EMEA

The megabank will continue its international retail strategy by opening business in Germany next year, starting by offering savings accounts to consumers.

The bank and Chinese technology giant are speeding transaction processing for business payments, Airwallex makes a deal to bolster its payments tech and more in the American Banker global payments and fintech roundup.

Roland Harbin of First Chatsworth Bankshares in Georgia is part of a trend of bank directors continuing to serve well beyond the traditional retirement age.

The GENIUS Act in the U.S. and MiCA in the EU are creating a path to the mainstream for digital assets, while Britain won't have crypto regulation until 2026.

U.K. regulators said Monzo didn't properly vet new customers, while Vocalink was dinged for risk management lapses. Also, Paxos launched a dollar-backed coin in the European Union; and more news in the weekly global payments and fintech roundup.

The bank says it hopes to help improve the payments ecosystem and meet the needs of underserved customers through supporting U.K.-based fintechs.

The country's central bank cited geopolitical uncertainty and the increased reliance on digital payments as a reason to focus on offline payments as a backup. Also, a look at U.K. bank outages and other news in American Banker's global payments and fintech roundup.

Visa and Mastercard have long been in legal battles over payment fees, with out-of-court agreements proving elusive.

First National Community Bank CEO Ryan Earnest said his institution would likely use its entry into Paulding County, an Atlanta suburb, as a template for future expansion.

Alison Rose stepped down after the British government, the UK lender's largest shareholder, signaled she had lost its confidence after a political dustup.