Top News In Payments: Wells Fargo Appoints Public Affairs Exec; CloudKitchen Gets $400M Investment

In today’s top payments news, Wells Fargo has appointed William M. Daley, a former White House official, to the position of vice chairman of public affairs. Also, delivery startup CloudKitchens has notched a $400 million investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). And Amazon Ring fixed a security flaw in its Ring Video Doorbell Pro.

Former Obama Chief Of Staff Tapped To Lead Wells Public Affairs

William M. Daley has been appointed to the position of Wells Fargo’s vice chairman of Public Affairs and will start his new role Nov. 13. Daley comes from a wide-ranging background in the private as well as the public sectors.

He served as chief of staff to President Barack Obama and secretary of commerce in the Clinton administration. In addition, he served as BNY Mellon vice chairman and was a member of its executive committee.

Amazon Ring Security Flaw Opened Door To Hackers

Amazon Ring fixed a security flaw in its Ring Video Doorbell Pro that could have possibly let hackers get the Wi-Fi passwords of homeowners. Cybersecurity research firm Bitdefender exposed the Amazon Ring flaw in a white paper.

In a statement sent to PYMNTS on Thursday, a Ring spokesperson said, “Customer trust is important to us and we take the security of our devices seriously. We rolled out an automatic security update addressing the issue, and it’s since been patched.”

EU: Apple Pay May Be Stifling Payments Competition

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said multiple grievances have been filed with the European Commission regarding Apple Pay and its negative effect on competition in the payments space.

Vestager said during a press conference at Web Summit 2020 in Lisbon, Portugal, “We get many, many concerns when it comes to Apple Pay for pure competition reasons.” Vestager continued, “People see that it becomes increasingly difficult to compete in the market for easy payments.”

Ex-Uber CEO Kalanick’s Startup Lands $400M From Saudi Fund

The delivery startup founded by former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, CloudKitchens, has notched a $400 million investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The startup purchases rundown buildings that are located close to city centers and makes them into “ghost” kitchens that restaurants can rent to make food specifically for delivery.

The Vitamin Shoppe On Offering Subscriptions At The POS

The Vitamin Shoppe is one of the heavy hitters in its field, with over 700 retail locations around the nation. The nutritional supplement retailer made strides in the subscription area with the launch of a replenishment-by-mail program in 2017, and the recent debut of a personalized daily vitamin pack program.

In a feature story, PYMNTS spoke with Stacey Renfro, The Vitamin Shoppe’s chief digital and customer experience officer, about the unique challenges of bringing together retail commerce and online subscriptions, as well as how the chain plans to develop its programs going forward.

Can There Be An Uber Of Furniture?

The idea behind Oliver Space is pretty simple, and would seem to fit within the larger world of subscription commerce, and even the sharing economy. The company functions as a direct-to-consumer operator, having relationships with furniture manufacturers (and a few retailers).

It provides furniture to users, who tend to be young urban professionals, for a monthly fee. That’s not all, though. Oliver Space also offers, via live chat and video conferences, advice as well as tips about crafting a good look for one’s apartment or other dwelling.