Latest global payments news

Members of Parliament and Lords of different political parties are calling for the appointment of a cryptocurrency czar and dozens of new regulations, and are demanding these measures be taken in the next 18 months to ensure the U.K. stays competitive in digital assets. The group, called the All Party Parliamentary Group for Crypto and Digital Assets, has made recommendations for how to govern cryptocurrency, a central bank digital currency, rules to protect and inform consumers on the risks of cryptocurrencies, and measures to ensure stablecoins are fully backed by reliable reserves such as U.K. pounds. The stablecoin policy mirrors regulatory work being done in the U.S. and elsewhere to mitigate the risks of stablecoins, which are designed to hedge against cryptocurrency volatility. The group also said existing regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority should govern cryptocurrency, but expressed doubt that these regulators have the proper resources and expertise to do so.

JPMorgan Chase will pilot a payment network that enables dollar-based settlement for financial institutions located in India. HDFC, ICICI, Axis Bank, Yes Bank and Indusind Bank will open Nostro accounts at a JPMorgan branch in India, reports the Economic Times. JPMorgan's blockchain will enable instant settlement for these accounts. Dollar-based settlement in India is usually managed by multiple Nostro accounts, which refer to a bank account held in a foreign currency by a domestic bank. These banks use the Swift messaging system to process the cross-border payments to India in dollars, though the Swift system can process these types of payments only during U.S. office hours. The JPM pilot will operate at all hours of the day.

Nets has debuted its Npay terminal in Finland, one of the first deployments from the Nexi Digital Finland Hub. The Nexi Group, which owns Nets, opened the Finnish development hub in February. The Npay terminals accept Visa, Mastercard and most local European schemes. Sweden was the initial market for the new terminal, with Italy scheduled to launch in the next few weeks. Nexi, which is based in Italy, has made more than $15 billion in acquisitions over the past half decade to build a transaction network in Europe that can counter the large U.S.-based payment networks, international payment fintechs and U.S.-based merchant services firms that have a presence in Europe, such as FIS and Fiserv.