For a long time, conversation about European fintech has seemingly revolved around London. Indeed, since its coronation as king of the industry, London has enjoyed considerable inflows of investment, innovation and talent. However, casting the spotlight on London's fintech scene alone ignores the myriad exciting developments springing up across the continent.

FSS AadhaarPay, a biometric-enabled merchant payment acceptance solution, has won the Payments Awards UK in the “Best Alternative Payment Award” category. The awards were announced at the 5th Edition of the Annual Payments Awards, at a prestigious awards ceremony in London.

While this period brings great opportunity, it also creates considerable challenges. Retailers must respond to evolving behaviors and manage huge increases in footfall, but still deliver the exceptional in-store experience consumers demand. They must also contend with increasingly sophisticated fraudsters and react to rapidly evolving security threats.

The good news is that the tools retailers need to successfully address these challenges are already available to them.

Putting the smartphone front and center

The hot topics in retail banking are becoming increasingly clear as banks start to consider much more strongly their approaches and strategies for the digital economy. 

Leading insurer Zurich has today launched a ‘selfie’ app called FaceQuote to urge more people to think about and engage with their finances. 

ING Wholesale Banking today announced a number of initiatives aimed at further enhancing client centricity, addressing clients' daily challenges and their strategic needs. The international network, currently spanning more than 40 countries will be strengthened, as we put more resources into Asia and the Americas. We are also investing in our advisory functions including core banking services such as the Debt Capital Markets and Corporate Finance franchises. 

Paysafe, a leading global payments provider, has been named winner of two high profile payments awards in the UK at the prestigious ‘UK Payment Awards’ event last week. The first accolade the company scooped on the night was for being the UK’s ‘Best Merchant Acquirer/ Processor’.  Paysafe then earned further recognition when Andrea Dunlop, Paysafe’s CEO of Acquiring & Card Solutions, was named the UK’s ‘Payments Pioneer’.

SumUp, the leading financial technology provider, and BancoEstado de Chile, the largest national bank of Chile, today announce the launch of a joint venture offering mobile card acceptance to small businesses. 

Valyou, a service from Telenor Group, will provide low-cost international remittance services to Myanmar in its effort to promote greater financial inclusion in Southeast Asia.