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• Los Angeles Lawmakers Say No To Cashlessness
• Epic Games CEO Labels Google ‘Crooked’ During Antitrust Court Testimony
• Younger Australians Are Cutting Back On Subscriptions, Says NAB
• Singapore QR Code Tie-Up With Indonesia Goes Live
• Mastercard Launches CBDC-Backed Debit Card In Kazakhstan
• Hong Kong Moves Ahead With Alternative Credit Reference Pilot

Los Angeles Lawmakers Say No To Cashlessness

The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously passed a . 

“Cashless businesses create an economy in our city that is not inclusive and accessible for all people," said council representative Heather Hutt in a . 

Hutt, who introduced the motion, said there are many unbanked residents in Los Angeles county, from minority groups and low-income communities, that rely on cash to pay for goods and services.

"As a city that has promised to be a safe and fair place for all, we must be proactive in ensuring that all our systems create fairness and equity for each and every individual," she said. 

Although the motion has passed, it will take some time to come into effect, as the City Attorney is yet to draft the required legislation.

Epic Games CEO Labels Google ‘Crooked’ During Antitrust Court Testimony

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has accused Google of using bullying and intimidation to force rivals not to compete in the app distribution and in-app payments markets.

Sweeney made the comments during court testimony on Monday (November 20), as Epic Games continued its attempt to sue Google for antitrust violations and “illegal” price gouging through in-app payment commissions. 

In 2018, Epic Games decided to release the Android version of its Fortnite video game app directly via its own website, so that it could use its own payment system.

Sweeney recalled that Google called him into its California HQ to offer a range of financial incentives for Fortnite to release via the Play Store.

“It seemed like a crooked arrangement,” Sweeney told the jury, as  by AP News. “Google was proposing a series of side deals, which seemed designed to convince Epic not to compete against them.”

Younger Australians Are Cutting Back On Subscriptions, Says NAB

New research from National Australia Bank (NAB) has  that younger Australians are saving on average more than A$76 ($50) per month by cutting down on subscriptions.

Four in ten Australians under the age of 30 have cancelled a streaming subscription since mid-2023, as have one in three Australians of all ages. Australians were more likely to cancel streaming subscriptions than news, dating app and other app subscriptions.

At the same time, NAB has seen a 62 percent jump in the number of customers using its new Spending feature to track their spending.

The feature automatically categorises transaction data so that customers can better identify where their direct debits are going, removing the need to trawl through old statements.

Singapore QR Code Tie-Up With Indonesia Goes Live

Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have  that a cross-border linkage between their respective national QR code standards is now live.

The linkage enables customers of participating FIs to make retail payments via their existing mobile banking apps using Indonesia's QRIS or Singapore’s NETS QR code.

Only two FIs from Singapore, OCBC and UOB, can facilitate QRIS transactions at present, and DBS will join them at a later date. On the Indonesian side, ten FIs are already signed up.

BI governor Perry Warjiyo and MAS managing director Ravi Menon launched the linkage together by making live cross-border QR payments at the Singapore FinTech Festival last week.

BI and MAS have also signed a letter of intent (LOI) to establish a local currency settlement framework.

Set to launch in 2024, the framework will facilitate the settlement of cross-border payments, including QR payments, trade and investments, between Indonesia and Singapore in their respective local currencies.

Mastercard Launches CBDC-Backed Debit Card In Kazakhstan

Mastercard has  a new debit card backed by the digital tenge, the central bank digital currency (CBDC) of Kazakhstan.

The card went live on the 30th anniversary of the creation of the tenge, Kazakhstan’s national currency, and is the first card of its kind in the Eurasian region.

The card is issued by Eurasian Bank and is powered by the Mastercard network.

In a statement, Mastercard said the card “instantly converts funds to traditional Tenge currency” and can be used anywhere that Mastercard is accepted — both in Kazakhstan and overseas.  

“Digital Tenge unlocks the potential of blockchain technology to create innovative financial services, ensures targeted and efficient government spending, and also builds a ‘bridge’ between traditional finance and the world of digital assets," said Binur Zhalenov, chair of the National Payment Corporation of Kazakhstan.

"Today’s launch gave a start to the development of the Digital Tenge ecosystem and, in the near future, Kazakhstanis will be able to use the first products based on it."

Hong Kong Moves Ahead With Alternative Credit Reference Pilot

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has  the launch of a new pilot to study the feasibility of a multiple credit agencies model.

Following consultation by the Hong Kong Association of Banks and others, the project will officially be named Credit Data Smart.

The three prospective credit agencies that have been selected to take part in the pilot are offered by NovaCredit, PingAn and TransUnion.

Credit Data Smart is a data infrastructure enhancement project being conducted as part of Hong Kong’s Fintech 2025 strategy.