The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | September 4th

By Puja Sharma

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

Remit money back home seamlessly

ACE Money Transfer, a FinTech company based in Manchester, United Kingdom, strengthens its partnership with Bank Alfalah, a commercial bank in Pakistan, to enable overseas Pakistanis to remit money back home seamlessly.

ACE Money Transfer and Bank Alfalah have collaborated with Babar Azam, Captain of the Pakistan National Cricket Team, who has joined them as a brand ambassador.

This strategic partnership aims to significantly enhance overseas Pakistanis’ awareness of utilising legal channels for remittance transactions. His endorsement of ACE Money Transfer and Bank Alfalah’s initiative to promote remittance through official avenues will captivate the attention of overseas Pakistanis.

By choosing to send remittances via legitimate pathways, overseas Pakistanis contribute to their homeland’s economic prosperity while ensuring that their hard-earned money reaches their families securely and efficiently.

Payments giant Mastercard is set to end its co-branded crypto card partnership with Binance, with four pilot programmes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bahrain due to end on 22 September, a Mastercard spokesperson confirmed to FinTech Futures.

The spokesperson adds that this timeline provides cardholders with a “wind-down period” to convert holdings in their Binance wallets, and that there is “no impact” on any other crypto programme.

Binance’s customer support team wrote on X last week: “The product, like most debit cards, has been utilised by Binance’s users to pay for basic daily expenses but in this case, the cards are funded with crypto assets.

“Only a tiny portion of our users (less than 1% of users in the markets mentioned) are impacted by this. Users of this product will have until September 21, 2023, when the card will no longer be available for use.”

Broader transactional capabilities

FinTech unicorn Pine Labs has launched Mini, a digital payments device with both QR code and card support. The FinTech giant claimed that the device will be available at one-third of the price of a regular PoS device, targeting small merchants.

The FinTech firm claimed that the device will be available at one-third of the price of a regular PoS device. The Mini comes with a display, that can show the QR code of a merchant, and can also accept contactless payments via credit and debit cards

Pine Labs has four PoS devices, including three handheld devices to enable merchant payments via credit/debit cards and UPI. The device comes with a display that can show the UPI-linked QR code of a merchant and can also accept contactless payments via credit and debit cards.

YES Bank has announced that it has gone live with Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Interoperability on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) app.

With this move, users will now be able to scan any UPI QR code through the YES BANK Digital Rupee app and undertake transactions in a seamless manner. This move is set to significantly expand the reach of the Digital Rupee (e₹) and underscores the Bank’s commitment towards propelling digital innovations and providing a wide range of transactional options for users across the nation.

By integrating CBDC with UPI QR codes, the e₹ gains a broader platform, with the goal of becoming a staple in daily transactions. This strategic move enhances not only the strengths of the e₹ but also seamlessly integrates with the widely adopted UPI system.

This integration is designed to offer users flexibility, ensuring a smooth and seamless transactional experience without the need for switching between multiple digital platforms.

Ajay Rajan, Country Head – Digital & Transaction Banking, YES BANK, said, “The integration of UPI interoperability in our CBDC app is a testament to our effort at redefining the customer’s digital transaction journey. The transition to an interoperable CBDC platform holds the promise of seamless, efficient, and broader transactional capabilities for YES BANK customers, across individuals and merchants, including MSMEs.”

What is the buzz

FinTech startup Khatabook has laid off 42 employees, or 6% of its total workforce, to reorient business in line with its targets, the company said on Friday. “In-line with our profitability goals, we are reorienting some parts of our business which requires us to operate with a leaner team on certain business verticals,” a Khatabook spokesperson said.

“This restructuring has impacted 6% of our 700 employees. All impacted employees have been provided with a separation package which covers 3 months of pay, stock vesting option, health insurance extension and other job search-related support,” the spokesperson said.

Khatabook — valued at $600m (about Rs 4,500 crore) after its previous funding round — is backed by Sequoia Capital (now PeakXV Partners), Tencent, Tribe Capital, and Moore Strategic Ventures, among others.The company had raised $100m (about INR 743 crore) in the funding round in 2021.