Latest global payments news

Stripe joins international open development alliance

Payments firm Stripe has joined the MACH Alliance, an international group of technology companies that promote open development and offer certification in an effort to build standards for international digital commerce. MACH stands for "Microservices, API-first, Cloud-Native SaaS and Headless." MACH does not endorse vendors, but the certifications and the group's development of best practices are designed to create a network effect. "MACH Alliance is enhancing the online commerce space and is a leading standard for the industry," said Dorothy Copeland, global head of partnerships at Stripe, in a release. "Becoming a member was an obvious choice — many existing Alliance members are already Stripe users and partners, which demonstrates the importance of this ecosystem to accelerate digital experiences." —John Adams

GoCardless lays off 15% of staff

U.K. fintech GoCardless will eliminate 135 roles, or about 15% of the total jobs at the company. The layoffs will impact operations in the U.K., U.S., Australia and New Zealand. About 25% of GoCardless' senior leadership will be impacted and the company's total workforce will be just under 800. Fintechs have been shedding jobs over the past year, following an expansion in 2021 as digital commerce grew quickly during the pandemic. "Our goal is to build a sustainable business for the long term, which means we are constantly looking for ways to improve our business operations," said Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO of GoCardless, in a note to the company's staff that was distributed to the media. "In light of the current economic environment, we have decided to focus our efforts on the core areas of our business and reduce our investment in initiatives with longer term payback." —John Adams

CBA attacks crypto scams

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has added several policies designed to protect customers from fraud and other risks the bank says are tied to certain types of cryptocurrency payments. The bank will decline or place a 24-hour hold on some payments to cryptocurrency exchanges based on an updated risk assessment. The bank also plans to set $10,000 monthly limits for payments to exchanges. The relative lack of cryptocurrency-specific regulations, along with the growing number of new consumers coming into the market, has increased the risk for scams and other financial crimes, according to the bank. The limits will likely not eliminate the scams, but will reduce the exposure for users, the bank said. CBA will regularly review the impact of these new measures, and will make adjustments accordingly. —John Adams

Mastercard's carbon emissions tool finds adoption in Poland

Warsaw-based financial technology firm Verestro has integrated Mastercard's Carbon Calculator to the fintech's Quicko Wallet payment app. The app enables wallet users to view the carbon emissions that are generated by their payments, such as the number of trees required to absorb the amount of carbon for a given purchase. Mastercard, which is one of several financial companies to expand environmentally-focused products over the past two years, made Carbon Calculator available to third parties in 2021 via an application programming interface. The calculator enables carbon offsets through United Nations-certified projects. Users can also find potential investments in venture capital funds that focus on environmental issues. —John Adams

Netherlands transit goes contactless

The Netherlands has adopted open contactless payments for all of the country's transit systems. Travelers can use any debit, credit or digital wallet on trains, buses, metros and trams in all municipal and national networks. Translink, a Netherlands agency that is developing transit technology, built the contactless payment system in partnership with Mastercard. The contactless system drastically reduces the need for travelers to purchase tickets to travel. Mastercard, Visa and dozens of other payment companies are working in cities globally to increase adoption of transit payment models that rely less on closed-loop ticketing systems. —John Adams

Crypto theft funding North Korean nukes

North Korea is backing hackers that have stolen about $3 billion in cryptocurrency over the past five years by posing as recruiters, IT workers and using other tactics to infiltrate Western companies, reports The Wall Street Journal. The stolen crypto has reportedly been used to fund half of the rogue regime's ballistic missile program, along with other elements of the country's nuclear weapons strategy. The hackers created a criminal workforce that posed as blockchain developers from Japan or Canada, often getting six-figure jobs at Western companies. On the inside, the hackers altered projects or installed malware to enable external hacks. These hacks created an opening to steal cryptocurrency on behalf of North Korea's government without the Western companies being aware. —John Adams

U.K. regulator will require banks to jointly reimburse scam victims next year

The U.K. Payment Systems Regulator has approved a pioneering rule requiring banks and payments firms to split the cost between the sending and receiving banks when users are tricked into sending money to accounts controlled by fraudsters, JD Supra reports. When the rule goes into effect next year, sending institutions must reimburse scam victims for losses within five business days unless the payments provider requests more time to investigate the incident. The guidelines apply to the U.K.'s Faster Payment system, where most "authorized push payment" fraud occurs, subject to cases where consumers are liable for losses due to gross negligence. The regulator is also still in discussions to determine gross negligence parameters and a maximum reimbursement threshold. —Kate Fitzgerald

Eastern Europe e-commerce firm teams with open-banking provider

Prague-based e-commerce platform provider Shoptet has partnered with international open-banking technology provider Salt Edge, enabling web merchants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary to accept instant payments from shoppers' bank accounts, according to a press release. Shoptet supports more than 30,000 e-commerce merchants in Eastern Europe. Through its connection with Salt Edge, the platform connects to more than 2,300 participating banks across Europe using a process that immediately clears and reconciles transactions. —Kate Fitzgerald