Today In Payments: Stimulus, Vaccine Key To Full Recovery By End Of 2021; Chinese Watchdog Warns More Big Tech Rules Looming

In today’s top news, economists expect the economy to recover back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021, and China’s banking watchdog warns of further Big Tech regulations. Plus, online lending startup SoFi is looking to go public through a SPAC.

Economists: Stimulus, Vaccine Key To Full Recovery By Year-End 2021

The U.S. economic slowdown fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to continue into 2021 but could start bouncing back by mid-year as the population gets vaccinated, according to a December survey from the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). Of the surveyed forecasters, 73 percent expect the economy to see pre-pandemic recovery by late 2021.

Top Chinese Watchdog Warns More Big Tech Rules Looming

The top banking and insurance watchdog in China is looking to crack down on the perceived Big Tech monopoly of financial data and further curb abuses of power, and will especially examine the “spillover” cross-sector between financial and technology.

Report: Digital Lender SoFi Eyes IPO Via SPAC

Social Finance (SoFi), a San Francisco-based online lending startup, is holding talks about selling to a blank-check acquisition company to debut on the stock market. The company, which was valued at $4.8 billion in a private fundraising round last year, has talked with multiple special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).

Capital One Halts BNPL Transactions On Its Credit Cards

Capital One Financial Corp is putting a stop to buy now, pay later (BNPL) transactions on its credit cards, calling the dealings “risky for customers and the banks that serve them.”

Report: Digital ID and Video-Based KYC Help Lenders Onboard SMBs

The pandemic has put small businesses in a world of financial hurt, with many looking to lenders for critical support. But lenders are facing their own challenges as they try to verify potential clients’ identities quickly and remotely. In the Digital Identity Tracker, Prasad G R, operations head at digital lender Capital Float, explains how pairing digital identity methods and video-based KYC processes can help lenders safely — and swiftly — onboard clients.

Synctera Brings ‘FinTech As A Service’ To Community Banks

FinTechs want to offer compliant banking services, while community banks want new ways to grow deposits. Peter Hazlehurst, CEO of Synctera, tells Karen Webster that Synctera is a next-gen banking-services platform that facilitates FinTech scale by enabling banks to leverage their current compliance and account-servicing capabilities in new ways. It’s FinTech as a Service, and it launches today.

With Capped Fees, Dining Aggregators May Face Tough Post-Covid Future

Cities and even entire states are instituting caps on delivery aggregators. In the meantime, vaccines may free up consumers to dine out with confidence. That could spell trouble for DoorDash and its competitors.