California judge rules against Trump; Stripe expands in Japan | PaymentsSource

A federal judge in California blocked a Trump administration directive that required check cashers, currency exchanges, remittance and other money transfer services along the U.S.-Mexico border to report transactions over $200 to federal law enforcement. 

U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino for the Southern District of California issued the temporary restraining order, which only applies to counties in her jurisdiction. 

The order comes in response to a lawsuit filed by a small San Diego-based money transfer business that claimed the order was “arbitrary and capricious” and unlawfully issued because it circumvented common notice-and-comment requirements.  

The directive, which was issued by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, required money services businesses in 30 ZIP codes in California and Texas to report the transactions to authorities in what the government said was an effort to curb money laundering by Spanish cartels. It did not require money services businesses along the border in Arizona and New Mexico to report. —Joey Pizzolato 

Stripe partners with large Japanese payment app

Japanese payment app PayPay has partnered with Stripe to enable businesses to offer buy now/pay later and other installment credit to consumers, part of a pitch to encourage larger purchases. 

The PayPay/Stripe collaboration has an addressable market of more than 68 million consumers and most of the country’s retailers, with clients such as Toyota, Nikkei and ANA Group. Stripe also provides payment technology for firms that have expanded into Japan, such as X, Shopify and Uber.

Stripe is also adding Japanese support for 3D Secure, a near real-time authentication method that became mandatory for online card payments in Japan in March.

Additionally, Stripe has added card tokenization in Japan, introducing technology that replaces a card’s account number with a one-off substitute, making the card unusable in the future if stolen or lost. 

Stripe turned to Japan as a major piece of its strategy during the fintech downturn in 2022 and 2023. The payment company has introduced an application programming interface to make it easier to connect to the company’s products, hoping to take advantage of public policy that is focused on supporting startups and international expansion for existing companies. —John Adams

Barclays inks deal with Brookfield for its merchant acquiring business

Barclays and Brookfield Asset Management have finalized a long-term partnership that will help eventually transform the bank’s payment acceptance business into a standalone business. 

Barclays’ payment acceptance business, previously known as its merchant acquiring business, includes acquiring, terminals, gateways, FX, data and insights.

The partnership is designed to broaden the range of services offered by the bank’s payments business and “enhance” the experience for both existing and prospective clients, according to the bank. 

Barclays will invest about 400 million pounds ($534.5 million) into the business, with a majority of that investment coming in the first three years. Brookfield will support the transformation and will be entitled to financial incentives based on company performance. 

Brookfield may acquire up to 70% of the payments business after the third year but before its seventh year. 

Including the initial financial incentive, Brookfield would own 80% of the payments business when all is said and done. 

The partnership ends about five months of negotiations. Barclays has been looking to offload its merchant acquiring business since February 2024. —Joey Pizzolato 

BNPL credit reports expand to more bureaus

TransUnion will provide Affirm with credit reporting for what it’s calling “Pay over Time” products for loans issued starting May 1.

Affirm transactions will appear on consumer TransUnion credit files, but the transactions will not be factored credit scores and will not be visible to lenders in the near term. TransUnion is positioning the move as a way to help consumers build credit histories. The agency also said it’s making the move as buy now/pay later lending increases.

“Affirm is committed to protecting and empowering consumers through our products and practices — from having no late or hidden fees to supporting positive credit outcomes through responsible lending,” said Libor Michalek, Affirm’s president, in a release. “Including all loans in a consumer’s credit profile is a crucial step toward making Affirm’s honest financial products even more mainstream.”

Affirm recently began reporting all of its installment loans to Experian. Affirm had previously reported only its longer-term loans.

The expansion of BNPL reporting to credit bureaus is expected to require upgrades for lenders to support disputes and added data management. —John Adams

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

PayPal adds incentives to improve stablecoin usage

PayPal is marketing its PYUSD stablecoin by offering the ability to earn 3.7% annually on holdings of the digital asset in PayPal or Venmo wallets.

These rewards are added each month and can be converted to U.S. dollars to make payments, fund transfers or other transactions.

“Stablecoins have the power to reshape the future of commerce as the foundation for the next generation of payments. Combining this innovative technology with our expansive global network allows us to help all users thrive in the world economy,” PayPal President and CEO Alex Chriss said in a release.

PayPal’s PYUSD is growing but lags behind larger stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC and Tether. PayPal has entered a series of partnerships in the past two years to approach mainstream users and to drive crypto investment for Venmo and PayPal. —John Adams  

Alipay enhances AI agents for payments

Chinese payment app Alipay has developed a server designed to make it easier for users to adopt new forms of artificial intelligence, including programs that perform customer-facing tasks and internal work with little or no human input.

Called the Model Context Protocol, the server produces a way for AI agents to connect with Alipay’s payment products, supporting payment collection and portals for consumers to make payments, initiate refunds and check payment status by using natural language commands.

Agentic AI is relatively new, with most financial services usage limited to testing or experimentation. While it comes with risks given the lack of human supervision, agentic AI can potentially automate more human functions, reducing staff and other overhead costs. —John Adams 

Wise rolls out group spending feature

International money transfer fintech Wise has launched “Spend with Others,” a group spending feature that lets Wise customers add friends or family they want to share expenses with. 

The feature provides third-party access to Wise accounts. Wise account owners can add other Wise customers to their account and can make payments via a Wise card or add money to the account. The owner legally owns all the money contributed to the group. Other controls, such as sending or withdrawing money, converting currency and adding and removing members from the account, remain with the account owner. 

The service is available in Australia, the European Union, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Users registered in the European Union can register only two users; all other regions can register five. —Joey Pizzolato

UnionPay International partners with Dojo in UK

Global payment network UnionPay International has partnered with small and midsize enterprise provider Dojo to expand UnionPay card acceptance in the United Kingdom. 

UnionPay cardholders are able to make payments at 150,000 merchants in the U.K., many of which reside in the hospitality sector. More than 50% of merchants across shopping, dining, entertainment and travel in the U.K. accept UnionPay cards. 

“Partnering with Dojo strengthens our presence in the U.K., enabling more businesses to accept UnionPay and enhancing payment accessibility for millions of global customers,” James Yang, general manager of UnionPay International’s Europe branch, said in a statement. 

UnionPay is accepted in 183 countries and regions, with issuance in 84 countries and regions, according to the company. —Joey Pizzolato