As the biggest bank in the Nordics, Nordea has a special responsibility to our customers and the societies during tough times. Nordea has decided to offer instalment-free periods to those personal and business customers in all Nordic countries who are in need of help because of the corona outbreak.

As financial services organizations look ahead to the new decade, they will be aware the next ten years are set to bring about dramatic changes in how they go to market and their service offerings and how they engage with customers.

Digital transformation and increasing consumer expectations will place heightened pressure on banks and insurance companies to deliver intuitive and personalized customer experience, far beyond what we currently see in the market.

MoneyGram International, Inc. , a global leader in cross-border P2P payments and money transfers, today announced the launch of a new referral program, which provides MoneyGram users with discounts after referring new customers.

"The launch of our customer-centric referral program supports our company strategy to accelerate digital growth," said Alex Holmes, MoneyGram Chairman and CEO. "Our customers continue to provide incredibly positive feedback on our leading digital capabilities, and we're excited to make it easier for them to share their experience with friends and family."

Assetz Capital has become the first property-focused marketplace platform to receive funding from British Business Investments (BBI), a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank.

The £15m commitment from British Business Investments will support in excess of £100m of new lending to smaller businesses and smaller housing developers, helping them grow as well as helping fuel the development of new homes across the UK.

The funding will be used for development finance loans and SME commercial mortgages originated by Assetz Capital.

EMAILS are starting to surface, targeting individuals with an email that looks like it is from Gov.uk, says Martin Gurney, a tax partner at Haines Watts.

He claims some are even suggesting that there is a tax rebate for everyone, with £124 for everyone to buy products to protect themselves against the virus.

Martin said: Some emails say ‘Click here to receive your refund’, while others are suggesting you click a link to a site to read an updated ‘health warning’ – the bug can then access all of the stored information and passwords on your device.”

Mastercard today announced a global partnership with Samsung to enable digital access to consumers and small businesses in emerging markets through its extensible Pay on Demand platform.

Mastercard’s Pay on Demand platform is designed to accelerate digital inclusion by bringing together financial institutions, original equipment manufacturers and telcos to holistically solve issues that have limited device financing in emerging markets. In line with Mastercard’s principles for data responsibility, the solution allows consumers to access devices in a pay-as-you-go model.

Accuity, a leading global provider of financial crime screening, payments, and know your customer (KYC) solutions, and part of RELX, announced today that it has acquired Apply Financial Limited (Apply Financial). The acquisition supports Accuity’s strategy of providing banks, corporates, non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs), and fintechs with global and domestic payment and account validation solutions that reduce payment processing costs while increasing the speed of transactions.

Brian Costello, VP Data Strategy, Envestnet|Yodlee

We currently feel nuanced and conflicted around SCA and its deadline. We’re supportive of its intent, which is to provide dynamic verification to the person initiating a payment or requesting data is authorised, but concerned over its implementation; which is asymmetrically applied without variable levels of consideration for risk.  Our first concern as the deadline arrives, however, is around whether or not consumer know enough about it.