U.K.

An obscure-sounding statistic gives a fresh look at how dramatic the move to digital finance has been the past few months — and how permanent the move will be.

Orka Technology Group has launched a new earned wage access tool called Orka Pay for hourly workers to gain access to their wages between pay periods.

The spending and account management capabilities of corporate prepaid cards have been given new purpose in a pandemic-struck world dependent on government and charity aid.

As the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March and the U.K. went into lockdown, many of the country’s e-commerce businesses suddenly found themselves facing a nigh unprecedented level of demand.

Traditional U.K. businesses found innovative ways to serve their customers under coronavirus restrictions. Iconic London black taxi cabs, independent local community pharmacies, old-fashioned pubs, and QSRs have turned to in-app mobile payments to enable their businesses to carry on.

Merchants prevailed in a long-running legal battle with Visa and Mastercard in the U.K. over whether interchange fees the payment card networks charged for years in Britain were anticompetitive, which could increase scrutiny on U.S. card interchange rates.

Mobile commerce provider Bango has added Softbank Corp. customers to its list of Japanese mobile phone carriers whose customers can now make purchases in their Amazon accounts and charge the cost to their phone bill.

Coronavirus has made traveling a dicey proposition to begin with, but when U.K. consumers do venture beyond their homes during the pandemic, far fewer plan on using cash for payments.

Once the payment holiday is over, monthly repayments are likely to be higher, leaving many borrowers struggling to manage their debt.

The global coronavirus outbreak has up-ended daily life for many consumers, including where they shop and how they pay for things. The U.K. is no exception, as issues of health and hygiene have now been introduced as important factors when it comes to both planned and impulse shopping.

U.K. fintech Rapyd is offering clients the ability to accept all payment methods through one application interface, a digital service it says eliminates the need for companies to develop complicated payments infrastructures.

In the U.K., many policy researchers predict that the economic fallout of the pandemic in the U.S. could change attitudes toward the idea of basic income on both sides of the Atlantic.

U.K. fintechs are using their technology to assist British businesses and consumers during the coronavirus pandemic by helping banks disburse emergency business loans, enabling e-commerce merchants to offer installment payments to consumers, and giving employees access to salary advances.

Starling Bank has raised £40 million (about $49 million) in its latest fundraiser as it steps up its support for small businesses, bringing its 2020 total to £100 million (about $123 million).

As Erez Ben-Kiki and his wife tried to move her yoga business online — conducting classes via Zoom — they discovered that the process of monetizing such classes was surprisingly awkward. Ben-Kiki, CEO and co-founder of 2Key Network, spotted a gap in the market.

The Financial Conduct Authority is pushing for a review of fintechs that provide payment technology, out of concern that the coronavirus may be harming their financial performance.

Mastercard and Judopay have teamed up to enable mobile payments through The Pharmacy Centre.

British banks are confronting the European import of subzero interest rates that could damage profits already weakened by the coronavirus pandemic as the Brexit divorce rumbles toward its rocky end.

Consumer remittance behaviors are being forced to change, with senders and recipients moving to mobile wallets, bank accounts, and cards. But many still want cash.

U.K. ATM operator LINK reported that its cash withdrawals have fallen by 60% over the past month ending April 27 when compared to the same period one year earlier.