MENLO PARK, Calif.—Several developments in payments and lending are in the works outside the U.S. that credit unions might want to give attention, as the companies behind the efforts often bring those same initiatives to the U.S.
WhatsApp, which began testing its mobile payments feature in India two years ago, could offer at least one more financial service to people in its biggest market.
In a filing with the local regulator in India, the Facebook-owned messaging platform has listed credit as one of the areas it will pursue in the country, Tech Crunch reported.
The Facebook-owned service declared with the local regulator earlier this month providing credit or loans as one of the “main objects to be pursued by it in the country,” Tech Crunch said.
Amazon Launches Instant Credit at 0% in India
Meanwhile, Amazon has launched a financial service that offers instant, 0% credit to customers in India.
It can be used to pay monthly bills, and buy products including groceries.
Amazon’s most ambitious financial service, according to analysts, Amazon Pay Later can lend money to customers in advance for products listed on the website. The strategy is similar to that of its rival, Flipkart, but with more credit limit, explained GizChina.com.
Users can purchase any product from the website through the service.
“By availing this, Amazon will pay for the users on the purchase of the product and users will have to pay the due in the subsequent month. This service also allows users to pay bills such as electricity invoices, mobile recharges, water bills etc.,” GizChina.com said.
Payment Plan
The pending amount can be paid in the next subsequent month following the purchase in a single payment or through an equated monthly installment (EMI) of up to 12 months. The instalments paid through EMI mode of payment comes with a specified interest rate for every product based on the amount.
The rate of interest levied on EMI payments can also be waived if the purchased product supports the no-cost EMI option.
Start-up Joins Facebooks Libra Association
In London, British payments start-up Checkout.com has joined the Libra Association, the digital currency project set up by Facebook last year.
Checkout.com is the first payment processor to join the initiative since U.S. giants Visa, Mastercard and Stripe all pulled out over regulatory concerns in October. In recent weeks, other firms have said they will back Libra, including e-commerce giant Shopify, non-profit organization Heifer International and cryptocurrency brokerage Tagomi, CNBC said.
Libra was introduced by Facebook back in June as a global currency that would allow users to make faster and cheaper cross-border payments. But the project quickly drew the ire of policymakers around the world who worried it could heavily disrupt the financial system, risk potential money laundering and compete with fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, CNBC noted.
Checkout.com CEO and co-founder Guillaume Pousaz said they believe blockchain should be regulated when it comes to payment processing. He added that members of the Libra Association “share” that philosophy.