In brief

28 October 2021

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) firm Opy and its parent company Openpay has expanded its global footprint with launch in the US payment market.

US consumers can now utilise Opy’s BNPL product ‘Buy now, Pay smarter’ to avail customised payment plans for their purchase.

Opy has turned to Cross River Bank (CRB) to enhance BNPL access to US consumers.

The tie-up allows the firm to provide closed-end consumer loans up to $20,000 with terms of up to 24 months.

Opy CEO and Openpay global chief strategy officer Brian Shniderman said: “Opy delivers new and improved ways for consumers to make purchases, especially when faced with unexpected expenses, such as emergency dental surgery, a sudden auto repair, or medical care for a beloved pet.

“Our flat fee is as little as one-third the cost of traditional consumer loans for the same purchases and provides marketplace expansion for merchants who accept Opy.”

28 October 2021

Technology giant Apple has reportedly expressed its objection to enabling developers to link to the third-party payment option on the app store for iPhone and iPad users.

The development comes as the iPhone maker readies to face ‘Fortnite’ developer Epic Games in court over its in-app payment practices, Reuters reported.

Last year, Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple after it removed Fortnite game from App Store for violating its in-app payment rules in a bid to avoid commission fee on purchases.

Earlier this year, a ruling issued by US District Court Judge Yvonne Rogers upheld Apple’s requirement that developers need to use its in-app payment system.

However, Rogers asked the firm to lift its ban on ‘buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms’ other than its payment systems.

Apple, which has until 9 December to carry out the order, appealed the ruling.

28 October 2021

Indian payments firm Paytm, which is set to go public next month, has reportedly upsized its initial public offering (IPO) size, now seeking around $2.4bn (INR183bn) from the sale.

This is nearly 10% higher than its previous target of INR166bn.

The increase follows a move by the firm’s existing shareholders to sell off more of their stakes amid increased investor interest.

Ant Group’s Antfin is selling shares worth INR47bn, SoftBank’s SVF Panther is selling shares worth INR16.89bn and Alibaba.com Singapore ECommerce is selling INR 7.85bn worth of shares, according to a prospectus filed by Paytm.

The primary issue size will remain at INR83bn while the additional amount will go for the offer sale.

The IPO, which is expected to be the biggest-ever in the country, is expected to bring the company’s valuation to $20bn. It was last valued at $16bn.

Paytm filed a draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India in July.

26 October 2021

ACI Worldwide has joined forces with blockchain-based checkout solution provider RocketFuel to introduce cryptocurrency payment acceptance for merchants around the world, with no processing fees.

The companies said that ACI Secure eCommerce will provide RocketFuel’s solution through a single integration.

RocketFuel’s solution supports bitcoin and over 50 other cryptocurrencies. It also offers bank transfers to merchants and their customers using smart devices with QR codes or NFC capabilities.

ACI Secure eCommerce is said to comprise a payments gateway, real-time fraud prevention capabilities as well as business intelligence tools.

The integration of the two solutions is expected to enable merchants to include new payment methods into the mobile checkout.

RocketFuel CEO Peter Jensen said: “We are excited to partner with payments leader ACI Worldwide. RocketFuel’s ‘Zero Fees for Life’ pricing model makes this an attractive alternative to other traditional methods of payments that include a fee for merchants.”

25 October 2021

South Korea-based fintech company Kakao Pay has announced plans to go public in November.

The fintech will offer a total of 17 million shares in the IPO to raise up to KRW1.5trn ($1.28bn). The offering price was fixed at KRW90,000.

The main underwriters for the deal are Samsung Securities, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

In a statement, Kakao Pay said that it will use the IPO proceeds to expand payment infrastructure, support its subsidiaries and build e-commerce partnerships.

At the online press conference, Kakao Pay CEO Alex Ryu said: “Kakao Pay is fundamentally a financial platform, and we seek to maintain symbiotic relationships of mutual growth with other financial institutions.

“Since the digital convergence is accelerated in all areas including online payment and financial services, we expect to increase our market share significantly through unrivalled number of users and the wide ecosystem of cooperative companies supported by our superior technology.”

25 October 2021

Latin American payment solution provider Ebanx has finalised the purchase of Brazilian payments company Juno, following the nod of the Central Bank of Brazil.

Founded in 2014, Juno enables digital commerce through billing and banking services to over 35,000 small and medium companies in Brazil.

Its platform enables merchants in the country to sell online through Pix, boleto bancário, and credit cards. It also enables merchants to manage their payments flow in their own digital accounts.

The addition of Juno is expected to bolster Ebanx’s payment operations in Brazil.

Ebanx CEO and co-founder João Del Valle said: “With the arrival of Juno, we have strengthened our vision of being a leader in payments in Latin America, as the preferred partner for businesses and consumers in every market in the region. Without a doubt, Juno’s expertise and solutions will take us to another level of possibilities and service for our customers.”

25 October 2021

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly looking into Visa’s partnerships with large fintech firms including Square, Stripe, and PayPal as part of an ongoing antitrust probe.

The financial incentives provided by the American payment giant to these fintechs are now being analysed by antitrust investigators, WSJ reported citing people with knowledge of the development.

Investigators are looking at whether these deals made the fintechs refrain from leveraging other card networks and payment technologies, the sources said.

DOJ launched its antitrust probe of Visa in March this year to examine whether the firm reduced merchants’ ability to route debit-card transactions over less-expensive networks.

Visa, the largest US payments network, allows fintech firms to use its rails for transactions with a fee.

According to sources, Visa offered to minimise its fee for Square and send performance payments to the firm that would increase when Square makes more transactions.

25 October 2021

Quadient, and Flywire have formed a strategic partnership to automate and digitise B2B payments.

This partnership will see Quadient’s cloud-based accounts receivable (AR) management and automation solution, YayPay by Quadient, bring payment solutions of Flywire to its B2B clients.

As YayPay’s footprint and customer base has grown internationally, the firm felt an increasing need to offer seamless cross-border payments.

Flywire’s solution for B2B brings together next-gen payments platform, payment network and vertical-specific software and embed them into the YayPay platform.

Customers of Quadient will stand to benefit from dynamic payments solutions. Firms will be able to accept and settle payments in over 240 countries and in over 140 currencies.

Users of YayPay will be able to use Flywire when conducting transactions and make payments using direct debit or electronic banking internationally.

YayPay users also access Flywire’s FX management and currency exchange, automated reconciliation and local collection and settlement.

25 October 2021

BNPL firm Klarna has struck a strategic partnership with digital payments firm Stripe to help retailers worldwide offer flexible payment options to their consumers and boost their revenues.

The partnership will enable retailers using Stripe across the US and 19 countries in Europe to activate Klarna as the preferred payment method for checkout.

According to Klarna, the initial results show that the integration of Klarna’s payment method led to an average 27% increase in sales for retailers using Stripe.

The company also claims that there has been a 41% growth in average order volume for retailers using Klarna and a 36% increase in the purchase frequency.

Klarna chief technology officer Koen Köppen said: “Over the past years, Klarna and Stripe redefined the e-commerce experience for millions of consumers and global retailers.

“Together with Stripe, we will be a true growth partner for our retailers of all sizes, allowing them to maximise their entrepreneurial success through our joint services.”

22 October 2021

Payfare, which offers banking solutions for gig workforce, has announced that it is integrating with Plaid, a data transfer network that powers fintech and digital finance products.

The integration will enable Payfare users swiftly connect their account to their selected apps and services facilitating the overall onboarding process.

Plaid allows consumers to connect financial accounts at more than 11,000 institutions and around 5,500 apps.

Additionally, the move will help Payfare launch banking features and credit products, that are currently under development, early next year.

As a global financial technology company, Payfare powers digital banking and instant payment solutions for gig workers. Its counts Uber, Lyft and DoorDash and others as its clients.

Payfare founding partner and CEO Marco Margiotta said: “The expansion of our platform to include open banking is part of Payfare’s strategic growth plan to deliver new offerings to gig workers while opening up new revenue streams for the Company.”