ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

• Visa partners with Conferma Pay to boost B2B wallet capabilities, and let financial institutions add virtual corporate cards into employees’ digital wallets.

CRYPTOASSETS/BLOCKCHAIN/DLT

• ECB will only use European suppliers for digital euro build. Only legal entities with registered offices in the EU and controlled by such entities or EU nationals will be eligible to participate in the procurement process.

DIGITAL & eCOMMERCE

• Klarna rolls out ‘sign in with Klarna’, the new service is for customer data sharing with merchants, enabling a smoother checkout process and personalised offers for users. The service saves time for consumers by fast-tracking the online purchase process and, if they consent to sharing their data, unlocks personalised offers from merchants.

DIGITAL, RETAIL & ‘Neo’ BANKING

• Temenos shares plunge after Hindenburg Research shorted the company alleging “accounting irregularities, failed products and an illusive turnaround”. The investment research firm says a four-month investigation into Temenos, involving interviews with 25 former employees, including senior leaders at the company, uncovered hallmarks of manipulated earnings and major accounting irregularities.
• Tesco Bank sells credit cards, loans and savings operations to Barclays for £700million. Tesco will receive £600m in proceeds from Barclays followed by a further £100m in net cash once regulatory and other costs associated with the transaction are settled. Tesco will retain all other existing activities of their banking wing, including insurance, ATMs, travel money and gift cards.

LITIGATION

• Lawsuits are in place between JPMorgan and Viva Wallet, following the acquisition of 49% of the company last year. The founder and CEO of Viva Wallet has begun legal proceedings against the Wall Street bank over what he claims are tactics to suppress his company’s growth. He alleges JPMorgan is trying to drive down the valuation of his business by blocking its entry into the US and new European markets.