After a slow first quarter for PayPal’s cross-border business, 2020 seems to have taken a positive turn. As consumers continue to favour digital payments and as freedom of movement is restored, revenue for the whole business increased 22%, driven by a 29% rise in Total Payment Volume (TPV). After a slow first quarter for PayPal’s cross-border business, 2020 seems to have taken a positive turn. As consumers continue to favour digital payments and as freedom of movement is restored, revenue for the whole business increased 22%, driven by a 29% rise in Total Payment Volume (TPV).

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As to the cross-border segments of PayPal:

• Cross-border payments rose 22% year-on-year due to the rebound of key Asian and Western corridors. Although travel and event ticketing are still down, product categories such as fashion, electronics and home goods drove cross-border purchases. We’d expect cross-border revenue to continue to grow. PayPal has officially become one of the cross-border payment methods on MercadoLibre, the leading e-commerce platform in Latin America, and has expanded its partnership with Visa to allow customers to access real-time payments through Visa Direct.
• Cross-border’s share of TPV remains stable at 17%. However, Venmo’s volume increased 52% to reach $37bn as the brand becomes increasingly part of the Americans’ P2P lifestyle.
• PayPal is also investing in the development and the roll-out of QR code payments across the US and Europe. This move, spurred on by the importance for customers to be able to use digital wallets and contactless payments, will drive acceptance of both PayPal and Venmo in-store. 
• We also noted also the lack of any mention of Xoom or remittances in PayPal’s earning call, although PayPal did note to investors that Xoom had a good quarter in terms of customer acquisitions. With PayPal closing in on $20bn in annual revenue, it’s hard to get attention. 

PayPal expects the second half of the year to be in line with Q2’s growth. That’s predicting the future…which this year has been a fool’s game. 

Daniel Webber

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Daniel is Founder and CEO at FXC Intelligence. Daniel is a leading influencer in the global payments space internationally. He is frequently invited to speak at industry conferences and provide insights and data on the sector. Daniel is widely quoted across the sector including in The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Daniel is also a contributor for Forbes.com. FXC Intelligence's weekly industry newsletter is the most widely read in the international payments market.