ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

Microsoft has partnered with Checkout.com to combine Azure’s global cloud with Checkout.com’s AI-driven payments platform, aiming to deliver faster, more secure payments and improve acceptance rates for enterprise merchants.

Denmark’s central bank updated its guidance on payment resilience, advising merchants to enable offline card transactions and alternate payment methods (like bank transfers and cash) as backups, and to train staff accordingly, so customers can still pay during network outages. The Bank is working with retailers and banks to ensure that by end-2025 all Danish pharmacies and supermarket chains can accept offline payments on major cards (Dankort, Visa, Mastercard) and mobile wallets (e.g. Apple Pay).

Sweden’s central bank reached an agreement with card issuers, networks, acquirers, and retailers to make offline card payments available for essential purchases (such as food, fuel, medicine) by July 2026. This initiative – led by the Riksbank – will let people use physical cards with PIN codes to pay even during internet outages, significantly strengthening payment system resilience.

Santander’s payments unit Getnet rolled out a new version of its “Get Smart” POS terminal for Spanish small businesses. The upgraded terminals introduce digital receipts (customers can receive proofs of purchase via email or QR code instead of paper) and add hospitality-focused features like splitting bills among diners and accepting card tips with automated accounting. Over 150,000 Spanish merchants will be automatically and freely upgraded to the new system in the coming weeks.

BNPL

PayPal is offering 5% cashback on Buy Now Pay Later purchases (online and in-store) from now through year-end, a holiday-season incentive meant to ease financial stress for shoppers and help merchants boost sales by reducing cart abandonment.

Billink secured a $32 million investment from Germany’s Varengold Bank to fuel its expansion in buy now, pay later services. Billink plans to grow its post-delivery BNPL platform among online merchants in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and prepare for entry into the German market. The firm promotes a transparent model – only settling payments after the customer receives their goods – which it hopes will help it compete with larger BNPL players like Klarna.

CORPORATE ACTIVITY

Payroc, a US-based acquirer, has agreed to acquire BlueSnap, a global payment orchestration platform, to expand Payroc’s European footprint. The deal leverages BlueSnap’s Dublin and London offices and adds end-to-end card processing capabilities across 47 countries and 100+ currencies for Payroc’s merchant clients.

IXOPAY acquired Congrify, a German AI-driven payments analytics platform. The deal enables IXOPAY to embed Congrify’s AI engine into its global processing and tokenisation infrastructure, creating a predictive, self-optimising payments platform for merchants. The integrated system will give merchants richer real-time insights and recommendations to boost authorisation rates, reduce fees, and minimise fraud and risk.

CROSS-BORDER

Moldova has joined the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) as of 6 October, enabling euro transfers to and from Moldova under the same cost, speed and security as within the EU. This historic integration promises faster, cheaper euro remittances for Moldovan citizens and businesses, aligning the country’s payment system with European standards.

Montenegro officially joined SEPA on 6 October 2025, enabling its banks and payment providers to process euro transactions just like those in EU member states. Following this go-live, Montenegrin citizens and companies can make and receive euro payments far more quickly and cheaply – for example, electronic euro transfers up to €20,000 now carry at most a €1.99 fee, with smaller transfers often free. This milestone comes even before Montenegro’s EU accession, marking a significant step in European financial integration.

CRYPTOASSETS/BLOCKCHAIN/DLT

TerraPay, a global payments company, launched stablecoin-native payment flows in partnership with blockchain fintech Fipto. Cross-border transfers can now be funded and settled in stablecoins where regulations allow, speeding up international payouts and reducing the need for pre-funded liquidity in TerraPay’s network.

The ECB announced on 2 October 2025 that it has selected technology providers for five core components of a potential digital euro. Framework agreements have been signed with companies including equensWorldline, Giesecke+Devrient, Feedzai, Capgemini, and others to develop aspects such as alias lookup services, fraud/risk management systems, an offline payment solution, and secure payment message exchange. This is part of the digital euro’s preparation phase; actual development will depend on the EU adopting a legal basis and the ECB’s decision on proceeding further.

DIGITAL, RETAIL & ‘Neo’ BANKING

Revolut is set to launch its payments platform in India, marking its first entry into one of the world’s largest digital payments markets. Revolut’s India app will support UPI instant bank transfers and Visa card payments, initially for 350,000 waitlisted users, as part of the neobank’s global expansion targeting 20 million Indian customers by 2030.Pleo, a European business spend management platform, has introduced multi-currency accounts that let companies hold and spend in six currencies on one card. The system auto-detects transaction currency and draws from the matching account, helping firms avoid FX fees and simplifying cross-border expenses with support from partners Mastercard, Banking Circle and Enfuce.

EPC/SEPA

The European Payments Council (EPC) announced that its Verification of Payee (VOP) scheme rulebook entered into force on 5 October. This new pan-European name-check service supports banks in meeting the EU Instant Payments Regulation’s requirement – effective 9 October – to let payers confirm a beneficiary’s name matches the IBAN, bolstering fraud prevention in euro transfers.

MOBILE MONEY/WALLETS

Ant Group’s Alipay+ has significantly expanded its global digital wallet network to support 40+ e-wallets (1.8 billion users) across 100+ markets. Notably, Europe’s Bluecode, Japan’s PayPay and others have been enabled for cross-border use, so travelers can pay at international merchants using their familiar home wallet apps, while merchants gain access to more mobile-savvy customers.

OPEN BANKING & PSD

MoneyGram and Plaid have extended their partnership to Europe, allowing MoneyGram users to link and verify bank accounts via Plaid’s open banking API for funding cross-border transfers. European customers can now seamlessly pay from their bank accounts within MoneyGram’s app, adding a new digital bank-to-bank option alongside cards and other methods.

REALTIME/INSTANT PAYMENTS

The EU’s new Instant Payments Regulation kicks in on 9 October: all euro-area PSPs must be ready to send and receive SEPA instant credit transfers and offer a verification of payee service to payers from that date. (Non-euro EU members have until 2027.) This milestone aims to make instant euro transfers ubiquitous and safer across Europe, with name-checking to curb misdirected payments and fraud.

REGULATION (EU)

The European Central Bank moved forward on the digital euro project, selecting service providers for five key components. Notably, a consortium led by Giesecke+Devrient (with Nexi and Capgemini) won the tender to develop an offline-capable digital euro solution, enabling users and merchants to make digital euro payments without internet connectivity – a feature to ensure cash-like privacy and resilience in the future CBDC.

REGULATION (UK)

The FCA has proposed removing the current £100 contactless payment cap, letting banks and card issuers set their own tap-and-go limits (or none at all) based on risk. The regulator says improved fraud controls make it feasible to lift the fixed ceiling, which would align physical card payments with smartphone wallets (often uncapped) and allow more convenient high-value contactless purchases without PIN entry.

SCHEMES

payabl., has become one of the first licensed members of the new European Payments Initiative (EPI). By integrating directly with EPI’s Wero digital wallet (now used by over 43 million Europeans), payabl. will enable merchants and other PSP partners to accept instant account-to-account payments across Europe at checkout – offering a low-cost, fast alternative to card schemes.

The European Payments Initiative (EPI)’s new digital wallet Wero is expanding its reach. After a pilot phase enabling person-to-person instant payments in France, Germany and Belgium, EPI is now bringing Wero to online merchants: from October 2025, Worldline and other acquirers will start offering Wero as a payment option for e-commerce checkouts in Belgium, with France to follow in 2026. Wero is an EU-based payment scheme built on instant bank transfers, with features like buyer protection and easy one-click enrolment via a user’s banking app. It is positioned as a European alternative to card networks for digital payments, and will later extend to physical in-store acceptance as an omnichannel solution. (Worldline Press Release – 4 June 2025).