Top News In Payments: Mastercard CEO Pushes Back Against National Payments System; FCA Tells Credit Cards To Ease Up On Non-Payers

In today’s top payments news, Mastercard’s CEO speaks out against a national payments system, the FCA tells credit card companies to be reasonable with customers in debt and the People’s Bank of China is prepared to inject $173 billion into the country to stabilize the economic damage wreaked by the coronavirus.

Mastercard CEO Pushes Back Against National Payments Systems

Ajay Banga, the CEO of Mastercard, spoke out against any attempts to fracture the Global Payments Systems into national domains. He called such pursuits “stupid,” and said they could push privacy-wary consumers away from digital payments and back to cash.

FCA Tells Credit Cards To Ease Up On Non-Payers

The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is telling credit card companies to reduce fees on non-payers’ debt rather than cancel cards, saying that it is required that “options must be reasonable,” for customers in debt.

PBOC Pumps $173B Into Chinese Economy To Combat Virus Impact

The People’s Bank of China is ready to inject $173 billion into the country to stabilize the economic damage brought on by the coronavirus, the largest single liquidity injection since 2004.

VC Funding Helps UK FinTechs Weather Brexit

Right into Brexit, which took effect Friday, Jan. 31, data compiled by Innovate Finance show 2019 proved to be a banner year for London’s FinTech scene. Venture capital and private equity money that flowed into U.K.-based FinTech firms increased 38 percent year on year to $4.9 billion. Can we expect more of the same?

Why Consumers Are Firing Traditional Retailers

Karen Webster says consumers have not only stopped hiring traditional retailers but have fired them from the jobs they had once held years and decades before. She shares one fireable, and likely familiar, offense that proves that point. Which begs these questions: What retailers have you fired — or hired recently — and why?

ThomasNet CEO: How A 122-Year-Old Company Sees B2B Payments Evolution

Strategic supplier sourcing is no longer just about product specs and price quotes. B2B payments are playing a greater role in helping buyers and suppliers choose who they do business with, and why. In this week’s Monday Conversation, Karen Webster speaks with ThomasNet President and CEO Tony Uphoff about the technology driving this shift in supply chain strategy.

In Europe, Single Data Market Looms?

The European Union is examining the creation of a single data market that would reportedly challenge tech firms such as Google and Facebook. It would govern cross-border use and data interoperability, among other things.