E-Commerce giant Shopify is teaming up with Coinbase to enable stablecoin payments for its merchants and consumers.

Shopify will deploy USDC stablecoin on Coinbase’s blockchain network, Base, to allow merchants to accept payments from global consumers, a Coinbase spokesperson told Bank Automation News. 

Merchants can benefit by accepting USDC payments, which can be converted to their local currency, with no foreign exchange or multi-currency fees, the spokesperson said. 

“Once fully rolled out, this feature will automatically be on for merchants, with no additional setup required and no action needed. When a Shopify consumer chooses to pay with crypto, they are paying with USDC on the Base network.” 

Deutsche Bank, Silverflow team up for digital payments 

The $1.5 trillion Deutsche Bank is tapping Silverflow’ API and cloud-based platform to launch a new cloud-native payments platform across Europe. 

The platform enables a card-acquiring solution for Deutsche Bank, according to the Silverflow release. The bank’s commercial clients will also be able to use Silverflow’s merchant chargeback API to automate the dispute-management workflow and remove manual bottlenecks. 

“Our partnership with Silverflow has reinforced our acquiring product with unprecedented agility, delivered prompt dispute resolution and enabled us to offer a unified banking, treasury and payments service that clients are already adopting,” Kilian Thalhammer, global head of merchant solutions at Deutsche Bank, said in the release.  

Silverflow clients include fintech PaynoPain and shared mobility platform Bolt. 

Klarna selects Marqeta for debit card issuance 

Buy now, pay later service provider Klarna has selected card issuing company Marqeta to issue its new debit card that runs on the Visa network.

“With Visa’s Flexible Credential technology, Marqeta enables a single card to offer both ‘pay now’ and ‘pay later’ options, providing consumers with built-in flexible payment options on a single debit product,” a Marqeta spokesperson told BAN. 

With credit card and overdraft interest rates at record highs – average interest rate is  26% – it’s crucial for consumers to have access to smarter, interest-free credit at checkout, the spokesperson said. 

With Klarna’s “Pay in 4” installments method, shoppers can split their purchase into four interest-free installments: the first is paid when they are making the purchase, and subsequent installments are paid every two weeks. 

“The launch of the Klarna Card in partnership with Marqueta marks a significant step in Klarna’s evolution from a BNPL provider to a digital bank,” Klarna said in a statement. 

FIS, Visa team up to boost digital payments for regional community banks 

Visa and FIS have expanded their partnership to provide new services to financial institutions in a bid to level the playing field for smaller regional and community banks competing with bigger banks. 

FIS told BAN that the two payments giants are offering financial institutions:  

• A digital campaign manager for their marketing teams;  

• A branded digital wallet link;  

• E-commerce fraud mitigation solution; and  

• Stop-payment services so cardholders and call centers can stop recurring payments to merchants. 

“We have integrated these capabilities into the existing FIS ecosystem using APIs, so we can provide a ready-to-adopt solution to the issuer,” a Visa spokesperson said. 

Western Union taps Zum Rails on real-time remittances 

Global payments provider Western Union is tapping Miami-based payments tech provider Zum Rails to power money transfers from Canada to more tan 200 countries and territories across the globe. 

“The integration of Zum Rails’ APIs allows us to stay true to this goal by giving our customers the ability to both fund their money transfers and pull funds from their account instantly,” a Western Union spokesperson told BAN.  

Zum Rails’ interac e-transfer platform allows customers to instantly load money from their bank account into Western Union, the spokesperson said.  

“Instead of using traditional rails that take a lot of time to settle into accounts, the money is available the same day,” they said. 

Once money is loaded into Western Union, it can be sent via Western Union’s cross-border money transfer services to more than 200 countries and territories, the spokesperson said. 

Register here for “Seamless integration: The new frontier in embedded payments,” a free Bank Automation News webinar set for Tuesday, July 22, at 11 a.m. ET.  

Register here for “Seamless integration: The new frontier in embedded payments,” a free Bank Automation News webinar set for Tuesday, July 22, at 11 a.m. ET.