PayPal Complete Payments launches today for online small businesses in the UK, Canada and across more than 20 European markets. The solution enables small businesses in the UK to accept a range of payments including PayPal, buy now pay later solutions, Apple Pay®, Google Pay™️, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world.

Small businesses face a myriad of challenges from finding new customers and managing cashflow to driving sales. Giving shoppers more choice in how they can pay can help turn prospects into customers and grow sales. A recent Retail Gazette report  found 43 per cent of consumers in the UK are more likely to complete checkout, rather than abandon their cart—if the retailer offers their preferred payment method.

“As a meal delivery service, it’s critical that we focus on more choice and convenience for our customers with the payment options we offer,” said Iain Blackburn, Operations Director at Gold Standard Nutrition, a meal delivery service. “With PayPal Complete Payments, we’ve experienced greater checkout conversions and hardly any chargebacks, which is hugely beneficial to our business.

“We’re bringing our latest innovation to the UK market,” said Vincent Belloc, Managing Director, PayPal UK. “With advanced features, our new solution enables simplicity and helps drive growth for online small businesses. PayPal Complete Payments has so far resulted in an average 4.2 per cent lift in credit and debit card acceptance for merchants in the UK[6], which is meaningful for our customers. Early data demonstrates that it helps boost customer conversions and drive revenue.”

PayPal has integrations with several ecommerce platforms – including Adobe Commerce, Big Commerce and WooCommerce – which make it easier for their customers to quickly take advantage of this new solution.

Securely storing payment methods and simplifying the checkout experience

This new solution enables eligible small businesses to allow their customers to securely store their payment methods in the PayPal vault for future purchases. This provides a seamless shopping experience for consumers, and helps small businesses drive conversions and repeat buyers.

As always – protection is at the foundation

Businesses can sync order and tracking information with a new feature–Package Tracking. For businesses, sharing tracking data with PayPal can mean fewer customer disputes, and a streamlined resolution process that eliminates manual responses, which can reduce costs.

To help keep small businesses secure in an environment where fraud is on the rise, PayPal Complete Payments will continue to offer Fraud Protection, Chargeback Protection, Dispute Management and Seller Protection on eligible transactions.

This solution is available at competitive rates for accepting credit cards and other payment methods online. Small businesses can now choose between flat-rate pricing and flexible pricing, which helps them get paid the full amount up-front and gives them a transparent view into processing costs.

Mastercard with Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) collaborates to develop a payment ecosystem digitization blueprint for the country. The collaboration supports the Central Bank of Jordan’s broader efforts to unlock economic growth through promoting acceptance of digital payments, increasing financial inclusion, and combatting high cash usage.

The Central Bank of Jordan will benefit from Mastercard’s global expertise to accelerate economic and payments digitization and improve acceptance. Mastercard will use its proven approach, which includes a deep analysis of payment flows between businesses, consumers, and the government with a focus on addressing pain points, such as policy and regulation.

This collaboration represents a strategic roadmap guiding businesses and consumers towards a more efficient, secure, and accessible financial future. It paves the way for a more connected economy that fosters innovation, drives inclusion, and fuels economic growth.

“With its extensive expertise in assisting governments in driving digital transformation, MasterCard is one of our partners to develop a national payment digitization blueprint in line with the Economic Modernization Vision as one of the royal initiatives, and in line with the National Strategy for e-Payments in Jordan 2023-2025 that seek to :

• Reach a comprehensive and well-developed digital transformation that supports the provision of services electronically.
• Promote financial inclusion and facilitate and Support the Transformation to a Digital Cashless Economy in the Kingdom.

We plan to have several high-impact initiatives ready for implementation later this year. We expect this to be the start of a long-term collaboration to advance Jordan’s digitization journey,” said His Excellency Dr. Adel Al Sharkas, Governor, Central Bank of Jordan.

“At the heart of every thriving, inclusive economy are interactions between its people, government, and businesses. In this context, Mastercard serves as a trusted partner, technology provider and advisor to governments in the region and beyond. We offer innovative technology solutions, digital platforms and insights that deliver a seamless and secure payment experience to citizens with the aim of building a connected world that works for everyone,” said Adam Jones, Country General Manager, MENA Central, Mastercard.

Currently, most of payments in Jordan are in cash. Economies that are cash-reliant bear significant costs in many forms, such as underreported income, with informal economies accounting for up to 40% of the GDP. Moreover, cash is less secure and can be costly for businesses to handle. Merchants and consumers can both benefit from enhanced financial education on the various benefits they can both reap from the use of digital payments.

IDEX Biometrics and Accomplish Financial, an international payment solution provider, are bringing to market a biometric payment program to help the visually- and memory impaired. The program will first launch in the UK, where a global fintech will bring to market an accessible payment solution for the visually impaired and other customer groups with special needs.

The biometric payment program will accelerate IDEX Pay biometric card launches. This program is a direct response to the European Accessibility Act 2025, the call to action for businesses to be more inclusive, with an imperative to introduce accessible payment solutions. In the UK alone, there are 2 million visually impaired and a growing group of 11 million elderly (65+), as well as more than 1 million suffering from dementia today.

Catharina Eklof, Chief Commercial Officer of IDEX Biometrics says “IDEX Biometrics is committed to bringing trusted biometric authentication solutions to everyone. Our collaboration with Accomplish brings to market a solution that makes it easier and more secure to pay for the visually- and memory impaired, removing the obstacles of remembering PINs and avoiding the issue of “tap code to glass terminals”. Digital inclusion is critical for economic growth and a key priority for all: EU governments, interest organisations and corporations”.

’We are delighted to leverage the advanced technology from IDEX Biometrics for payment cards to help solve real issues faced by a significant portion of the population. Ensuring everyone is included should be a core responsibility of all financial service providers and, in the ever-evolving digital economy, it is sometimes overlooked that certain groups are underserved. Our intention is to continue making it easier yet safer to use a payment card and wish to increase confidence for all users. This project is especially satisfying as it simultaneously encompasses two of our core values: making the world a better place by doing good and offering the payment industry the most innovative products possible’, says Guy Raymond El Khoury, Founder of Accomplish Financial.

Norwegian software vendor Commercial Banking Applications AS (CBA), today announced that Landsbankinn in Iceland is benefitting from the seamless integration of Swift’s Transaction Screening Service (TSS) with CBA’s IBAS GBF - Global Banking Factory – which the bank uses to run its banking operations in payments and trade finance.

The integration with Swift TSS ensures that all incoming and outgoing messages, independent of banking product, are screened in real-time against the most up-to-date sanctions lists during IBAS business processing. Bank users are instantly alerted if anything suspicious is detected.

“We’re using Swift’s TSS functionality as part of our transaction processing within IBAS, to improve alert quality and accuracy in sanction screening and also to reduce the number of false positives being handled by our operations staff,” explained Audur Bjarnadottir, Head of International Payment in Landsbankinn.  “The CBA team has made the integration with Swift TSS very smooth, allowing us to benefit from automatic transaction screening in real-time. This all happens as a workflow during the real-time processing of business events in IBAS GBF. The integration helps us to focus on the quality of all transactions, while delivering efficiency savings and reducing the time spent on manual tasks.”

IBAS GBF enables all message types, including payments, trade finance and other banking transactions, to be scanned in real-time via Swift TSS whether these originate as MT messages, or in ISO-compliant MX or SEPA format. The integration uses REST APIs and the IBAS CLL (call) framework, enabling sanction screening to be automatically executed. IBAS GBF also automates all follow up actions, enabling transactions that pass the screening process to pass straight through, while those identified as potential hits are held and automatically flagged for further investigation.

“By connecting our customers to Swift’s Transaction Screening Service, we’re giving them direct access to a fully-managed and securely-hosted service that is continually updated with the latest sanctions data,” said Rolf Hauge, CEO and founder, CBA. “The ability to halt any suspicious transactions in real time is vital in an age of instant banking. The alternative, for those banks unable to scan transactions in real time as part of their ordinary business processing, can be a lot of manual work in recalling transactions if issues are subsequently found. We’re delighted that Landsbankinn is already benefitting from the efficiencies and quality of using the service and look forward to rolling it out to other IBAS customers in due course.”

The use of ISO 20022 CBPR+ is also expected to deliver significant benefits in reducing false positives.  According to a recent eBook from Swift: Supercharge-your-payments-business-with-iso-20022, in practice, some 5-10% of payments generate an alert and industry figures suggest that of those alerts, 99% are false positives. ISO 20022 CBPR+ addresses the challenge by providing distinct, well-defined data elements in clear structures, as well as including more elements and more space than existing standards.  With a more targeted approach to screening, it’s estimated that financial institutions could reduce false positives by 25-30%.

Viva.com, Europe’s first technology bank for payments powering card acceptance on any device in 24 markets, has announced the launch of Merchant Advance. A new credit solution that will solve critical cashflow issues for thousands of businesses across Europe, helping them invest in growth.

Viva.com’s Merchant Advance offers transparent capital to businesses, based on merchant acquiring data. Loan disbursement is instant, meaning businesses of any size or type can immediately access capital for growth.

Merchant Advance by Viva.com is currently available in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, and Spain, with more European countries of operation following soon.

Unlike other capital providers which can force businesses into lengthy application processes, Viva.com’s Merchant Advance leverages merchant’s payment history with Viva.com allowing access to near-instant capital with no fuss. Benefits include:

• Smart Prescoring, based on advanced payments data analysis for each business.
• Near-instant loan disbursement: Fast and easy access to capital.
• Charged with a single, explained fixed fee: No hidden costs, no interest charges.
• Seamless and easy repayment: Flexible automated repayment process via a percentage of daily card sales.
• Adjustable repayment time: Νo late payment fees.
• Fully digital process with no collateral or other commitments.

Merchant Advance is the latest inclusion in Viva.com’s market-leading digital payments bundle, a collection of integrated services that combine to power all businesses across Europe. From acquiring and issuing to business accounts and tailored financing, Viva.com’s solutions help businesses grow without limits.

“Having access to reliable and flexible capital is critically important for growing businesses, but for millions of European merchants it’s a real struggle to find the right solution. Traditional capital providers, and even newer market entrants, have to vet businesses properly, which results in time-consuming processes before any decision is made.

“Viva.com’s Merchant Advance changes the game, allowing our customers instant access to working capital based on smart prescoring. This allows us to offer instant, flexible and transparent capital that they can use to grow without restrictions. Merchant Advance is the latest addition to our product suite, built to solve payment issues for businesses of all shapes and sizes,” said Yannis Larios, Senior VP Strategy & Business Development at Viva.com.

Viva.com’s Merchant Advance is provided through leading financial partners.

Viva.com is Europe’s first technology bank for payments, powering card acceptance across 24 countries and 985+ devices. With an ECB-approved banking license and physical presence in 24 European markets, Viva.com’s Tap on Any Device for in-store payments, Smart Checkout for online payments, and marketplace payment solution, help European businesses of any size to accept and manage payments how they want. All of Viva.com’s technology is built in-house over MS Azure, and is fully scalable, supporting any payment checkout journey.

As consumers continue to navigate cost-of-living pressures, new research shows that younger age groups face significant barriers when it comes to accessing credit. 

This is according to a survey of 1,000 UK borrowers by Tink, the market-leading payment services and data enrichment platform. It found that over three quarters (78%) of 18-34 year olds have had a loan application rejected. When asked why they’d been disqualified from a loan, 12% cited thin credit history (e.g. not having enough credit history to qualify) and 11% noted the inability to prove their financial history.

Cumbersome processes causing loan application abandonment

Tink’s insights also show that younger age groups abandoning arduous applications, suggesting they have zero tolerance for friction-filled processes and may not be capitalising on the financial services available to them. 

The research shows that nearly a quarter (22%) of 18-34 year olds have abandoned a loan application and used a different lender because the process was too cumbersome. What's more, when applying for a loan, 20% of respondents said they had the correct documents, but abandoned the process because they needed to submit them manually (e.g. had to print them off and post them).

A Tink survey of 200 UK lenders supports these findings, with research showing that 36% of lenders cite manual income verification as the point when they see the most drop off in the loan application process. 

Similarly, the research suggests that cumbersome manual processes can be costly and time consuming for lenders. 32% of lenders surveyed cite manual income verification as the most time consuming step in their own risk decisioning process, and a quarter (25%) say document validation (capturing application information and analysing its authenticity) is the highest cost they face. 

Appetite for data-driven decision making 

As a solution to overcome these barriers, younger age groups cite a willingness to give lenders permission to view transaction data from their bank accounts in return for smoother application processes and a better chance of securing a loan. 

For example, encouragingly 40% of 18-34 year olds surveyed would enable lenders to digitally view transaction data from bank accounts to improve the application process (e.g. remove the need to manually submit documents on income and expenditure), while over half (57%) would like the option of having loans tailored to their financial situation (e.g. repayment plans which adapt to their monthly incomings and outgoings).

What's more, the research highlights that lenders recognise that improving the loan application process makes sound business sense. More than three quarters (78%) of lenders surveyed agree it’s important to reduce friction in the lending application to give them a competitive advantage, while 77% say it’s crucial to improve risk decisioning models to give a more accurate view of people’s finances.

Jack Spiers, Banking & Lending Director at Tink comments; “Our research highlights a clear access issue amongst younger generations trying to borrow. Not only are a significant amount wrestling with cumbersome application processes, they’re also being rejected for loans based on factors that suggest blinkered financial assessments. 

“It is important lenders are harnessing data-driven risk decisioning solutions to offer fair, accurate affordability checks, while also removing the friction associated with manual application submissions. And it’s not just benefiting the end user. Adopting these models can help lenders too - boosting customer acquisition through improved success rates, while reducing operational costs.” 

Temenos today announced that it has been named a Leader in two US flagship reports – the IDC MarketScape: North American Small Business Lending​Customer Experience Solutions 2023-2024 Vendor Assessment and the IDC MarketScape: North American Small Business Lending Decisioning Platforms 2023–2024 Vendor Assessment.

Both IDC MarketScapes evaluated 11 technology vendors in the small business lending segment, which includes any secured or unsecured loan provided to a small business owner, except for mortgage-related products. To be considered a Leader, vendors must be able to address most small business lending needs of any North American institution and support several use cases consistent with providing a complete end-to-end small business banking solution.

Temenos was positioned as a Leader for its comprehensive digital banking and lending platforms, as well as its support for alternative credit data sources for lending decisions, and composable banking features that provide choice and flexibility for bank clients.

Temenos believes being named a Leader in the two reports reflects the front-to-back capabilities of Temenos’ cloud-native solution. Temenos enables US financial institutions to deliver tangible value to small and medium businesses, from onboarding to origination, with digital and face-to-face servicing, advisory and cross-sell for accounts, as well as lending and asset finance.

According to a recent Economist Impact study for Temenos, 71% of bankers view unlocking value from AI as a key differentiator between winning and losing banks, and improving the user experience through greater customer personalization is considered to be the most valuable use case. With Temenos, banks can leverage an AI-powered Smart Banking Advisor to provide comprehensive customer 360° view capabilities and proactively support small business customers’ growth with personalized advice, intelligent insights and tailored solutions.

Marc DeCastro, Research director, Consumer Banking Digital Strategies at IDC, said: "Over the past few years, the amount of small business ownership has risen sharply creating more opportunities for financial institutions to deepen their relationships with their customers. As these small businesses grow, they will likely require access to credit and will gravitate toward solutions that are easy to use and tailored to their needs, whether that be from a traditional lender, a nonbank lender, or a pure digital lender. Finding the right solution will be key to attract this growing and profitable customer segment. Banks and credit unions should consider Temenos when looking for front-to-back core and digital banking platforms for small business lending.​”

Philip Barnett, President – Americas, Temenos, said: “We believe being named a Leader by IDC reflects our ongoing investment in innovation and our strong momentum in the North American market. Temenos’ highly scalable, advanced cloud technology, combined with robust localization and US compliance capabilities, is helping US and Canadian banks of all sizes to increase efficiency and speed to value. With over 30 million SMEs in the US, banks have a huge opportunity to tap into this traditionally underserved market by providing more personalized services and improved data insights. Temenos’ cloud-native composable banking platform, embedded with AI-powered tools designed for SMEs, enables North American banks to grow their small business relationships and expand their customer base in a scalable, cost-efficient way.”

This recognition by IDC offers further validation of the market-leading position of Temenos, which in 2023 was named as a Leader in Digital Banking Platforms and in Cloud-based Core Banking by Omdia, as well as coming first in eight categories, including core and digital banking, in the IBS Sales League Table.

Kroll, the leading independent provider of global risk and financial advisory solutions, today announced the launch of two new digital solutions designed to help organisations identify and manage compliance, fraud and legal risks.

As organisations globally respond to shifting financial, regulatory and reputational risks, these solutions enable compliance and risk professionals to proactively detect fraud and corruption and automate routine compliance tasks.

Kroll’s Risk Analytics Monitor is an easy-to-use fraud detection solution that helps identify high-risk transactions and third parties that could lead to financial and reputational damage for an organisation, providing an auditable trail of risk identification and response.

Incorporating the trusted expertise of Kroll's Compliance Consulting team, the new Kroll Managed Compliance Software helps financial services firms to proactively address changing regulations by streamlining and automating routine compliance tasks, supporting regulatory compliance while saving time and resources.

“Technology’s role in governance, risk management and compliance outcomes will take centre stage in the coming years, with solutions that help detect and mitigate risks and threats early becoming a necessary addition to any compliance and risk management framework,” commented Giles Derry, Co-President of Kroll’s Risk Advisory practice. “Kroll’s digital offerings provide our clients with proactive and efficient solutions to help them manage risks to their operations, assets, reputation and people. These solutions can be integrated into organisations’ existing compliance programs, embedding our global expertise into day-to-day risk management activities.”