Latest global payments news

April 19, 2023 12:49 PM

In global news this week: Ryan Reynolds bets on Canadian fintech, Virgin Money expands its offerings, and more.

Here's what's happening around the world.

Stripe, Affirm expand collaboration into Canada

Payment technology companies Stripe and Affirm are pitching their relationship to merchants in Canada. Merchants will be able to add Affirm's buy now/pay later options through a download, making it operable in minutes. "Since launching in the U.S. with Stripe, we've helped many businesses better serve their customers and drive growth by providing transparent and flexible payment options," said Wayne Pommen, chief revenue officer of Affirm, in a release. While payment companies such as Stripe and Affirm saw their valuations decline in 2022, they have maintained a product development schedule. Stripe is adding new machine learning tools and expanding point of sale technology, while Affirm has reset its product development strategy. —John Adams

Bloomberg News

PhonePe draws a fresh $100 million investment

General Atlantic has invested $100 million in Indian mobile payment company PhonePe, part of the fintech's attempt to raise $1 billion in new financing this year. Walmart , which is the majority owner of PhonePe, recently invested $200 million in the company, which has a current valuation of $12 billion. PhonePe has raised $750 million so far in 2023, according to the Economic Times. The company will use the funds to add new financial services such as insurance, stock trading, account aggregation and lending. Walmart additionally plans to use PhonePe's payments technology to inform e-commerce development in other nations. PhonePe earlier in April backed out of a deal to acquire buy now/pay later firm ZestMoney, reportedly because of due diligence concerns. —John Adams

Bloomberg News

Ryan Reynolds invests in Canadian fintech Nuvei

Ryan Reynolds, who in addition to acting, producing and investing in technology companies, has taken a stake in Nuvei, a Montreal-based payments firm. Reynolds has previously invested in Mint Mobile, which recently was sold to T-Mobile for more than $1.3 billion. His other investments include Aviation Gin, which sold to European beverage company Diageo in 2020, and the Wrexham football club in the U.K. Nuvei recently made a deal with private equity firm GTCR to acquire Paya, which offers an expanding set of digital financial services. Terms of Reynolds' stake in Nuvei were not disclosed. "I know about as much about fintech as I did about gin or mobile a few years ago. But Nuvei is impressive. The leadership team is exceedingly intelligent and hard-working and it's about time a Canadian company got the type of attention American tech companies do," Reynolds said in a release. —John Adams

Virgin Money adds wealth management

U.K. Digital bank Virgin Money has launched a direct-to-consumer wealth management platform, with three funds covering different risk profiles. The funds focus on companies that have a good track record on Environmental, Social and Governance issues. Virgin Money has partnered with FNZ, a global wealth management firm and abrdn, a Scottish investment company. Virgin Money's platform will also include an online investment coach to guide consumers. "Through our partnership with FNZ, we've designed our new investment service to be accessible and straightforward for everyone. It's important that consumers feel confident enough to make the most of their money, particularly during these challenging times," said Jonathan Byrne, CEO of Virgin Money Investments, in a release. —John Adams

Lloyds adds instant B2B payments

Lloyds has debuted a service that enables businesses to pay other parties, even if they don't know the recipient's bank details. Called PayMe, the service lets businesses send a link to the payee through email, SMS or QR code. The recipient then enters their account information. After a review and verification, the transaction is sent to the payee's account. Lloyds partnered with Bottomline Technologies, which was an early adopter of real-time settlement technology. Lloyds envisions uses such as one-off supplier payments, donations, volunteer expenses, compensation and bonuses. "We've developed this service to support our clients in driving efficiencies in their business while further enhancing the customer experience they're providing," said Stephen Everett, managing director of cash management and payments at Lloyds Bank, in a release. He added that the product could allow businesses to avoid the three-day processing time for Bacs, the U.K. clearing organization and checks. —John Adams

French, Brazilian firms collaborate on blockchain-powered cross-border payments

Tempo France, a European remittance firm based in Paris, is working with Brazil-based fintech nTokens to launch a blockchain-powered cross-border payments service that will reach customers of more than 170 Brazilian banks, Electronic Payments International reports. Users may initiate payments with government-issued currency via the Tempo mobile app, with transactions processed via Armenotech technology based on the Stellar blockchain platform. Payouts are executed by PIX, the instant payments network from Brazil's central bank. Brazil's total cross-border transactions amounted to nearly $5 billion per year, according to the report. —Kate Fitzgerald

dLocal introduces unified e-commerce payments

Uruguay-based cross-border payments firm dLocal has rolled out an end-to-end e-commerce payment product for developing regions that consolidates verification and payouts for sellers, service providers and contractors within the platform, according to a press release. With dLocal for Platforms, marketplace operators can onboard merchants via application programming interface, and accept payments on their behalf in local currency. It can split payments between users, deduct costs and either hold funds or move them to credit or debit payouts. Brazil-based Nuvemshop, a marketplace with broad reach across Latin America, is one of the first users of the new service. —Kate Fitzgerald

Hong Kong’s mobile wallet volume to surpass $30 billion by 2027

Mobile wallet transaction volume in Hong Kong is expanding at a rate of 10% annually and gradually displacing cash and card payments, powered by widespread adoption of QR codes by merchants and consumers, according to London-based GlobalData. At the present pace, mobile wallet volume will exceed $30 billion within four years, with the local government's support for its Faster Payment System (FPS) and promotion of the Hong Kong Common QR Code, which eliminates the need for merchants to support multiple QR codes to accept payments. In Hong Kong, 35 banks and 10 payment service providers now support instant payments via FPS, which the central bank introduced in 2018. —Kate Fitzgerald

JCB, Saudi National Bank partner on POS and ATM access

The Saudi National Bank has signed an agreement with Tokyo-based payments network JCB to enable acceptance of the JCB card through more than 300,000 point-of-sale terminals and more than 3,000 ATMs across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to a press release. The move aims to add convenience for the growing number of JCB card customers visiting Saudi Arabia, while helping further the financial inclusion and tourism goals of Saudi Vision 2030, introduced by the Saudi government six years ago. —Kate Fitzgerald