ECB takes major step toward introducing a digital Euro - A central-bank digital currency would allow euro-area residents to place deposits with the ECB directly. That’s typically only an option for commercial lenders, governments and other central banks. That has implications for monetary policy and financial stability. Read more
Amazon will now let you pay with your palm in its stores - Amazon accounts for nearly 40 percent of e-commerce sales in the US today, and it takes a cut of even more online shopping by selling payments services and other technologies to external shopping sites. Now, the online retail giant is making a play to grab a piece of brick-and-mortar shopping, too — and it wants customers to literally lend a hand to do it. Read more
The first blank-check ETF makes its trading debut - Concerns remain over whether the SPAC market is large enough to support an ETF portfolio, even after a record-breaking year that has seen over $41 billion raised so far. SPAK seeks to counter that worry by weighting its holdings according to market value. That will give extra exposure to shares of SPACs that have surged after they bought a private company, effectively taking it public. Read more
Giant cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX hit with criminal and civil money laundering charges - The CFTC alleges that much of BitMEX’s trading volume and profits are from U.S. customers, despite the fact that, like many other international cryptocurrency exchanges, Americans cannot legally use it. Visitors to the exchange’s website from American IP addresses receive a warning to that effect and are blocked from registering. Read more
Square adopts QR codes to bring self-serve ordering to restaurants - Square has introduced a self-serve ordering feature for restaurants that allows dine-in customers to order and pay for food through their phones, reducing physical contact with staff. Read more
Banker walks free from insider trading charge after deleting WhatsApp - Konstantin Vishnyak did one thing before he handed the second of his two iPhones to the police officer arresting him: he deleted Whatsapp. Two years later, a London jury acquitted him of destroying documents that he knew would be crucial to an investigation into his trading activity. Read more
Why the SPAC mania won’t bridge the Atlantic - The London Stock Exchange boasts that 30 SPACs have been listed in London in the past 5 years. More than $2b has been raised since 2017. But British backers are nursing the scars from a long line of blank cheque duds. Read more
Ant’s huge lending business powers $30b IPO - Ant’s consumer lending business is made up of two products: Huabei (similar to a traditional credit card), and Jiebei (small unsecured loans). Users say they are funnelled towards these two products with discounts and offers, and sometimes Alipay uses Huabei to pay by default, even if they do not intend to use credit. Read more
Failure to pay invoices on time puts recovery at risk - Answer to small businesses’ struggle for payment across the world lies in a mix of fintech and regulation. As one small business owner says “There are some high-street retailers who will pay you on 75-day terms with a 2.5 percent haircut if you want it earlier. I am staggered this is still allowed. I thought highway robbery was outlawed”. Read more
Swift launches project for “brilliantly simple” SME cross-border payments - The network says it is working with more than 20 banks on the new project. It says SMEs will benefit from predictable payments, upfront costs and processing times, and real-time status updates. A single format is used for easier straight through processing, while banks “unilaterally” agree processing fees. Read more
Banks push back on possible banking charters for big techs like Amazon and Facebook - Overseen by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the charter would allow firms like Facebook, Google or Amazon to bypass the process by which they need to collect money transmitter licenses state by state. It would instead offer payment companies a national servicing platform to replace the regime of state regulations such firms would be subject to under existing laws. Read more
Ant Group launches its virtual bank ahead of its IPO - Ant Bank was one of the 8 recipients of the virtual banking license by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), this launch makes it the 6th virtual bank to launch their services in Hong Kong. Ant Bank will partner with AlipayHK to enable the integration of banking services into consumer’s daily life to make them accessible to anyone at anytime and anywhere. Read more
Goldman Sachs to buy GM credit card business for $2.5b - GS is buying General Motors’ credit card business, according to people familiar with the matter, marking the bank’s second big-name credit-card partnership and another step towards balancing its operations with heft in consumer finance. Read more
Mastercard partners with Samsung, Airtel and Asante to drive digital inclusion in Africa - The pay-on-demand platform enables safe, secure & convenient consumer financing via Samsung devices with embedded Knox security platform, through Airtel Africa’s network. Read more
Crowdfunding in Colombia on the rise thanks to more flexible regulations - Two years after Colombia released its first regulations for crowdfunding, the country has hardly any fintechs in this niche, but that is set to change after the latest regulatory update. Read more
Silicon Valley listings rip up the rule book - US companies are taking greater control over their stock market debuts by turning to direct listings, new technologies and Spacs. Taken together, these changes form a new playbook for companies, promising executives a greater say in the exercise while dimming the role of investment banks. Read more |
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