Latest global banking news

Swift appoints Mastercard exec as head of Americas, U.K. regions

Swift, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, has rehired Stephen Grainger to be its chief executive for the Americas and U.K. region, the Brussels-based organization announced this week. Grainger comes to Swift from Mastercard, where he spent four years as executive vice president and headed cross-border payment services. Prior to that he worked for more than a year at Swift, rising to managing director and head of North America, and previously held various executive roles at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup. Grainger replaces John Hunter, who left several months ago to head payments and transaction services at Wells Fargo. —Kate Fitzgerald

Oman-based mobile payments startup teams with Visa

Global Financial Technology, a fintech launched last year in Muscat, Oman, has formed a partnership with Visa for issuing physical and virtual cards via OM Pay, a new mobile payments app in the nation. GFT, co-owned by Oman Telecommunications Company, supports mobile payments via NFC, text messages, QR codes and bar codes, with the goal of expanding financial inclusion to unbanked and low-income citizens, according to a press release. OM Pay was developed in conjunction with the Central Bank of Oman, through a fintech regulatory sandbox program launched in 2020. —Kate Fitzgerald

Gas rewards advance in Azerbaijan

Xalq Bank, Azerbaijan's fourth-largest bank, has partnered with Compass Plus Technologies to launch a set of loyalty and rewards cards in Azerbaijan. The initial cards, XalqKart PETROL and CASHBack, enable consumers to receive bonus points when making transactions at participating merchants. These points can then be redeemed for fuel in the country's largest gas station network. "XalqKart PETROL and CASHBACK are perfect examples of how to provide value added services that benefit customers and promote loyalty. We look forward to continuing our work with them and seeing what the future brings," said Aleksander Kozhevnikov, Sales & Account Manager at Compass Plus Technologies, in a press release Tuesday. —John Adams

JCB launches card promotion targeting travelers from India

Tokyo-based payment card network JCB has teamed with India's state-run RuPay payment service, enabling users of JCB-RuPay cobranded cards to earn up to 40% cash back on purchases at stores in Thailand, Singapore and Bahrain. For the first three months of this year, travelers from India may earn up to INR15,000(US$181) in cash back on JCB-branded RuPay credit and debit cards, as JCB works to expand its reach among Indian consumers. The promotion follows a trial of the promotion extending identical benefits to Indians visiting Australia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to a press release. —Kate Fitzgerald

Turkey runs initial CBDC test

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey is piloting a digital Turkish Lira, and recently completed its first payments. The CBRT plans to run closed-loop tests with technology partners during the first quarter. The central bank will then extend the network to banks and other technology partners to determine how the Turkish central bank digital currency can integrate with real-time processing networks and international transactions. The Turkish tests are among a number of national projects underway globally that focus on expanding CBDCs. Many of the projects are focused on interoperability of CBDCs for international payments. —John Adams

Finnish payment firm, neobank to provide cards for refugees

Enfuce has debuted a project with community-focused neobank Welcome Place and mobile employment benefit firm Epassi to issue payment cards for refugees. The initial use case will be Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in France over the past 11 months, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The project's partners will issue prepaid Visa cards to new arrivals. The cards will be part of a welcome package that refugees receive in France. After an initial rollout, the partners expect to add more non-government organizations to widen the project. About 8 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the war, according to the United Nations. —John Adams

Dubai forms group to recruit payment companies

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce has launched a fintech and payments business group to attract companies to Dubai and encourage dialogue between firms. The group will recommend policies to regulators to improve Dubai's competitiveness in fintech and other financial services innovation. Financial services development has picked up steam over the past year in Dubai, with local firms such as FTG offering open-banking capabilities through acquisition and TBTM joining a Mastercard blockchain accelerator. Mastercard has also partnered with local developers to build use cases for cryptocurrency. Dubai's fintech and payments hub is part of a national strategy to build more than 100 working groups representing different business sectors by the end of March 2023. —John Adams