Top News in Payments: UK FCA Asks Banks To Explain High Overdraft Fees; Yandex Launches 15-Minute Grocery Delivery

In today’s top payments news, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is questioning banks about a recent spike in overdraft fees, Yandex launches 15-minute grocery delivery in Moscow and Casper’s initial public offering (IPO) valuation falls short of its former $1.1 billion value.

 

UK FCA Asks Banks To Explain High Overdraft Fees

The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority is questioning banks about how they come up with overdraft pricing after some of the bigger financial institutions more than doubled fees.

Yandex, The Russian Google, Has 15-Minute Grocery Delivery 

Yandex, the biggest technology firm in Russia, launched a 15-minute grocery delivery service for Moscow residents. The company plans to operate the service, called Lavka, like a digital convenience market, and stocks roughly 2,000 items.

Casper’s Unicorn Ambitions In Jeopardy After S-1 Filing

Casper Sleep’s upcoming IPO will test investor demand for money-losing firms, post-WeWork’s IPO fiasco in 2019. The eCommerce mattress merchant recently forecasted its IPO valuation at $768 million, far under the $1.1 billion value it had after its most recent funding round.

Visa Joins $80M Round For Currencycloud

U.K.’s Currencycloud received $80 million in a Series E funding round from numerous investors, including Visa. The FinTech, which focuses on cross-border payments, will use the funding to boost its technology portfolio and partner network. 

What U.S. Bank Is Doing To Drive Virtual Card Adoption

Ending the paper check chase requires full buy-in from all stakeholders. In the latest Next-Gen AP Automation Tracker, U.S. Bank’s Jennifer Swenson, vice president of virtual payments, discusses how taking a data-centric approach to gathering customer insights can ensure smooth virtual card implementation – even turning AP departments into profit centers.

Credit Unions Find ‘Co-opetition’ Key To Closing The Innovation Gap

Nearly 60 percent of credit union (CU) members say mobile apps are extremely or very important. But many lack the resources to develop such apps in-house, making collaboration with other CUs crucial. In this month’s Credit Union Tracker, PYMNTS spoke with the St. Louis-based Together Credit Union Chief Operating Officer Tom Kraus about how the CU works with its counterparts to develop new products like mobile apps.

Why Casper’s IPO May Join Ghosts Of Unicorns Past — Or Never To Be

After Casper Sleep announced a disappointing IPO valuation on Monday, PYMNTS dove deep to understand why, for the eCommerce mattress company, a billion-dollar valuation amid an IPO — and “unicorn” status — may never have had a ghost of a chance.