Today in the Connected Economy: Mastercard Names New BNPL Partners

Today in the connected economy, Mastercard names a number of new partners to its buy now, pay later program, Mastercard Installments.

Also, inflation leads McDonalds to hike prices in the U.K., and Ant Group’s Jack Ma gives up control of that company as the Chinese government begins to play a larger role.

Mastercard Installments Adds HSBC, JPMorgan, NatWest, Others as BNPL Partners

Mastercard has announced several new global partners to its Mastercard Installments buy now, pay later program, in an bid to enable small businesses to offer their customers flexible payment options.

The new partners include HSBC, J.P. Morgan and NatWest in the U.K.; Cross River, Evolve Bank & Trust, Jifiti, Live Oak Bank, MOCA Financial and WebBank in the U.S.; and Saudi Arabia’s Saudi National Bank.

“We believe no matter how you pay, a foundation of strong protections must be in place,” said Craig Vosburg, chief product officer at Mastercard. “Trust is the currency of innovation. Using a Responsible-by-Design approach ensures that we stay ahead of consumer, merchant and bank needs and expectations, continuously building confidence in the payments ecosystem by providing choice at scale.”

Inflation Redefines ‘Value’ at McDonald’s, Other Fast Food Chains

As food prices continue rising, some brands are finding their dollar menus too costly to maintain. Take McDonald’s, which is hiking the price of its value menu cheeseburger by as much as 20% in the U.K.

“This summer our restaurants will be adding between 10 and 20p to a number of menu items impacted most by inflation,” said Alistair Macrow, CEO of McDonald’s U.K. and Ireland. “We understand that any price increases are not good news, but we have delayed and minimized these changes for as long as we could.”

That news comes as consumer prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages in the U.K. rose 9.8% year over year in June, according to the country’s Office for National Statistics.

As Jack Ma Gives up Ant Control, the Super App Now ‘Belongs’ to the Government

Jack Ma is reportedly giving up control of China’s Ant Group, a move that comes two years after Chinese regulators blocked what would have been a $34 billion initial public offering.

Meanwhile, authorities in China have spent the past several months reshaping the company, making it into something that resembles a financial holding company that would be overseen by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank.

Ma will apparently move at least some of his voting rights to other executives. As PYMNTS has reported, Hangzhou Yunbo, an investment vehicle for Ma, controls two other entities that together own a 50.5% share in Ant Group.

Payments FinTech FinLync Teams With Workday Ventures

Payments FinTech FinLync has landed a strategic investment from Workday Ventures and while also becoming part of that company’s software partner program.

“By integrating with Workday Financial Management, FinLync intends to power real-time payments, and multi-bank API connectivity to deliver a best-in-class experience to joint customers,” FinLync said in a news release.

With this collaboration, FinLync hopes to give Workday Financial Management customers the ability to initiate real-time payments while easing with common treasury pain points.