France

Natixis SA’s payments business is exploring a potential takeover of the 4 billion-euro ($4.6 billion) French fintech company Ingenico Group SA, following a string of deals in the sector.

Amazon has signaled an interest in the French grocery market, spurring Casino's development of a high-tech concept store in Paris.

The French company's stake in First Hawaiian will fall to about a third after the secondary offer is completed, and First Hawaiian will buy some of the shares.

China UnionPay has qualified FIME’s personalization validation tool (PVT), marking the Chinese payment brand’s first certification of an overseas lab for testing its secure chip products.

London-based TransferWise's business model has been to undercut traditional banks’ foreign transfer fees, and the company's marketing has long emphasized its role as a plucky rival to banks — going so far as to invoke a comparison to Robin Hood. But the company's offering can also benefit the banks that see value in making peace with an upstart.

Since taking over as CEO of BNP Paribas in 2011, Jean-Laurent Bonnafé's watchword has been "discipline." And while there have been aberrations, this trait has enabled the bank to steadily take market share from its European competitors and increase its bottom line.

A planned stock offering by the French banking giant would lower its stake in First Hawaiian to 49.9%.

French banking giant Crédit Agricole’s payments unit has signed a deal with Wirecard to develop an integrated payment acceptance and acquiring platform serving large merchants.

Wirecard has partnered with SES-imagotag, which makes electronic shelf-labeling systems, for a new technology enabling consumers to buy products directly from store shelves with their smartphones.

The U.S. charged 36 people in a takedown of an international cybercrime ring that prosecutors say used the slogan “In Fraud We Trust” and stole $530 million with the help of pilfered identities and malware.

Ingenico Group has agreed to acquire Paymark, a leading payments processor in New Zealand, for about US$140 million.

Gemalto’s business boomed a couple of years ago at the peak of the U.S. EMV migration, but when new card orders tapered off and payments technology turned in new directions, the company’s profits got hammered.

Airlink's knowledge of the local market and relationships with banks, acquirers and large merchants in region will help the Paris-based Ingenico grow in Taiwan and strengthen its position in Northeast Asia.

Facebook's introduction of mobile payments in the U.K. and France is accompanied by the complexity of having to adapt as Brexit unwinds the U.K. from the European Union.

Messenger is one of Facebook's most requested services in the U.K. and France, making these markets ripe for the platform's new P-to-P payments capabilities. But in taking the service internationally, Facebook may also reveal its limitations.

Telcos have long hoped to play a key role in mobile payments, and the mobile-only Orange Bank is a major push toward that goal.

Ingenico's $1.7 billion deal to buy Sweden's Bambora will reduce the company's reliance on brick and mortar retail while arming it for battle in the highly competitive market for digital commerce and payments.

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to go it alone. Lyf Pay is one such case of working to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

The neobank Compte-Nickel has opened more than 540,000 accounts since its launch three years ago.

After launching a mobile pre-order and pre-pay app at Five Guys burger locations in Paris and Madrid, Ingenico ePayments is preparing to make the system available at the chain's restaurants throughout Europe in the coming months.