As the year winds down, we thought you might enjoy a round-up of some of the hottest payments content The Strawhecker Group (TSG) released in 2021. Enjoy this collection of research and data insights on all the year's top trends, plus executive interviews with top payment players.
Visa announced it has completed the acquisition of Currencycloud, a global platform that enables banks and fintechs to provide innovative foreign exchange solutions for cross-border payments.The acquisition will empower Visa and Currencycloud clients and partners to provide greater transparency, flexibility and control for consumers and businesses when making international payments or doing business in multiple currencies.
North American Bancard received first place for Best Human Interaction. The Best Human Interaction award signifies the personal interaction and responsiveness of sales individuals through email and phone conversations. North American Bancard is receiving this award for its sales team’s knowledge and passion for payments while being responsive to ensure a smooth experience.
The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs determined that Chime Financial, Inc.'s advertising for its "SpotMe" program disclosed the material information necessary to ensure that claims about its program are substantiated and that Chime's "no overdraft fees" claims are supported.
MoneyGram International has launched a partnership with Indian payments bank Paytm, allowing MoneyGram customers from around the world to send money directly to Patym wallets in India. According to MoneyGram, its digital transactions in India represent nearly half of all transactions received in that country, with the number of transactions sent directly to bank accounts six times higher than it was two years ago.
Challenger payment app, lopay, is launched onto the UK market with ground-breaking transaction rates that will shake up the industry. lopay is the new instant payment app released in the UK this December. Designed to give merchants greater control over the money they earn, the app gives them the freedom to choose when they get paid and the rate they pay – weekly (0.79%), next day (0.99%) or instantly (1.79%).
Waitr has announced its intention to acquire Cova, a cannabis dispensary point-of-sale company, for $90 million. In a statement, Waitr CEO Carl Grimstad said transactions on the Cova platform could reach approximately $2.3 billion.
The wave of innovation that accompanied the pandemic is far from over. Already, the move to remote work and digital commerce has reshaped how people handle retail shopping, cryptocurrency, B2B payments and cross-border transactions. The interplay between fintechs, banks and credit unions has never been more dynamic, and it will likely become even more so in 2022.
The Atlanta-based firm will become the first major credit-reporting company to make the move. Equifax now has the task of persuading major buy-now, pay-later providers -- firms such as Afterpay Ltd. and Klarna Inc. -- to begin reporting their consumers’ data to the company.
Financial-technology companies like Block Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc, and Robinhood Markets Inc. were some of the biggest winners of the pandemic economy. In a matter of months, they have transformed into laggards. Shares in Block, formerly known as Square Inc., are down 35% over the past three months and down 23% since the start of 2021.
Razorpay has more than doubled its valuation to $7.5 billion from $3 billion in April as one of India’s largest fintech giants demonstrates fast growth and aggressively broadens its product offerings. The new round, which brings more capital to the startup than all its other previous financings put together, was co-led by Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital and TCV.
The rapidly evolving payments landscape inspired investors to pump money into these payment technology companies at a feverish pace, setting the stage for the record-breaking year. The investment haul in 2021 has already far outpaced 2020's totals when funding amounted to $16.1 billion, and 539 deals were recorded.
GiftChill, an e-gift card online retailer, has adopted cryptocurrency payments in its various forms. The move will enable the retailer's customers to use Bitcoin and other digital currencies to make payments. The site now accepts Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and Kishu Inu. All transactions happen on the trusted online payment platform, CoinBase and NowPayment.
McDonald’s said it’s selling a tech company it acquired roughly three years ago to Mastercard for an undisclosed amount. The fast-food chain had bought Dynamic Yield, which specializes in personalization and decision logic technology, in 2019, in a bid to personalize its drive-thru experience.
A whopping 9 out of 10 retailers say they are short-staffed this holiday season––and many are blaming the COVID-19 pandemic. The ongoing labor shortage is majorly impacting retailers at the busiest time of the year. More than three-quarters of retailers also said they had difficulty hiring seasonal staff.
Initial filings for unemployment insurance dipped last week and remained close to their lowest level in more than 50 years, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 25 totaled 198,000, less than the 205,000 Dow Jones forecast and a dip of 8,000 from the previous period.
It’s been a resurgent season for retailers as consumers stocked their carts with gifts and gadgets. According to Mastercard SpendingPulseTM, holiday retail sales excluding automotive increased 8.5% year-over-year this holiday season, running from November 1 through December 24. Notably, online sales grew 11.0% compared to the same period last year, the preliminary insights show. Mastercard SpendingPulse measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment.
Strong consumer demand, continuing supply chain troubles and the emergence of the omicron variant of the coronavirus threaten to prolong sharply rising prices well into 2022, potentially making inflation the premier economic challenge of the new year. Prices defied many economists’ expectations in 2021 by rising at the fastest pace in nearly 40 years. Everything from rent to the price of used cars to groceries climbed higher as the nation’s economy has recovered from the pandemic.
Women’s Network in Electronic Transactions (Wnet), the premier non-profit organization serving professional women in the payments and fintech industries, is excited to welcome new corporate partner PSCU to its membership community. PSCU is the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO), partnering with credit unions to help them grow and meet evolving member demands.
Clover® from Fiserv, Inc., a leading provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, has been named the 2021 Restaurant Smart Terminal Provider of the Year by The Strawhecker Group (TSG), the largest analytics and consulting firm focused on the payments acceptance industry.
BitPay announced a promotion with Simplex for residents of the United States to buy crypto seamlessly with no credit or debit card fees from within the BitPay Wallet app. In collaborating with Simplex, a Nuvei company and the leading fiat infrastructure for digital assets globally, BitPay Wallet app users can quickly and easily buy crypto fee-free using the BitPay Debit Card, Apple Pay®, or Google Pay™ for a limited time.
Paysend, the card-to-card pioneer and international payments platform, announces a technology partnership with Tencent Financial Technology, the fintech arm of world-leading internet and technology company Tencent, that will enable people to receive money through Weixin, the PRC version of WeChat targeting users in mainland China.
First Northern Bank announced its membership in Alloy Labs Alliance, a consortium of innovative community banks working together to drive innovation and change for community banking. First Northern Bank is the only member bank from California.
Zimpler announces its new B2B payment product, designed to simplify in- and outgoing payments for merchants. With Zimpler B2B payments, every transaction is instant and directly connected to a corporate bank account. Zimpler is currently available in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Germany, and the Netherlands.
