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Mastercard to buy subscription management startup Minna Technologies

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BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 01: A view of the MasterCard company logo on their stand during the Mobile World Congress on March 1, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Joan Cros Garcia/Corbis via Getty Images)

Joan Cros Garcia – Corbis | Corbis News | Getty Images

Mastercard said Tuesday that it’s agreed to acquire Minna Technologies, a software firm that makes it easier for consumers to manage their subscriptions.

The move comes as Mastercard and its primary payment network rival Visa are rapidly attempting to expand beyond their core credit and debit card businesses into technology services, such as cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and pay-by-bank payments.

Mastercard declined to disclose financial details of the transaction which is currently subject to a regulatory review.

The payments giant said that the deal, along with other initiatives it’s committed to around subscriptions, will allow it to give consumers a way to access all their subscriptions in a single view — whether inside your banking app or a central “hub.”

Minna Technologies, which is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, develops technology that helps consumers manage subscriptions within their banking apps and websites, regardless of which payment method they used for their subscriptions.

The company said it works with some of the world’s largest financial institutions in the world today. It already counts Mastercard as a key partner as well as its rival Visa.

“These teams and technologies will add to the broader set of tools that help manage the merchant-consumer relationship and minimize any disruption in their experience,” Mastercard said in a blog post Tuesday.

Consumers today often have tons of subscriptions to manage across multiple services such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney Plus. Owning multiple subscriptions can make it difficult to cancel them as consumers can end up losing track of which subscriptions they’re paying for and when.

Mastercard noted that this can have a negative impact on merchants because consumers who aren’t able to easily cancel their subscriptions end up calling on their banks to request a block on payments being taken.

According to Juniper Research data, there are 6.8 billion subscriptions globally, a number that’s expected to jump to 9.3 billion by 2028.

Financial services incumbents such as Mastercard have been rapidly growing their product suite to remain competitive with emerging fintech players that are offering more convenient, digitally native ways to manage consumers’ money management needs.

In 2020, Mastercard acquired Finicity, a U.S. fintech firm that enables third parties — such as fintechs or other banks — to gain access to consumers’ banking information and make payments on their behalf.

Earlier this year, the company announced that by 2030, it would tokenize all cards issued on its network in Europe — in other words, as a consumer, you wouldn’t need to enter your card details manually anymore and would only have to use your thumbprint to authenticate your identity when you pay.

Visa, meanwhile, is also trying to remain competitive with fintech challengers. Last month, the company launched a new service called Visa A2A, which makes it easier for consumers to set up and manage direct debits — payments which are taken directly from your bank account rather than by card.

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Stocks making the biggest moves midday: AAL, AVGO, JPM

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Biggest banks planning to sue the Federal Reserve over annual stress tests

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A general view of the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, United States.

Samuel Corum | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The biggest banks are planning to sue the Federal Reserve over the annual bank stress tests, according to a person familiar with the matter. A lawsuit is expected this week and could come as soon as Tuesday morning, the person said.

The Fed’s stress test is an annual ritual that forces banks to maintain adequate cushions for bad loans and dictates the size of share repurchases and dividends.

After the market close on Monday, the Federal Reserve announced in a statement that it is looking to make changes to the bank stress tests and will be seeking public comment on what it calls “significant changes to improve the transparency of its bank stress tests and to reduce the volatility of resulting capital buffer requirements.”

The Fed said it made the determination to change the tests because of “the evolving legal landscape,” pointing to changes in administrative laws in recent years. It didn’t outline any specific changes to the framework of the annual stress tests.

While the big banks will likely view the changes as a win, it may be too little too late.

Also, the changes may not go far enough to satisfy the banks’ concerns about onerous capital requirements. “These proposed changes are not designed to materially affect overall capital requirements, according to the Fed.

The CEO of BPI (Bank Policy Institute), Greg Baer, which represents big banks like JPMorgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, welcomed the Fed announcement, saying in a statement “The Board’s announcement today is a first step towards transparency and accountability.”

However, Baer also hinted at further action: “We are reviewing it closely and considering additional options to ensure timely reforms that are both good law and good policy.”

Groups like the BPI and the American Bankers Association have raised concerns about the stress test process in the past, claiming that it is opaque, and has resulted in higher capital rules that hurt bank lending and economic growth.

In July, the groups accused the Fed of being in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, because it didn’t seek public comment on its stress scenarios and kept supervisory models secret.

CNBC’s Hugh Son contributed to this report.

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Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Nordstrom, Honda, MicroStrategy, Broadcom and more

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These are the stocks posting the largest moves in midday trading.

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