Financial Services

PayPal signed an agreement to buy the Japanese BNPL provider, which can help it gain a stronger foothold in Japan’s budding installment lending market and overall digital payments space.

Monzo’s 100,000 business accounts are much-needed good news: The neobank reached this milestone just 18 months after its product launch—a development that stands out against the backdrop of the company’s concerns about its viability.

Mastercard gets shot at European open-banking growth with Aiia: The credit-card giant plans to integrate features from the European API provider with Finicity— a combination that has a shot at becoming a de facto open-banking technical standard.

The new offering lets customers designate accounts that can be automatically scoured for funds if an overdraft occurs. It’s another example of an incumbent co-opting what’s been a competitive advantage for challengers.

The country adopted Bitcoin as legal tender on Tuesday, but we have reservations as to how a decentralized currency designed to operate outside government control will support its economic goals.