What happened this week in payments

One third of UK card payments are now contactless

Back in August 2016, contactless spending accounted for almost a fifth (18%) of all card transactions. In January, we reported that contactless spending made up a quarter of all card transactions. And now, the Trade Association UK Finance reported that a staggering one-third (33%) of all spending on cards has been recorded as contactless payments, almost double of last year’s 18%.

Total credit and debit contactless spending figures show a total figure of £57.2bn spent.

Fintech start-up Cleo raises £2m

Personal finance chatbot Cleo has raised £2 million in a funding round led by Robin Klein at VC firm LocalGlobe and joined by Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom.

Users can integrate their accounts on the app, view their spending according to transactions, categories and merchants, as well as automatically save money. Consumers can also find deals on financial products, and compare their spending habits with peers.

Barney Hussey-Yeo, CEO, Cleo, says: “Legacy banking software is unable to cater to the needs of a generation that is used to instant responses and real time interaction. We designed Cleo to make it easy for anyone to understand where their money is going, to easily save, or to send money to friends instantly through a familiar interface.”

PayPal signs deal with Chase and Citibank

If you read our payments round-up last week, you’ll know that PayPal has been busy striking an array of partnerships with Visa and Samsung Pay. The online payments system has also enhanced its partnership with two of the largest issuers banks: JP Morgan Chase and Citibank.

The agreement includes increased integrations between the companies, and will allow Chase customers to use their reward points to make purchases through PayPal. In the expanded agreement with Citi, PayPal says Citi’s ThankYou Rewards cardholders will be able to redeem points where PayPal is accepted online and in-app. The new partnership rewards are set to roll out in 2018.

N26 teams up with Mastercard for 3D secure verifications

German digital bank N26 has partnered with Mastercard to release a 3D Secure solution that will allow consumers to verify online transactions within their mobile banking app. 3D Secure acts as a protocol for online card payments.

N26 has integrated machine learning to build a safety risk model that categorises transactions as risky, and requests additional verifications from the consumer, without the user having to remember an additional password. The algorithm analyses a user’s usual spendings, and can notice a transaction that falls out of the users regulator pattern.

The new feature will be available to N26 users worldwide.

Credit and debit card surcharges to be banned in the UK

The UK Government has announced that from January 2018 onwards, surcharges that are presented online for card payments will no longer be legal.

Consumers will no longer be charged extra for paying by debit and credit cards. According to the BBC, in 2010 alone, consumers spent a staggering £473m on sur charges. The Government has also announced that charges on American Express cards and PayPal accounts will also be banned.

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Read last week’s news round-up here

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