Latest global banking news

June 29, 2022 12:11 PM

In global news this week, the EU wants to update open-banking rules, India plans a crackdown on domestic banks' outsourcing, LianLian in China launches a cross-border wallet for U.S. merchants, and more.

Here's what's happening around the world.

Bloomberg Creative Photos/Bloomberg Creative

Regulators call for updates to Europe's open banking rules

The European Banking Authority has suggested dozens of potential amendments to the PSD2 regulation to accommodate the growth of digital payments, challenger banks and other fintechs. PSD2 governs open banking, or the use of technology tools such as application programming interfaces to connect banks with other banks or third-party financial apps to support multiple financial services. The EBA has suggested merging PSD2 with the E-Money Directive, which regulates electronic payments in the EU, to simplify standards for digital transactions. Other potential changes include adding more detail to authentication standards to take e-commerce card transactions into consideration. —John Adams

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India proposes crackdown on domestic bank outsourcing

The Reserve Bank of India has proposed new rules to govern bank technology outsourcing following a series of glitches and shutdowns that have raised concerns in the government about reliance on third parties. The draft rules would set tougher standards for the concentration of risk outside the financial institution, and would also require assessments of outsourcing to technology firms outside of India. The RBI has set a July 22 deadline for bank responses to the proposals ahead of the issuance of final guidance. "Regulated Entities (REs) have been extensively leveraging Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) in their business, products and services with increasing dependence on third parties," said the RBI in its statement. "Such reliance on IT/ITeS provided by third parties exposes the REs to various risks." —John Adams

SMBC takes minority stake in clean energy firm

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, which is based in Japan and has $2 trillion of assets, agreed to buy a minority stake in global investment firm Marathon Capital for an undisclosed amount. The deal will put SMBC's financial heft behind Marathon's work as an advisor on renewable and clean energy projects. "Our partnership with Marathon Capital is a unique and compelling opportunity for SMBC to drive increased client engagement and solutions that support our sustainability objectives," said Hiro Otsuka, chief executive of SMBC Americas Division and president and chief executive of SMBC Americas Holdings, in a press release. —Victoria Zhuang

LianLian launches cross-border wallet for U.S. merchants

LianLian Global, China’s fourth-largest nonbank payment services provider, has launched a multi-currency cross-border wallet targeting U.S.-based merchants who sell products on international marketplaces such as Amazon, Fruugo and Cdiscount. The wallet, which LianLian built by securing money transfer licenses in all 50 U.S. states, streamlines the ability for merchants serving customers in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to make and receive payments and convert U.S. dollars to regional currencies.—Kate Fitzgerald

Canadian banks team on money-laundering mitigation

The Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the National Bank of Canada and the Royal Bank of Canada are collaborating on a Know Your Customer service for the capital markets industry. The banks will support a common data and regulatory workflow to help risk assessments and KYC vetting. The banks want to increase cross-bank standards to prevent financing for terrorism and other crimes. TD Bank is not currently part of the coalition, according to Finextra. —John Adams

ANZ debuts its stablecoin in Australia

ANZ's stablecoin, A$DC, has completed its first payment, a carbon-related transaction for client Victor Smorgon Group, an Australian boutique investor. The group used the digital coin to purchase tokenized Australian carbon credits from Zero Cap, an Australian cryptocurrency and investment platform. Zerocap sourced the Australian carbon tokens from BetaCarbon, an exchange that converts Australian credit units into digital tokens. Each Australian credit unit equals one kilogram of carbon captured. The transaction is part of an effort at ANA to combine its environmental strategy with its digital asset initiative. —John Adams

Paysafe adds Mastercard Send for merchant payouts

Paysafe, a London-based global payments provider, has added Mastercard Send to streamline operations for merchants making frequent payouts to customers. Mastercard’s push-payments service enables companies like small businesses and insurance providers to send funds in near-real time to cards, bank accounts and mobile wallets with automatic reconciliations plus transaction data and the option to create customizable reports. –Kate Fitzgerald

Wise co-founder launches fund for startups

Taavet Hinrikus, one of the founders of London-based digital payment company Wise, has led a group of European investors to form Plural, a fund that will lead early-stage rounds in small technology companies that are mostly led by individuals or very small teams. Other Plural co-founders include technology executives who have worked with U.K. startups such as Songkick, Teleport and Certific, and were part of investment firms that have invested in Deliveroo, Uber, Bolt, Chorus and Pipedrive. Plural's early investments include metaverse, NFT and student banking apps. —John Adams

'Lucky' card rolls out for unbanked consumers in Egypt

Egyptian fintech Lucky has partnered with Cairo’s Mashreq Bank, Egypt’s national payment scheme Meeza and local card processor Masria Digital Payments to launch Lucky, a credit card providing offers and cash-back rewards. The card, designed to meet the Egyptian Central Bank’s guidelines for expanding services to unbanked consumers, supports mobile bill payments, cash withdrawals and deposits. Lucky raised $25 million earlier this year in an early-stage funding round. –Kate Fitzgerald