June, 2020

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HSBC Hong Kong Announces New API For Instant B2B Payments

PYMNTS

HSBC Hong Kong ‘s new application programming interface (API) will simplify the payment system for businesses down to a one-stop payment hub, a press release says. The service will let businesses incorporate the instant electronic Direct Debit Authorisation (eDDA) into their own systems, along with real-time funds transfer services. That will allow businesses to eliminate the cumbersome old ways, which required them to sign onto their bank accounts to set up a direct debit instruction and

B2B 143
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UN Blockchain Expert Says Digital Cash Could Replace Bank Accounts

PYMNTS

United Nations global blockchain expert Massimo Buonomo has foreseen a future where digital currencies could replace low-interest bank accounts, Coindesk reports. Low interest rates, he said, were the main enticement for people to come and join a new bank — but they would be obsolete in competition against an official digital currency, which could easily process a digital payment the same way.

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Trending Sources

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PayPal Reportedly To Offer Direct Crypto Sales

PYMNTS

PayPal will offer direct cryptocurrency sales for customers, CoinDesk reports. The FinTech giant, which has 325 million customers, will allow this feature for those who want a new wallet functionality for the popular service, according to unnamed sources, the report said. It would be an upgrade of the current PayPal functions for withdrawing funds from sources like San Francisco’s Coinbase.

Sales 131
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EY Accused Of Missing Alleged Wirecard Fraud

PYMNTS

In the ongoing scandal of Wirecard , under fire for fraud, the focus is now turning to auditors Ernst & Young (EY), which reportedly failed to report Wirecard’s “unorthodox financial arrangements” as far back as 2016, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. According to emails seen by WSJ, the auditing firm knew of and had questions about the arrangements and was signing off on Wirecard’s financial results for years anyway.

Auditing 130
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From Start to Scale: Driving Growth Through Seamless Payments Implementation

Speaker: Michael Veatch, Senior Director, Implementations & Ella Aguirre, Director of Solution Consulting

Embedding payments can be a transformative step for software companies looking to enhance their platform capabilities, boost customer satisfaction, and drive long-term growth. However, the success of payments hinges on a single thing: implementation. Drawing on real-world insights and experiences, payments implementation experts Michael Veatch and Ella Aguirre will explore actionable strategies that can lead to a transparent, friction-free launch and mitigate potential challenges like technical

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Former Toast Executive To Lead Growth Push At Lunchbox

PYMNTS

Lunchbox is hoping former top Toast executive Sarah Kabakoff will provide the boost needed to take the restaurant-ordering platform to the next level. The New York-based omnichannel restaurant platform announced Monday (June 22) it had hired Kabakoff as vice president of solutions. In her new role, Kabakoff will oversee Lunchbox’s “go-to-market strategy” aimed at giving restaurants an alternative to third-party ordering sites.

Startups 130

More Trending

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Wirecard’s Former CEO Markus Braun Arrested

PYMNTS

Ex-Wirecard CEO Markus Braun was arrested Monday night (June 22) in the latest chapter that has rocked the German payment services provider, the Financial Times reported. Braun surrendered to Munich prosecutors after a judge issued a warrant as prosecutors investigate an accounting scandal that centers on a missing 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), prosecutors confirmed on Tuesday.

Auditing 127
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Merchants And The Big Retail Reset

PYMNTS

eCommerce has grown about as much in the past few months as it has in the past 10 years. Iain McNicoll , VP of Americas/SMB for payments platform Payoneer , recently told PYMNTS that eCommerce’s market share has risen to 27 percent from just 16 percent when the pandemic began. By contrast, it took a decade for it to hit 16 percent from less than 6 percent 10 years ago.

Retail 127
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Wells Fargo On Why First Impressions Are Key In Digital Banking

PYMNTS

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most monumental crises the banking industry has faced, and the sector must stare down the dual challenges of creating safety measures at branch locations while addressing the ongoing economic downturn that has stretched their capacity for processing and deferring loans. Bank branches are either closing outright or slashing their business hours to help customers maintain social distancing guidelines — but fortunately, the growing familiarity of digital banking

Banking 126
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The Unexpected Ways Dining Out Is Evolving

PYMNTS

When COVID-19 exploded into a global pandemic that more or less shut down everything worldwide, restaurants began diving for digital cover and rapidly embracing order-ahead, curbside pickup, delivery options, modified menus and rewritten business plans – anything and everything they could think of to survive the shutdown and stay alive long enough for patrons to return for on-site dining. .

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Less Stress, More Success: Accounting Best Practices & Processes for 2025

Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

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Revolut Adds Amex To Open Banking Feature

PYMNTS

Revolut Ltd., the British financial technology company headquartered in London, has added American Express to its open banking platform. The feature allows customers in the United Kingdom to connect their American Express accounts to Revolut , allowing them to see their balances and transactions in a single app. Before this addition, Revolut shoppers could access American Express balances and transactions only through Amex’s online banking service or app.

Banking 123
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Consumers Sour On Travel Rewards Cards

PYMNTS

After spending years fine-tuning travel reward cards, banks have found that the coronavirus pandemic decimated all the effort by reducing the need or will to travel, The Wall Street Journal reports. The cards contained perks like sign up bonuses, points on airfare, hotel stays and more — but now, with the pandemic necessitating staying at home and out of crowded tourist spaces, customers are wondering if the payments are worth it at all.

Banking 123
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Uber Money Head Quits As Company Moves Away From Financial Operations

PYMNTS

Uber financial services leader Peter Hazlehurst has stepped down from his position as the rideshare company has put its plan to start a digital wallet on hold, Bloomberg reported. The company is instead focused more on ridesharing and food delivery instead of the planned financial expansions. In an email, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company isn’t prioritizing several finance-related projects, such as credit cards, a digital wallet and instant payments for drivers.

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FBI Issues Warning To Bank Mobile App Users?

PYMNTS

As the use of mobile banking apps surges due to the limited access to banks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the FBI is warning users to beware of cyber attacks.

Banking 125
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Avoiding Lease Accounting Pitfalls in 2025: Lessons Learned from Spreadsheet Errors

Speaker: Abdi Ali, Sr. Lease Accounting Consultant

Join this insightful webinar with industry expert Abdi Ali, who will discuss the challenges that can arise from managing lease accounting with spreadsheets! He will share real-world examples of errors, compliance issues, and risks that may be present within your spreadsheets. Learn how these tools, while useful, can sometimes lead to inefficiencies that affect your time, resources, and peace of mind.

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Ernst & Young Under Scrutiny Over Wirecard Accounting Practices

PYMNTS

Ernst & Young ( EY ), the global accounting firm hired to verify Wirecard’s financials, failed to request crucial information from a Singapore bank where the German payment processor claimed it had up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in cash, the Financial Times reported. That routine audit procedure could have uncovered the vast fraud at the suburban Munich company, the report said.

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Investors Back B2B Startups With An Eye On SMB Finance

PYMNTS

Small business lending emerged as a common theme in this week’s B2B venture capital roundup, and it’s no surprise, considering the role small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) play in supporting their local economies. Some startups focused on data aggregation to expand underwriting capabilities, while others operate platforms to facilitate financing.

Startups 115
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Telegram: Breach Exposed Millions Of Users’ Data

PYMNTS

Messaging app Telegram said a data breach has exposed a database containing the personal information of millions of users, according to a Cointelgraph report. The database, which was exposed on a darknet forum, included users’ phone numbers and unique Telegram user IDs, according to the report. Telegram told Russian tech publication Kod.ru, which originally reported the information on Tuesday (June 23), that the information was exposed through the app’s built-in contact export feature whil

Numbers 115
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The Role of Digital Payouts In Mitigating The Insurance Industry’s Business Continuity Risks

PYMNTS

The insurance industry is all about risk mitigation, and not only when it comes to underwriting policies. Averse to the risk of change, the property and casualty (P&C) insurance arena has been resistant to embrace electronic payments when disbursing funds to claimants. Yet when the global pandemic hit, it became clear to the insurance industry that sticking to paper processes and check payouts can be riskier than embracing digitization.

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Back to Basics with Reconciliations

Join us in this webinar, where we share best practices on how to think about the reconciliation work each month, when best to do reconciliations, how they should be prepared, and some common pitfalls to avoid. Learning Objectives: This course objective is to understand how to properly prepare and review balance sheet reconciliations and its impact on the financial statements.

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Celebrity Event Planner Colin Cowie On How ‘Hospertainment’ Can Save The Events Business

PYMNTS

It hasn’t been a good year for hospitality and events, with the pandemic shutting down travel, large gatherings, venues and the desire to be physically close to other people. Burning Man has been canceled, Coachella was delayed and then canceled, there will be no Iowa State Fair and the $300 billion global wedding industry is almost entirely stalled.

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Platforms And AI Are Powering Real Estate Investing’s Digital 3.0 Shift

PYMNTS

Stock markets are whipsawing. Bond yields, gyrating. Crypto? Bouncing around, to put it mildly. The pandemic has sent any number of investments tumbling, soaring, then tumbling again. The world feels less than stable, and so do investors’ cash flows, dividend and account statements. It makes sense, then, that at least some individuals would seek stability.

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Bitcoin Daily: Nike Offers Crypto Rewards For Online Purchases; BlockFi Teams With Bitcoin Mining Pool On Lending, Financial Services

PYMNTS

Plutus , a British FinTech startup, is providing rewards via its credit card to customers who buy from the eCommerce store of Nike , Cointelegraph reported. The rewards are made with Pluton, the native digital currency of the company. Users can receive additional rewards by staking their digital tokens through the company’s app. Users have to utilize the Plutus Visa card as they shop through the web to get the benefit.

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How AR-AP Connectivity Preserves The Buyer-Supplier Relationship

PYMNTS

As accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) operations continue to converge for many organizations, buyers and suppliers are increasingly acknowledging the value of using each other’s technology platforms to promote stronger B2B relationships. Now more than ever, buyer-supplier ties form a crucial component of ensuring that cash continues to flow through supply chains — and yet today, late payments and cash flow bottlenecks continue to plague both sides of B2B payments.

Invoicing 112
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Usage-Based Monetization Musts: A Roadmap for Sustainable Revenue Growth

Speaker: David Warren and Kevin O’Neill Stoll

Transitioning to a usage-based business model offers powerful growth opportunities but comes with unique challenges. How do you validate strategies, reduce risks, and ensure alignment with customer value? Join us for a deep dive into designing effective pilots that test the waters and drive success in usage-based revenue. Discover how to develop a pilot that captures real customer feedback, aligns internal teams with usage metrics, and rethinks sales incentives to prioritize lasting customer eng

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Brazil’s Central Bank Shuts Down WhatsApp Payments

PYMNTS

Brazil’s Central Bank has suspended WhatsApp’s payment feature in the country, citing antitrust concerns, according to Bloomberg on Tuesday (June 23). Mastercard and Visa have been requested to stop payments and money transfer services through the app in Brazil as well, the bank said. The bank said the decision was to “preserve an adequate competitive environment that ensures the functioning of a payment system that’s interchangeable, fast, secure, transparent, open and cheap,” Bloomberg reporte

Banking 112
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Tipalti Teams With Video Game Firms On Mass Payments, AP

PYMNTS

Global payments automation platform Tipalti says it has made mass, automated payments seamless for numerous popular online video game customers, according to a press release. Tipalti’s move is aimed at helping gaming companies avoid the fraud and risk of online commerce while enhancing their finances with modern solutions, said CEO and Co-Founder Chen Amit , according to the release. “Success in the gaming ecosystem today is all about rewarding their international partners with consi

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San Fran To Delay Next Wave Of Reopenings Amid COVID Spike

PYMNTS

San Francisco’s planned next phase reopening scheduled for Monday (June 29) for outdoor bars, hair salons, museums and more has been put on hold. Mayor London Breed tweeted Friday (June 26) that the city will wait as the number of COVID-19 cases rise across California, CNBC reported. “Yesterday we saw 103 cases,” Breed wrote. “On June 15, when we first reopened outdoor dining and in-store retail, we had 20.

Numbers 112
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Walmart Tests Store Without Cashiers As COVID-19 Accelerates Change

PYMNTS

Whether cashiers go the way of the horse and buggy could hinge on an experiment Walmart is running in Arkansas. The largest brick-and-mortar retailer in the United States is replacing its traditional, cashier-staffed checkouts with self-checkout registers at its store in Fayetteville, Ark., according to local news reports. The aim is to speed up checkout lines while reducing contact, a Walmart spokesperson told KNWA/KFTA, with employees stationed nearby to help shoppers who run into any problems

Sales 112
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Solve Your Firm's Automation Complexities Once and For All

Speaker: Mark Stovel

When it comes to automating, many firms focus on finding the latest tech, believing that efficiency is something achieved through new tools. Yet true efficiency is achieved by delivering real value to clients, not merely by upgraded systems. Without a clear approach, no level of automation can overcome the complexities of serving every client’s needs.