The Paypers, Posted February 13, 2024

Mastercard has announced the launch of MDES Token Connect in India to support tokenization via mobile and internet banking.

According to Mastercard, MDES Token Connect was designed with a consumer-centric approach, supporting issuer-driven tokenization to offer cardholders a secure and convenient means of online transactions. Issuer banks can easily integrate their mobile and internet banking platforms with MDES Token Connect, enabling cardholders to securely transmit payment details to token requestors such as online merchants, digital wallets, and ecommerce platforms.

Benefits for issuers and token requestors include effortless integration through a single platform and seamless connectivity within the Token Connect framework, eliminating the need for multiple proprietary APIs. For cardholders, immediate access to digital card accounts upon approval, easy addition of new cards to preferred merchants and digital wallets, and enhanced security through tokenized payments for online, in-app, and in-store purchases are some of the most noteworthy advantages.

#Mastercard

Finextra, Posted February 12, 2024

India is moving ahead with the next stage of its digital rupee pilot, adding programmability and offline payment capability.

India has been testing a retail CBDC since early last year, enabling person-to-person and person-to-merchant transactions, recently hitting the million transactions a day milestone.

The Reserve Bank of India is now set to add programmability, enabling transactions for specific and targeted purposes.

At a press conference, RBI officials offered the example of a business programming specific expenditure such as business travel for employees.

#Payments

Crowdfund Insider, Posted February 14, 2024

Tonik Digital Bank announces its newest strategic collaboration with Southeast Asian payment gateway, Xendit.

The partnership marks a significant milestone for both companies, “as they join forces to deliver secure, convenient, and customer-centric financial solutions.”

The partnership with Xendit will further “enrich Tonik’s ecosystem by providing customers with new and convenient channels for their Tonik accounts.”

Starting this February, Tonik customers can “cash in from their BPI, UnionBank and GCash accounts, as well as new cash-in channels from banks like RCBC and Chinabank.”

By March, Tonik customers can also “access over-the-counter channels like 7-Eleven, Cebuana Lhuillier, M. Lhuillier, SM Payments, plus Palawan Express and LBC, and upcoming cash-in channels from e-wallets such as Maya and GrabPay.”

#Payments

India cenbank asks Visa, Mastercard to stop B2B payments via fintech platforms -sources

Reuters, Posted February 14, 2024

India’s central bank has asked Visa (V.N), opens new tab and Mastercard (MA.N), opens new tab to stop card-based business-to-business payments such as rents or money transfer to vendors routed through third party fintech firms, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The central bank has not specified why they have placed these restrictions, the sources said, adding that the impact would only be on commercial payments routed through third parties and not on all corporate card payments.

#Fintech

Bandhan Bank partners with Oracle

The Paypers, Posted February 14, 2024

India-based private bank Bandhan Bank has partnered with Oracle to modernise its core banking system and expand its digital services.

In essence, Bandhan Bank has completed a significant update of its core banking system and expanded its digital services in collaboration with Oracle. The bank, which serves approximately 32 million customers across 35 states and union territories according to Oracle, initiated the overhaul to modernise its retail and wholesale banking operations while introducing new digital capabilities. Leveraging Oracle FLEXCUBE and Oracle Banking Digital Experience, Bandhan Bank aimed to enhance operational efficiency and provide improved services to its diverse customer base, with a particular focus on underserved segments of Indian society. 

The bank’s partnership with Oracle aims to reflect its commitment to keeping pace with the banking ecosystem’s rapid expansion and evolving customer needs. Over a two-year period, Bandhan Bank replaced legacy systems and manual processes with Oracle’s advanced banking technology, facilitating seamless operations across various business verticals, including housing finance, general banking, and microcredit. 

#Bandhan Bank

The Paypers, Posted February 8, 2024

The European Parliament has adopted a new set of rules to ensure that transferred funds arrive immediately in bank accounts across the EU.

The objective of the new regulation is to eliminate delays in fund transfers for retail clients and businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and to improve the security of transactions. Under the agreed-upon text with EU member states, banks and other payment service providers (PSPs) will be obligated to ensure that credit transfers are both affordable and promptly processed, thereby updating the existing Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) rules.

Instant credit transfer, as outlined in the regulation, mandates that transfers occur promptly irrespective of the time or day, with funds arriving in the recipient’s account within ten seconds. Additionally, payers must receive confirmation within the same timeframe regarding the availability of the transferred funds to the intended recipient.

#The European Parliament

Finextra, Posted February 9, 2024

The £600 million deal has an “initial” agreement lasting 10 years.

The agreement sees around 2,800 Tesco Bank employees working on banking products transferring to Barclays. According to Tesco Bank’s key facts page, 3,540 people currently work for their banking wing. 

Under the partnership there will continue to be Tesco-branded banking products and services and Tesco will receive an annual income for the use of its brand.

In Tesco’s announcement, they stated the deal removes £7.7 billion of capital-intensive assets and £6.7 billion of financial liabilities from their balance sheet.

#Tesco

The Paypers, Posted February 9, 2024

Big investors may now be turning to riskier assets, but 2023 was a year of heightened risk aversion, and companies seeking venture capital (VC) funding had an uphill journey.

Pitchbook’s newly-released annual European Venture report says that dealmaking fell significantly last year, compared with the two years prior. Just €57bn was invested, representing a year-on-year decline of 45.6 per cent. 

Looking at the UK specifically, the statistics are even bleaker. UK fintech funding fell 63 per cent to $4.2 bn in 2023, and the number of $100m-plus funding rounds fell to nine, compared to 25 in 2022. 

In addition to rising interest rates and inflation, fintech has been viewed as particularly volatile since the collapse of FTX, and Binance’s $4.3 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice. 

#Fintech

The Paypers, Posted February 16, 2024

Episode Six (E6), a global provider of enterprise-grade payment processing and ledger infrastructure, has been chosen to participate in the Mastercard Engage Programme.

Following its initial enrolment in the Mastercard Engage Programme, Episode Six (E6) has been included in the programme for its instalments solution in Europe. Despite the challenging economic environment and new regulatory requirements placing pressure on the instalments market, the demand for buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) solutions continues to rise. Amidst increasing financial pressures, more customers appreciate the option to divide payments into smaller, more manageable instalments.

In light of this situation, E6 identified an opportunity to utilise its flexible, cloud-native TRITIUM platform to enable incumbent issuers to introduce new and contemporary instalment solutions like BNPL. These new solutions complement issuers’ existing offerings without disrupting services on their current infrastructures. Consequently, traditional issuers can offer these new instalment solutions to banks, allowing them to provide tailored instalment options to their customers, thereby generating new revenue streams. E6 is among the few in the market offering a ready-to-launch payment instalment solution that supports BNPL, instalment cards, and loans, among other features.

#Mastercard

UK’s Digital Bank Monzo Claims Over 9 Million Customers

Crowdfund Insider, Posted February 16, 2024

UK’s digital bank Monzo has reportedly reached the 9 million customer milestone.

Monzo now claims over 9 million personal account customers, with 2 million joining in the past year.

The digital banking platform says it has been at the forefront of the fintech innovation since its inception back in 2015 and challenges more conventional banking services.

Monzo provides an extensive range of accessible features to its clients. The virtual bank is also known for its intuitive and seamless mobile banking services and frictionless financial services like its pay over time solution, Flex, and its Business Instant Access Savings; of which it claims over 380,000 business customers

The majority of this steady growth has been attributed to word of mouth referrals and comesoff the back of a series of product launches such as Investments, Instant Access Savings and Cashback.

#Monzo

Revolut launches scam detection feature

Crowdfund Insider, Posted February 16, 2024

Global fintech company Revolut has announced the introduction of a scam detection feature that leverages AI to protect customers against card scams.

As per the information detailed in the press release, the newly offered feature is set to provide Revolut’s customers with an extra layer of security protection, in addition to the technology already in place to detect Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams. Currently, Revolut’s technology leverages AI to identify risky transactions and protect customers’ finances.

#Revolut

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PayPal invests in conversational AI firm Rasa

Finextra, Posted Febuary 14, 2024

PayPal Ventures has co-led a $30 million Series C funding round for generative conversational AI platform Rasa.

StepStone Group co-led the round, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, and Basis Set Ventures.

Rasa powers AI assistants for a host of major firms, including two of the world’s top three banks and several insurers.

The investment is the first for PayPal Venture’s new AI fund. Funding will be used to make hires in North America and Europe in marketing, sales, engineering and customer success.

Alan Du, PayPal Ventures partner, says: “We believe Rasa offers a best-in-class platform for enterprises to develop robust, conversational AI, and we have seen how its concierge solutions improve customer engagement and business performance.”

#PayPal

Visa boosts B2B digital wallet capabilities

Finextra, Posted Febuary 14, 2024

Visa is teaming up with Conferma Pay to let financial institutions add virtual corporate cards into employees’ digital wallets.

Visa says the virtual cards, which can be added to third-party wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, will boost convenience, security and flexibility for corporate users.

The new Visa Commercial Pay Mobile will provide a commercial token account with configured payment controls. It uses tokenisation technology that Visa says minimises the risk of fraud and provides a secure payment environment, while enabling businesses to initiate transactions seamlessly.

#Visa

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Visa, Mastercard, JP Morgan, Citi among companies to attend US AI Safety Consortium

Finextra, Posted Febuary 14, 2024

As part of the Biden Administrations efforts to regulate AI, over 200 organisations have agree to attend the US AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), including Nvidia, OpenAI, Apple, JP Morgan, and Amazon.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced that the consortium will take place at the US AI Safety Institute and join together officials, academics, developers, and industry regulators to guide on the advancement of AI products and services.

Raimondo stated: “The U.S. government has a significant role to play in setting the standards and developing the tools we need to mitigate the risks and harness the immense potential of artificial intelligence. President Biden directed us to pull every lever to accomplish two key goals: set safety standards and protect our innovation ecosystem. That’s precisely what the U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium is set up to help us do.”

#AISIC

NY Federal Reserve Explains Why Consumers Use Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)

Crowdfund Insider, Posted February 14, 2024

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has published a write-up on Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services explaining reviewing which consumers select this payment option.

Economists and analysts Felix Aidala, Daniel Mangrum, and Wilbert van der Klaauw claim that “more-fragile households” use these services more frequently and make smaller purchases that they may otherwise not be able to afford.

As part of the Fed’s October 2023 Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) Credit Access Survey, they added new questions regarding BNPL. Out of 1000 households, 200 reported using BNPL. Financially fragiel were defined as those having a credit score below 620 and stable consumers were everyone else.The survey states that  72% of financially stable users and 89% of financially fragile made multiple BNPL purchases over the past twelve months.

#BNPL

Neobanking market to reach 3.3 trillion by 2032, report says

The Paypers, Posted February 14, 2024

Allied Market Research has published a report that analyses the popularity of neobanks as well as the sector’s growth trajectory.

According to the report, neobanks have surged in popularity due to their customer-centric approach, offering user-friendly interfaces and a range of financial services without the traditional constraints of physical banks. These digital banks provide easy access to banking services via smartphones and internet connectivity.

Moreover, Allied Market Research found that the global neobanking market was valued at USD 68.95 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 3,251.95 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 47.3% from 2023 to 2032. The growth of the neobanking market is primarily driven by the increasing digitalisation of banking activities and the growing demand for digital banking solutions. Despite challenges such as security issues and high implementation costs, investments in the fintech industry are expected to create lucrative opportunities for market expansion.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the neobanking market experienced steady growth as reliance on online banking services increased. Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) turned to neobanks to meet their working capital needs, driving market growth.

#Neobanks

Dave joins the American Fintech Council

The Paypers, Posted February 14, 2024

US-based neobank Dave has announced that it joined the American Fintech Council (AFC), the association representing fintech companies and banks. 

As per the information detailed in the press release, Dave joined a diverse group of AFC members aiming to advance fintech development by developing inclusive digital banking services and products for consumers underserved by banks.

According to the AFC’s officials, members of the association create solutions to increase competition in financial services and improve access for individuals previously underserved by traditional financial institutions. With its services, Dave intends to democratise financial services by creating transparent and equitable experiences for users and, by becoming a member of the AFC, the company supports inclusion and responsible innovation for the financial landscape. Representatives from Dave underlined the association prioritises financial inclusion and responsible banking, with more US residents choosing digital banks for simplified experiences, financial education, and enhanced products. Considering the current financial environment, fintech companies intend to provide consumers with services that traditional banks do not offer. By joining its capabilities with the AFC’s expanding network of members, Dave plans to have a positive impact on accessible financial solutions in fintech.

#Neobank

Finextra, Posted January 18, 2024

Colombia-based financial technology company Bold has raised USD 50 million in a Series C funding round led by General Atlantic.

This Series C round was led by existing investor General Atlantic, with the International Finance Corporation, a part of the World Bank Group, joining hands with current investors InQLab and Amador. According to Bold’s co-founder cited by TechCrunch, this latest round brings the total raised by the company to USD 130 million. 

The same source reveals that Bold specialises in offering cost-effective payment terminals, known as dataphones, that enable small and medium-sized enterprises to accept link payments and other local payment methods. Bold officials noted that the company has seen a surge in demand for electronic payments, particularly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

#Fintech

Visa Introduces Extended Digital Wallet Capabilities via Commercial Pay, a B2B Payment Solution

Crowdfund insider, Posted February 13, 2024

Visa (NYSE:V), a global enabler of digital payments, announced extended digital wallet capabilities within Visa Commercial Pay, a suite of B2B payment solutions built in partnership with Conferma Pay, the provider of virtual payments technology, to enhance how businesses manage transactions globally.

The innovation enables financial institutions “to add virtual corporate cards into an employees’ digital wallet – including third-party wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay – to enhance convenience, security and flexibility for corporate users.”

It coincides with a significant expansion of Visa Commercial Pay “across the Latin America & Caribbean region, reinforcing Visa’s commitment to, and leadership in, enabling streamlined, secure and efficient B2B payments in a locality known for its diverse and dynamic business landscape.”

#Visa

Segura Bank partners with Temenos to launch a new digital bank

The Paypers, Posted February 6, 2024

Puerto Rico-based Segura Bank International (SBI) has launched a new digital bank for mid to high-earners in Latin America, powered by Temenos’ cloud-native core banking platform.

SBI is licenced by Puerto Rico’s financial services regulator, the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF), as an International Financial Entity (IFE). With Temenos’ banking capabilities for Multicurrency Accounts and Deposits, SBI will provide USD financial products, helping customers protect their savings from potential currency fluctuations and devaluation. Moreover, it will provide easier international transactions and access to global markets denominated in US dollars. 

#SBI