PYMNTS AM Radar: Reality Check; Global Clearing; Loyalty Data; Black Swan Prep; ICYMI

Today is Thursday, June 23 and polio was found in the U.K. for the first time in 40 years; 27 years ago today polio vaccine pioneer and inventor Jonas Salk died at the age of 81. The Commerce Department reports new jobless claims today and numbers are forecast to be around 227,000, not much different than the previous week’s 229,000.

Amazon’s Alexa will soon be able to mimic the voice of a dead relative, and it’s the 50th anniversary of Title IX, known for opening the door to girls in sports. Airbnb is giving away $10 million to help 100 people build “the world’s craziest spaces” and Biden is calling for a three-month suspension of the federal gas tax in response to soaring gas prices, now at a national average of $4.95. Here’s what else should be on your radar this morning.

Reality Check. SumUp CFO and Co-founder Marc-Alexander Christ is fine with the company’s new valuation of around 8 billion euros. While it’s more than half of what it was less than a year ago, he said it’s a price in the worst of times and for now it’s fair. The London-based mobile point-of-sale raised 590 million euros in a combination of debt and equity, SumUp’s first funding round since 2017. READ MORE

Global Clearing. The role of the clearing bank could be central in the long-needed modernization of global payments. “The Making Of A Modern Clearing Bank: A More Efficient Model For Payments Certainty And Managing Risk,” a PYMNTS and The Bank of London collaboration, takes a look at the modern clearing bank’s role in accelerating innovation and streamlining global payments for businesses and consumers.  READ MORE

Black Swan Prep. Former Microsoft treasurer Tahreem Kampton told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster that Black Swan events are the undercurrent that most every corporate treasurer has been dealing with over the years. Real-time treasury will become top of mind for banks as a focus of technological priority, and will be a useful tool as CFOs gird for the next Black Swan, he said. READ MORE

Loyalty Data. The latest PYMNTS On the Agenda drilled down on using data to boost relationship commerce and brand loyalty during today’s inflationary times. Along with PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster, other pundits weighing in were Ordergroove founder and CEO Greg Alvo and Mondelēz International Global eCommerce Director Abhishek Ahluwalia. READ MORE

ICYMI. The metaverse is practically a household name but how do you get there and what do you do once you figure that out? Meta, Microsoft, Alibaba and Ikea are among three dozen companies forming an organization to figure out what the metaverse is and apply some standards to prevent it from exploding into a vast series of incompatible and competing virtual worlds. READ MORE