ACCEPTANCE & PROCESSING

• Elavon and FreedomPay join forces to deliver integrated commerce solutions and omni-channel payments technology.
• Tide partners with Adyen in Germany, to launch business accounts for SMEs. The partnership is the start of Tide’s market expansion in Europe, outside the UK. Adyen’s banking-as-a-service solution will help drive Tide’s growth in Germany
• Viva.com partners with Satispay, to grow the alternative payment options for merchants in Italy, France, and Luxembourg.
• Amadeus’ travel payments business, Outpayce secures e-money licence to provide regulated payments services, from Bank of Spain. Services include accepting customer funds, issuing pre-paid debit cards, and facilitating fund transfers, with future plans to extend these services across the European Union.
• Fitbit Pay users moved over to Google Wallet. Fitbit Pay will now not be available from the end of July, with customers instead invited to set up Google Wallet. The changes do not apply in Saudi Arabia, Japan or Taiwan.

CORPORATE ACTIVITY

• SumUp secures EUR 1.5bn in private credit deal led by Goldman Sachs.  

ISSUING

• Checkout.com and Mastercard partner to bring virtual cards to Online Travel Agents. The partnership supports OTAs and other travel sector businesses that use cards to make B2B payments. The partnership follows Checkout.com’s launch last year of Issuing in the UK and Europe. As part of the Mastercard Wholesale Program customers of Checkout.com will be able to pay their suppliers more easily by issuing virtual cards.

OPEN BANKING & PSD2

• Topps Tiles partners with GoCardless, support the TradePay trade credit scheme. This initiative aims to provide traders with the option to pay on credit within Topps Tiles stores. Through GoCardless, traders can now opt to pay their monthly instalments via Direct Debit, ensuring automatic collection of funds on their due dates.

REALTIME/INSTANT PAYMENTS

• Instant payment transactions to surpass USD 58 trillion worldwide by 2028, and the market will grow by 161%, up from $22 trillion in 2024. This substantial growth will be driven by the increased popularity of A2A (Account‑to‑Account) wallets, such as iDEAL and Twint, along with the rising popularity of Open Banking. A2A and Open Banking payments both enable transactions to be made directly from bank accounts, bypassing the card entirely; reducing costs for merchants and complexity for users.

REGULATION (EU)

• European Parliament has implemented new EU rules to combat money-laundering adopted, including EU limit on large cash payments up to EUR 10 000, due diligence rules to apply to football clubs and agents from 2029, new EU Agency to directly oversee riskiest entities.