Latest global payments news

ByKate Fitzgerald, John Adams, Bloomberg News

May 17, 2023 11:31 AM

In global payments news this week, Ripple is buying a Swiss crypto-custody firm, Binance is leaving Canada, and more.

Here's what's happening around the world.

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Ripple buys Swiss crypto-custody firm

The blockchain firm Ripple has purchased Mataco, a Switzerland-based cryptocurrency-custody firm, for $250 million to reach a broader range of international customers with its enterprise crypto services. The acquisition gives Ripple access to Metaco's Harmonize infrastructure and the ability to securely store, issue and settle any type of tokenized asset. Metaco, in turn, gains a direct connection to Ripple's hundreds of customers to accelerate its growth. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC his company relished the room to grow elsewhere amid uncertainty in the U.S. due to an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit challenging the legality of Ripple's use of XRP currency. Ripple, which was most recently valued at $15 billion, will become the sole shareholder of Metaco, which will operate as an independent business unit, according to a press release. –Kate Fitzgerald

N26 reduces headcount by 4%

The German challenger bank N26 has cut 71 jobs as it adjusts to the slump in fintech over the past year. The headcount reduction is due to "significant and long-lasting changes" to the global business landscape in the past year, N26 said in a prepared statement. N26 is cutting jobs as Allianz X, the venture capital arm of the German insurance giant, considers selling its stake in N26, according to Reuters. The Allianz sale would reportedly value N26 at $3 billion, down from $9 billion in its last funding round in September 2021 — a round that came just before N26 canceled a planned initial public offering. N26 had scaled back its U.S. expansion in 2021. The broader fintech market has suffered a pullback over the past year, following a period of fast growth in digital commerce during the pandemic. —John Adams

U.K. Raps Binance Markets Ltd. as Regulatory Scrutiny of Crypto Escalates

Jason Alden/Bloomberg

Binance to leave Canada, blames crypto regs

The crypto exchange Binance is withdrawing from the Canadian marketplace after the passage of stricter crypto rules in Canada in February. "New guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges make the Canada market no longer tenable for Binance at this time," the company said in an announcement on social media. The new rules in Canada include a pre-registration process along with other guidance that prohibits offering margin, credit or other forms of leverage for crypto investing in Canada. While not citing specific rules, Binance said it is opposed to the regulatory package but did not rule out returning to Canada at a later date. —John Adams

European open-banking firm buying U.K. payments firm Judopay

Fabrick, an Italian firm specializing in open-banking technology, is buying Judopay, a London-based mobile payments company, to aid Fabrick's expansion in the U.K., according to a press release. Fabrick sees the deal as an opportunity to apply its embedded finance technology to one of the most advanced digital payments markets in Europe, creating mobile and e-commerce opportunities for U.K. merchants by streamlining the flow of data, cutting transaction time and improving the customer checkout experience. Judopay currently processes more than 60 million transactions a year worth more than US$2 billion. Terms of the deal, which is subject to approval by local regulators, were not disclosed. —Kate Fitzgerald

Revolut will make loans in France, loses its CFO

The London fintech Revolut plans to start making loans in France by the end of May as it looks to extend its relationships with its 2.5 million customers in that country. The loans will range from about $1,200 to approximately $55,000 at interest rates of 3.90% to 21.12%. The fintech offers loans in Ireland, Lithuania and Romania. By using open-banking technology, which involves data sharing between institutions, Revolut aims to offer faster approvals with less paperwork. The company also announced that Mikko Salovaara, its chief financial officer, is leaving for "personal reasons." Revolut is attempting to secure a banking license in the U.K., a process Reuters reports has been delayed due to regulatory scrutiny of the company's revenue reporting. —John Adams

PPRO CEO to step down

PPRO CEO Simon Black will depart the U.K.-based cross-border e-payment company on Dec. 31, following a stint as the company's leader that began in 2015. During that time, Black oversaw more than $300 million in funding rounds, with investors including PayPal, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. The company's current projects include a new application programming interface and a cross-border e-commerce product for India's national UPI digital payment rail. PPRO will conduct a search for a new CEO, PPRO Chair Lazaro Campos said in a release. "With the company so well positioned for the next growth phase, and after almost nine years at the helm, I have decided it is the right time for me to step aside and help transition to a new CEO," Black said in a release. —John Adams

Visa adds startups to Asia-Pacific accelerator

Visa has selected seven new fintech firms for its Visa Accelerator program in the Asia-Pacific region, with the firms focusing on Web 3.0, embedded finance, cross-border payments, open banking and technology for small businesses. The firms include China's Dowsure, which offers cross-border e-commerce financing; Singapore-based construction financing firm Doxa Holdings; German digital payroll firm Kadmos; online-shopping firm Pi-xcels from Singapore; Thailand-based Web 3.0, blockchain and NFT firm Playbux; India-base Tranpure, which provides technology for remittances; and Twid, an Indian company that enables different issuer rewards to pool together for a single mode of payment across merchants. The firms, which were picked from more than 450 applicants, will work with Visa experts, business development teams and customers to develop, test and release new technology. —John Adams

Bank of Korea, Samsung explore NFC digital-currency applications

The Bank of Korea and Samsung Electronics have signed a memorandum of understanding to test the central bank's digital currency potential to conduct payments and remittances via near-field communication (NFC) with Samsung mobile devices, Cointelegraph reports. The goal of the effort is to apply Samsung's mobile payments security features to digital currency uses, including cross-border payments. The collaboration follows a previous experiment where Samsung worked with the central bank to test digital currency issuance and redemption at retail stores. —Kate Fitzgerald

Indonesia to develop its own national payment system

Indonesia's central bank has announced plans to develop its own national payment scheme to replace the use of Visa and Mastercard within state-owned institutions and operations, Bitcoin.com reports. The move, coming two months after Indonesia's president Joko Widodo warned against relying on Western financial institutions, aims to protect businesses and citizens from growing geopolitical uncertainty. Sources cited in the report said Bank Indonesia will use Russia's Mir as a guide to developing its own payment system pegged to local currencies. —Kate Fitzgerald

Morgan Stanley weighs cutting 7% of Asia investment bank jobs

Morgan Stanley is considering a 7% cut in its Asia-Pacific investment banking workforce, with China taking the biggest hit as deteriorating relations with the U.S. and weaker economic growth curb dealmaking, people familiar with the matter said. The bank is likely to start communicating with affected bankers as soon as this week, with more than 40 jobs at risk, including those with the capital markets unit, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Other divisions may also be slightly affected, the people said, adding a final decision on the number of job cuts hasn't been made.

The cuts are part of Morgan Stanley's plan to reduce about 3,000 jobs globally by the end of this quarter, which Bloomberg reported earlier this month would amount to roughly 5% of staff excluding financial advisers and personnel supporting them within the wealth management division. Morgan Stanley has employed a bigger China team in Hong Kong than most of its rivals, making it vulnerable as deal activity slows. The New York-based firm already axed about 50 investment banking jobs in Asia by the end of last year after a plunge in deals, and a significant number of those were China-focused roles. The reduction was among the highest for Wall Street firms last year, people familiar said at the time. A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman in Hong Kong declined to comment. —Cathy Chan, Bloomberg News

Standard Chartered to name Nicolo Salsano new head of continental Europe

Standard Chartered is close to appointing Nicolo Salsano as the new chief executive of its continental European operations. The banker, who currently heads HSBC's German operations, will be based in Frankfurt and spearhead Standard Chartered's growth ambitions in continental Europe, people familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified because the information is private. Salsano will take charge of a team of more than 200 people in Frankfurt, where Standard Chartered runs what it describes as one of its "fastest growing client franchises." The unit also serves as the hub for the rest of Standard Chartered's operations in the European Union, including its branches in France and Sweden. Spokespeople for HSBC and Standard Chartered declined to comment. — Eyk Henning and Harry Wilson, Bloomberg News