KKR announced that it has become a founding signatory to the Operating Principles for Impact Management, a new market standard for impact investing introduced by the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. KKR joins 59 other signatories, collectively representing over $350 billion in assets invested for impact, in their commitment to managing their impact investments in accordance with these Principles, which are meant to bring greater transparency, credibility, and discipline to the impact investing market.

Liquidnet, the global institutional investment network, announces that it has launched its EU operations in Dublin. Liquidnet EU Limited (located in Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre), has been authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as a MiFID II investment firm and MTF operator. This new entity acts as an agency broker, ensuring Liquidnet continues to provide services to its Member community based in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Sopra Steria is to acquire fellow French core banking vendor SAB as part of a strategy to turn around its underperforming Banking Software division.

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions, and Discover Financial Services, a leading direct bank and payments services company, announced today that Global Payments is now an acquirer for all cards on the Discover Global Network in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This includes Discover, Diners Club International and affiliate partner cards.

The epidemic of cash machine attacks across the UK is a serious cause for concern with attacks having risen an average of 22% per year since 2014. The attacks, often carried out with heavy machinery, not only damage the ATMs themselves, but cause widespread disruption to the community. Local stores are damaged, and communities are deprived of vital access to basic financial services and cash. If this weren’t bad enough, the people most badly affected are those least able to travel further afield for their cash; the elderly and vulnerable.

PayU, an online payment service provider and Naspers’ fintech arm, today announced the acquisition of Wibmo, a Cupertino, CA-based industry leader in digital payment security and mobile payment technologies. This strategic acquisition combines PayU’s strong merchant network and Wibmo’s leadership in digital transaction security solutions to offer industry-leading payments solutions to merchants and financial institutions in India and other high growth markets.

With entries received from all over the UK, a visit from Hugo Taylor and a competitive voting period which saw over 5,000 votes cast by the public, The Hand Dyed Shoe Co. was crowned the winner of Klarna’s ‘Smoooth Stores’ initiative at last night’s star-studded awards.

TBC Bank Group PLC of Georgia has entered into an agreement to acquire a 51% stake in LLC Inspired, a leading payment platform in Uzbekistan trading under the Payme brand.

Payme is a leading payment service provider in Uzbekistan that supplies high-quality payment solutions to its 1.3 million customers. It facilitates utility payments, P2P transfers, loan repayments, mPOS for QR-based payments and ecommerce purchases. It also provides a marketplace platform for loans from certain Uzbek banks.

Sberbank, Gazprombank and Digital Horizon announce that Sberbank has agreed to acquire a 51% stake in Speech Technology Center (STC) from Gazprombank. Digital Horizon venture capital fund has also agreed to acquire a stake in STC. Gazprombank remains a strategic shareholder in STC and will continue to play an active role in the company’s future development. The deal is scheduled to close by the end of May 2019.