President Donald Trump has reportedly asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) to consider the impact of nixing required quarterly earnings reports in favor of half-year reports. Reports in The Washington Post on Friday (Aug. 17) said Trump tweeted the proposal would “allow greater flexibility and save money.” ” “We are not thinking far enough out,” the President said Friday morning in front of reporters. MORE

China’s largest retailer, JD.com , has announced a new blockchain technology platform that will allow enterprise customers to build, host and use their own blockchain applications. MORE

(The Paypers) The number of Russians donating online has increased by 40% in the first six months of 2018 in comparison to 2017, according to a study by Yandex.Checkout. MORE

A few weeks from now will mark the 72nd anniversary of a federal court decision that found grocery store chain The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and its founders, George and John Hartford, guilty of engaging in anti-competitive behavior. That story is the subject of a terrific book written by economist Marc Levinson , “The Great A&P And The Struggle For Small Business In America”. It’s a great read and the source of several of the data points quoted in my piece. MORE

(The Paypers) Alipay has partnered with Global Tax Free (GTF) to launch the first paperless mobile tax refund function in South Korea MORE

China’s banking and insurance regulator has asked banks and insurers to examine and tackle “weak points” in the country’s infrastructure sector. According to Reuters , the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has called on the country’s financial institutions to give additional support to infrastructure investment, as well as importers and exporters. MORE

(The Paypers) USA Technologies , a payment technology service provider, has made public that Admiral Pepsi has signed a multi-year agreement for USAT`s ePort Connect Service MORE

How on time a traveler is for a flight seems to be consistently correlated with how long it will take them to go from the airport’s front door to the boarding area before the doors close. From pre-screening through screening, to that final run through the airport to find the right gate, it’s an exercise and anxiety that no one loves. MORE

How to get set for CECL. In my last blog post , I started to outline my “10 Requirements for an Effective CECL Software Solution,” where I focused on three requirements your organization needs to do to get ready for CECL implementation. MORE

It’s an inconvenience many field-based employees face: being forced to dip into their own personal accounts to make company purchases for work-related projects, then enduring the hassle of filing and waiting for reimbursement. MORE

(The Paypers) In 2022, China`s online retail market is expected to hit USD 1.8 trillion, bolstered by local tech companies Alibaba and JD.com, according to a report by Forrester MORE

(The Paypers) Hitachi Capital America has announced that its trade finance team is in the process of expanding its capabilities to Mexico MORE

(The Paypers) Previse has raised USD 7 million in Series A funding round led by Augmentum Fintech , Bessemer Venture Partners , with participation from Hambro Perks and existing angel investors MORE

Despite the fact that customers want their food fast, restaurants have to work hard to encourage mobile ordering, and to keep customers engaged with incentives to prevent them from deleting the app after use. For Chicago-based Middle Eastern food chain Naf Naf Grill , that means focusing on reward points, while also making order fulfillment as speedy as possible. The fast casual restaurant is a recent addition to the order-ahead scene, having launched its service in January 2018. MORE

To help customers avoid the lengthy lines of traditional checkout counters, supermarkets are turning to self-checkout technology, along with revamped store designs. When retailers don’t have to dedicate space in their brick-and-mortar locations to cash registers, consumers can enjoy less friction during checkout. To make this a reality for established retailers, companies such as Standard Cognition are working to put self-checkout technology in existing stores. MORE

Variety, we are told, is the spice of life – and that it is important to always try new things. Sometimes this is very good advice – and it has forced any number of people out of a rut. But, of course, – “a change will do you good” has also been the start of many, many ill-advised haircuts, as not all changes are created equal. MORE

(The Paypers) China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation has announced it is developing a blockchain invoice system MORE

Two new patent filings from Walmart show that the retailer is moving further into virtual reality , which would enable consumers to shop from home in ways different from today’s eCommerce experience. The patent filings do not guarantee that the retailer will ever build or deploy the technology described in those documents, but they do show how the retailer is envisioning future shopping. MORE

Summer — lazy and hazy days, at least for some. But not for business owners forced to chase late payments. To that end, Hitachi Capital reported that, as noted in a survey of 1,200 businesses conducted by YouGov, late payments bedevil several verticals. In fact, the problem is so widespread that it is being described as a “late payment epidemic.” Of the businesses surveyed, 63 percent stated that they had to deal with late payments for invoices stretching back to June 2018. MORE

(The Paypers) Sthaler has partnered with CP Plus to develop a parking technology aimed at increasing security for ID verification and payment authentication at hospital parking sites MORE

Today, we’re talking about senior care, the Ponzi scheme of ambition, Amazon patents, and more, including: It’s time for Uber to exit autonomous vehicles. WeWork China: Will it dominate, or retreat like Uber? One retailer who isn’t millennial-obsessed. Energy storage startups. Sugar gets a revamp with biotech. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft patent analysis. Time to put Uber’s autonomy dreams to rest. Want the full post? Become a CB Insights customer. MORE

(The Paypers) Cryptocurrency exchange Cointree and automated billing platform Gobbill have teamed up to enable Australians to pay bills with cryptocurrency MORE

Reliance Retail and Alibaba are negotiating a partnership in the Indian retail segment. According to reports , the firms are pushing to build “a mega Indian retail joint venture” with an investment of “at least $5 billion” to mount a challenge against existing players, including Flipkart, and Amazon India. Alibaba is reportedly looking to acquire a large portion of Reliance Retail in order to build and expand a digital commerce venture. MORE

(The Paypers) Shopee and DHL eCommerce have associated as partners to offer domestic delivery for Shopee sellers and buyers across Malaysia MORE

PepsiCo is buying Israel-based SodaStream for $3.2 billion, according to reports from CNBC out this morning. That values the beverage startup at $144 a share — a sum Pepsi will be paying in cash for SodaStream’s outstanding stock, a 32 percent premium to its 30-day volume weighted average price. The acquisition gives Pepsi access into consumers’ buying behaviors that extends beyond stores. MORE

(The Paypers) UK-based payments company Barclaycard has announced working with blockchain startup Crowdz to digitise the business-to-business supply chain MORE

The business of music is the business of payment flow , with all that money-moving among consumers, artists, labels and other participants involved providing songs, dance, video and related content to fans. It seems like a criminal understatement to say that that business has changed (and keeps changing) as a result of digital technology — in hindsight, “reinvention” might end up being more accurate. MORE

(The Paypers) Kienlong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Kienlongbank) and JCB International have announced the release of Kienlongbank - JCB Credit Card MORE

Barclaycard has partnered with Silicon Valley startup Crowdz to make the process of selling and finding business services easier. While consumer payments have been revolutionized through mobile technology, Barclays points out that things have been slower in the business-to-business (B2B) space. In fact, only one in four transactions in the supply chain are digitized. MORE

The Omaha World-Herald is reporting that Cobalt Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Papillion, NE, plans to switch from a federal to a state charter. The former SAC Federal Credit Union will become an Iowa chartered credit union. As an Iowa state charter, the credit union will add Lancaster and Dodge Counties in Nebraska to its field of membership (FOM). The State of Iowa and the National Credit Union Administration have approved the proposed charter change. MORE

The great mobile payment revolution is finally underway – albeit in a form that no one predicted in 2014 when the hype was really building. MORE

Consumerization in the corporate payments space may be no more present than it is in the business travel arena. Employees are naturally using the same technologies and payment tools while they travel for work as they do in their personal lives, and travel managers must keep that in mind when designing travel programs that meet both corporates’ and employees’ needs. MORE

Variety, we are told, is the spice of life — and it is important to always try new things. Sometimes this is very good advice, and it has forced a number of people out of a rut. But, of course, “a change will do you good” has also been the start of many ill-advised haircuts, as not all changes are created equal. MORE

(The Paypers) China-based ecommerce company JD.com has announced the launch of JD Blockchain Open Platform, designed for corporate e-invoicing MORE

We are all often encouraged to think outside of the box. Generally, the advice indicates that one should abandon their preconceptions — the walls of their box — in the hopes of inspiring a creative new take, approach or strategy. It is, in most cases anyway, not terribly literal advice. Then again, most of us are not literally in the “box” business the way the team at BARK is. MORE

(The Paypers) Walmart and Flipkart have announced the closing of the agreements for Walmart to become the largest shareholder in the Flipkart Group MORE

Farmers & Merchants will pay $89 million for the parent of Bank of Geneva. Community banking M&A Capital Growth strategies Ohio Indiana MORE