Latest global payments news

Revolut forming "corporate culture" team

U.K. fintech Revolut is building an internal group to encourage improvements in corporate culture. This team will include behavioral science and psychology experts, according to The Guardian, which first reported on the team's formation. Revolut's work culture has been criticized in online forums such as Indeed and Glassdoor and publications such as Wired. The new culture team will reportedly focus on helping staff to be approachable and respectful, and will produce a list of values-based behaviors. Revolut's site this week includes a note saying its corporate culture page has been taken down while the company works on an update.

In an email, Revolut's public relations office said: "In the past, during Revolut's early years, some of our employees may have lacked proper exposure to expected behaviors in Revolut (what is considered positive / negative behaviors), making it harder to sustain our culture as the company has grown. As we enter a new phase of growth for the company, we have dedicated significant resources to ensure our culture is at the heart of how we operate across the business."

Revolut's roots are in mobile payments, though the company has been adding financial services over the past few years as it builds a financial super app and expands in markets such as the U.S. Revolut is also applying for a bank license in the U.K., though it told The Guardian the culture update is not linked to that application. –John Adams

Splitit offers post-delivery installment payments

Atlanta-based Splitit Payments, a white-label service enabling installment payments at the point of sale using existing credit cards, has formed a partnership with China-based Alibaba's Alipay mobile wallet to power a new option for consumers to pay after receiving an item. Users of AliExpress may choose Pay After Delivery as a checkout option, with the first installment due when the item is delivered, through an integration with Checkout.com. The service is launching first in Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand to other international markets. –Kate Fitzgerald

India to reward banks for promoting domestic payments scheme

India's government has approved a plan to give cash incentives to banks in exchange for promoting central bank-supported payment methods RuPay payment cards and peer-to-peer payment service UPI, TechCrunch reports. India has allocated a total of $320 million to reward participating banks through the end of March. National Payments Corporation of India created the UPI and RuPay networks with bank cooperation over the last several years as a low-cost alternative to foreign card networks, but some banks are reluctant to support RuPay credit cards because the revenue potential is relatively low, according to the report. –Kate Fitzgerald

U.K. bank technology groups centralize work on digital pound

The Digital Pound Foundation, The Payments Association, UK Finance, The CityUK and The City of London Corporation are partnering to expedite work on a central bank digital currency in the U.K. The partnership, which is between organizations dedicated to developing a digital pound, will focus on regulation, policy and general development practices, and will seek input from the public in the coming weeks. Like most European and North American countries, development of a CBDC in the U.K, has been relatively slow compared to China and emerging economies such as The Bahamas, which has already introduced a CBDC. The U.K. groups hope to lure international investors to the U.K.'s digital pound project by improving communication among the organizations. The U.K. is one of dozens of countries working on a CBDC, with much of the work focused on how digital currencies will perform in cross-border transactions and alongside existing payment systems. –John Adams

Klarna aims to boost in-store reach via Ingenico collaboration

Swedish fintech Klarna has partnered with France-based payment company Ingenico to distribute Klarna's point-of-sale financing through Ingenico's cloud-powered payments platform as a service engine. Klarna offers a range of financial services, and the partnership is designed to accelerate brick-and-mortar growth for Klarna, which contends change in the in-store payments experience has traditionally been slow due to complex and extensive work required for upgrades. Ingenico's network includes more than 1,000 banks, payment companies, merchant acquirers and fintechs that sell point-of-sale technology to merchants. Klarna this week said the U.S. is now its largest market by revenue, followed by Germany. Klarna claims 150 million global users. –John Adams

EU pushes privacy, cash protection for digital currencies

The Eurogroup this week issued a statement on the ongoing digital euro project, saying a central bank digital currency for the European Union should be a complement to cash, rather than a replacement. The Eurogroup, which includes the finance ministers of EU nations, also stresses privacy, accessibility and interoperability among EU nations in its position paper. Other concerns include mitigating the environmental impact of the digital euro's design. The Eurogroup is attempting to address several concerns regarding CBDCs globally, particularly in larger economies. There is a risk that a CBDC could result in a spike in withdrawals from commercial bank accounts. There are also worries that ensuring privacy for a digital currency could increase the risk that digital currencies could be used to fund criminal activity. The group said one potential solution is to tier payment vetting, with less risky transactions allowed more privacy. –John Adams

Worldline teams with Turkish fintech for online payments

Paris-based Worldline has formed a partnership with Istanbul-based Lidio Payment Services to streamline payments acceptance for global online businesses targeting Turkey's fast-growing e-commerce market, according to a press release. Worldline will work with Lidio to develop an acquiring hub for international merchants to process transactions locally using Turkey's most popular payment methods, including the Troy card scheme, in accordance with local regulations. Worldline has been working to diversify beyond its legacy as a payments hardware provider. –Kate Fitzgerald