Today in the Connected Economy: H&R Block Taps Galileo for Mobile Banking

Today in the connected economy, H&R Block turns to FinTech Galileo to power its Spruce mobile banking platform, and China’s Tencent joins forces with Korea’s WireBarley.

Also, some sobering news about the number of people living paycheck to paycheck, Wheel CEO Michelle Davey tells PYMNTS’ Karen Webster about how the lines are blurring between virtual and in-office patient care and more.

FinTech Galileo Powers H&R Block’s Spruce Mobile Banking

Galileo’s financial technology is powering Spruce, H&R Block’s mobile banking platform. Launched in January, Spruce offers a spending account with a debit card, a connected savings account, early paycheck access and overdraft platform.

“Spruce has entered the market at a time when consumers across demographics are adopting more digital banking solutions,” Galileo said in a news release. “In fact, 44% of U.S. consumers use digital-only banks as a primary or secondary account, while 61% of consumers say they are somewhat or highly likely to switch to a digital-only bank as their primary provider, Galileo research shows.”

Korean FinTech WireBarley Collaborates With TenCent on Payments to China

Korean money transfer service WireBarley is working with with Tencent Financial Technology for overseas remittances, becoming the first Korean FinTech to collaborate on inbound remittance service into China through Weixin, the Chinese version of Tencent’s WeChat.

“The partnership between the two tech companies is expected to further enhance the overall user convenience,” the companies said. “When a WireBarley user sends money to China, a recipient can now easily receive the money through Weixin, which has gradually evolved from a social communication app to being a way of life in China.”

Weixin will become a payment option for transfers to China from WireBarley’s 11 sending countries, including Korea, the U.S. and Canada.

Ranks of Paycheck-to-Paycheck Consumers Expected to Swell in 2022

Some recent research by PYMNTS and LendingClub uncovered some sobering data: 61% of consumers were living paycheck to paycheck in December, a number that has been steadily growing since May and is now approaching pre-pandemic levels.

Anuj Nayar, financial health officer at LendingClub, told PYMNTS that the numbers are likely to increase as macro-economic factors — inflation, in particular — continue to hinder attempts to save money for the proverbial rainy day.

“It’s not good news,” Nayar said. “There’s a lot of pressure as people are just trying to get back to normal.”

Marqeta, Plaid Team on ACH Transfers for Marqeta Customer Accounts

Global card issuing platform Marqeta has joined forces with data network Plaid, which powers programs that simplify things automated clearing house (ACH) transfers and bank account authentication methods.

The companies say the new tech will allow Marqeta’s customers to more easily initiate ACH transactions and verify and link external accounts faster.

In addition, Marqeta’s customers will gain the ability to update users on transfer statuses with real-time notifications and take care of initiation, cancellations and returns using Marqeta’s application programming interfaces (APIs).

‘Telehealth 2.0’ Will Blur Lines Between Virtual and In-Office Care

As healthcare — like everything else — moves to omnichannel approaches using platform efficiencies and capabilities, it’s an ideal moment for this vital sector to modernize. The move to connected healthcare is being championed by an increasingly number of innovators, including Wheel.

“The very beginning of what we call ‘Telehealth 1.0’ was really just mimicking an in-person visit and bringing it online,” Wheel founder and CEO, Michelle Davey, told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster. “Now, virtual care is going much further than just telehealth.”

That shift means clinicians going into patients’ homes, Davey said.

“We’re seeing clues from around the house, from their environment,” she continued. “We can see things like temperatures in the home. We’re getting a lot more data points than we were [from] inpatient, and we’re using those to make the right treatment and care [plans] for patients.”

Privacy Coin Monero May Be Facing Security Concerns of its Own

As a so-called privacy coin, Monero is designed to make it impossible for anyone to trace it by breaking the chain connecting transactions. However, it’s now facing a potential crisis as a growing concentration of power calls the security of those transactions into question.

Blockchain transactions are considered immutable, but there is a big asterisk next to that statement: A 51% attack, which lets anyone who gains control of more than half of the computing power used mine rewards by adding a new block of transactions to a blockchain to seize control. This would let them double-spend funds used in transactions, thus rendering payments made through Monero untrustworthy.

The problem comes from the growth of one of the Monero mining pools — individual miners who pool computing power and rewards. At this point, that pool has come to control 44% of that computing power, or hash power, giving it much too close to a majority stake for comfort.

Peloton Operations, Supply Chain Execs Exit

Peloton has overhauled its operations, laying off workers and bringing in new management. Departures include Chief Operating Officer Mariana Garavaglia, Chief Business Officer Brad Olson and Jon Adee, who was in charge of the supply chain.

The departures highlight the impact the past weeks have had on the company, with some investors saying they hope the shakeup makes Peleton more attractive to a suitor.

New CEO Barry McCarthy, formerly of Spotify Technology, said he’s focused on turning around the company and has no plans to sell the exercise equipment maker. McCarthy says other opportunities are available, including doubling the company’s on-demand content offerings, expanding into new companies and adding products.