EMEA

United Community, Synovus, Cadence and others stand to gain lenders and customers even if BB&T flawlessly integrates the $28 billion acquisition.

Metro Bank, the lender founded by U.S. entrepreneur Vernon Hill, plunged to a record low after it disclosed that British regulators are probing how it misclassified assets, an incident that prompted a share sale.

The U.K.’s major banks are urging regulators to allow for greater flexibility in processing high-risk transactions, in a bid to tackle ever-rising levels of financial crime.

German payments company heidelpay has made a series of recent deals to diversify its merchant appeal, including this week's agreement to buy digital point of sale terminal seller Alpha-Cash Payment GmbH.

Metro Bank, the U.K. challenger bank seeking to fix a shortfall on its balance sheet, said it expects to raise about £350 ($464 million) through selling shares.

Business management software provider Sage will partner with U.K. fintech Modulr to deliver real-time salary and supplier payments to small and medium-size businesses in the country.

Lloyds is paying small merchants to offer cash back, but consumer groups are already casting the move as inadequate to address the decline of branches and ATMs in the U.K.

Immigration restrictions are a threat to London’s status as a fintech hub, enough for Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky to demand the U.K.’s government take special steps to prevent the technology talent from going elsewhere.

The all-in-one card market has been a dead end for many years, with products like Coin, Swyp, Stratos and Plastc doomed to be mere footnotes in the history of fintech. Curve is determined to avoid the same fate, and it says PSD2 is its ticket to success.

Furniture retailers typically split payment for big-ticket items with a deposit and the balance due upon delivery, but the process is usually fraught with paperwork, security and efficiency gaps.