Lee Seung-heon Signals Caution on Rate Hikes, Supports Higher Property Taxes to Cool Korea’s Housing Market 
SoftBank Shares Slide After Arm Earnings Miss Fuels Tech Stock Sell-Off 
Amazon Stock Rebounds After Earnings as $200B Capex Plan Sparks AI Spending Debate 
Asian Markets Surge as Japan Election, Fed Rate Cut Bets, and Tech Rally Lift Global Sentiment 
Dollar Near Two-Week High as Stock Rout, AI Concerns and Global Events Drive Market Volatility 
Trump’s Inflation Claims Clash With Voters’ Cost-of-Living Reality 
Japan Economy Poised for Q4 2025 Growth as Investment and Consumption Hold Firm 
Gold and Silver Prices Climb in Asian Trade as Markets Eye Key U.S. Economic Data 
Dow Hits 50,000 as U.S. Stocks Stage Strong Rebound Amid AI Volatility 
Nikkei 225 Hits Record High Above 56,000 After Japan Election Boosts Market Confidence 
Washington Post Publisher Will Lewis Steps Down After Layoffs 
Indian Refiners Scale Back Russian Oil Imports as U.S.-India Trade Deal Advances 
RBI Holds Repo Rate at 5.25% as India’s Growth Outlook Strengthens After U.S. Trade Deal 
Yen Slides as Japan Election Boosts Fiscal Stimulus Expectations 
Weight-Loss Drug Ads Take Over the Super Bowl as Pharma Embraces Direct-to-Consumer Marketing 
South Africa Eyes ECB Repo Lines as Inflation Eases and Rate Cuts Loom 
American Airlines CEO to Meet Pilots Union Amid Storm Response and Financial Concerns 
JPMorgan entered a deal to acquire an almost 75% stake in Volkswagen’s payments business, Volkswagen Payments S.A. The agreement comes prior to the firm’s rollout of its new in-car technology that will let drivers pay for tolls and fuel automatically.
JP Morgan, a global leader in financial services offering solutions to the major corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide, agreed to buy a majority of stake in Volkswagen Payments. Then again, the acquisition is still subject to approvals of the government regulator and as for the amount of the deal, it was not disclosed as of this time, as per Reuters.
The Luxembourg headquartered fintech firm that provides solutions for digital financial services was first established in 2017 and currently operating in around 32 countries. Its business is mostly offering assistance on car purchase and leasing, fuelling, in-vehicle payments, electric vehicle (EV) charging, and other subscription services including insurance and in-vehicle entertainment.
Now, with the acquisition, the American financial company said it is planning to invest and rebrand Volkswagen Payments’ business and extend it to mobility-focused payments in other industries. As posted, Volkswagen will be retaining a 25.1% stake in its payments business and its deal with JPMorgan is expected to close within the first two quarters of 2022.
Moreover, CNBC reported that JPMorgan is also looking to enter the automotive industry after successfully expanding its digital payment capabilities through Volkswagen Payments. The bank further stated that they will also develop Volkswagen’s platform to accommodate more markets beyond the field of automotive.
“We plan to build on Volkswagen Financial Services’ innovative groundwork on the existing platform and apply the global scale of our payments expertise to meet evolving customer expectations in the auto space and beyond,” JPMorgan’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) head of wholesale payments, Shahrokh Moinian, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that for some time now, the German carmaker has been working to further push its digital payments business to cover various industries, and this was why it launched its payments platform. Thus, the deal with JPMorgan is a strategic decision to attain its goal.
