COVID-19 has been a major stress test for digital transformation. Merchants have had to ramp up their e-commerce, delivery and card-not-present capabilities. As COVID-19 continues to take its toll, players in the payments market will need to continue to innovate to meet their customer needs.

Detected, the world’s first agnostic business verification platform, has closed its pre-seed funding round at £250,000. This first tranche has been raised from a number of prominent angel investors within the founding team’s network. Participants include:

Lanistar, the hassle-free banking alternative set to revolutionise how customers streamline their money, has today announced it has opened a new European office in Athens, as part of its rapid expansion plans. 

Fintech is not everything - but it touches everything. This is probably the best way to describe the rapid speed at which fintech services continue their victorious march across the world and across every segment of the global economy. While the revenues that the fintech provides are astonishing, not everyone is happy with its swift growth.

Global analytics software provider FICO today released its August 2020 analysis of UK card trends which shows the continuing signs of financial stress due to COVID-19.

FICO monitors the UK credit market using data reported by the UK’s leading credit card issuers through its FICO® Benchmark Reporting Service. FICO’s analysis of August 2020 activity provides a clear picture of the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on consumer finances.

Today, Mastercard and Monese, the European banking service provider, announced a new multi-year strategic partnership to further enhance local banking services for the underserved across Europe, with Monese becoming a principal Mastercard issuer.

Financial IT speaks with Ed Adshead-Grant, GM Payments & Cash Management at Bottomline Technologies

Leading enterprise connectivity platform Yapily has announced that it is working with BUX, Europe’s largest mobile broker. The new partnership will enable German users of BUX Zero to seamlessly fund their accounts and build an investment portfolio in a matter of seconds.

Leading payments issuer processor, Global Processing Services (GPS) has secured a strategic investment from strategic partner, Visa Inc., the world’s leader in digital payments. Backed by UK growth private equity firm, Dunedin, this strategic investment will accelerate GPS’ global expansion, following its success in launching new and innovative fintechs and digital banks in Europe and South East Asia, including Revolut and Starling Bank.

NatWest and ITV have today announced the launch of a new competition where three of the UK’s brightest small businesses will win their own TV advert worth £150,000, produced by acclaimed London-based advertising agency Pablo, with guaranteed, tailored airtime on ITV and through NatWest’s owned channels.