Top News In Payments: UK Challenger Banks Struggle To Thrive, Amazon Wants To Expand Go Tech

Today in the payments news roundup, challenger banks in the U.K. are having a difficult time competing with the country’s big four financial institutions. Also, Amazon wants to take its cashier-free Go technology to other places such as movie theaters and airport stores. PayPal has bought a majority stake in Chinese payments group Guofubao.

Amazon To Expand Amazon Go Tech To Other Retailers

Amazon wants to bring its checkout-free Go tech to other places such as movie theaters and airport stores in an effort to expand its reach and potentially win more cloud customers. There are already 16 Go stores in the country, where shoppers can scan an app to entry and walk out with the products that they desire — and they’re charged through the firm’s smart tech.

UK Challenger Banks Struggle To Compete

Challenger banks in the U.K. are having a difficult time competing with the country’s big four financial institutions. Challengers like Monzo , Santander and Metro Bank were forecast to put a stop to the dominance of the big four. They are, however, failing to thrive per reports . Metro Bank shares dropped 30 percent after it was forced to cancel a planned bond sale, while Santander lost 1.5 billion pounds ($1.8 billion) from the valuation of its business last week.

Grubhub Fees Eating Into Restaurant Profits, NYC Councilman Says

Mark Gjonaj, New York City Council member, says the food delivery app Grubhub is hurting restaurant profits by charging fees that are too costly. Grubhub, however, maintains that the fees charged to restaurants are justified as users of the app end up turning into patrons who dine in.

PayPal Opens For Business In China

PayPal has purchased a majority stake in Chinese payments group Guofubao and has reportedly acquired a payments license in the country. The company bought a 70 percent stake in the firm for an undisclosed amount, and the country’s central bank approved the deal.

Chase On Using Machine Learning To Crack Fraud’s Goldilocks Conundrum

Banks encounter the challenge of ensuring that their digital platforms are both secure from bad actors and seamless for customers, as fraudsters become more innovative as well as creative in their efforts to steal money and data.

In a feature story, Andrew Sloper, head of digital identity and authentication at Chase, explains how the bank uses machine learning (ML) for layered protection to better understand the behavior of customers and to enable a more seamless as well as secure experience.

Instant Payments Are Here — How To Measure The ROI

A firm can measure the value of instant payments many ways and determine how much of a return on investment (ROI) it can expect. It can look at it in terms of how much it will save by stepping away from the inefficient as well as costly world of paper checks. Alternatively, it can evaluate in terms of the auxiliary services and features it will be able to offer to its customers and potentially monetize in the future.

However, as Ingo Money CEO Drew Edwards told Karen Webster in a recent PYMNTS podcast, there could be a more simple way to frame the inherent value of instant payments. The real question companies need to ask themselves, he said, is what the ROI is of staying in business.