EMEA

Wyre has entered into a definitive agreement to sell the majority of its retail money transfer business to WorldFirst, giving the seller a chance to focus more on its cryptocurrency strategy.

Starling Bank, a U.K.-based digital-only bank, is among the latest European banks offering the benefit of its full banking license and its technology to companies that want to offer white-labeled banking products and debit or credit cards but don’t want to invest in a banking license or technology.

The Georgia Bulldogs football coach appears in a new commercial for Georgia United Credit Union, part of a five-year partnership between UGA athletics and the credit union.

As part of the modernization of the U.K.’s payments systems, the new Image Clearing System is now being phased in. All banks and building societies across the U.K. are connecting their deposit channels into the central infrastructure, a process that will be completed by the end of 2018.

After a slow start, order-ahead payment services will begin to achieve more widespread adoption in U.K. corporate catering, encouraging the transition to the high street in the near future.

Earlier this year, the Central Bank of Ireland announced plans to launch a fintech innovation hub, with the intention of engaging with all firms that are delivering innovation across the financial services sector, says Billy Hanley, senior development adviser for Enterprise Ireland.

CommuterClub provides loans so consumers can purchase annual season passes online, instead of monthly or weekly passes and spread the cost over monthly installments.

A legal battle is being waged between a U.S. bank and its insurer over the insurer’s refusal to pay out on a cyber policy, in the wake of hacks on the bank which led to a loss of over $2.4 million. The case flags the problems of insurance in the fast-moving world of digital security.

The process for the credit union to acquire State Bank of Georgia began late last year.

London-based fintech Flux is leveraging open banking and PSD2 to work with U.K. banks and retailers to give their customers paperless receipts, digital loyalty stamps and digital cashback offers.