Visa’s PayWorks Acquisition, Amazon’s Prime Day Top This Week’s News

We hope you had a great week, and that you didn’t miss any important news from the world of payments and commerce. The PYMNTS Weekender, as always, has you covered. Stories this week included Visa and PayPal moves, a look at Facebook’s Libra project and new research on gig worker pay advances, among other topics.

Top News

Facebook Slapped With $5B FTC Fine, But Still Has Lots Of Friends

Even with reports of fake news, election tampering and user data breaches, Facebook still has a lot of friends: Its user base has grown and revenue has soared. And, despite reporting on July 12 that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had reached an agreement to fine Facebook $5 billion, shares in the social media company were up $3.84 and closed at $204.87.

Payroll Fraud Could Cost KeyCorp $90M

Cleveland-based regional banking firm KeyCorp disclosed a massive instance of fraud that could potentially come at a cost of $90 million. The company said in a K-8 filing that the fraud involved a “business customer” and that it was discovered “on or about” July 9. The bank filed a suit against the company claiming that it “fraudulently initiated wire transfers” and that its CEO knew there weren’t sufficient funds to cover the transfers.

PayPal’s Xoom Goes Global and Door-to-Door

PayPal is rolling out international digital money transfer service Xoom in the United Kingdom as well as 31 markets spanning Europe. The company noted that “the service will benefit millions,” including more than nine million people living in the U.K., and will pay out remittances to other individuals living in China, India, the Philippines and beyond.

Mastercard: The ePayables Opportunity

ePayables are gaining traction with financial professionals, with both small and large organizations aware of the option as they seek to decrease their reliance on cutting checks. In a study, which queried 400 financial decision-makers in 12 industries, 35 percent of firms said they intend to reduce their paper check reliance through the next few years.

Why Visa Acquired PayWorks

Visa has acquired Munich-based payment gateway PayWorks. The plan is to fully integrate the cloud-based processing solutions of PayWorks with Visa’s CyberSource digital payment management platform and large acquirer base.

Trackers/Reports

How PSD2 Is Changing ING Bank’s API Strategy

Banks are innovating with their application programming interface (API) platforms to allow for more third parties as eTailers are preparing for a potential loss in revenue with the security frictions that Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) might bring. Both are looking to maintain the quick, efficient service end customers expect for transactions and eCommerce purchases.

Gig Workers and the $178B Pay Advance Potential

Gig workers are starting to receive their wages before a completed job. Just over four in 10 – or 43.8 percent – of U.S. gig workers received pay advances for their services. The availability of pay advances could be a significant game-changer for the gig economy. With this tool, workers would no longer have to stretch their dollars between gigs to make ends meet with access to pay advances.

Fun, Cool and Otherwise Interesting

A Brief History Of Libra

It has been approximately a month since Facebook unveiled its vision for its Libra digital currency. Facebook, in short, seeks to create the internet of money – and it has attracted a lot of high-caliber experts and big-name support. Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Andreessen Horowitz, Stripe and PayU are just a short sampling of the 28 founding members of the Libra Association.

House Questions Big Tech Over Antitrust Concerns

Through a series of Capitol Hill hearings, the size and scope of “big tech” was in focus on Tuesday (July 16). Facebook was grilled about Libra, while there was a separate panel on Google and censorship. And, in other news, Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook executives testified about their business practices before the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee.

Is China the Roadmap – or Red Flag – for Digital ID Verification?

China holds a special place in the realm of digital, one where government scrutiny is pervasive and where citizens seem to have a somewhat high degree of comfort with such scrutiny. The country’s digital economy push comes as the government has also digitalized the national ID card, which every citizen who is older than 16 must wield. The most recently issued cards have chips as well as encryption.

Prime Day 2019: Amazon’s All-Time Biggest Shopping Event

Amazon said its Prime Day extravaganza was its largest shopping day ever – bigger than any previous Cyber Monday and Black Friday put together. According to reports, the company said Prime Day was the “largest shopping event in Amazon history.” The online retailer also said it sold more Amazon devices, such as the Fire TV Stick and the Echo Dot, than ever before.