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The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has resumed charges for mobile money and bank account transactions. Transaction charges were stopped in 2020 to facilitate the use of mobile money during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the CBK resumes charges, they will be significantly lower than before the pandemic.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published an article that examines the value of banknotes used for each component of cash demand and how it has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. The estimated share of banknotes used for transactions in Australia has declined by around 5 percentage points since early 2020. We estimate that of all the banknotes currently in circulation, 9-26% are used for transactional purposes, 5-9% are lost, 7-11% are used in the shadow economy, and 55-80% are hoarded domestically or internationally.

Fintech companies, challenger banks and alternative lenders could soon be joining big banks in distributing U.K. government-backed loans to small and medium-sized businesses hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

P2P investors who want access to their money have been hit by withdrawal restrictions and additional fees as the coronavirus pandemic causes a crunch for the sector. Two of the country's biggest platforms, Funding Circle and Assetz Capital, have introduced new limits for investors.

Global payment provider, Mastercard is calling for an increased contactless limit, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, in line with other parts of the world, like the UK, that have already done so. Mastercard has also increased the limit in New Zealand and Australia to $200.

SNAP program restrictions for online grocery shopping and delivery contribute to public health threats faced by as many as 35 million low-income Americans during the coronavirus. Major sources of groceries, like Amazon and Walmart, offer online grocery shopping for SNAP benefits through a preexisting USDA pilot program, but only in a handful of states. The incomplete access is another example of social inequity and internet divide exposed by the pandemic.

Mastercard Canada has increased the contactless payment limit from C$100 to C$250 without the need to provide additional cardholder verification such as a PIN code, to provide consumers with a safer way to pay during the coronavirus pandemic.

The South Korean government FinTech Innovation Fund will directly invest KRW85.5 billion in fintech firms to speed up the investment process to help fintech firms having troubles finding investment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the decline of cash, with the volume of UK payments made using notes and coins plunging by 35 per cent in 2020 compared with the previous year. Annual payments data from UK Finance, the banking trade body, showed a corresponding rise in contactless payments, online transactions and the use of mobile "wallet" apps that store bank and card details.

This paper overviews stablecoin stability mechanisms, the current stablecoin market landscape, and the performance of major stablecoins during the 2020 financial market crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from this analysis indicate that stablecoins' performance during the financial crisis and, in particular, the market crash present a direct relation with their specific behavior attributed to different design aspects, including their popularity.

The number of new U.S. mobile banking registrations month increased 200% in April 2020, and mobile banking traffic increased by 85%, according to data from Fidelity National Information Services. Only around 40% of people noted that they plan or expect to return to physical bank branches after the pandemic has passed according to a recent survey conducted by Novantas . This suggests that the ongoing and increasing shift towards digital or online banking platforms could be permanent for many consumers.

In a bid to lessen the blow of COVID-19, the town of Tenino has started issuing its own wooden dollars that can only be spent at local businesses. Tenino is setting aside $10,000 to give out to low-income residents hurt by the pandemic. But instead of using federal dollars, they are printing the money on thin sheets of wood designed exclusively for use in Tenino, using a 130-year-old newspaper printer from a local museum.

Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) subsidiary Saudi Payments highlighted the importance of electronic payment platforms and their increasing usage popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic. SAMA had tripled the limit of purchases through bankcards that use NFC technology on point-of-sale devices, in order to avoid contact with contaminated surfaces. As a result, during the first quarter of 2020, there were large increases in online purchases and purchases via POS devices.

U.S. federal regulators and financial industry representatives are expected to release a set of recommendations on how to jump-start the circulation of coins, which has slowed to a crawl during the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, a number of banks are offering consumers bonuses for change brought in, stockpiling coins and strategically moving coins among branches. For example, the Community State Bank in Wisconsin has launched a Coin Buyback Program that paysa 5% premium for change.

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority and the City of London will collaborate on the pilot of a digital sandbox to support innovative firms tackling COVID-19 challenges. It will supply relevant high-quality data sets and expertise in the areas of detecting and preventing fraud and scams, supporting vulnerable customers, and improving access to finance for SMEs financially affected by the pandemic.

Fintech funding rebounded in Q2 2020 but deal activity continues to fall. Funding increased 17% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) to $9.3B in Q2. However, monthly deal activity hit a fresh low of 127 deals in April before picking up the pace in June, which saw 141 deals. Quarterly deal activity continued its steady decline that began pre-pandemic in Q4 2019, potentially indicating the presence of other headwinds in addition to Covid-19. Fintech mega-rounds ($100M+) hit a new quarterly high of 28 as the largest companies in the space raised additional funding. M&A activity is concentrated within payments/banking infrastructure and wealthtech. Sofi's acquisition of Galileo and Mastercard's acquisition of Finicitydemonstrate the rush to own banking and payments infrastructure software. Wealthtechhad an especially active quarter with the acquisitions of Personal Capital by Empower Retirement, Folio by Goldman Sachs, and Advisor Engine by Franklin Templeton.

Grab announced the launch of the GrabPay Card in the Philippines, a digital-first prepaid card powered by Mastercard. Regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), GrabPay is a mobile wallet that can be used to transact within and outside the Grab app. A 24/7 fraud detection engine encrypts and protects user personal information and payment transactions. In a survey conducted by Mastercard in the Philippines in April 2020, 40% of Filipino consumers are now using contactless payments more often in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has had a major impact on the issuance of E-money and Payment Institution licenses in the European Economic Area. Advapay compared the number of E-money and Payment Institution licenses issued between January-May 2019 and 2020. According to the data, PI licenses have declined 75 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. For E-money licenses, a decrease of 45 percent was recorded.

Oliver Wyman's Shopping Outlook Survey tracks evolving consumer sentiment during the pandemic. It reveals an acceleration of e-commerce, greater consumer demand for mobile and contactless payments, the need for effective and inclusive digital servicing, more flexible business-to-business and government-to-consumer payment options, and a replacement for static fraud models.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, Singapore FinTech Association, AMTD Group and AMTD Foundation announced the launch of a S$6 million MAS-SFA-AMTD FinTech Solidarity Grant to support Singapore-based FinTech firms amid the challenging business climate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.