ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

• Banca Sella enables payments on the Discover Network. Banca Sella has introduced support for Discover, Diners Club International, and affiliated network cardholders to conduct in-store transactions using its POS terminals
• European paytech payabl. has partnered with Zimpler, an instant bank payments company, to provide customers with the option to pay via instant bank transfers at checkout.
• myPOS launches iPhone tap to pay in Italy

CORPORATE ACTIVITY

• HPS acquires Dublin-based CR2. CR2’s flagship platform, BankWorld, is installed at 90+ banks across more than 50 countries, offering a suite of digital banking, digital wallet and payment functionalities. The transaction consolidates HPS’s position in the French-speaking African markets, complemented by CR2’s strength in English-speaking Africa and Australia.
• PayPoint invests £1 million in Aperidata, consumer and business credit reporting and open banking platform. The deal delervers open banking-based income screening tools for clients across multiple sectors, including government, local authorities, charities and housing associations.
• Klarna reports profitable start to the year. Results stated revenue increased 29% year-on-year, reaching SEK 6.4bn (€550m). Adjusted operating income was 229m SEK (€21.6m). In the US a 38% increase in year-on-year revenue and gross profit rising by 97%.

CRYPTOASSETS/BLOCKCHAIN/DLT

• UK bank Kroo bans customers from performing crypto transactions. The bank cited the increasing use of cryptocurrencies by fraudsters to scam individuals as the reason behind its decision.

FRAUD & CYBERSECURITY

• Pay.UK says a fraud detection pilot could save the country’s economy over £112 million a year. The pilot trialled a new overlay service which will allow all UK banks and building societies to analyse money flows and use predictive intelligence to detect fraud and help prevent crime before it occurs. It saw an average 40% uplift in fraud detection at a 5:1 false positive rate. This would see over £112m worth of fraud detected in a year.
• Data allegedly stolen from 560 million Ticketmaster users. ShinyHunters, the group claiming responsibility, says the stolen data includes names, addresses, phone numbers and partial credit card details from Ticketmaster users worldwide. The group is demanding $500,000 to prevent the data from being sold to other parties.

INSTANT PAYMENTS

• Worldline signs agreement with Banque Raiffeisen, to allow the latter to leverage its cloud-based instant payments solution in Luxembourg. The two organisations already collaborate to also provide services such as clearing and settlement of SEPA credit transfers, issuing processing, and ATM acquiring.

MOBILE MONEY

• Revolut expands Mobile Wallets. Revolut extended its international transfers feature Mobile Wallets with 14 new payment corridors, as well as 9 countries, and 3 digital wallets: Airtel, Orange Money, and MTN. The company is expected to build economic tie between Europe and Africa.

OPEN BANKING & PSD2

• Modulr launches travel payments solution for OTAs and intermediaries in the industry. The platform now presents a range of currency options and features such as virtual cards, account-to-account transfers, and customisable notifications.