Europe

European regulators say App Store fees distort competition, a claim similar to Epic Games' contention in legal action in the U.S. over gaming download charges and transaction routing.

By taking its U.S. card issuing technology to more countries, the fintech is becoming a bigger threat to the acquiring banks that focus on B2B payments.

By taking its U.S. card issuing technology to more countries, the fintech is becoming a bigger threat to the acquiring banks that focus on B2B payments.

For the U.K. payments industry to be in the best position to succeed, keeping consistent with compliance to both U.K. and EU regulations will be critical, says Ecommpay's Paul Marcantonio.

EPI could potentially provide a bedrock for future European payments innovation. It arguably does not go far enough, says Icon Solutions' Michel Vaja.

MoneyGram International is expanding its use of Visa Direct across Europe, allowing its customers to use the company website or mobile app to send money in near-real time to Visa debit card holders in various parts of 25 countries in Europe.

There's a wide open market with plenty of opportunity not just for challenger banks but for financial technology as an industry to set themselves apart from incumbents and gain market share, says Veem's Marwan Forzley.

The U.K. Supreme Court has rejected Mastercard’s attempt to force individual lawsuits over claims the card brand overcharged consumers and negatively impacted competition for more than a decade.

TransferGo will use Mastercard's push payment service to support near real-time money transfers for European customers.

JoomPay Europe S.A. is launching a person-to-person payment app throughout Europe that it says will give consumers an instant money transfer tool similar to what U.S. residents have in Venmo, Square Cash and Zelle.

Italian technology firm Nexi has dedicated about $15 billion over the past two months to shore up its position in the European payment processing market, a local burst of consolidation that exists inside a larger wave of similar mergers globally.

Mastercard and PayPal have added to an existing partnership by using Mastercard Send to support immediate access for debit transfers via PayPal's mobile in nine European markets.

The European Payments Initiative sets up a unified and harmonized pan-European payment solution, providing major benefits to both consumers and merchants, says FIME's Arnaud Crouzet.

Payments provider B4B Payments has been authorized to become an e-money institution in the U.K., and is seeking a license in Lithuania so the company can advance its prepaid card business throughout Europe.

As the pandemic has stretched on further into 2020, with more lockdowns and economic disruption predicted heading into the fall and winter, continuing to offer fee waivers has not always proved financially viable.

PayPal is bringing its contactless Business Debit Mastercard rewards card into five additional European countries.

London-based Rapyd has added Mastercard and Visa acceptance to its European payments platform to help merchants take advantage of retail’s shift to online.

American Express is expanding into the fast-growing European market for open banking-based payment initiation services with its Pay with Bank transfer platform.

Biometric cards have garnered more attention in recent times through various trials, but the coronavirus pandemic looks set to accelerate their adoption with a series of major card issuers beginning to roll out the technology.

When the U.K. went into a coronavirus-induced lockdown on March 23 as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced school, office and retail closures, it caused a ripple effect on the U.K. e-commerce market.