 crore in FY2020 to Rs.69 crore from Rs.372 crore in FY2021 to Rs.655 crore. While the bulk of that revenue came from providing payments and related services, the payment processing fee generated by PhonePe decreased by 28 per cent from Rs.1502 crore in FY2020 to Rs.1085 crore in FY2021.