Today In Payments: OCC Says Banks Can’t Hide Under Cover Of COVID; Smartphone Demand Slips 16 Pct In China

In today’s top news, the OCC says bank regulation waivers will not continue indefinitely, and smartphone sales have dropped 16 percent in China. Plus, 80 percent of medical practices have been hit with cyberattacks.

OCC Tells Banks Not To Hide Under The Cover Of COVID

Brian Brooks, Acting Comptroller of the Currency, an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Treasury, told the Financial Times that temporary waivers to bank regulations will not continue indefinitely, and he is not prepared to “revisit the fundamentals of bank regulations.”

Smartphone Demand Plummets In China By 16 Pct

Smartphone sales have not been part of China’s economic recovery from COVID-19. Shipments of the devices in China fell 16 percent in June compared to the same month one year earlier.

Hackers Hike Attacks On Hospitals Amid Pandemic

A national survey has found more than 80 percent of medical practices have been the victims of cyberattacks, which have resulted in patient safety concerns at more than half of the facilities and interrupted business for more than five hours at 20 percent of them.

Wirecard Probe Pushes German Government To Release CEO Talks

Lawmakers are urging German Chancellor Angela Merkel to release transcripts of conversations between Deputy Finance Minister Jörg Kukies and former Wirecard CEO Markus Braun, as the collapse of the payments processing company has captured headlines for weeks.

How To Drive Success In A Digital 3.0 World

There’s endless debate about what will define success in a Digital 3.0 world. Karen Webster says success will be those businesses — both physical and digital — that recognize that their biggest downside risk is a consumer who is willingly and now comfortably making digital/physical tradeoffs to protect their own downside risk: their health and that of their loved ones. She says it won’t be hard to spot the winners — it will be those most FIT® to meet the consumer’s digital-first needs.

iZettle CEO: Why PayPal’s Fast-Tracking Innovation To Future-Proof SMBs

With economies reopening and consumers rallying around their local shops, SMBs have had to hustle to up their online game. iZettle (a PayPal business) CEO Jacob de Geer tells Karen Webster how his new role as head of PayPal’s SMB solutions segment team is looking across the enterprise to fast-track digital commerce solutions that better serve the SMB’s customer — and help to future-proof their businesses.

Traditional Healthcare Is Going Under The Knife Of Disruption

The greatest health crisis in a generation is poised to accelerate innovation at the intersection of healthcare, technology and payments as never before: From telehealth and new financing options for patient treatments, to big retailers like Walmart, Walgreens and CVS mashing up retail with healthcare and everyone from startups to incumbents using the pandemic to disrupt — and reinvent — healthcare. We break it down.