U.K.

Barclays is leveraging its global network of offices and its business expertise to sponsor fintechs through its Accelerator programs in London, New York and Tel Aviv.

The Bank of England issued a challenge for consumers who usually pay with cash to go cashless for a week, as an educational experience prior to its upcoming conference, Future Forum 2018.

The Bank of Lithuania is positioning the country’s capital Vilnius as a hub for payments-related fintechs wanting to enter the European market — a move that's timed to take advantage of the uncertainty Brexit has cast over London's claim to the title.

Marks & Spencer is the first major U.K. retailer to launch a mobile scanning and payment app in its stores. Several U.K. supermarket chains have launched pilots of cashierless and checkout-free mobile shopping, but have yet to roll out services.

International migration has hit an all-time high in recent years, with 250 million migrant workers across the globe. This has created a booming new international payments market for remittance providers.

Comparing the U.K. payments landscape to that of the U.S. is sometimes like comparing apples to oranges according to Ankit Kumar, manager of digital payments and mobile financial services at Gemalto.

Worldpay is expanding its U.S. portfolio and has experience in sports betting to lean on.

London-based TransferGo is using Ripple’s blockchain platform to support digital money transfers from Europe to India. But TransferGo isn’t the first remittance company to work with Ripple — and it isn't on the same path that others have taken.

China’s Golden Week started on Monday and with it, global cities and merchants are boldly promoting Alipay in an effort to capture Chinese tourist dollars. At the same time, merchants are building out a competitive acceptance network that could someday rival the major payment card networks.

The country is lagging behind others when it comes to ensure that a consumer's financial data is available to third parties, and regulators need to step up.