EUROPEAN ACCEPTANCE

The UK government will abolish the Payment Systems Regulator, consolidating its functions into the FCA, to reduce regulatory burdens and boost economic growth.

Barclays and Brookfield close to deal regarding the sale of Barclays acquiring business. The valuation is closing in on £650m and will see initially Brookfield acquiring 10% of the business. Three years after the deal completes, Brookfield would then acquire a further 80% of the unit, leaving Barclays as a 10% shareholder.

USA’s embrace of stablecoins is making the digital euro more urgent as the European Central Bank aims to complete the testing phase for a digital euro by October. A top EU official says the project is becoming more urgent in the face of USA’s embrace of stablecoins under the Donald Trump administration. But,

European lawmakers question the ECB’s digital euro after a Target 2 payment system outage. Concerns arise about the ECB’s ability to manage a new digital currency. Lawmakers demand improved system reliability before supporting the digital euro project, citing trust and security issues.

In other news…

ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

Worldpay’s 10th Global Payments Report reveals a decade of payment transformation. In which digital payments surged from $1.7T to $18.7T, driven by smartphones, digital wallets and BNPL. Cash declined, while cards adapted. Future trends include fintech growth and increased cryptocurrency use.

Nexi recorded a 61% increase in spending volumes from smartphones and smartwatches in 2024 reflecting the growing popularity on mobile payments in Italy.

Barclays claims card spending has grown just 1% year-on-year in February and less than the latest CPIH inflation rate of 3.9 per cent as consumer budgets tighten ahead of household bill increases

CORPORATE ACTIVITY

American Express to acquire Center an expense management software provider, with aims to enhance its corporate card offerings. The acquisition is expected to close in Q2 2025.

DIGITAL & eCOMMERCE

FRAUD & CYBERSECURITY

Feedzai has launched ScamAlert, a new GenAI agent to detect and prevent scams. It analyses texts and images, giving users warnings and advice to stop scams before transactions occur. 

Visa says new anti-scam unit prevented $350 million in attempted fraud in 2024 alone. They dismantled complex scam networks, including one involving fake identity verification, shutting down 12,000 sites and preventing $37 million in losses.

Mastercard and Visa are being accused of facilitating payments to illegal gambling sites targeting UK customers. Consumers report significant financial losses and scams on these unlicensed platforms, raising questions about payment giants’ due diligence and regulatory oversight.

ISSUING

LITIGATION

Revolut and Visa challenge the UK’s PSR fee cap, claiming it exceeds the PSR’s legal powers. They argue the cap, designed to limit post-Brexit interchange fees, would force losses due to rising operational costs.

Barclays anticipates paying £5-7.5 million in compensation after a January IT outage disrupted online banking and payments. This follows previous outages, contributing to over 33 days of cumulative tech failures across UK banks in two years.

REGULATION (UK)

The FCA will host a roundtable to address banks’ AI adoption concerns. Regulatory uncertainty, particularly data protection and Consumer Duty, is hindering investment, prompting the FCA to seek clarity.