EMEA

The growth and dominant market share position of payment cards in U.K. retail sales is prompting a new pushback from retailers who are wary of rising network fees.

Swedish financial services provider Klarna Bank has boosted its U.K. foothold by agreeing to buy merchant bankers Close Brothers' retail financing portfolio.

Credit unions across the mid-Atlantic are bracing for Hurricane Florence, with many closing their doors and not expecting to reopen until next week.

The popularity of technology-driven international transactions are making their way to TransferWise's balance sheet.

Product diversification has boosted Revolut's valuation, and will make or break the company as it battles myriad competitors and a challenging geographic expansion.

While the card networks have greatly benefited by the global boom in e-commerce, they are confronted with the corresponding growth in digital advertising. This will increasingly lead them to seek out data-sharing deals like Mastercard's reported arrangement with Google, which could prove vital to the networks' future survival.

Counter to the trend — pioneered by Amazon — of launching cashierless technology in small stores to keep traffic under control, the U.K. supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has launched a trial of cashierless mobile shopping in one of its busy London stores, Clapham North Station Local.

A credit union in Swansea, Wales, has collapsed and will cost the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme nearly $647,000 to reimburse members' insured funds.

The DirectRemit service will enable the large British population in the UAE to send funds to family members' Lloyds Bank accounts in less than 60 seconds and to other U.K.-based banks within an hour.

Larger community banks are favoring bigger targets — or relying more on organic growth — to expand.