Europe

BNPL

Mastercard is teaming up with fintech LoanPro to launch “Loan on Card,” a program enabling lenders to disburse installment loans via Mastercard virtual or physical cards. Slated for a 2026 rollout, the solution will let approved consumers and small businesses instantly access loan funds on a card credential that can be used at any merchant accepting Mastercard – effectively turning point-of-sale lending into a card-based experience. Borrowers repay in fixed installments, while lenders gain more control and reach by leveraging the card network’s digital infrastructure. By integrating with the Mastercard Installments platform, the Loan on Card model extends buy now, pay later functionality to everyday purchases without merchants needing new integrations, potentially broadening BNPL acceptance across the existing card acceptance ecosystem.

CRYPTOASSETS/BLOCKCHAIN/DLT

CoinGate, a Lithuania-based crypto payments provider, has become the first company in the country to obtain a full MiCA license alongside a Payment Institution license from the Bank of Lithuania. Granted on 16 December under the EU’s new Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, the approval allows CoinGate to offer regulated crypto payment services across the entire European Economic Area via a single license. The firm – which enables merchants to accept cryptocurrencies and stablecoins – says this milestone provides a “strategic foundation” for growth, as it can now operate EU-wide without additional national authorizations. Touted benefits for merchants and users include greater legal certainty and compliance standards in crypto transactions, aligning with MiCA’s goal of fostering transparent and secure crypto-enabled payments in Europe.

DIGITAL, RETAIL & ‘NEO’ BANKING

Monzo has secured a full European banking licence from the European Central Bank and Central Bank of Ireland, expanding its product suite into EU markets. The approval allows Monzo to operate as a fully regulated bank across Europe, starting with Ireland where a waitlist is open for personal, business, joint, youth, and savings accounts – all with Irish IBANs managed in one app. Monzo’s local Irish accounts will feature its hallmark digital tools (budgeting, virtual cards, no-fee foreign spending, etc.) under the oversight of an EU regulator. The fintech says this move unlocks growth across Europe by combining a tech-driven banking experience with the trust of local licensing.

FRAUD & CYBERSECURITY

The European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Central Bank (ECB) have published the 2025 edition of their joint payment fraud report, showing that total payment fraud in the EEA rose to €4.2 billion in 2024 (from €3.5 billion in 2023). Thanks to mandatory Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) under PSD2, the overall fraud rate held steady at around 0.002% of transactions by value, with SCA-protected card payments especially seeing lower fraud losses. However, the regulators warn that fraudsters are adapting their tactics: new scams increasingly manipulate customers into authorising fraudulent payments or target transactions exempt from SCA’s requirements. The EBA and ECB urge continued vigilance and evolving security measures to address these emerging threats despite SCA’s positive impact.

OPEN BANKING & PSD

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has established the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI) as a new operating company to scale up variable recurring payments (VRP) across the country. Backed by 31 banks and fintech firms, UKPI will run a commercial VRP scheme enabling businesses to collect customer payments directly from bank accounts with a one-time consent – a Pay-by-Bank alternative to storing card details for subscriptions and ongoing charges. The first live transactions under the UKPI scheme are expected in early 2026, marking a milestone in offering merchants and consumers a seamless recurring payment option outside of card networks. Industry stakeholders note that strong merchant demand for VRP reflects efforts to reduce reliance on traditional card-on-file models in favour of lower-cost, instant account-to-account payments.

REGULATION (EU)

myTU has introduced SEPA Direct Debit support to enhance its payment capabilities for businesses across the EU. The new feature allows companies to collect recurring and one-off payments straight from customers’ bank accounts under the SEPA Core Direct Debit scheme, once a mandate is approved. Through myTU’s API, businesses can manage the entire direct debit lifecycle – creating and storing mandates, initiating collections, and receiving status updates – with built-in payee verification to reduce errors. This automated, consent-based billing cuts friction for subscriptions, utilities, and other services, and is cheaper and more reliable than card payments (avoiding card expiry issues or failed charges). SEPA Direct Debit integrates with myTU’s existing payments stack, streamlining cash flow and reconciliation for European merchants.

Rest of the World

ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

Square has begun piloting an automatic cash-transaction rounding feature in the U.S. to help merchants adjust now that the U.S. Treasury has stopped minting pennies. The new functionality rounds cash purchases to the nearest $0.05, so totals ending in 1¢ or 2¢ are rounded down and those ending in 3¢ or 4¢ are rounded up to a nickel. Square’s system also updates back-end tax reporting to ensure sales figures remain accurate despite the rounding. The fintech previously offered similar cash-rounding in Canada and Australia after those countries phased out their smallest coins. Square says this change, while small, will keep checkout smooth for millions of small businesses, letting them make change easily and maintain operations as pennies disappear.

Ottu has partnered with Mastercard to streamline digital payment acceptance for enterprises across the Gulf Cooperation Council region. The Dubai-based fintech will integrate its online payments platform with Mastercard’s new Merchant Cloud service, which provides a single connection to over 200 acquirers and 110 million merchant locations worldwide. Through this collaboration, businesses in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman will be able to offer a wide range of local and international payment methods via one seamless integration, simplifying expansion and payment orchestration in the GCC market. The combined solution delivers advanced capabilities like network tokenization, fraud detection and secure customer authentication to help Gulf merchants scale e-commerce with confidence. Both companies describe the partnership as creating a more inclusive and efficient digital payments ecosystem in the region, allowing enterprises to grow online while providing shoppers with more payment choices.

CROSS-BORDER

dLocal has inked a strategic partnership with Convera to enhance cross-border payout capabilities for businesses operating in emerging markets. Kicking off in Colombia and slated to expand across Africa, Asia and Latin America, the collaboration will let Convera route payments through dLocal’s local banking network to speed up settlements and reduce costs for supplier and payroll disbursements. By leveraging local payment rails instead of legacy correspondent banking, the duo aims to mitigate common pain points like slow transfers, high fees and compliance hurdles that often hamper emerging-market payouts. Convera’s clients will gain access to dLocal’s payout network—covering bank transfers, mobile wallets and more—enabling faster, fully compliant payments to vendors and contractors in frontier economies. The partners say this will help global merchants improve cash flow and expand into new regions with a more efficient, transparent payment process.

CRYPTOASSETS/BLOCKCHAIN/DLT

Noah and Fin.com have launched a collaboration to bridge fiat money and stablecoins for everyday users. The stablecoin startup Noah is providing Fin.com – a global consumer money app – with virtual EUR and USD bank accounts that automatically convert any funds received into regulated stablecoin balances within the app. Hundreds of thousands of Fin.com users worldwide can now access euro and dollar accounts without a traditional bank, receiving payments that seamlessly turn into stablecoins for fast, low-cost cross-border transfers or spending. The service, already live for 200,000 users, eliminates the need for recipients to have local bank accounts to get paid internationally. Noah reports the integration is on track to handle over $250 million in monthly volume as it scales, pointing to strong demand for flexible, compliant on/off ramps between fiat and crypto for global finance.

DIGITAL & eCOMMERCE

Temu has launched an integration that enables Shopify merchants to easily sell on Temu’s fast-growing marketplace. The Boston-based e-commerce app (owned by China’s PDD) rolled out a Shopify App Store plugin allowing merchants to list and manage products on Temu directly from their Shopify dashboard. Through the app, sellers can sync product catalogues, update inventory in real time, and handle orders and fulfillment for Temu sales – all alongside their existing Shopify orders. The integration grants Shopify’s merchants access to Temu’s Local Seller Program across 30+ markets (including the US, Canada, UK, EU and Australia) via a single onboarding, exposing their products to Temu’s massive global user base without custom development. Temu says the partnership lowers barriers for small businesses to expand internationally and provides shoppers with a broader selection of locally-sourced goods on its platform.