The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | July 15th

By Puja Sharma

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) scheme

BNP Paribas and Ant International have formed a strategic partnership to enhance cross-border payment solutions for merchants and consumers in Europe.

BNP Paribas will enable merchants that use its acquiring service to accept payments from more than 25 international mobile partners via Alipay+.

The two sides also agreed to work together to strengthen WorldFirst’s participation in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) scheme. WorldFirst, Ant International’s one-stop digital payment and financial services platform, will reinforce its participation in SEPA to enable businesses to make online cross-border payments and fund transfers more seamlessly within the SEPA Zone.

BNP Paribas will sponsor WorldFirst’s participation in the SEPA scheme, allowing it to leverage the bank’s expertise and products to expedite its integration and onboarding onto SEPA. WorldFirst’s clients will be able to access payment schemes under SEPA in real time and automate treasury payments to optimise their operations.

Flipkart, India’s homegrown eCommerce marketplace, has launched five new recharge and bill payment categories on its app, including Fastag, DTH recharges, landline, broadband, and mobile postpaid bill payments.

These are in addition to the existing electricity and mobile prepaid recharge options. Flipkart has partnered with BillDesk, one of India’s leading payment solutions companies, to help integrate the new services with the Bharat Bill Payments System (BBPS), developed by the National Payments Corporation of India.

As part of a limited-time deal, customers can redeem offers of up to 10% with SuperCoins by using Flipkart UPI. With the launch of these new categories, customers can make their bill and recharge payments while enjoying shopping on Flipkart.

Convert digital assets into traditional fiat currency

Canadian FinTech Nuvei has partnered with Mastercard to launch a new off-ramping solution that enables consumers in Europe to seamlessly convert their digital assets into traditional fiat currency via debit, credit and prepaid cards.

This new functionality provides a bridge between digital and traditional finance that can be spent via Mastercard’s global network. The off-ramping solution is integrated directly into Nuvei’s modular payment platform, delivering a simple, secure user experience.

Consumers can seamlessly convert a wide range of supported digital assets into fiat currency. Then, through Mastercard Move’s money movement capabilities, they can transfer the funds to their eligible Mastercard in near real-time.

Payset has partnered with ClearBank to allow it to access the UK payment system for both local and cross-border transactions.

The partnership with ClearBank allows Payset to offer improved business and individual accounts to clients in all its supported jurisdictions. Payset clients will now have a UK bank account and sort code, can clear payments through UK schemes and make virtual account payments in multiple currencies.

Payset will also now be able to offer instant FX services, improving its clients’ currency exchange service.

“We are delighted to welcome Payset to ClearBank. It has built an impressive team and a first-class technology stack to support its expansive client list. With Payset’s bank code, they will be able to offer their clients GBP payments and clearing services as well as instant FX and MCCY payments from ClearBank. We aim to support Payset to expand into new markets and client verticals as well as growing their EU business,” said John Salter, Chief Customer Officer, ClearBank

What is the Buzz

Partes Ltd and SaaScada have partnered to offer core banking software and embedded finance solutions tailored to the needs of the Swiss financial industry. In addition, Partes will provide Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) services built on the SaaScada platform.

The partnership aims to establish an alternative platform to existing core banking solutions in Switzerland and enable a controlled transformation to modern system architecture.

Financial services are being modularised and integrated directly into customers’ lives through open banking, embedded finance and contextual banking. This enables financial institutions to reach new customers, platforms to expand their offerings and consumers to enjoy seamlessly integrated services. This disruption requires a technologically flexible and efficient infrastructure and a cultural rethink towards horizontal value creation.