In today’s top news, Lloyds Bank credit card holders can now use Mastercard’s Open Banking Connect, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen supports exploring a digital dollar. Plus, smartphone sales dropped globally, but Apple regained its top slot.
Lloyds Bank Brands Can Use Mastercard’s Open Banking Connect
Lloyds Bank credit card holders, including Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, can now use Mastercard’s Open Banking Connect to transfer funds, make withdrawals and make payments using application programming interfaces (APIs).
Digital Dollar Exploration Gets Nod From Treasury Secretary Yellen
U.S. Treasury Secretary Chair Janet Yellen has increasingly shown her support for exploring the concept and construct of the digital dollar, continuing during a virtual conference held Monday (Feb. 22) by The New York Times. However, she called bitcoin “inefficient” and critiqued the amount of energy currently thrown in its direction.
Apple Regains Lead In Worldwide Smartphone Sales
Worldwide sales of smartphones dropped 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 12.5 percent overall for the year, but Apple hit double-digit growth, spurred on by the launch of the 5G 12 series of iPhones. The last time Apple was in the top spot for smartphone sales was in the fourth quarter of 2016.
ResTech Platforms Explore IPOs Amid Rapidly Changing Market
Even though the short-term future is still uncertain for the restaurant business, the technology companies that support it are going all-in, with IPOs dotting the landscape. Software-as-a-service platform Olo filed for an IPO at the end of last week, and restaurant POS software provider Toast is eying going public as well.
Walmart’s Bid To Go From Supercenter To Super App
Walmart pioneered the Supercenter concept in the U.S in 1988 – and now, 33 years later, it has a very different “super” concept at the center of its future: the super app. Karen Webster said that the Connect + flywheel concept Walmart laid out on its Q4 2020 earnings call has plenty of competition from other super apps — and platforms with super app ambitions. And the world’s largest physical-first retailer is betting $14 billion that it can make a bold digital-first leap.
Eight Takeaways From The Digital-First Holiday Shopping Season
How’s this for a data point: 83 percent of consumers did some or all of their holiday gift buying online in 2020. In the Holiday Retrospective Report: Merchant Insights for 2021 and Beyond, PYMNTS surveyed 2,070 U.S. consumers about their holiday shopping behaviors and uncovered eight key takeaways from a unique holiday season – and what they portend for merchants throughout 2021.
Square Earnings Focuses On Cash App (And Bitcoin)
Square reports after the bell on Tuesday (Feb. 23). Digital payments will be a continued tailwind – and we’ll see just how much bitcoin may have turbocharged the balance sheet.
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