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UPI payments

UPI Payments To Be Charged? Finance Ministry Responds.

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We are living in a digital world where money transfer from UPI is considered more efficient and user-friendly than using cash and it is indeed. Unified Payment Method (UPI) is a mobile payment system introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India. There are also other features like accessing balances and transaction history together with receiving or sending money. However, there were speculations on whether the government should charge for UPI payments or not.

The Central Government has its position on reports making claims that it may impose additional charges on UPI (unified payment interface) payments. In a set series of tweets on August 21, Sunday, The Ministry of Finance stated that UPI is a digital public good and there is no need to consider imposing any charges on UPI payments services. It is also stated in the tweet that the cost of recovery will be met through other resources or mediums. Also, the central government has offered financial support for the digital payment ecosystem in the country. The ministry has also announced assistance to promote further acceptance of UPI payments this year as well.

UPI payments
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Here, are the tweets made by the Ministry of Finance

“UPI is a digital public good with immense convenience for the public & productivity gains for the economy. There is no consideration in Govt to levy any charges for UPI services. The concerns of the service providers for cost recovery have to be met through other means,” the Ministry of Finance stated in a tweet on August 21, Sunday.

“The Govt had provided financial support for #DigitalPayment ecosystem last year and has announced the same this year as well to encourage further adoption of #DigitalPayments and promotion of payment platforms that are economical and user-friendly,” the Finance Ministry stated in another tweet.

Source: www.thenewsminute.com

The clarification was made by the government amidst the claims regarding UPI transactions that it may impose an additional charge on these transactions with the purpose of maintaining and advancing the payments infrastructure in the country. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had also requested some feedback corresponding to this matter, in accordance with a discussion paper disclosed on August 17. However, the discussion paper not only stated about UPI transactions but also covered other digital payment methods such as IMPS i.e. Immediate Payment Service, the National Electronic Funds Transfer System (NEFT) and RTGS i.e. Real Time Gross Settlement system.

The discussion paper requested the government to take a re-look at its zero-merchant discount rate (MDR) policy which stays omitted on UPI transactions and RuPay. By means of the imposed charges on digital payments in the form of a Merchant discount rate policy, many service providers debate whether they can advance and enhance the payment systems.

The Payments Council of India which is the industry body in the country for the payments ecosystem had also sought the government previously this year to again introduce the zero-MDR scheme for RuPay debit cards and UPI transactions before the presentation of Union Budget 2022. At the moment, Mastercard and Visa debit cards make up to 0.4 to 0.9 MDR which is shared by the acquirer and the issuer bank.

In accordance with the UPI, the discussion paper sought by the reserve bank of India demanded feedback on whether it should be handled differently from the Mastercard and Visa debit cards. The government stated in a tweet that it promotes digital payments that are user-friendly and economical.

With this clarification, denying the speculation or claims by service providers, by the central government, it is clear that there will be no charges on the UPI transaction which is a benefit for users.

American Express

American Express – Offering Payment Card Services Since 1878.

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American Express (Amex) is a popular company offering payment card services. One thing that has stayed constant throughout the company’s evolution from logistics operations to travel to cards to cutting-edge digital products and services: is its steadfast dedication to gaining its clients’ long-term loyalty.

About The Company

Founded in 1850, American Express is a reputed American multinational company headquartered in New York City, USA. The company is part of the 30 prominent companies listed in the Dow Jones Index. Its logo, which was adopted in 1958, is a gladiator which can be found on its popular products like credit cards, charge cards, and traveler’s cheques. In 2016, 22.9% of all credit card payments in the United States were made using credit cards connected to the American Express network. As of 2019, the corporation had 114.4 million active cards worldwide. IN 2020, the company was ranked 28th in the Forbes list of the World’s Most Valuable Brands. It was ranked 8th by the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2022.

American Express
Image source: gobankingrates.com

History Of The Company

American Express was founded in 1850 by the merger of three companies. Initially, the company’s main line of business involved the delivery of goods, packages, and valuables. It started selling financial solutions to its customers in 1878. It developed a business-to-business service with agents purchasing goods for their customers at competitive prices.

The company introduced Travelers Cheque in 1891, making it easier for travelers to feel secure with their cash. When World War I broke out in 1914, the corporation used its contacts abroad to assist more than 150,000 stranded Americans. They assisted clients with cashing their Travelers Cheques and setting for secure transportation home. Amex launched its first credit card, the Charge Card, in 1958, giving clients greater flexibility than Travelers Cheques and contributing to the development of credit cards in the financial industry. The business also began selling its Corporate Card, a credit card, to business clients in 1966.

Although the company’s global reach dates back to 1895, it only began to develop its credit card program internationally in 1972, paving the path for other companies to follow. In 1991, American Express introduced its first loyalty program and membership rewards, providing its clients more significant advantages and incentives for using their cards. American Express rewards continue to be among the most lucrative even today. From modest beginnings with quick delivery, American Express has grown its capabilities and transformed its business strategy to grow into a recognizable brand worldwide.

American Express Cards

American Express unveiled the Gold Card in 1966. The corporation introduced the Platinum Card in 1984, establishing distinct market groups within its own organization—a strategy that has spread across a wide range of businesses now. The Platinum Card had a $250 yearly cost and was advertised as super-exclusive. Prior to 2019, it was only available by invitation to American Express cardholders who had been using the card for at least two years, had made sizable purchases, and had a good payment history. As of 2019, anyone can apply for this card. The Optima card was the first credit card product offered by American Express that did not require full payment at the end of the month. It was launched in 1987.

Founders – William Fargo, Henry Wells, John Butterfield

American Express was founded on March 18, 1850, by William Fargo, Henry Wells, and John Butterfield. It was a merger of three companies named Wells & Co (owned by Henry Wells); Livingston, Fargo & Co( owned by William Fargo).; and Butterfield, Wasson & Co( owned by John Butterfield. The company’s President was Henry Wells, and its Secretary was William G. Fargo.

CEO – Stephen Squeri

The CEO of American Express is Stephen Squeri. He has been serving as the company’s CEO since 2018. In 1985, Squeri started working for American Express as a manager in the Travelers Cheque Group. He has also been the company’s vice-chairman since 2015; before that, he served as group president of the company’s global corporate services division.

Worldline

Worldline – Providing Payment And Transactional Services.

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Worldline is a corporation that offers payment and transactional services. It operates in four segments: Merchant Services, Financial Services, terminal, Solutions, and Services, and Mobility and e-Transactional Services. Terminals and point of sale, online payments, omnichannel commerce, issuing and acquiring solutions, account payments, digital banking, connected services, customer interaction, cloud services, and other services are available from the organization. Worldline serves the retail, financial, manufacturing, transportation, and public sectors, among others.

About The Company

Worldline SA, originally Atos Worldline SAS, the payment and transaction services provider is based in France. The organization has operations in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The headquarters of Worldline is in Paris, France. The company develops and operates digital platforms that handle all transactions between businesses, their partners, and their customers. It provides a variety of financial services, including acquiring processing and value-added services, issuing processing, online banking, and software licensing. It serves the banking, transportation, retail, healthcare, financial services, insurance, media, and telecommunications industries.

Worldline
Image source: world.net

Worldline’s Story

The story of Worldline begins in 1996, when Axime offered to buy Sligos, culminating in the successful merger of the two firms under the new name Atos. Atos quickly acquired more companies and rose to prominence as a leader in payment software and integration activities. The corporation established the new subsidiary Atos Worldline in 2004 to focus only on payments and transactional services.

Two years later, the business purchased Banksys, which is in charge of safeguarding and insuring electronic payments in Belgium, as well as BCC, which operates payment systems linked to the two main credit card networks, Visa and Mastercard. In 2013, the Atos Worldline segment obtained autonomy, and a year later, Atos floated Worldline as a standalone company for 26.59 percent of its interests, for 575 million euros, valuing Worldline at 2.1 billion euros. With over 11,000 workers and services in over 30 countries, Worldline rose to become the European Payment Champion. Worldline merged its electronic financial transaction processing services with the Dutch payment processing company Equens in November 2015 to form equensWorldline. The debut in 2016 established Worldline as the European payment services market leader.

When Atos shareholders approved the plan to divide 23.4 percent of Worldline shares to their owners in May 2019, Worldline became an independent business. The company expanded its international reach and inked a long-term strategic commercial acquiring agreement with Australia’s third-largest acquirer, ANZ Bank, at the end of 2020. One aspect of Worldline’s objective was to establish and enable an ecosystem with simple financial technology integration for as many businesses as feasible. As a result, Worldline fortified its position in 2017 by acquiring Digital River World Payments (DRWP) and First Data Baltics. This gave Worldline control of ANZ’s merchant acquisition business, allowing them to provide value-added products and services to its merchant customers. The Australian market is significant because it is the world’s 14th largest economy and is witnessing rapid expansion in digitalization. Worldline’s tale continues in May 2021, when we bought 92.5 percent of Cardlink’s share capital in order to build Worldline’s Merchant Services business in one of the world’s most promising markets. Cardlink is Greece’s top network services provider, with exclusive access to the country’s leading payment acceptance network. This transaction will provide with a greater presence in southern Europe a country that is rapidly adopting electronic payments.

CEO – Gilles Grapinet

Since July 2013, Gilles Grapinet has served as Worldline’s Chief Executive Officer. Soon after taking over, he led the company through a successful IPO in 2014, which resulted in Worldline’s listing as a public company on the French stock exchange. The company has more than doubled in size, geographical reach, and revenue since 2013. Mr. Grapinet, a fervent supporter of corporate social responsibility, launched the TRUST2020 program in 2016 – an ambitious roadmap that ensures trust is at the heart of all Worldline interactions.

Worldline, which became entirely independent of Atos on May 3rd, 2019, is now the n°1 electronic payment services provider in Europe and n°4 internationally and has been a member of the CAC40 leading French index since March 2020, with a market valuation of over 21 billion euros (March 2021).

Adyen

Adyen – The Leading Online Payment Processing Service Providers.

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Online payments have made banking and online shopping way easier. Now we can easily make payments to people sitting miles away without visiting the bank, saving time and money on travel. Buying things online and making payments through credit cards/debit cards have made things simpler. Other than credit cards and debit cards, apps are also some online payment methods that not only allow easy transfer of money but also allow bill payments, like electricity or broadband. The successful online payment through the cards, wallets, or payment apps depends on the gateway or the payment processor the platform uses (responsible for the security at the same time). Companies like Adyen are behind such payment processors that make every online transaction possible and secure.

About Adyen

Adyen is a Netherlands-based payment company with its headquarters based in Amsterdam. The company was founded in 2006, and since then, it has been providing e-commerce, mobile, and point-of-sale payment services. Payment service provider, gateway, risk management, local acquiring, point of sale, issuing are the major services by Adyen, which works on payment methods like a credit card, debit card, online banking, etc. Other than Amsterdam, Adyen has its branches in cities like Berlin, Brussels, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, Mumbai, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw.

As per the 2020 records, the Adyen made annual revenues worth €684.2 million, and over 2300 people are working for it. In 2015, the company became the sixth largest European unicorn with a valuation worth $2.3 billion.

Adyen
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The Founding

Some of the Bibit ex-employees founded Adyen in 2006 after gaining enough experience in the field of online payments. The team included Pieter van der Does (CEO at Adyen) and Arnout Schuijff (Adyen CTO). Till the year 2012, the company was struggling to get a hold on the payment market in the Netherlands. But the real growth of the company started in 2011 when it started to expand globally. In the period of four-five years, Adyen opened offices in San Francisco, London, Paris, and many other cities of European countries. In 2016, the company reported a 99 percent growth in gross revenues as it made revenues worth $727 million that year.

In 2015, the company was valued at $2.3 billion, becoming the sixth largest European unicorn. The next year, Forbes ranked the company #10 in its Cloud 100 list and #5 in the same list in 2017. By 2017, It had gained acquiring licenses in pan-European, Brazil, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, etc. The company also received the European banking license in 2010, such that it had gained the status of an acquiring bank.

Adyen had its first IPO in 2018, and it went public on Euronext Amsterdam. The same year, the company bagged a partnership agreement from eBay, where the Company became the primary payment processing partner of the latter. In 2019, Adyen expanded its operations to Japan, India, and Africa as well as launched Adyen Issuing, a card (physical as well as virtual) issuing business. The company experienced a 51% increase in the annual revenue in the same year, as it made revenues worth EUR 497 million. In 2020, launched mobile Android POS devices for its global customers as a result of the outburst of Covid-19.

The CEO at Adyen

Pieter van der Does is one of the co-founders of Adyen and the current CEO at Adyen. He is a Dutch national and was born in 1968. Pieter has got a master’s degree in economics from the University of Amsterdam. His last job was at Bibit Global Payment Services, where he worked as the chief commercial officer. During his time at the company, he met the other co-founder of Adyen, and after Bibit was acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland in 2004, they decided to start Adyen. Pieter has been serving Adyen as the CEO from the inception of the company. Forbes ranked Pieter in its Forbes Billionaire list in 2020.

Global Payments

Global Payments – Boosting The Digital Commerce Ecosystem Since 2000.

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In 1996, Global Payments was originally established as a subsidiary of the National Data Corporation. It was spun off very shortly and it became an independent company that is currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Global Payments is a leading American company in the payment processing industry that offers its services to a wide range of customers from financial institutions to small and medium businesses. Some of the world’s largest companies are also customers of Global Payments including Nixon, Sodexo, Kiko, etc. The company has virtually spread across more than 100 countries and has physical operation support in 38 countries. In June 2021, It was featured as one of the Fortune 500 companies.

About Global Payments

Global Payments have become very famous within two decades especially because they support businesses of every size. The company successfully carries out billions of transactions every year very safely and smoothly. There are 24,000 employees working for the company who are delivering expert advice to the customers and keeping them ahead of the competition. The team of Global Payments is very diverse as they belong to 80 different nationalities and also speak 16 native languages.

Global Payments offers services to a variety of industries including retail, entertainment, luxury, grocery, hospitality, etc. Using the advanced technology of Global Payments, payments can be accepted in various modes. Online payment allows transactions from anywhere in the world. There are other options like unified payments, point of sale, integrated software, etc. The payment technology is so versatile that it helps both the merchants and the consumers. Amidst the immense success of the company, Global Payments also fall victim to a data breach incident ten years ago. Millions of debit and credit number numbers were affected and it cost the company $100 million.

Global Payments
Image source: businesswire.com

History of the Company

Global Payments started operating as an independent company in 2001 and before that, it was operating under National Data Corporation. The company made several acquisitions and partnerships in the last two decades starting with United Card Service which is the leading credit card processing company in Russia. In 2009, Company paid $75 million to acquire this company for the card services. After two years, the United Card Service that was operating under Global Payments bought Alfa Bank’s credit card processing unit. In 2012, Company acquired Accelerated Payment Technologies for $413 million and after two years acquired an Australian company called Ezidebit for $305 million.

In the upcoming years, the series of acquisitions continued as it purchased many famous companies. For example, in January 2015, Global Payments acquired PayPros, a California-based payment company for $420 million. In the same year, it also acquired an Irish payment company called Realex Payments. In 2016, Company made one of the biggest acquisitions in its history as it bought Heartland Payment Systems for $4.3 billion. During this time, both companies were dominant in the payment processing industry. Some of the other companies that were acquired by the company are AdvancedMD, Sentral Education, and divisions of Active Networks. Three years ago, the company also announced a merger with TSYS for $21.5 billion but it also triggered a federal investigation. But, the merger took place after some time and the company has also announced a partnership with Google Cloud.

Jeffrey S. Sloan – CEO of Global Payments

Jeffrey S. Sloan is a very skilled leader with deep industry knowledge. It has been more than twenty-five years that he has strong expertise in the financial sector. Jeff became a part of Global Payments in 2010 when he joined the company as its President and in 2013 he became the CEO of the same. He has worked in many other famous companies in executive positions such as head of financial technology group for Goldman, Sachs & Co. Jeff was also featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of Atlanta’s Most Admired CEOs.