International

International
Shanghai Opens Up To Foreign E-Commerce Players
January 14, 2015

China continues to send mixed signals to foreign-owned companies who want to do business in the world’s largest consumer market. On Tuesday (Jan. 13) China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that it will now allow wholly-foreign-owned companies to operate in the Shanghai Free Trade...

Europe
peerTransfer Raises New Round – Disrupts X-Border Tuition Payments
January 13, 2015

Global payments firm peerTransfer announces today (January 13) that it closed a major funding round and hit a key profitability milestone.  peerTransfer is an efficient, cost effective and transparent alternative to the existing friction-laden international funds transfer services, including bank wire.  peerTransfer’s global payments platform...

International
In Japan, An HR Conglomerate Uses Payments To Get A Foot In The Door
January 13, 2015

Small-business point-of-sale products can come from unexpected places — but from a Human Resources conglomerate based in Japan? That’s the improbably source for a rapidly growing POS product, according to Tech in Asia. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and...

International
Facebook And Xiaomi Talked Investment, But No Deal
January 13, 2015

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg discussed an investment in China’s top smartphone maker, Xiaomi, with that company’s CEO before its $1.1 billion round of fundraising in December, Reuters reported on Monday (Jan. 12). Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited...

Smartphone Usage Hits 80 Percent, But Wearables Remain A Niche
January 13, 2015

Apple Watch has its work cut out for it. According to new research from GlobalWebIndex, after several years of other vendors’ smart wearables efforts, only 9 percent of adult Internet users own a smartwatch and just 7 percent have a smart wristband, TechCrunch reported. Get...

International
Alibaba’s Big Indian Bet
January 12, 2015

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and its financial-services affiliate have agreed to invest $575 million to jointly in India’s One97 Communications Ltd.’s online-payment and marketplace businesses, sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article...

Apple Pay’s Canadian Plans
January 12, 2015

Apple Pay is heading north, with a Canadian launch planned for early 2015, according to sources cited by 9to5 Mac.  Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required....

Europe
Hackers Release Stolen Data After Swiss Bank Refuses To Pay $12K Ransom
January 12, 2015

A group of cyberthieves who breached online security at a small Swiss bank published identifying details about 30,000 customers on Friday (Jan. 9), after the bank refused to pay a ransom, Bloomberg reported. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and...

Europe
UK’s Troubled Tesco May Sell Retail Data Miner Dunnhumby For $3B
January 09, 2015

U.K. supermarket giant Tesco said Thursday (Jan. 8) that it will dump nearly 100 stores, lay off thousands of employees, and possibly sell Dunnhumby, the customer-data subsidiary responsible for the chain’s highly successful loyalty program, The Guardian reported. Get the Full Story Complete the form...