What's New in Payments

Facebook’s WhatsApp to offer in-chat payments in India

WhatsApp in-chat payments feature is bad news for digital wallets, payment companies in India — FactorDaily — “Instant messenger WhatsApp is readying an intuitive in-chat payments feature, ahead of a likely December launch in India… This will be the first time that WhatsApp is introducing the payments feature anywhere in the world… The Facebook-owned company has partnered with three banks – State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, three of India’s biggest banks, to launch the feature, FactorDaily has also learned.”


What's New in Payments

Facebook Messenger adds PayPal P2P payments

Send money to friends and family in Messenger with PayPal — PayPal — “We’re excited today to announce an expansion of our relationship with Facebook with the addition of PayPal as a funding source for peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, right in Messenger… We are also introducing our first-ever PayPal customer service bot for Messenger, so PayPal customers can seamlessly receive payment and account support directly in the app.”


What's New in Payments

Sberbank lets customers pay via Telegram messaging bots

Sberbank and Telegram create unique payment solution — Sberbank — “The solution allows payments to be accepted from MasterCard, Visa and Mir bank cards. In addition, in a first for Russia, it is now possible to pay using Apple Pay and Android Pay within Telegram bots. This means that now Sberbank partners can easily accept payments as well as orders via Telegram bots.”


New protocol alerts users to encryption breaches

Computer scientists address gap in messaging privacy — University of Birmingham — “With current end-to-end encryption, if an attacker compromises a recipient’s device, they can then put themselves in a position to intercept, read and alter all future communications without sender or recipient ever knowing. The new protocol, published in IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, forces attackers to leave evidence of any such activity and alerts users to take action.”


What's New in Payments

You can now send money with PayPal in the Skype mobile app

You can now send money with PayPal in the Skype mobile app — PayPal — “PayPal is now partnering with Skype to allow users in 22 countries to send money to other Skype users with PayPal via their Skype mobile app. With over one billion Skype mobile downloads to date globally, users will be able to use PayPal directly from their Skype app to seamlessly send money in the moment – like for a gift for a family member across the country or internationally.”




What's New in Payments

In China, Amazon’s ‘store of the future’ is already open

In China, Amazon’s ‘store of the future’ is already open — Tech In Asia — “This is a typical Bingobox store… A shopper opens the door – and registers with the startup – through WeChat, the popular messaging app… The customer has to scan each item’s barcode. And then pay on their phone, either via WeChat or Alibaba’s mobile wallet app, Alipay. As you leave the store, a camera checks you’re taking out only the stuff you paid for.”


What's New in Payments

Westpac shock as Apple bans its messaging payments app after three months

Westpac shock as Apple bans its messaging payments app after three months — Australian Financial Review — “The iPhone maker surprisingly ordered Westpac to remove a key feature of its recently revamped mobile banking application, which let customers make payments in popular chat applications… In a letter to customers, seen by The Australian Financial Review, Westpac reveals that its Westpac Keyboard function will be removed in July.”


What's New in Payments

Indian messaging unicorn Hike moves into payments, taking notes from Tencent’s WeChat

Indian messaging unicorn Hike moves into payments, taking notes from Tencent’s WeChat — CNBC — “India’s home-grown instant messaging service Hike on Tuesday announced wide-ranging updates to its app, including a new mobile wallet that lets users send and receive money instantly… The Hike Wallet has several features, including a linkage to the government-backed unified payments interface.”




What's New in Payments

Discover enhances customer service with in-app messaging

Discover enhances customer service with in-app messaging — Discover — “The new feature, which will be rolled out in phases, enables customers to message Discover’s customer service representatives via the Discover mobile app… Messaging allows customers to message back and forth with an agent whenever it is convenient for them, eliminating the need to stay logged in to the app in order to reach a customer service representative.”


BBVA integrates its financial services into social and messaging networks

BBVA integrates its financial services into social and messaging networks — BBVA — “BBVA customers can now interact in Spain with the bank via social networks and instant messaging services. BBVA has developed two new tools, Chatbot and BBVA Cashup, which allow customers to access financial information via Facebook and Telegram, and also to make payments via Bizum from Whatsapp or any messaging service.”


Orange to launch mobile-only bank with NFC payments and AI

Orange Bank

Mobile network operator Orange is to launch a mobile-only bank in France in July this year that will offer customers NFC mobile payments, P2P mobile transfers using SMS and an artificial intelligence-based virtual assistant that will eventually be able to complete tasks including making transfers and putting funds in savings. More