Payments M&A Likely to Be Driven by Big Tech in 2021; AsiaPay Partners for BNPL Payments: News Roundup

PaymentFacilitator’s News Roundup is a curated mix of the past week’s news and articles from around the web, including company announcements, global payments news, and other coverage and analysis of topics relevant to payment facilitators.

The Year Ahead

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital offerings, which likely means that payments will remain an active sector for acquisitions in 2021. And while traditional financial service companies may have interest in beefing up their digital payment capabilities, big tech companies are more likely to have the capital – and the stomach – for big deals in the current economic environment. From S&P Global Market Intelligence.

India’s fintechs expect 2021 to be a year of consolidation in that market in part because, while some companies have rebounded well from the pandemic, others have not been able to weather the storm. Business leaders also expect increased partnerships between banks and fintech companies as well as a supportive regulatory environment to help them make up for losses from 2020. From Financial Express.

Digital India

Financial inclusion in India has increased as digital payments and other financial technologies have grown rapidly there. On the verge of becoming a $1 trillion digital payments market, the country has benefitted from the ability of fintech players to bring technology and opportunity to small and medium businesses that lacked it before. From The Economic Times.