Welcome to the PaymentsSource Morning Briefing, delivered daily. The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web:

The science of prepaid: Artificial intelligence and other data science will have a profound impact on the mobile prepaid card market, increasing yearly revenue by as much as $70 billion globally over the next few years, according to Juvo, which researched the impact of mobile technology. When machine learning and and predictive credit algorithms are applied and used in real-time, issuers can improve their ability to serve and market to individual consumers. That can increase the average revenue per person by 10% while reducing churn up to 50%, Juvo reports. The increase in prepaid usage and efficiency can also improve financial services institutions' ability to offer credit cards and other services over time, according to Juvo. "We're only scratching the surface of what is possible with data-science led digital transformation," said Steve Polsky, CEO and founder of Juvo, in a news release.

Singapore sheds docs for onboarding: Singapore has become a hotbed for new payments technology, leading to the automation of systems that support new transactions. The local government is testing an account opening system that allows citizens to register without supporting documents, reports the U.K.'s FsTech. The MyInfo service will draw on centralized data sources that already back the city's housing system. United Overseas Bank, Development Bank of Singapore, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank have registered profiles on myinfo.gov.sg that allows consumers to apply and onboard new accounts without forms for ID, income and other standard disclosures. The deployment is designed to add another layer to Singapore's ongoing digital strategy, which aims to connect travel, parking, payments and building access to a single network for transaction execution and authentication, removing the need to access different apps for each function. The next phase of the onboarding test will include card applications.

Bitcoin rival expands: Dash has debuted on the Panama-based broker and virtual currency wallet Coinapult, expanding the emerging virtual currency as an alternative to Bitcoin. The partnership will enable Dash investors to buy and sell against 20 currencies, according to Finextra. Coinapult partners with Crypto Capital for access to an international money transfer system that converts regulated cryptocurrencies to fiat currencies. Dash's model is designed to avoid third party exchanges, giving users more control over accounts involved in wire transfers. User have a distinct account with Crypto Capital that is integrated with Coinapult, providing a direct transfer between the user and the account. Dash's argument is that its structure reduces risk and user friction, a combination that's allowed Dash's market cap to increase more than 500% since Jan 1.

Qatar blockchain readies new phase: The Commercial Bank has completed a cross-border blockchain payment pilot in Qatar and is getting set to add other financial transactions. The pilot, conducted with Infosys and Finacle, involved building a grid to route international transfers to India. The network is built on an asset-agnostic cloud-based ledger that enables the banks to automate processes that operate across the institutions. In the next phase, The Commercial Bank will test trade finance transactions, particularly the transfer of secure documents and smart contracts, or the automated agreements that trigger transactions when certain conditions are met. The permissioned network eliminates intermediaries, allowing the banks to settle customer payment requests in real time, according to a news release from Infosys.

From the Web (powered by Wiser)

Japan looks to up its fintech game

Business Insider • B.I. Intelligence

Japan got off to a much slower start than many of its neighbors, including China, Singapore, and South Korea, when it comes to building...

What Mobile Marketers Need to Know About the New Android Pay

Business 2 Community • Ted Bauer

The mobile payments space is sometimes a little bit hard to figure out, but Android Pay made a big splash in the past few weeks. The service now works in 13 more banks, including BoFA, USAA, Discover and more. What does all...

With '811' service, Kotak Bank looks to double user count to 16 million

The Economic Times of India • Pti

Kotak Bank officials said that its 52 per cent customers do digital transactions, of which 54 per cent do it through mobile banking.

More from PaymentsSource

Is faster EMV optional? Worldpay says no

One of the post-EMV migration complaints is the speed of the transactions. Consumers dip their cards into payment terminals and let them sit there for an amount of time that may vary from store to story, but always feels longer than the old school swipe.

Payment startups are always faster, but banks can win with breadth

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Amex gives Bluebird card a tuneup to refresh its prepaid strategy

When American Express debuted its Bluebird prepaid card in Walmart stores nearly five years ago, it was a sharp detour from the card brand's status as a product for the elite. But rather than bridge these two worlds, the Bluebird card has kept its market walled off.

Australian card fraud scheme used Host Card Emulation: Report

Police in Sydney, Australia reportedly arrested two men this week suspected of using Host Card Emulation technology to make fraudulent debit card purchases amounting to AUS$1.5 million (US$1.1 million).

CIBC deletes its mobile wallet, conceding to Apple, Samsung

Canadian bank CIBC has removed its mobile payment app from the Google Play Store and ended support for it, opting to support mobile payments via Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

