Today In Payments: Mastercard, Lloyds Bank Team For Open Banking; Amazon Job Posting Hints At Cryptos’ Retail Future

In today’s top news, Mastercard and Lloyds Bank have teamed up to launch a new open banking API for merchants and consumers. Plus, big tech companies are looking to expand into cryptocurrency, and Vodafone is mulling an M-Pesa spinoff.

Mastercard Teams With Lloyds Bank For Open Banking API

Lloyds Bank is teaming up with Mastercard to launch PayFrom Bank, a solution that enables people to make direct payments to merchants from their bank accounts. The solution gives both sellers and consumers choice when it is time to check out.

Amazon, Big Tech Job Postings Hint At Cryptos’ Retail Future

New job postings on Amazon, Apple and large retail players suggest that plans are in the works to introduce cryptocurrency into the connected eCommerce ecosystem.

Vodafone Mulls M-Pesa Spin Off

Vodafone is considering spinning off its popular African mobile money service M-Pesa, which offers peer-to-peer transactions in countries that include Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. It has since begun exploring new services, such as savings, small loans and payroll.

Millennial/Gen Z Card Spending Up 30 Pct Over 2019 Levels

American Express is seeing a strong rebound in consumer and business card spending — in some cases to pre-pandemic levels. Management said younger consumers led the way in, well, consuming, as pent-up demand is starting to be unleashed.

Report: Prepaid Debit Cards Seen As Safe, Simple Way To Bank Unbanked Americans

Only 7 million Americans have no connection to a financial institution but that’s 7 million people who are locked out of the financial services and digital payments opportunities. Commonwealth National Bank CEO Sidney King told PYMNTS that small steps, like issuing prepaid debit cards, can go a long way toward reaching those consumers.

Rampant Check Fraud Problem Puts The Challenge In Challenger Banks

Challenger banks have made an impressive effort in re-bundling the financial services they’ve spent the last decade unbundling, Ingo CEO Drew Edwards told Karen Webster. But they will have issues to overcome — particularly around check fraud.

SPAC And IPO Listings Reheat Ahead Of Robinhood And Other ‘Upsized’ Pending Deals

In the wake of some China-led regulatory strife that shook the sector, interest in IPO and SPAC listings has firmed up again, just as the investors await the upcoming Robinhood debut next week.