Amazon's palm-recognition tech ready to be deployed

Amazon One, a contactless way for people to use their palm to enter, identify and pay, will become available as an option to enter Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado. It will be the first time the service will be available for entry to an entertainment venue.

AXS, a leading digital ticketing company, will deploy standalone ticketing pedestals, including Amazon One, at the venue. So, fans can enrol their AXS Mobile ID with Amazon One for the option to scan their palm, and enter concerts and events faster and easier than before.

RBL Bank credit cards go live on VISA

RBL Bank has started issuing credit-cards to its new customers on VISA’s payment network, following the deal between the two companies in July.

RBL Bank will leverage its partnership with VISA to offer a wide range of credit cards to its customers, and grow its 5 percent share in the credit-cards market in India. “With the VISA launch, we are confident of meeting our annual plan of issuing 1.2 million to 1.4 million credit cards in FY 2022,” Harjeet Toor, Head – Retail, Inclusion and Rural Business, RBL Bank.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), imposed restrictions on Mastercard Asia-Pacific (Mastercard) on-boarding new domestic customers (debit, credit or prepaid) onto its card network from July 22. This impacted banks like RBL Bank, whose credit-card programme was tied with Mastercard.

Texas Instruments localises online buying experience

Global semiconductor company Texas Instruments (TI) introduced new ordering features on its website, making it more convenient for electronics companies and manufacturers across India to procure authentic TI products at low prices.

The new features offer purchasing options in Indian rupees in addition to the existing US dollar option.

TI has also simplified delivery by handling the logistics and imports process for customers receiving shipments to India. Further, it is expanding its online payment options to include online banking, credit cards, and a line of credit to make online buying easier.

FSS partners with Vopy payments in Europe

Integrated payments processing company Financial Software and Systems (FSS) has entered into a partnership with Sweden-based Vopy Payments to support European digital commerce growth through a premium embedded finance approach.

“Our goal is to fully maximise the embedded finance opportunity with a broad solution set encompassing not only payments but also digital lending, saving and investment applications, and ultimately a fully rounded business proposition enriched with unique marketing and business services,” said Kim Forsell, CEO of Vopy.

Embedded finance, which supports the integration of financial services into products and business processes of non-banks, is becoming increasingly relevant in Europe fuelled by Open Banking and digital transformation.

Cyient expands portfolio for aerospace industry

Engineering R&D services firm Cyient announced its global AS9145 Supplier PPAP platform offering for the aerospace industry.

AS9145 is a standard in the aerospace and defence industry, and applies to new product development or changes in existing products. It establishes requirements for performing and documenting the Production Part Approval Process (PPAP).

PPAP is a risk classification, and qualification process used to determine whether a production run will produce parts with consistency and repeatability, both internally and with suppliers.

Cyient will provide the infrastructure to connect over 25,000 suppliers in over 50 countries, with a multilingual application integrated with OEMs and prime aerospace companies, the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Synechron partners with Accelex

Digital transformation consulting firm Synechron said it is partnering with Accelex Technology to further operational efficiencies for the financial services industry by using private investment data.

Synechron Paris developed Accelex’s automation technology tools for a cloud-based platform that facilitates the acquisition and aggregation of key data from unstructured formats, and displays key metrics for private market investors, the company said in a press statement.

India and Singapore to link Fast Payment Systems

The Reserve Bank of India and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have announced a project to link their respective fast payment systems—Unified Payments Interface and PayNow—by July 2022.

The UPI-PayNow linkage will enable users of the two fast payment systems to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis without a need to get on-boarded onto the other payment system, said RBI in a press release.

The UPI-PayNow linkage is a significant milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore. It also aligns with the G20’s financial inclusion priorities of driving faster, cheaper, and more transparent cross-border payments.

Deloitte scales up Salesforce team in India

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) has strengthened its Salesforce practice in India by hiring a team from Compro Technologies, including senior leaders like industry veteran Dushyant Jamwal.

Deloitte is the Global Strategic Cloud Alliance Partner of Salesforce. Earlier this year, Shraban Nayak, who headed Accenture's Salesforce Lead for North America market, joined DTT India.

Intuit to buy Mailchimp for $12 billion

American software company Intuit agreed to buy email marketing company Mailchimp for $12 billion in a cash and stock deal. The deal will help the financial software company to accelerate growth among small businesses. 

Intuit is the company behind TurboTax and QuickBooks. The two companies will work on an end-to-end customer growth platform to help small and mid-market businesses leverage technology in their workflow.

Founded in 2001, Mailchimp has a global customer reach with 13 million total users globally. It has 800,000 paid customers—with 50 percent of customers outside the US.