Payment Expert’s Fintech Unwrapped delivers the latest developing news that has shaped the sector over the course of the last week.
This week, Google is allowing children to open their first digital wallet with Google Pay putting the authority in the hands of their parents or guardians.
Also this week, Fiserv and Mastercard add more service options for merchants, Monzo Business reaches one million customers, Wero is delayed in its next European market, and BBVA incorporates its digital bank within its business platform.
Google Wallet arrives for under-18s
Google Wallet is rolling out kids accounts in the US for children to make payments by using the Google Family Link.
The child’s parent or guardian must set up the kids account on the Google Wallet website, while receiving updates once payments have been made to gain insights into spending habits.
A child must be under 18 to obtain a Google Wallet kids account. Children will be able to add money, set or remove spending limits, lock or unlock balances, remove or close balances, and update their PIN.
Children can tap to pay with Google Pay in stores using NFC-enabled Android or Wear OS devices.
Parents can add money and set daily spending limits, remotely lock or unlock and remove the balance from a device, and monitor the child’s balance and transaction history.
Fiserv offers value-added services for merchants with Mastercard
Fiserv and Mastercard have expanded their global partnership to bring value-added services to merchants, such as Mastercard Merchant Cloud.
Integrated into the Fiserv Commerce Hub, merchants are provided a single connection to Mastercard’s services across online, mobile and in-store channels.
For merchants operating across multiple geographies and sales channels, the partnership brings together Fiserv merchant acquiring capabilities with Mastercard advanced merchant services in an integrated platform experience.
The combined capabilities are designed to help eligible merchants innovate faster, expand into new markets and support their commercial strategies.
Sanjay Saraf, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Merchant Solutions at Fiserv, said: “By integrating Mastercard Merchant Cloud with Commerce Hub, we are expanding the commerce capabilities available to eligible merchants through an integrated platform designed to help streamline operations, support market expansion and manage payment performance, subject to availability and applicable requirements.”
Monzo Business reaches one million customers
Monzo has reached one million UK business customers after launching Monzo Business six years ago in March 2020.
The service provides business accounts with protection of funds up to £120,000. The mobile and online banking app supports integrated invoicing, tax pots and employee expense cards that start as free, and have paid tiers.
Key to the growth of Monzo Business is its Tax Pots, guaranteed funds for VAT and payments, which has generated up to £7bn across all of its customers. The Savings Pots have also seen £4bn saved from businesses.
Jordan Shwide, General Manager of Monzo Business, said: “Seeing nearly £7bn set aside in Tax Pots, over £4bn saved in Business Savings Pots, and billions of pounds processed through our Get Paid tools shows that these aren’t just features, they’re products businesses rely on every day to stay in control of their finances.”
Wero’s Luxembourg launch delay due to alignment issues
Wero’s planned launch in Luxembourg has been pushed back to September after originally meant to have been rolled out in July.
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) has already launched Wero in France, Germany and Belgium.
Banks such as BNP Paribas and BIL were set to assist the launch of the Wero app in Luxembourg, but Ralf Hamal, country relationship management lead for Belgium and Luxembourg at the EPI said Luxembourg will receive Wero once “all of the players are aligned”.
“We did want to align all the parties to do more extensive testing of the use cases — the app will enable P2P between friends, pay invoice, pay in store, pay online — it would give all of the parties much more comfort to launch on 1 September rather than 1 July,” said Hamal to Finextra.
He also ensured that interoperability will be guaranteed once Wero goes live on 1 September.
BBVA upgrades business platform with greater liquidity insights
BBVA has upgraded its global platform for businesses, BBVA Pivot, by integrating its digital banking platform.
BBVA’s Pivot Net digital banking service will allow businesses to perform treasury management and improve operational efficiency with greater exposure to liquidity, all within a consolidated platform.
Daniel Caridad, Head of Global Channels and International Transfers for Business and Institutional Banking at BBVA, said: “At BBVA, we work to ensure that technology makes our clients’ day-to-day management that bit easier.
“The latest generation of Pivot Net reflects that commitment: delivering a platform that is increasingly intuitive, efficient, and equipped to support companies in managing their international operations.”
The platform also features new alerts and notifications to help companies monitor liquidity, along with new analytics tools that provide greater visibility into corporate card spending.
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