What's New in Payments

India sets out plans for a cash-lite society

RBI publishes ‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 — 2021’ — Reserve Bank of India — “The Payment Systems Vision 2021, with its 36 specific action points and 12 specific outcomes, aspires to (a) enhance customer experience, including robust grievance redressal; (b) empower payment system operators and service providers; (c) enable the payments ecosystem and infrastructure; (d) put in place forward-looking regulations; and (e) undertake risk-focused supervision.”


What's New in Payments

Nordic banks to build new payments infrastructure for instant cross-border payments

Banks are building a super-speed money highway in the Nordics — Bloomberg — “The P27 project — so-called for the 27 million people who live in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland — will build on the success of smartphone payment applications that Nordic banks have already created, like Swish in Sweden, Norway’s Vipps, and MobilePay in Denmark… The aim is to make it possible to clear payments and settle accounts within seconds, regardless of currency.”


Nordic banks announce KYC joint venture plans

Nordic banks to explore common KYC joint venture — SEB — “Leading Nordic banks DNB Bank, Danske Bank, Nordea Bank, Svenska Handelsbanken and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken have decided to explore the possible establishment of a Nordic Know Your Customer (KYC) infrastructure… The banks intend to set up a joint venture, Nordic KYC Utility… The company will be owned and controlled by the founding banks, however, the plan is that the company will also offer its services to third parties.”



Transit Ticketing Today

Washington Metro to accept mobile payments from 2019

Metro moves to become mobile ready, announces plans to offer new app, mobile fare payment options beginning next year — Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority — “The new mobile fare payment platform will work with Metro’s existing infrastructure, eventually allowing customers to tap their mobile device to the white target at the faregate. The payment process is designed to be seamless and will have a similar experience to tapping a SmarTrip card today.”


What's New in Payments

China opens up its payments market to foreign companies

China allows foreigners to enter $27tn payments market — Bloomberg — “Foreign players can start applying for payment licenses and will be treated the same as local firms, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement on Wednesday. Applicants must set up local units, establish payment infrastructure — including disaster recovery systems — and store client information domestically, the central bank said.”


Transit Ticketing Today

Juniper forecasts 375m NFC ticketing users by 2022

NFC mobile ticketing users to reach 375 million users by 2022, despite a slow start — Juniper Research — “The number of mobile users adopting NFC ticketing will exceed 375 million by 2022, up from an estimated 122 million in 2017. While there is rapid growth in NFC ticketing in European markets, Juniper has scaled back NFC ticketing adoption in many other markets, such as the US, India, and Africa, due to the lack of available services and infrastructure.”


What's New in Payments

Norwegian banks to form joint venture in bid to combat threat of global tech giants

Norwegian banks to combine payment units Vipps, BankAxept, BankID — Reuters — “Norwegian banks agree to combine payment units Vipps, BankAxept and BankID Norge to improve product offering and prepare for competition against global tech firms… DNB CEO Rune Bjerke said: “We have two choices. Either let the existing payments infrastructure wither away, or join forces and push forward.”


What's New in Payments

Australian banks to offer real-time payments

Real-time payments to be launched after Australia Day — The Sydney Morning Herald — “The A$1bn project, triggered by a 2012 review of Australia’s payment infrastructure, will mean customers of different banks will be able to make and receive real-time payments, 24 hours a day and seven days a week… It will also allow consumers to arrange payments using their ‘PayID,’ such as a mobile phone number, instead of an account number or BSB. Customers will also be able to include 280 characters of text with a payment, up from 18 now.”


What's New in Payments

Finland’s central bank reports on the economics of Bitcoin

Monopoly without a monopolist : An economic analysis of the bitcoin payment system — Bank of Finland — “Owned by nobody and controlled by an almost immutable protocol the Bitcoin payment system is a platform with two main constituencies: users and profit-seeking miners who maintain the system’s infrastructure… We explore the future potential of such systems and provide design suggestions.”






What's New in Payments

Chinese mobile payment apps launch in Vancouver, Toronto

Chinese mobile payment apps launch in Vancouver, Toronto — The Globe and Mail — “OTT Financial Inc is working with Chinese Internet giants Tencent and Alibaba to introduce their mobile-payment infrastructure in Canada. The two apps, WeChat Pay and Alipay, are linked with users’ credit cards and allows them to make payments in renminbi, which is then converted to Canadian dollars before it’s transferred to merchants.”