EMEA

The companies say they're working hard to complete their deal this year — including spending millions on retention payments and other items — but there's no guarantee how quickly regulators will make their decisions.

The U.K.-based fintech says that a recent crowdfunding campaign shows demand for its product, even though the amount it raised is well below funds obtained from VCs.

Vocalink beat out four other competing bids to secure a 10-year contract to provide real-time switching and settlements for U.K. ATM operator Link Scheme.

Even the homeless are getting on board with contactless payments, through a new U.K. wide initiative between Swedish payments company iZettle and the Big Issue Foundation, which enables homeless people to become street vendors by selling its its Big Issue magazines.

Rapid-fire acquisitions, partnerships and investments in the likes of Uber, Lyft and Grab are transforming these ride-sharing providers. And much of this activity is built on their ability to handle payments seamlessly as part of the experience.

MetroCity Bankshares has said it could use the proceeds to open branches or pursue acquisitions.

Cash is not dead, but the burdens of ensuring access threaten to break long-standing ecosystems that sustain traditional payments.

A strong economy, low-cost deposits and disruption from M&A are presenting opportunities.

Associated Credit Union became the latest institution to provide cancer screenings to employees when it organized mammograms at its headquarters this week.

U.K. fintech Revolut will use Bottomline Technologies' Universal Aggregator to manage a software-based real-time payments button.