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• Apple Looks To Dodge EU Antitrust Fine By Opening Up NFC Chip To Rivals
• Fnality’s Blockchain-Based Sterling Payment System Goes Live
• ECB Issues Wholesale CBDC Expression Of Interest
• Google Taps BNPL For US Merchants
• JCB To Enter Phase Two Of CBDC Pilot
• Epic's Surprise Victory In Google Antitrust Case A 'Win for All Developers'
• Santander Issues Urgent Warning To Customers As Facebook Scams Double
• ECB Talks Up Green Credentials Of Cash
• Almost Nine Out Of Ten Canadians Oppose CBDC, Survey Finds
• Westpac Expands Merchant Choice Routing To E-Commerce
• Circle, Nubank Partner To Increase USD Stablecoin Access In Brazil
• Amazon Ends Partnership With Venmo
• UK Regulator Consults On Access To Cash Rules

Apple Looks To Dodge EU Antitrust Fine By Opening NFC Chip To Rivals

Apple is planning to open up its near-field communication (NFC) chips, the technology used to make tap-and-go payments, to rival operators in a bid to avoid an EU antitrust fine.

Reuters the news from Brussels earlier this week, based on information provided by three sources who are familiar with the case.

Last year, the European Commission accused Apple of engaging in anti-competitive practices by preventing mobile wallet app developers from accessing the NFC chip on Apple devices.

“It is important for the integration of European Payments markets that consumers benefit from a competitive and innovative payments landscape,” Margrethe Vestager, European commissioner for competition.

“We preliminarily found that Apple may have restricted competition, to the benefit of its own solution: Apple Pay. If confirmed, such conduct would be illegal under our competition rules.”

Fnality’s Blockchain-Based Sterling Payment System Goes Live

Fnality, a UK-based fintech for wholesale and digital asset payments, has its blockchain-based Sterling Fnality Payment System (£FnPS).

The first live transactions used a digital representation of funds held in an omnibus account within the Bank of England’s real-time gross settlement system, with Lloyds, Santander and UBS as initial participants. 

“This milestone goes beyond just demonstrating Fnality's functionality — it evidences the first foundations of a broader multi-jurisdictional vision,” the company said.

“It enables a seamless global liquidity management ecosystem by empowering new digital payment models in both wholesale financial markets and emerging tokenised asset markets.”

Fnality said it will now turn to scaling the new system by onboarding more participant banks, adding new currencies (USD, EUR) and adding new services, such as conditional payments.

Last month, as covered by 91����ԭ��, Fnality £77.7m in a series B funding round led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas.

ECB Issues Wholesale CBDC Expression Of Interest

The European Central Bank has financial market stakeholders to express their formal interest in taking part in the planned exploration of new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement.

Stakeholders interested in participating in the trials and/or experiments between May 2024 and November 2024 have been told to respond by January 31, 2024. 

Meanwhile, those wishing to join trials and/or experiments between July 2024 and November 2024 have been advised to respond by April 30, 2024.

The Eurosystem first announced planned work to explore potential solutions for central bank money settlement of wholesale financial transactions, recorded on distributed ledger technology platforms, in April 2023. 

Google Taps BNPL For US Merchants

Google Pay will the buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers Affirm and Zip as payment options for some merchants next year in the US. 

“We are always looking for ways to give people a more helpful checkout experience when shopping on Google,” said Drew Olson, senior director, Google Pay. “By teaming up with BNPL providers like Zip, we are able to give Google Pay users another payment option when checking out, while providing merchants with another tool to drive their growth.”

This will allow Google Pay users with Android phones to select Affirm or Zip as a payment option when online shopping with some merchants.

If the user chooses the BNPL option, they will be given the chance to learn more about the terms and conditions and then go through a few steps to complete the purchase. 

Once approved, customers will be able to spread out their payments for purchases over $35.

JCB To Enter Phase Two Of CBDC Pilot

Japanese international payment brand JCB has the JCB Digital Currency (JCBDC) Phase 2 pilot project with IDEMIA, a global leader in identity technologies, and fintech company Soft Space.

In the first phase of the JCBDC project, JCB, IDEMIA and Soft Space developed a CBDC payment solution, enabling merchants to accept CBDC without the need to modify their point-of-sale terminals and payment cards. 

This solution was successfully piloted in Tokyo in 2023, which has enabled JCB, IDEMIA and Soft Space to proceed to the next phase of the project.

In Phase 2 of the JCBDC project, customers will be able to transfer CBDC funds from one person to another person using their cards and mobile phones — even without internet connectivity. 

These offline peer-to-peer fund transfers can either be done from one card to another with a mobile near-field-communication (NFC) device as an intermediary, or from one mobile NFC device to another mobile NFC device directly. 

Epic's Surprise Victory In Google Antitrust Case A 'Win for All Developers'

In a surprise victory for Epic Games, a federal jury in San Francisco has found that Google  illegal monopolies across its Google Play store and in-app billing systems.

The jury took four hours to come to the verdict, and US District Court Judge James Donato must now decide how Google’s practices have to change to comply with the law.

“Today’s verdict is a win for all app developers and consumers around the world,” Epic Games said in a .

“It proves that Google’s app store practices are illegal and they abuse their monopoly to extract exorbitant fees, stifle competition and reduce innovation.”

Since its inception, Epic Games argued, Google had managed to impose a 30 percent “tax” on app developers simply by preventing viable competitors from offering alternatives.

Epic Games added that the case demonstrates the “urgent need” for legislation and regulations that address Apple and Google strangleholds over smartphones, including in the UK and EU.

Santander Issues Urgent Warning To Customers As Facebook Scams Double

Santander UK has  customers to proceed with caution when purchasing items via Facebook Marketplace, after new data shows that certain types of scams have almost doubled in 2023.

The bank is particularly concerned about fraudulent vehicle sales, where criminals use stolen photos and videos of genuine vehicles to advertise cars that they do not own.

After convincing a buyer to purchase the vehicle, the fraudster does not respond or blocks the buyer after they have transferred the funds.

This year nearly half a million (£479,964) has been reported as lost to Facebook car scams, up 93 percent from last year.

To protect themselves, Santander has told customers that they must make sure they have seen the car and have it in their possession before making any payment.

ECB Talks Up Green Credentials Of Cash

The European Central Bank (ECB) has  an environmental footprint study of euro banknotes as a payment instrument. 

It shows that the average environmental footprint for payments with banknotes was 101 micropoints (µPt) per euro area citizen in 2019.

This is equivalent to driving a car for 8km, or 0.01 percent of the total environmental impact of a European citizen’s annual consumption activities.

According to the ECB, the main factors contributing to the environmental footprint of euro banknotes as a means of payment are the energy consumption of ATMs and transportation. 

Further, the long lifespan of banknotes and the fact that they are used for many payments means that the impact of banknote production is lower than that of transportation and distribution, the study revealed.

Almost Nine Out Of Ten Canadians Oppose CBDC, Survey Finds

A  by the Bank of Canada has found that 86 percent of Canadians have “strong criticisms” of central bank digital currency (CBDC).

In a survey of 1,000 Canadians, conducted for a  on a digital dollar, 86 percent of responses were categorised as “net negative”, while only 5 percent were categorised as “net positive”.

More than half of respondents (52 percent) said they think CBDC is a bad idea, have no intention of using it and hope that a CBDC is not issued.

One in five respondents (19 percent) voiced concerns about excessive government control over their money and transactions, and another one in five said that existing payment methods are sufficient.

“A digital dollar sounded great until we saw the federal government freeze private bank accounts of its own citizens for supporting a political movement it disagreed with,” said one respondent.

“I cannot imagine a CBDC being compatible with our values of liberty and privacy,” said another.

Westpac Expands Merchant Choice Routing To E-Commerce

Australia’s Westpac bank has become the latest of the "Big Four" to  merchant choice routing for online payments. 

With merchant choice routing, businesses can opt to route card-not-present transactions via eftpos, Australia’s low-cost domestic scheme, rather than Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard.

“Merchant choice routing is an important industry initiative that supports competition and helps give businesses more control over their costs,” said Mandy Rutherford, managing director of cash and transactional banking at Westpac.

“Expanding merchant choice routing to online payments gives our customers more choice in how they manage their transaction costs, and is part of our commitment to make it easier for businesses to do their banking.”

Merchant choice routing has been available for Westpac customers for in-store payments since 2019, and is currently the default option for all new customers on simple pricing plans.

Circle, Nubank Partner To Increase USD Stablecoin Access In Brazil

US stablecoin issuer Circle has  a new partnership with Brazil’s Nubank that will allow Nubank customers to access USDC, Circle’s dollar-backed stablecoin.

USDC support will initially be rolled out as part of Nubank Cripto, providing Brazilian users with access to buying and holding digital dollars.

“We continue to see strong demand across Latin America for access to dollars, specifically in Brazil, which has emerged as a driving force for digital currency use and adoption in the region,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO and co-founder of Circle.

“Our partnership with Nubank marks a significant moment in expanding the global reach of USDC, and an important step towards building the new internet financial system.”

Nubank is the world’s largest neobank by number of customers, serving more than 90m customers across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

Amazon Ends Partnership With Venmo 

Amazon will discontinue PayPal-owned Venmo in the new year, it has . 

“Due to recent changes, Venmo can no longer be added as a payment method,” a statement on Venmo’s website says. 

Venmo has confirmed that it will remain available to users who currently have it enabled in their Amazon wallet until January 10. 

Online shoppers have been able to use Venmo to pay for Amazon purchases since October last year. 

The mobile payment service has been used in the US since 2009 and  more than 90m accounts.

It has, however, courted controversy due to privacy and cybersecurity concerns. In 2018, for example, the company  with the US Federal Trade Commission over misleading customers. 

UK Regulator Consults On Access To Cash Rules

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has  new rules to maintain reasonable access to cash for personal and business customers across the UK. 

This follows new powers granted to the FCA by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023.

The consultation is open until February 8 and the FCA expects to finalise the rules by Q3 2024.

Under the proposals, designated banks and building societies will be required to undertake cash access assessments when changes are being made to cash access services to understand whether additional services are required to meet local gaps.

Firms will also need to respond to requests from local residents, community organisations and representatives to consider, assess and plug gaps and deliver reasonable additional cash services to fill gaps in provision where assessments show that there is or will be a significant local gap.

Further, firms will need to ensure they do not close cash facilities, including bank branches, until any additional cash services identified are available.