CaixaBank forms gen AI team, Ripple rebrands cross-border payments

CaixaBank assembled a team of more than 100 people focused on generative artificial intelligence products, Ripple changed the name of RippleNet to Ripple Payments, and more.

Here's what's happening around the world:

CaixaBank forms generative AI task force

CaixaBank and its CaixaBank Tech unit have put together a team of more than 100 people to work on generative AI projects for internal and customer-facing services. The Spanish bank is also partnering with Microsoft and Accenture staff in Madrid and Barcelona, with Microsoft enabling access to chatGPT, which is developed by OpenAI, a Microsoft-backed tech firm. The team's early work includes updating digital customer service, risk analytics, preparing product tests and documentation for future technology products. Caixa anticipates deploying gen AI-enabled functions during 2024. Banks globally are working on use cases for gen AI, with most focusing on internal tasks such as aiding IT projects. Other functions include spotting messaging language that can portend potential financial abuse.
—John Adams

Ripple rebrands cross-border payments unit

Blockchain and crypto technology firm Ripple is updating its international payments business, a change that includes a rebranding from RippleNet to Ripple Payments. Ripple also hopes to reach a broader customer base through the rebrand, including small and medium-sized enterprises, noting that it has money transmitter licenses in the U.S. and Singapore. It has additionally added integrations with the XRP Ledger's decentralized exchange, which is designed to lower the barrier to entry to new countries by adding more liquidity markets. Ripple for years has used the XRP Ledger, which powers the XRP cryptocurrency, to enable cross-border payments without requiring correspondent banking to manage foreign currency exchanges and other processing steps, a model that is designed to lower costs and time for international payment processing. The company more recently has worked on developing networks to enable central bank digital currencies and stablecoins to work with each other and in different countries. Ripple is also expanding partnerships with other payment companies and financial institutions to extend the reach of the XRP Ledger. —John Adams

U.K. cash use is on the rise

Use of coins and banknotes are on the rise in the U.K. for the first time in more than a decade, according to the British Retail Consortium. The trade association attributed the trend to consumers' efforts to control spending amid rising prices. In its annual survey of payments data completed this year, the BRC found that during 2022, cash use increased to 19% of all transactions, up from 15% in 2021. Card payments accounted for 76% of transactions, down from 83% in 2021 during the same time period. Alternative payments — including those driven by open banking and buy now/pay later lending, rose from less than 2% to about 5% in 2022 compared with 2021. The average transaction value in the U.K. fell to £22.43 (US$28.19) in 2022, down from £24.49 (US$30.78) a year earlier, as consumers made more numerous, but smaller, purchases, the BRC said. Overall, cards accounted for 85% of all money spent, with debit cards driving 75% of funds spent via cards. Retailers participating in the survey accounted for 35% of the U.K.'s total sales, the BRC said. —Kate Fitzgerald

Mexico, U.S. officials to discuss cross-border payments integration

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Mexico's Finance Minister Rogelio Ramirez de la O signed a memorandum of intent to collaborate on financial initiatives, including exploring ways to integrate the two countries' payment systems to improve consumers' cross-border payment options, Reuters reports. The move came at the conclusion of Yellen's three-day visit to Mexico in early December. The two countries agreed to discuss financial cooperation that could enhance trade and investment, and improve digital payments used for sending remittances to Mexico, according to the report. Other goals include working to stem the flow of drugs to the U.S. via Mexico and fighting the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexican gangs. —Kate Fitzgerald

SumUp raises $300 million to expand payment-device reach

London-based payments technology firm SumUp has raised $306 million to drive international expansion, develop new products and explore mergers and acquisitions, TechCrunch reports. SumUp, which makes card readers used in 36 global markets and serves more than 4 million small-business merchant customers, has seen strong recent growth with merchant adoption in Europe and Brazil, and the firm recently expanded to Australia. Backers in the fund-raising included Sixth Street Growth, Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, Fin Capital and Liquidity group. To date, SumUp has reportedly has raised more than $1.5 billion. —Kate Fitzgerald

Klarna, Airbnb expand partnership to the U.K.

Swedish financial institution Klarna has launched its buy now/pay later lending product in the U.K. with booking company Airbnb. Klarna and Airbnb launched the service in late 2023 in North America and plan to expand to other markets during 2024. Guests have the option to pay for stays in full when booking or can choose Pay Over Time with Klarna. The loans for Airbnb stays are typically between about $44 and about $5,025. Klarna, which has shown signs of a recovery after a two-year slump that has impacted the entire fintech industry, recently added its core Pay Over Time product to Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, with plans to add more countries in early 2024. —John Adams