Five At Five: PayPal’s New Investment Push

Welcome to Five at Five, your late look at the day’s payments and commerce news. Besides the PayPal story, coverage includes the latest on Zelle and Bank of America‘s mobile efforts, and a new payments initiative from Citi. In addition, Apple has some significant problems in India while Amazon faces woes in Europe.

PayPal Leads Investment In PPRO

PPRO enables businesses to accept more than 140 alternative payments around the globe, partnering with payment service providers and financial institutions (FIs). Through this investment, PayPal said PPRO plans to accelerate the expansion of its payments platform and the international presence of its alternative payments-acquiring business.

Bank Of America Earmarks $500M In Tech Spend As Mobile Use, Zelle Soar

Continuing the recent string of earnings from big banks (a string that kicks off earnings season, per tradition), Bank of America said loan growth and a boost in digital initiatives improved results in the second quarter. The company is also committing a significant amount of incremental capital over the next several quarters to technology initiatives.

Citi Launches Citi Payment Insights For Institutions

Citi said Citi Payment Insights empowers clients by giving them a complete view of the transaction lifecycle within Citi’s global network and across the correspondent banking ecosystem, and integrating the transparency provided by SWIFT’s GPI initiative.

Apple Losing Key Executives In India

Bloomberg reported that Apple is restructuring its team of sales people in India. The news comes as Apple is having a tough time selling its iPhones. High tariffs have increased the prices of imported devices, including the iPhone.

Amazon Faces Labor Issues As Prime Day Revs Up

Workers in Spain and Germany are striking to protest working conditions at Amazon’s warehouses. The eCommerce company has faced criticism for its warehouse conditions in the past, though it has consistently denied accusations that it runs unsafe warehouses in the U.S. and around the world.