Top News In Payments: Amazon PayCode Comes To The US; Plaid Releases New Developer Tools

Today in the payments news roundup, Amazon PayCode is rolling out in the United States to make it easier for shoppers to pay with cash. Also, Plaid is launching new developer tools to tackle credit card debt. And Google for India recently rolled out new updates as well as features to several products.

Western Union Powers Pay With Cash On Amazon In US

Amazon PayCode is launching in the United States. Consumers can choose the option at checkout and pay in cash at one of 15,000 Western Union locations. Ben Volk, director, payments at Amazon, said in an announcement, “We’re constantly innovating to improve the shopping experience on behalf of our customers, and are proud to expand Amazon PayCode to customers in the U.S.”

Plaid Adds Credit Card Data To Liabilities Product

Plaid is rolling out new developer tools to tackle credit card debt. In July, the company launched its new Liabilities product that offers developers access to real-time information about what consumers owe. The new tools are said to enable developers to keep building better debt management solutions.

Alibaba, Tencent Withhold Data To Defy China’s Credit Score

Tencent and Alibaba, Chinese tech companies, are reportedly spurning the government’s private credit-scoring protocol by restricting access to customer data. The private credit-scoring firm Baihang was launched in March of last year by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) to collect data on residents without a credit history.

Google Rolls Out Google Pay, Integrated Payments In India

Google for India recently rolled out new updates as well as features to several products, including enhancements to Google Assistant, Pay, Search and Lens. India is an important market for the tech company, with Android users comprising 98 percent of smartphone users. Google handles 918 million transactions a month in the country.

The Invoice Innovation That’s On The Roadmap Of 75 Percent Of AP Professionals

Firms that process over 20,000 invoices monthly are able to process invoices quicker than others in large part because they have already invested in digital invoice solutions, or eInvoices. And firms that process over 20,000 invoices per month are also the most likely to plan on more innovations going forward as well.

Citi On Treasury’s Real-Time Reality

With a move toward a fully real-time world, knowing where and how much cash there is across various legal entities, countries and currencies is essential.

It becomes imperative not just to have access to real-time payments as an actual payment option but to have access to real-time information and automation as well.

To that end, Ron Chakravarti, Treasury Advisory Group head at Citi, said the role of the treasury management team in optimizing cash on a day-to-day basis is changing as real-time operations (and payments) increasingly command attention.