Global news roundup

April 27, 2022 9:49 AM

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In global news this week, scammers target Revolut's program for Ukrainian refugees; Commerzbank applies for a crypto license in Germany; Nium merging with Socash; MyPinPad merging with SmartPesa; and more.

Here's what's happening around the world.

Scammers hit Revolut's Ukrainian refugee program

Revolut has temporarily halted a refugee-related referral program after some consumers gamed the program. The London-based fintech had offered bonuses of up to about $70 for customers who referred up to five refugees from Ukraine for a fee-free payment accounts for the refugees. Revolut reports the program has onboarded tens of thousands of users in less than six weeks, but its controls found a "small number" of accounts were targeted by people who were trying to exploit the program, reports CityAm in London. Revolut's Russian-born founder, Nik Storonsky, a citizen of the U.K., in March condemned Russia's Ukraine invasion before launching the referral service. —John Adams

Rabobank adds carbon impact gauge

Rabobank has launched Carbon Insights, a feature that allows consumers to track CO2 emissions for each euro they spend through the bank's mobile app. The Dutch bank has deployed Carbon Insights with 1,000 consumers and plans to make it available to all of its 8 million private customers by September. The app divides spending into categories such as groceries, transportation, clothing and travel. Consumers can also add context to transactions, such as if they eat meat or own a car. The bank hopes this context will provide information that consumers can use to guide purchasing decisions. —John Adams

SH Payments names new CEO

SH Payments, a subsidiary of the digital treasury and payment services provider Stanhope Financial Group in Dublin, has appointed Irmantas Kamienas as its next chief executive. Kamienas, who was recently chairman of the supervisory board of the $435 million-asset (€408 million) Medicinos Bankas in Lithuania according to his LinkedIn profile, succeeded Justinas Basalykas in January. “We are committed to helping" small to midsize entities "plan for growth and empower them with expertise and guidance, offering agile financial services and connecting them with world-leading banking services which have until now been out of reach,” Kamienas said in a press release. —Frank Gargano

Commerzbank tries to get a jump on bank-supported crypto in Germany

Commerzbank has applied for a local crypto license, a move that would allow it to develop a cryptocurrency custody service and offer crypto safekeeping to clients. Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest bank, is one of the first institutions to apply for the local crypto license. It wants to help shape emerging digital ecosystems, according to Borsen Zeitung, a local news site, which reported the bank is interested in supporting trading non-physical assets. The bank is also pursuing its own digital asset strategy. —John Adams

MyPinPad merges with SmartPesa

The U.K payments firm MyPinPad has agreed to merge with the payments and agency banking company SmartPesa in Singapore. The combined organization will operate under the MyPinPad name and branding and will seek to expand its presence in the Asia Pacific, Latin American and European, Middle Eastern and African markets. “The combination of our two businesses will accelerate growth, provide economies of scale and better position us to serve our global customer base,” Richard Forlee, MyPinPad's chief executive, said in a press release. —Frank Gargano

Nium to buy Socash

The cross-border payments specialist Nium in Singapore has agreed to purchase Socash, whose platform enables consumers to make online deposits, withdrawals and payments with cash via a network of 30,000 Asian shops, cafes and grocery stores. If approved, the deal would expand Nium’s reach and provide a lower-cost payment processing option for local merchants in emerging markets including in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, where Socash is based. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, were not disclosed. —Kate Fitzgerald

Volume raises $2.4 million

Volume, a London-based startup that enables merchants to charge consumers’ bank accounts directly for purchases, has raised $2.4 million in seed funding for expansion within Europe and eventually to North America. Volume uses open banking infrastructure from U.K.-based Yapily to support instant account-to-account payments to merchants from consumers’ banking apps, with each transaction authorized with a biometric security check. Since its launch last year, Volume has signed 50 merchants in retail, food delivery and e-commerce for the service. —Kate Fitzgerald

Airwallex seeks a funding boost

Airwallex, a payment platform startup, is looking to raise as much as $150 million in an extension of its series E funding round, according to people familiar with the matter. The Tencent Holdings-backed company, based in Melbourne, Australia, is in talks with prospective investors and aims to complete the fundraising within the next few months, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The startup is also considering an initial public offering as soon as 2024, the people said. Deliberations are ongoing and details of the fundraising and IPO could still change, the people said. A representative for Airwallex declined to comment. —Manuel Baigorri and Vinicy Chan, Bloomberg News