👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Starling Good with Money is the main part of Starling Bank‘s brand relaunch that is coming up. The bank has strengthened its marketing leadership as part of this plan to deliver on its promise of values-led banking and financial well-being.
Starling’s ‘Good with money’ platform is supported by the bank’s central mission that one day, everyone in the UK will have a healthy relationship with their money. This mission is a response to the challenging financial landscape for people in the UK, with more than half of UK adults worried about the state of their finances.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Revolut yet to receive key credit licence from UK regulators.
⭐️ Redpin opens property payments platform in Spain.
⭐️ Profits soar at FinTech Abound as borrowers turn to AI loans.
⭐️ Monzo is coming to Barcelona.
FINTECH
Revolut is rolling out its mobile service in Poland as a pilot program, alongside the UK and Germany. Polish customers can sign up for the waitlist to get early access to full mobile plans. Users can transfer their old number or pick a new one, have a flexible offering, no fixed contract commitment, and a monthly fee starting from zł 25 per month.
Klarna’s strategic presence at Wimbledon. It will host partners and industry stakeholders throughout the tournament. While top tennis players compete on the court, Klarna will engage with retailers, brands, and business leaders to discuss the evolving landscape of retail, payments, and consumer experiences.
Swissquote secures full ownership of Yuh after four years, buying out PostFinance’s 50% stake. The company has acquired full ownership of the digital platform, which is valued at CHF 180 million. Yuh has grown to over 342K accounts and reported its first annual profit of CHF 1.7 million in 2024.
PAYMENTS
How Getnet is driving its evolution and staying at the forefront of the sector with Rubén Justel, CEO of Getnet Europe. He said, “Getnet is a global payments platform focused on offering complete, secure, and efficient solutions for both small businesses and large international clients. Our value proposition is based on facilitating digital business growth through technological solutions.”
Stripe launches new products to accelerate growth for businesses in Germany. New products and features include: Access to growth capital through Stripe Capital, support for more than 25 new payment methods, including Wero, and a new pay-by-bank payment method based on Europe’s open banking system, and fraud detection and prevention on SEPA payments with Stripe Radar.
SurePay rolls out Verification of Payee in Belgium, enabling the country's banks to perform mutual VoP checks with counterparts in the Netherlands. VoP is a security measure that verifies the identity of payment recipients before transactions are completed.
Bank of England considers stablecoins for wholesale markets and shifts regulatory stance. Sasha Mills, Executive Director of Financial Market Infrastructure at the Bank of England, indicated a more receptive attitude towards stablecoins in wholesale markets during her speech at the City Week conference.
Dutch card payments hit a new record as online use soars. The number of card payments made by Dutch consumers rose to 6.7 billion in 2024, up from 5.9 billion in 2022, according to figures from the Dutch central bank. The total value of these payments increased 15% to €198 billion.
British FinTech Zilch on the hunt for overseas bid targets. The payments company is working with advisers to identify smaller international peers to acquire as part of efforts to expand ahead of a bumper stock market listing, Sky News learns. Read more
REGTECH
Germany approves first regulated Euro stablecoin, EURAU. The EURAU stablecoin is designed to facilitate round-the-clock instant cross-border settlements and seamless integration for regulated financial institutions, FinTech companies, treasury operations, and enterprise clients throughout Europe and internationally.
DIGITAL BANKING
French B2B FinTech Qonto reaches 600,000 customers and files for banking license. It currently operates with a payment institution license it obtained in 2018, which already enabled it to introduce a form of buy now, pay later. But a credit institution license would let it offer broader lending, savings, and investment options to its target customers.
Digital lender Zopa expands to Manchester in British banking push. Zopa will launch its Manchester office in August with an initial capacity of 50 staff, it said, as it seeks to increase its current 1.5 million customers and 5.5 billion pounds in deposits.
CRYPTO
AMINA becomes the first bank globally to support Ripple USD as demand for stablecoins surges. AMINA will enable its client base of professional investors, institutions, and corporations to access Ripple’s stablecoin ecosystem with the security and governance that clients expect from a traditional banking partner.
Gemini releases a new batch of Blue Chip, TradFi, and other tokenized stocks for EU customers. Tokenized stocks are blockchain-based digital tokens that represent a single share of an underlying company. These tokenized instruments aim to mirror the economic value of the underlying securities and, where permitted, may include rights such as dividends.
PARTNERSHIPS
Curve Pay and Thales join forces to securely transform digital wallets on iPhone. This collaboration between Curve and Thales provides iOS users with greater control, flexibility, autonomy, and digital security for in-store contactless payments and digital wallets.
Lynck Solution GmbH and Mastercard jointly bring Open Banking payments "Pay by Bank" secured by Mastercard live for merchants. This collaboration marks a crucial milestone in redefining e-commerce payments for merchants and end customers. By integrating Mastercard Open Banking technology, Lynck is expanding its payment portfolio with a secure, flexible, and efficient digital payment method.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Binance names Gillian Lynch as Head of Europe and the UK to lead strategic expansion. At Binance, Lynch will oversee the company’s strategy, day-to-day operations, and regulatory engagement efforts across the European and UK markets. Her role will involve driving regional growth and deepening relationships with policymakers and regulators.