Spice Money
Industry News
Fintech player PayNearby gets insurance broking licence
Publication- Money Control
Edition- Online
Date- 09 July, 2019
Financial technology player PayNearby has been given an insurance broking licence by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). As a part of the launch strategy, PayNearby has acquired We Care Insurance Broking Services. The company said that its existing network of close to 6,00,000 retailers will be an engine in building a forceful new channel. "People who have never sold insurance are trained to sell to people who have never before bought the product. The aim is to Insure India and makes financial protection available for all," said the company.
Through its 'HarDukaan Digital Pradhan' campaign, the company has enabled its digital pradhans (retailers) to provide essential services like Aadhaar based banking, domestic remittances, bill payments and access to government schemes in their local communities.
Please click on the link below:
Payments industry body warns scrapping MDR will kill them
Publication- Money Control
Edition- Online
Date- 09 July, 2019
The budget proposal to remove the merchant discount rate (MDR) will lead to the "collapse" of the payments acquiring industry, a lobby grouping has warned. The move is contrary to various studies, including the Reserve Bank's vision document released not so long ago, the Payments Council of India said in a statement July 8.
Currently, there is a provision to get a merchant discount rate of up to 2 percent on every digital transaction, which helps the intermediaries recover the cost of setting up the infrastructure. The body's emeritus chairman Naveen Surya said only 10 percent of Indians currently use digital payments and the move comes at a time when there is a need for more players to enter the segment and invest so that this service is widened.
Please click on the link below:
BLOCKCHAIN IN BANKING: An inside look at four banks' early blockchain successes and failures
Publication- Business Insider
Edition- Online
Date- 09 July, 2019
Since its emergence at the start of the decade, block chain has been heralded as one of the most transformative technologies for financial services. Blockchain hype has led financial institutions (FIs) to pour money into the space and into distributed ledger technology more broadly: about $1.7 billion annually as of 2018, per research from Greenwich Associates cited by Bloomberg. Despite the hype, sentiment around the technology has grown increasingly skeptical as FIs struggle to realize the value of their investments. Incumbents have shuttered some early experiments, and FI execs are beginning to discuss blockchain's prospects in bearish terms.
Key difficulties include scaling the technology for commercial application, ongoing regulatory uncertainty, and the difficulty of bringing together competing participants. Yet amid the noise, it's becoming clearer where exactly blockchain has value, and some players are beginning to make genuine inroads in their adoption and deployment of the technology. Those who are finding success are both pushing back against souring industry sentiment and setting themselves up as industry leaders.
Please click on the link below: