(The Paypers) Apple Pay has launched in Norway for customers of Nordea and Santander Bank , Norway being the last among the Nordic countries to implement the service MORE

(The Paypers) Verified.Me, a Canada-based mobile digital identity validation service supported by large Canadian banks and telcos, will launch this fall MORE

(The Paypers) Westpac and Fit Pay have announced an agreement to extend contactless payment capabilities to a range of new devices, including the latest smartwatches from Garmin International MORE

Is a new cryptocurrency underway? Former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Sheila Bair spoke at length on cryptocurrencies and the prospect of a “Fedcoin” at the annual CB Insights Future of Fintech conference. FUTURE OF FINTECH 2018. MORE

Ride-hailing app Lyft is continuing to target its business travel users through enhancements of expense management support. The company announced on its blog this week that its B2B service, Lyft Business, will be upgraded with more efficient documentation of employee rides using the app. The platform will display several expense codes from within the Lyft platform that riders can choose from to categorize their expenses for easier filing, the company noted. MORE

(The Paypers) Coupa Software has announced the partnership with the Italian telecommunications company Fastweb MORE

(The Paypers) Brazil-based fintech company Quod has selected LexisNexis Risk Solutions , a global, big data technology and analytics company to be its technical services provider MORE

(The Paypers) Integrated Biometrics has revealed that its mobile, FBI-certified 10-print fingerprint scanners have become the standard for Mexican financial services organizations MORE

Apple is giving customers 15 percent off purchases made in the Adidas iOS app when users buy the merchandise with Apple Pay. According to news from Cult of Mac , the promotion runs through June 28. The Adidas app can be downloaded, free of charge, from the App Store. The company continues to find ways to attract users to the service. In May, Apple ran a promotion offering customers free grocery delivery with Instacart when they made purchases via the digital payment service. MORE

(The Paypers) Ecommerce in Italy is expected to be worth EUR 23.1 billion at the end of 2018, with an increase of 9%, Ecommerce Foundation report shows MORE

Quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain Chipotle Mexican Grill is gearing up for some big changes as it revamps its menu, adding new items like quesadillas and nachos. New grills need to be purchased, for example, and the assembly line needs to be reworked, The New York Times reported. “We’re We’re not built right now to make a great quesadilla,” said Chipotle’s chief executive officer, Brian Niccol. The worst-case scenario is the person in front of you orders a quesadilla.”. MORE

(The Paypers) Google has announced plans to improve biometrics in its upcoming operating system Android P MORE

InHand 4G LTE ATM modem/routers are ideal for wireless ATM operations, providing faster speed with lower cost, easy installation, advanced security, always-on reliability MORE

(The Paypers) PayPal has agreed to acquire fraud prevention technology company Simility for USD 120 million, according to Reuters MORE

Dollar General ’s new mobile app allows shoppers to use their smartphones to scan and pay for items in the store. According to news from Chain Store Age , the discount chain’s DG Go! app allows customers to use their phones to scan items as they shop and check out directly through the app. The app, which was released in May, is available in Apple’s App Store and on Google Play. MORE

As BBVA steps up its digital efforts, the bank is merging its Beeva and i4S units to form a company called BBVA Next Technologies. The company’s 1,200 tech workers will focus on areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), the blockchain and cloud computing, according to their press release. MORE

Amazon’s Peter Faricy, the vice president of Amazon Marketplace, the remaining executive in the unit, has seen his role in the company reduced. CNBC , citing an internal document, reported that Faricy, who has worked at Amazon for twelve years, has no one reporting to him except for his assistant — many of the functions overseen by him and his former boss Sebastian Gunningham, who left the company for WeWork, have been shifted to the head of Amazon’s retail group Doug Herrington. MORE

Here are two ideas that appear contradictory, but are combining in a way that could significantly change convenience store commerce and payments: First, those retail locations, once dismissively called “gas stations” — where hot dogs resided under heat lamps for days on end — are developing into places that resemble the warm, welcoming country stores of the olden days. MORE

Danny Meyer, Union Square Hospitality Group CEO, recently penned a blog post about why his restaurants will continue to go cashless. But is that really what consumers want MORE

It’s a stamp of approval and financial reward in an increasingly competitive field: AiFi , a U.S.-based based company about to launch major tests of its cashier-less grocery store technology, took home the top honors in Visa’s Everywhere Initiative contest in the United States. MORE

Consumers love direct deposits when it comes to recurring disbursements, but they aren’t always satisfied with paper checks. When it comes to banking, credit unions notched new members in February. MORE

MoviePass , the movie theater subscription service, is changing its pricing — the company is adding “high-demand” pricing to the mix. Business Insider , citing MoviePass chief executive Mitch Lowe, reported that in the coming weeks, users will pay an extra $2 for movies that are popular with subscribers to the service. “At At certain times for certain films — on opening weekend — there could be an additional charge for films,” Lowe said in the report. MORE

In the quest to make payments smarter, speeding up transaction times isn’t always enough. Payments must also be made safe from fraud and other cybercrimes. . MORE

Google has made talking to Google Assistant easier with the launch of Continued Conversation. For the Google Assistant to have a natural conversation, it should be able to understand when it’s being spoken to and should be capable of responding to several requests during an interaction,” wrote Jaclyn Konzelmann, Product Manager of Google Assistant. “We’re We’re taking another step forward in making your interactions with the Google Assistant more natural with Continued Conversation.”. MORE

Bithumb might be able to reduce the losses resulting from a recent hack, CoinDesk reported. Though the Bithumb said it reported losses of about $31.5 million to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), the South Korean crypto exchange said the final figure might be lower as it works with crypto exchanges and others. “We have announced about 35 billion Korean won of damages,” the exchange stated. MORE

A federal judge in New York has ruled that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is unconstitutional. According to Reuters , the decision by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska prohibits the agency from suing a company that advances money to people awaiting settlement payout, but the office of New York Attorney General (AG) Barbara Underwood can continue pursuing the case against New Jersey-based RD Legal Funding. MORE

PREMIUM – BBVA-backed Azlo has created a way for small business owners and gig economy workers to access the ACH payment network, which banks have traditionally monopolized. And now it will add cross-border payments to its offerings. MORE

Visa and Wirecard are collaborating on a digital fleet card program, the companies revealed in an announcement on Thursday (June 21). Wirecard announced on its website that it is collaborating with Visa to develop a digital, open-looped fleet card program that integrates fleet management, reporting solutions and payment authorization and security. The companies are also including fleet vehicle maintenance, accommodation and food services for customers. MORE

The best way to describe an initial public offering (IPO) that jumps double digits out of the gate? Nothing new.”. On closer look, however, the best way to describe one that jumps more than 70 percent the first day? If you’re a skeptic, it’s “too much, too fast.” If you’re anybody else: “Sizzling.”. Japanese unicorn Mercari, which came to market this week, raised $1.2 billion, pricing at the top of its range target, then saw its shares scream higher by as much as 77 percent. MORE

As the U.K.’s ’s construction industry continues to struggle with late supplier payments, a new commercial card product from Barclaycard aims to address some of the cash flow issues among small businesses (SMBs) in the sector. In an email to PYMNTS, Barclaycard announced the rollout of a co-branded commercial card suite for SMBs in the U.K. MORE

The industry was committed and worked hard to meet the January 3, 2018 deadline for the go-live of Mifid II. It is evident now that market participants need to analyse the potential impact across firms in terms of resources and budget to be compliant ahead of SFTR transaction reporting go-live in MORE

Sports fans can’t get enough of their favorite players and teams: Their social media accounts oftentimes have hundreds of thousands or millions of followers. But how can teams harness the eCommerce potential of these accounts? They can turn their followers into ticketholders to the next game. MORE

For a long time, expensive underwriting kept banks away from small business lending. But not anymore. The most recent example of a bank taking note of this area is KeyBank’s acquisition of Bolstr’s SMB-focused digital lending platform, which it announced this week. MORE

(The Paypers) MYbank has announced the launch of the Star Plan to open up its AI, computing and risk management functionalities to financial institutions in China MORE

Following eight years of development, restaurant automation solutions provider Creator is gearing up to debut its robot burger restaurant in September 2018. The company is backed by investors such as Google’s GV, according to reports , and raised at least $18.3 million last year. Creator co-founder and CEO Alex Vardakostas has said his restaurant has many advantages. MORE

In some industries, it’s more difficult to scale a business globally than in others. Insurance is one of them, according to Wayne Xu, COO of online insurance firm Zhong An. MORE

(The Paypers) Bottomline Technologies has announced the release of the 2018 B2B Payments and Working Capital Management Strategies Survey MORE