I just spotted a new innovation in India from Paytm, who I consider friends of mine after interviewing their founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma for Digital Human a few years ago. What’s the innovation? Talking payments. The Paytm soundbox – which works both online and offline with QR codes – allows merchants and customers to hear their transactions……

Paris-based BNP Paribas is working with telecom service provider Orange to provide its 21.8 million customers with personal financing solutions, according to a June 26 release. The “tailored financing” will provide customers with loans up to 3,000 euros ($3,200) to buy mobile phones, according to the release.  “If you look at the core activities where…

HSBC continued to invest in digitalizing its retail and transaction banking businesses in the first half of 2024.  “The steps we’ve taken to change our retail business model and our continued investment in people and digitization have made wealth a key driver of revenue growth,” Chief Executive Noel Quinn said during today’s H1 earnings call.…

Frost Bank is investing in its AI, payments and customer onboarding experience to remain competitive and penetrate new markets.  In the second quarter, the $49 billion San Antonio-based bank upped its technology spend 8% year over year to $35.9 million, according to its July 25 earnings report. “We have plans to use AI … [and]…

Dishonest consumers are upping their fraud game as “friendly fraud” becomes the No. 1 problem in credit card disputes, but tech providers and merchants alike are upping their ability to fight through data and AI.  Friendly fraud and chargeback fees cost businesses more than $117 billion in 2023, according to a PayPal report. Friendly fraud,…

Fintech funding saw a rebound in the second quarter as global funding increased to $8.9 billion, up 11% year over year.  The U.S. saw the most fintech funding during the quarter at $4.8 billion across 324 deals, followed by Europe with $1.9 billion across 185 deals, according to data service provider CB Insights’ Q2 State…

I just found an interesting blog by Plaid: 10 fintech trends for 2024 that define the industry’s future What are the 10 fintech trends? Trend #1: Consumers will use more fintech apps than ever Trend #2: Fintech increasingly provides financial stability during uncertain times Trend #3: Emerging payment technologies will become as normalized as the……

Things we’re reading today include … One-third of customers would change bank after outage (consultancy.uk) UK’s Open Banking Success: 10 Million Users (pymnts.com) Challenging The Banks | Global Finance Magazine (gfmag.com) Revolut’s UK Banking License Is Vital – But Could It IPO in the US? (forbes.com) Japan’s Rakuten Slides Most Since May on Fintech Reorganization……

In a long feature, Bloomberg describes how Donald Trump has become a crypto fan. Trump Bitcoin 2024: How NFTs Made Him a Crypto Cheerleader – Bloomberg My reading: it’s based on his vanity. The cryptoworld created a whole range of NFT trading cards of Trump a few years ago and, because it made a lot……

Things we’re reading today include … Trump Bitcoin 2024: How NFTs Made Him a Crypto Cheerleader – Bloomberg Russia to allow crypto payments in international trade to counter sanctions | Reuters Ripple and Fenasbac Join Forces to Accelerate Fintech Innovation in Brazil (cointrust.com) Top 10 Gen AI platforms | FinTech Magazine Metro Bank on track……