Today In Payments: Western Union On An M&A Hunt; Amazon, Simon In Talks To Turn Malls Into Distribution Centers
In today’s top news, Western Union is looking for merger and acquisition opportunities, and Amazon and Simon Property Group are in talks to turn empty department stores into fulfillment centers. Plus, the Federal Reserve’s Neel Kashkari urges a restrictive lockdown to defeat the coronavirus.
Western Union CEO: ‘We’re On An M&A Hunt’
Western Union (WU) is planning to use opportunities arising from the pandemic to gobble up its weaker rivals. During an earnings call last week, CEO Hikmet Ersek said despite the challenging global environment of the pandemic, WU will position itself for growth.
Amazon In Talks With Simon To Turns Malls Into Distribution Centers
Simon Property Group, the nation’s largest mall owner, has been negotiating with Amazon to transform some of its vacant department stores into fulfillment centers for the world’s biggest eCommerce company.
Fed’s Kashkari Advocates For New Lockdown
In a New York Times opinion piece, Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, urged instating a restrictive lockdown to defeat the coronavirus.
DOJ Charges 14 With $28M In PPP Fraud
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged 14 people in two separate investigations into their alleged participation in schemes to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) of more than $28 million in forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration.
What Overcoming Inertia Tells Us About The Future of Physical Retail
Physical retail was broken long before the pandemic accelerated its decline. So, thinking that consumers will “go back” to what used to define the physical retail experience means believing that consumers will want to do more of what many had already decided they wanted to do less of: shop in a physical store. Karen Webster says that the only thing holding many consumers back from abandoning physical retail was inertia, something that the pandemic has motivated consumers to overcome. Now, that they have, she says there’s no turning back.
The Clearing House On The Race for Real-Time Payments In The US
The race to scale real-time payments in the U.S. is gathering momentum as more use cases persuade more banks and their corporates of its value. In an interview with Karen Webster, Russ Waterhouse, executive vice president of product development and strategy at The Clearing House, details the recent headway made by TCH and the private sector to make real-time payments ubiquitous and bring more innovative use cases to market.
The Mystery Of What’s Next For TikTok
This is the summer of discontent for Chinese social media giant TikTok. The EU is investigating it, India has banned it, Facebook is challenging it and President Trump wants the company to sell at least its U.S. arm by Sept. 15 or pack its bags. We break down all of the possibilities and TikTok’s likely future.