Fast, simple and secure – Introducing the improved PayPal app — PayPal — “We’ve streamlined the app design to make it easier for customers to view their balance, get notifications, and move money from nearly wherever they are. We’ve moved the Send and Receive money buttons, so they’re always at customers fingertips on the home screen. Also, when sending and requesting money, we’ve made it simpler for customers to add their photo and personalize their contact list, so they can feel more confident they’re sending money to the right person.”
Peer-to-peer payments
Alipay upgrades P2P payments security
Alibaba-backed Alipay upgrades its system for payment safety — CGTN — “The Alibaba-backed Alipay’s upgraded system helps users get back funds that are mistakenly transferred to the wrong account or if they’ve sent an incorrect amount. Its Chinese rival, Tencent’s WeChat Wallet, already has measures to delay the transfer process to protect users.”
Apple Pay Cash gets top rating for P2P payments privacy and security
Why Apple Pay is the highest-rated mobile P2P payment service — Consumer Reports — “In our first-ever test-based ratings of P2P mobile services, CR rated Apple Pay the highest overall, with excellent or very good marks in the key consumer-protection measures of payment authentication and data privacy. Apple’s overall rating was significantly higher than for the other services we tested: Venmo, Square’s Cash App, Facebook P2P Payments in Messenger, and Zelle.”
Dutch bank lets consumers create a permanent, shareable personal payment link
Bunq.me renewed — Bunq — “Bunq.me now gives any person using any European bank the ability to receive money. All using their own personal link. You can set it up once, then use it a gazillion times. No Bunq app required.”
Snapchat to close down its Snapcash P2P payments service
Snapchat will shut down Snapcash, forfeiting to Venmo — Techcrunch — “Snapchat will abandon the peer-to-peer payment space on August 30th… Shutting down the feature will bring an end to Snapchat’s four-year partnership with Square to power the feature for sending people money.”
P2P payments gain acceptance across all US age groups
US consumers cite trust in banks and in friends and family — Early Warning — “More than 75% of Millennials have used online or mobile P2P payments. Generation X is a close second at 69%, and Baby Boomers are closing in at 51%… 49% of Millennials use P2P payment services at least once a week, followed by 42% of Generation X and 32% of Boomers.”
Russian banks roll out mobile P2P payments
Tinkoff and Sberbank launch P2P money transfers using just a mobile number — Tinkoff Bank — “Tinkoff Bank has launched a joint initiative with Sberbank to allow their customers to make P2P money transfers using a mobile number… Tinkoff Bank is also actively involved in the development of a rapid payment system (SBP), which will allow customers to make instant transfers using other identifiers (such as email address, TIN, SNILS, social network accounts, etc) anywhere and at any time, regardless of the beneficiary bank.”
Google Pay rolls out support for P2P payments, concert tickets and boarding passes
Do more with Google Pay — Google — “Today, we’re starting to roll out updates that will let you do even more with Google Pay. Here’s a look at what’s new: Pay friends with the Google Pay app; Save concert tickets and boarding passes; Manage your info in one convenient place.”
PayPal takes its Venmo P2P service in-store with new debit card
Take your balance shopping with Venmo card — Venmo — “With the Venmo card, you can use your Venmo balance in more places… Low Venmo balance? We’ll use your linked funding source to reload your Venmo balance so you can make that card purchase… For those with Venmo notifications enabled, you’ll be notified on your phone with each swipe. And, we aim to alleviate the panic that comes with losing a card: just a few taps in the app, and boom — your card is disabled.”
Paytm integrates games, TV, sports and news into its mobile wallet app
Now enjoy news, live TV, cricket, entertainment & games in Paytm Inbox — Paytm — “We have added a host of new features to ‘Inbox’, our in-app messaging service that allows you to chat with friends and family and send/request money at the same time. You would now be able to enjoy in-app live TV, news, cricket, entertainment videos and games on-the-go for free.”
Australian banks launch Beem It P2P payments app
Big bank-backed Beem It launches Aussie payments app — ZDNet — “The Commonwealth Bank, NAB, and Westpac joined forces to create Beem It, allowing the real-time transfer of funds… The app enables sending and receiving money, with an interface reminiscent of a social media app… ‘It’s using Eftpos, and Visa debit card payment rails,’ Beem It chief product and development officer Deepesh Banerji said.”
Challenger banks add location-based payments to mobile apps
UK banks are trying out location-based P2P payments — Tearsheet — “On Friday, Revolut introduced a feature called ‘Near Me’ which lets its customers find other Revolut customers using the same feature and send them money without knowing their contact details. On Monday, Monzo rolled out a capability called ‘Nearby Friends’… When the user opens Nearby Friends, Monzo generates a token representing the user through its API, which is then sent to Google Nearby through Bluetooth on the user’s device to ‘broadcast’ it to other Monzo apps within a 90-foot radius.”
French banks to add P2P transfers to Paylib online and in-store mobile payments service
Paylib wants to become France’s Swiss Army payment knife — Les Echos (translation) — “Following the introduction of online and in-store payments, customers of the six partner banks will be able to make person-to-person money transfers by the summer. BNP Paribas launched the new ‘Paylib entre amis’ [Paylib between friends] service last Wednesday while Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, BPCE, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole and La Banque Postale will follow in the coming weeks.”
Google Pay update to provide users with a single view of all their transactions
Google Pay’s app adds boarding passes, tickets, P2P payments and more — Techcrunch — “In an upcoming update of the Google Pay app, we’re going to allow you to manage all the payment methods in your Google account — not just the payment methods that you used to pay in-store… And even better, we’re going to provide you with a holistic view of all your transactions — whether they be on Google apps and services, such as Play and YouTube, whether they be with third-party merchants, such as Walgreens and Uber, or whether they’re transactions you’ve made to friends and families via our peer-to-peer service.”
Rambus brings tokenization to real-time payments
PARTNER NEWS: Rambus has unveiled Payment Account Tokenization, a new solution that increases the security of direct credit, direct debit and person-to-person (P2P) payments services by replacing account numbers with unique tokens... More
Facebook to launch Messenger payments in India
Facebook ready to enter payments in India, begins beta with recharges on Messenger — FactorDaily — “Two sources in the know of the development told FactorDaily that Facebook has been quietly working on building a payments platform, which is independent of WhatsApp payments. ‘The platform will be separate from WhatsApp and will allow peer-to-peer and peer-to-merchant payments,’ said the first source.”
Google Assistant adds support for voice-based payments
Now the Google Assistant can take care of your IOUs — Google — “Starting today, you can ask your Google Assistant to pay your friends back with Google Pay… You can easily send or request money from your contacts — for free — using the Assistant on Android and iOS phones in the US. In the coming months, you’ll be able to send money on voice-activated speakers like Google Home… To get started, just say ‘Hey Google, request $20 from Sam for the show tonight’ or ‘Hey Google, send Jane $15 for lunch today.’”
Google adds chat feature to Tez mobile payments app
Google integrates chat option on Tez payments app — Economic Times — “Google has integrated a chat option in the Google Tez application and is slowly rolling it out to its 13.5 million active users, taking the competition directly to WhatsApp… The payment application which runs on the Unified Payments Interface railroads will now allow consumers to not only send money to each other but also open up an option for conversation around the transaction.”
Google Pay replaces Android Pay app starting today
Say hello to a better way to pay, by Google — Google — “Longtime Android Pay fans, fear not: the features you love aren’t going away. You’ll still get all your bank’s perks and protections, plus an extra layer of security, since Google Pay doesn’t share your actual card number when you pay in stores… And more features are coming. If you live in the US or the UK, you’ll be able to use it to send and request money within the next few months.”
WhatsApp Payments enters beta testing in India
WhatsApp Payments is almost here, shows up on WhatsApp Beta — Gizmo Times — “The latest WhatsApp beta version has started showing the Payment option in the attachments list. The payments will be through UPI (Unified Payments Interface) but for now, it is only showing the list of banks and also the bank account that is linked, but the account is not getting added. This indicates the final stage of inclusion of WhatsApp payments system on the Android app.”