In today’s top payments news, PayPal has agreed to acquire shopping discount and rewards platform Honey Science Corporation. Also, professional services company Aon has announced it will buy digital insurance platform CoverWallet. And a movie and a meal can now be booked through Duplex via Google Assistant.
Google’s Duplex-Powered Assistant Offers Movie Ticket Purchases
A movie and a meal can now be reserved through Duplex via Google Assistant. Google Duplex was introduced at the I/O developers conference in May of last year, featuring the ability to make restaurant reservations. Android users can use Assistant for ticket purchases in more than 70 cinemas, as well as ticketing services such as MovieTickets.com and Fandango.
Aon Acquires Digital SMB Insurance Platform CoverWallet
Professional services company Aon has announced it will acquire digital insurance platform CoverWallet. The move will give Aon access to the $200 billion digital insurance market in addition to the ability to use CoverWallet’s platform to create client-forward initiatives to help with the company’s overall growth strategy.
PayPal Sweetens Shopping Ecosystem With $4B Honey Buy
PayPal has agreed to acquire shopping discount and rewards platform Honey Science Corporation. The acquisition will cost PayPal roughly $4 billion. Honey will “transform the shopping experience for PayPal’s consumers while increasing sales and customer engagement for its merchants,” per an announcement. Honey began in 2012 as a way for consumers to easily locate savings while shopping online.
House Committee Passes Bill to End Federal Marijuana Prohibition
The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would effectively make marijuana legal, the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) announced in a press release. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019, which was introduced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler and co-sponsored by over 50 lawmakers, passed by a count of 24-10.
Can AI Solve Homesharing’s Fake Listings Problem?
Online platforms have to ensure that product listings on their sites are properly verified, as the fallout from failing to do so even once can have devastating impacts. This is especially the case for facilitators of services or products like homesharing rentals, where potential buyers could be stranded in an unfamiliar city or sellers could be cheated out of potential revenue in the case of a false listing. Managing the isolation and removal of these false listings is key to user trust, according to Chung-Man Tam, CEO of P2P business travel booking site 2nd Address.
Discover: What’s Around the Corner for Merchant Payments?
For merchants, divining the future of payments means looking around corners, considering what consumers want and will want and then laying the technological groundwork beforehand. In an interview with Karen Webster during a recent PYMNTS Masterclass, Amy Parsons, senior vice president of global acceptance at Discover Financial Services and its payments brand, Discover Global Network, said taking the long view means merchants need to change the way they think about payments.
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