U.K.

U.K. consumers scaled back their unsecured borrowing in February as the country battled flooding and the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

The gig economy flourished in part for its ability to get timely payments to workers. Uber and Lyft, for example, offer express payments to drivers who need to use those funds to refill their gas tanks before picking up the next rider. But these payment innovations mean very little when there isn't sufficient money flowing into the system.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced foreign exchange money agent Travelex to close all of its U.K. offices for the next eight weeks.

While the global coronavirus outbreak may be grounding corporate travel to a near standstill, leading travel companies and fintechs are continuing to hone AI-based payments platforms to reduce the problem of corporate travel fraud.

The nationwide lockdown in Italy has necessitated changes for Pellegrino personally, and for his business. The two worlds often intersect.

Following the lead of open banking regulation in Europe, payments technology provider Elavon is working with Nuapay in the U.K. to provide account-to-account payment setups for its merchant clients.

Mastercard's U.K. Pay by Bank service has been slow to get off the ground since its 2016 launch. But Mastercard predicts Pay by Bank will see significant adoption in 2020 due to the partnerships it has established with banks and processors, and the popularity of mobile banking among Britons.

The U.K. is the latest market where eBay will assume direct control of its payments experience, as part of its prolonged breakup with PayPal.

The U.K.’s Co-operative Group is creating a new model for online grocery shopping by using its network of convenience stores as local distribution centers.

The Bank of England issued a new polymer £20 note into general circulation at a time when consumers are increasingly eschewing cash in favor of digital payments.

Despite advances in anti-fraud technology, scams remain a major problem for the energy industry, as criminals continue to exploit vulnerabilities present within the current system.

The German challenger bank said that its "several hundred thousand" customers in the U.K. have until April 15 to withdraw money or transfer it to another account.

Projects in both countries are picking up steam and serving as an example to the rest of the world, says ACI Worldwide's Craig Ramsey.

U.K. digital payments provider and challenger bank Revolut is closing soon on its latest fundraising round with investors, including Technology Crossover Ventures, providing a $7 billion to $8 billion valuation for the startup.

While not as large as the U.S. both in number of people and number of credit card owners, the U.K. remains a very lucrative market for issuing banks and card networks, as well as a host of alternative financial service providers catering to younger, underserved consumers.

Fintech bank and payment services provider LHV is now providing real-time payments in the U.K. through the country's Faster Payments scheme, allowing it to handle U.K. currency in addition to euro payments in the Single Euro Payment Area through SEPA Instant.

From Malta to Belgium, the past three years have served as something of a shopping market between payments-based fintechs seeking alternative jurisdictions through which they could still be licensed within the EU, and investment agencies hoping for a piece of their business.

So far this year, Lloyds and Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks have had payment failures in the U.K. And in the U.S., a software glitch at parking technology vendor Parkeon halted digital payments at meters in New York and other cities.

With the cost of processing business transactions remaining stubbornly high, a number of U.K. fintechs are working to facilitate open banking payments, a method which could soon enable consumers and businesses to make faster payments at a lower cost.

Visa has formed a strategic partnership with Global Processing Services. It also announced its Visa Direct debit push service will power real-time cross-border payments in Europe via TransferWise.