emerchantpay, a leading global payment service provider and acquirer, joins forces with Brazil-based fintech company FitBank to reinforce emerchantpay’s payment proposition in Latin America.  

The alliance enables emerchantpay to strengthen its cross-border payments offering to merchants and partners targeting the sought-after Brazil eCommerce market. By leveraging FitBank’s platform, emerchantpay is providing its global merchants with additional infrastructure to accept Pix and Boleto payments in Brazil. Furthermore, other benefits include fortifying emerchantpay's risk management capabilities, ensuring even more heightened security and fraud prevention measures for merchants.  

This collaboration highlights emerchantpay’s position as a trusted payment service provider for cross-border payments in Latin America and is poised to extend in the future into more countries in the region, such as Mexico and Colombia to name a few. 

This announcement comes at a pivotal moment as demand for seamless and efficient real-time payments transactions in the region continues to grow. Brazil ranks among Brazil ranks among the top countries globally in terms of processed real-time payments. Pix, Brazil’s most popular instant payment method, boasted more than 150 million users, while its transaction value reached nearly 11 trillion Brazilian reals - or roughly 2.1 trillion US dollars, according to Statista. 

“Our alliance with FitBank is a strategic move as we continuously enhance our payment solution in Latin America. By combining FitBank’s modern and innovative platform with emerchantpay’s powerful cross-border payment offering, we are providing our international merchants with an even more resilient and streamlined payment experience, significantly impacting their conversions”, comments Andre Boesing, VP International Business Development at emerchantpay.  

“The collaboration between FitBank and emerchantpay underscores our shared commitment to bring smart and safe solutions for the markets we serve, delivering best in class performance and service. We’re happy to see aligned shared values between the companies, leveraging each company’s strengths. We are well placed to continue leading the market by delivering the most modern solutions for businesses targeting Brazil and the Latin America region”, comments Otávio Farah, co-founder and CEO at FitBank. 

Travelex, the global travel money brand, has launched seven stores and eight ATMs at Zayed International Airport – Terminal A.

The four landside and three airside stores take the total number of Travelex stores in the UAE to 49. It marks the latest milestone in Travelex’s expansion across the UAE and wider Middle East, increasing its extensive distribution network in the region.

In recent months Travelex has launched new bureaux and On-The-Move kiosks across airports in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah as well as the Mina Rashid sea port, in addition to investing in the refurbishment and expansion of existing stores at Sharjah airport. Travelex has also launched new ATMs across the Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal and Dubai International and has grown both their wholesale banknotes and concessionaire businesses significantly in the region.

Batu Dolay, Commercial Director, Travelex Middle East and Türkiye said:

“Zayed International Airport- Terminal A sets a new benchmark for a modern, seamless airport experience, tying in perfectly with our mission to simplify our customers’ access to international money. We are therefore delighted to have launched seven new stores and eight ATMs across the new terminal, affording travellers flying to and from Abu Dhabi more convenience in their international money transactions than ever before.”

Nexi, the leading PayTech in Europe, has chosen Mastercard as its strategic partner across Europe to support open banking account-based payments. Through this partnership, Mastercard Open Banking will facilitate e-commerce payments across Nexi’s gateways serving merchants across Europe. 

Together, Mastercard and Nexi will build an integrated digital payment ecosystem by advancing Mastercard Open Banking-powered solutions that offer secure, seamless payment experiences with more choice for consumers when shopping online.  

Unlike more traditional payment options, open banking allows anyone with a bank account to initiate swift digital payments to a merchant’s account. Payments are initiated directly through existing authentication protocols with a consumer’s bank, including biometrics, to retrieve the necessary information to execute a payment, making the experience easy and efficient. 

Benefits for merchants include real-time payment authorization and settlement, enabling quick access to funds and improved management of cash flow and revenue streams. By leveraging innovative technologies and payment methods, merchants can better align with heightened customer expectations for fast and frictionless payment experiences in the digital landscape. 

“We are excited to lead the development of an account-based payment method that will make online purchases more seamless and secure as well as expand payment choice in partnership with Nexi,” said Bart Willaert, EVP, International Open Banking at Mastercard. “We have been powering and protecting our global payments network and the broader digital ecosystem for more than five decades, and now Mastercard’s innovative open banking technology will offer consumers and businesses across Europe access to more innovative payment experiences.”  

"We are thrilled to announce our strategic collaboration with Mastercard, through which we will harness the power of its open banking solutions in Europe to scale and enhance our capabilities, and boost customer convenience in payments,” said Omar Haque, Head of eCommerce at Nexi. “By partnering with Mastercard and capitalizing on its leadership and expertise in open banking, as well as its trusted payments infrastructure, we further enhance our ability to facilitate the transition to a digital-first payments landscape in Europe.” 

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting (TAA) U.K. has released an anti-money laundering module (AML) within CCH iFirm®, its cloud-based practice management and compliance software platform. Wolters Kluwer CCH iFirm AML seamlessly integrates with CCH Central, Wolters Kluwer TAA’s on-premise system, reducing the need to rekey data into a separate system and helping to speed up the AML compliance process and client onboarding.

“We realize that compliance with AML and know-your-customer [KYC] requirements is vital for accounting firms, especially in light of continually shifting regulations. CCH iFirm AML helps to transform the way companies manage their AML duties, helping them mitigate the risks associated with poor AML and KYC practices,” said Natasha Chryssafi, Director of Product Management, Wolters Kluwer TAA U.K.

As a cloud-based solution CCH iFirm AML provides accounting practices with the flexibility to manage AML compliance from anywhere at any time. In addition, it will offer biometric KYC – using facial recognition to identify and authenticate individuals. This will remove the need to scan and email documents and check photos, helping to ensure secure and efficient identity verification, alongside a standard AML check.

Given the importance of having the highest quality data for checking purposes, CCH iFirm AML has access to leading credit bureaus and governmental data sets. The accuracy, completeness, timeliness, consistency and relevance of data is fundamental to detecting, preventing, and reporting potential money laundering activities effectively.

Fireblocks, an enterprise platform for building blockchain applications and managing digital asset operations, announced today the strategic appointment of Michal Ferguson as the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer. Ferguson’s appointment further solidifies Fireblocks’ dedication to advancing the widespread adoption of non-custodial and counterparty-free-risk markets for both individual users and institutions. This appointment comes on the heels of key additions to the team, including Michael Levine from Payoneer as Chief Financial Officer and Madan Gadde, formerly of FIS, as Chief Customer Officer.

“The explosion of new innovations over the last six months has led to a ‘crypto renaissance’ that is spreading like wildfire across financial and non-financial sectors,” said Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks. “In welcoming Michal, the collective prowess of our leadership team drives us towards our goal of serving thousands of new businesses and equipping everyone with the tools they need to securely deliver new onchain apps, products and services at scale.”

High-profile exchange failures have fueled a surge in interest for solutions that mitigate counterparty risk. This trend is reflected in the growing popularity of self-custody wallets and counterparty-free, or decentralized, exchanges and lending markets. A 2023 report by Chainalysis revealed a significant rise in users adopting self-custody solutions, highlighting a preference for managing their own digital assets instead of relying on third-party custodians. In parallel, the growth of the Total Value Locked in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) further shows the increasing interest in alternative financial mechanisms that eliminate the need for intermediaries, thereby reducing counterparty risk.

“It is such a pivotal time to join the Fireblocks team, particularly as we stand at the cusp of another great market expansion,” said Michal Ferguson, Fireblocks Chief Marketing Officer. “The platform’s versatility and our commitment to addressing the evolving needs of digital assets’ growing customer base has enabled us to make massive strides across payments, tokenization, and onchain development. With the anticipation of doubling the number of active customers this year, our goal is to ensure that we safeguard every new dollar that gets onboarded into the crypto and digital asset ecosystem.”

Prior to joining Fireblocks, Ferguson built and scaled the go-to-market functions at Snyk, a cybersecurity platform that integrates directly into development tools, workflows, and automation pipelines valued at $7.4 billion. The upgrade in executive leadership follows a stellar year of growth with the Fireblocks platform recording $53 billion in monthly outbound volume and a 160% increase in monthly active wallets. As CMO, Ferguson will spearhead Fireblocks’ charge to make counterparty-risk-free infrastructure ubiquitous across retail and institutional products and services.

To date, developers, startups and institutions have used Fireblocks’ non-custodial, MPC technology to build CeFi and DeFi exchanges, global liquidity networks, compliant staking solutions, web3 games, asset tokenization, cross-border payments, NFT marketplaces, smart contracts and more.

Mogo Inc., a digital wealth and payments business, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a change to its treasury management strategy to include Bitcoin and Bitcoin ETFs and authorized an initial investment of up to $5.0 million.

“Mogo was an early entrant to crypto investing in North America having first invested in Bitcoin in 2020, and we continue to believe in the long-term investment opportunity for Bitcoin,” said Greg Feller, President of Mogo Inc. “The recent regulatory approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, along with the commitment of several of the world’s largest asset managers such as Fidelity and BlackRock, support our view that Bitcoin is a legitimate global asset class with attractive qualities that make it a unique store of value. Today’s announcement, along with Mogo’s ~13% ownership in WonderFi, provide our shareholders with meaningful exposure to this asset class.”

For the third quarter ended September 30, 2023, Mogo reported cash and total investments of $43.7 million. This included combined cash and restricted cash of $19.3 million and investment portfolio of $24.5 million. Mogo’s assets also include 87 million common shares (approximately 13% of the shares outstanding) of WonderFi Technologies Inc. (TSX: WNDR), one of the largest regulated crypto investing ecosystems in Canada.

Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, today announced a partnership with The Hertz Corporation to power payments for its Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty car rental brands. Hertz will unify the majority of its in-person and online payment volume onto Stripe as part of its digital rental strategy. 

“We’re thrilled to partner with Stripe to provide our customers with new digital payment options that will enable a faster and more seamless rental experience,” said Tim Langley-Hawthorne, chief information officer at Hertz. “Getting our customers on the road quickly with exceptional service is our top priority and this partnership with Stripe is an example of how we’re leveraging advanced technology to make that possible.”

To facilitate their ongoing partnership, Stripe and Hertz built a shared product roadmap to address specific payment needs including extended authorizations for weekly or monthly rentals. Hertz will consolidate payments onto Stripe across corporate-owned locations in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Powering Hertz payments at every turn

For over a century, Hertz has moved people and things. Now within a changing mobility landscape, Hertz is building a more diversified car rental fleet, and serving a wider set of customer segments including leisure, business travelers, and rideshare drivers. Today, it manages billions in revenue from customers booking online, on their mobile devices, and at in-person venues such as airports or neighborhood locations.

Under the partnership, Stripe will support Hertz payments in several areas:  

• In-person bookings. Stripe Terminal will be Hertz’s primary in-person checkout platform with BBPOS WisePOS E countertop and handheld readers accepting payments at approximately 3,000 locations. Terminal integrates easily with Hertz’s central reservation system. 
   
• Online reservations. Stripe will process payments for all reservations made directly on Hertz, Dollar, and Thrifty websites and apps. Hertz will benefit from API reliability exceeding 99.999% availability and authorization rates that remain high during peak demand. Card Account Updater and Adaptive Acceptance are payment optimization tools that will help boost authorization rates and reduce false declines for Hertz.
   
• Easy, secure, and private payments with Apple Pay. With Stripe, Hertz is rolling out Apple Pay for US rental purchases so customers will be able to use Apple Pay with the Hertz app and when booking a reservation on the Hertz website. 

“Customers expect fast, simple, and reliable car rentals,” said Eileen O’Mara, chief revenue officer at Stripe. “We’re thrilled that Stripe can help Hertz get its customers on the road more easily.” 

Bank of America today announced a record year for its patent portfolio, which has grown to nearly 6,600 granted patents and pending patent applications – a year-over-year increase of 13%, and an increase of nearly 70% since 2019. A record 644 patents were granted to the company last year, an increase of 54% compared to the total number of patents granted in 2019. As a result, the company rose from 75th to now 64th on the Intellectual Property Owners Association’s Top 300 list of patent owners.

“Technology helps us deliver world-class capabilities to clients, enabling them to manage their finances efficiently and securely and to interact with us when, where and how they want,” shared Aditya Bhasin, Chief Technology and Information Officer for Bank of America. “We innovate to meet and anticipate our clients’ needs. As our pace of innovation accelerates, we’re continually listening to clients and building solutions to improve and simplify their experiences.”

Technology categories in which new patents were granted to Bank of America last year include information security, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, online and mobile banking, payments, data analytics and a new category: augmented and virtual reality. 

This record year of patents granted was made possible by Bank of America inventors around the world, who mirror the diversity of the bank’s clients. Bank of America has more than 7,300 inventors across 42 U.S. states and 14 countries, with 26% of them being women. Worldwide, fewer than 17% of inventors are women.

Bank of America spends $12 billion annually on technology, of which $3.8 billion will be allocated to new technology initiatives in 2024. Over the last decade, the company has spent $32 billion on new technology initiatives. These ongoing investments – combined with our high-tech, high-touch approach – continue to enhance the client experience across all channels, and to drive operational efficiencies across our company. 

One of the greatest measures of success is the degree to which clients engage with our digital solutions. Today, 57 million clients leverage our digital capabilities to help manage their financial lives. Last year, our clients digitally connected with their finances a record 23.4 billion times, an 11% increase year-over-year.  

Bank of America patents have been cited by other companies in the financial services and technology industries more than 53,000 times, further demonstrating the company’s influence on technology and innovation. 

“Having the ability to ideate and collaborate with other bank teammates on functionality that could enhance our clients’ interactions and experiences is inspiring. It was a proud moment for me when my first patent was granted.” shared Melissa. “In addition to the great work my team achieves daily, I want them to be empowered to innovate and be personally connected to how our company supports Responsible Growth. To do so, I encourage each of my team members to identify at least one idea for patent consideration annually.”