Asia

Mastercard will financially back Indian merchant commerce platform Pine Labs' embrace of multi-channel installment financing as a payment option in addition to cards.

Projects in both countries are picking up steam and serving as an example to the rest of the world, says ACI Worldwide's Craig Ramsey.

In a move to increase the security of card transactions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is requiring all advanced features such as contactless to be turned off for new and re-issued cards until the user opts-in.

Uber Technologies Inc. will sell Uber Eats in India to local rival Zomato in a $172 million deal, according to a person familiar with the transaction, underscoring the ride-hailing giant’s effort to cut back on loss-making operations.

Last week, Indian regulators ordered an antitrust probe of Walmart and Amazon while Jeff Bezos and other Amazon execs traveled to New Delhi to tout a $1 billion investment to digitize local businesses. The message is U.S. investment is welcome, as long as U.S.-driven data mining is kept at bay.

French mobile payments app Lydia has raised €40 million (about $45 million) in a Series B fundraising round led by Tencent Holdings, owner of WeChat Pay.

Paytm Payments Bank has issued over 3 million FASTags for the Indian national highway electronic toll system, making it the largest issuer in the country.

Thailand is laying the foundations for standalone digital banks as it strives to catch up with other Asian markets that are allowing such changes, according to its central bank governor.

China’s slow courting of U.S. payment companies made a tiny step forward this week, shortly after a similar gesture from the U.S. government that teases progress in the broader trade dispute.