Europe

Merchants won an extension to comply with PSD2’s new customer authentication rules, but as new rules for issuers go into effect next week, TSYS is rolling out tools that aim to do double duty.

Seven European mobile payment firms have formed a cross-border transaction association covering an addressable market covering 25 million users and 350 banks.

Alibaba has added Adyen as a processor, giving the Chinese e-commerce giant an added option to acquire merchants to feed its business for Chinese travelers.

Banks, for the most part, have not advanced their core digital technologies as quickly as payments networks and disruptors ahead of the original PSD2 deadline. And the European Banking Authority has also cited the payments networks for not advancing the 3D Secure 2.0 online authentication model far enough to comply with PSD2 provisions.

Payment companies have made substantial investments into new identity rules in Europe, but the deadline has become a moving target with different agencies offering conflicting or unclear guidance.

The question of upgrading to 3D Secure 2.0 authorization will become easier for European e-commerce merchants if it proves to be a path to compliance with a provision of PSD2, the revised Payment Services Directive.

Brexit seems more likely than ever, as the U.K.'s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, has committed to meeting the October 31 deadline for a deal to leave the EU. But despite the lingering uncertainty over how that will happen, Mastercard is not abandoning its bullish stance on Europe.

Payconiq has built an omnichannel, multicountry payment platform that uses a mobile payment app to leverage existing bank infrastructure in order to make payments in-store and online payments as well as to send P2P payments.

The timing of the settlement serves as a warning to other companies of the risks they face in an increasingly data-focused economy.

Merchants outside of China who have the QR code technology to accept Alipay and WeChat Pay are part of a growing trend to serve Chinese tourists who are comfortable paying via their smartphones.

Merchant acquirer Credorax has engaged money transfer company Small World Financial and other partners to cover a broader mix of banking and payment acceptance available to the companies' European clients.

For many banks, especially midtier institutions, payments isn’t a core business — and their batch processing-based legacy systems weren’t designed to deliver real-time payments.

European mobile wallet providers Bluecode, ePassi, Momo pocket, Pagaqui, Pivo, and Vipps are working together with China's Alipay for the first time to promote a unified, interoperable QR code that would connect Europe's current fragmented mobile payment landscape.

The former Barclays CEO turned bank investor said he sees more opportunity in smaller, newer banks.

China UnionPay is assembling the relationships it needs to directly issue cards in Europe, but local saturation suggests UnionPay’s best bet is to use European merchant relationships to counter its own domestic rivals in China rather than disrupting Visa and Mastercard.

Seven European banks are testing Swift's Global Payments Innovation real-time cross-border payments through the continent's Target Instant Payment Settlement process.

Visa's tokenization began as a way to shield digital commerce and has developed into a major catalyst for Visa in landing partnerships.

While the European Union positions itself as one common, homogeneous market, the reality is that the European e-commerce market is very diverse with both leaders and laggards.

The U.S. and Europe should continue to harmonize their banking rules, including for foreign banking operations, just as they did in the wake of the financial crisis.

Japanese credit card brand JCB is working with Viva Wallet to build its merchant base in Europe as part of its ongoing expansion to new global markets.