Ripple's stablecoin test, Klarna's open banking rebrand

August 2, 2023 12:01 PM

This week in global news: Ripple is working with the Pacific island nation of Palau on a stablecoin test, Klarna is dropping the Kosma brand from its open banking service, and more.

Here's what's happening around the world.

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Ripple pilots stablecoin in Palau

Ripple is working with the Pacific island nation of Palau to test a government-issued stablecoin. The project will start with about 200 government staff and merchants. Ripple's XRP Ledger will issue the stablecoin, which will be carbon neutral. Palau will also use Ripple's central bank digital currency platform, which the government hopes will reduce foreign exchange costs and increase access to financial services on the island. Ripple recently finished work on its CBDC platform, which the blockchain company hopes will serve as a template for CBDCs and stablecoins in multiple markets, encouraging cross-border transactions. Ripple is also working with the European Union and Montenegro on digital currency projects. —John Adams

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Singapore plans to eliminate checks

Singapore has set a 2025 goal to discontinue corporate checks as the adoption of digital transactions has increased the cost of processing paper transactions. The government reports check payments have fallen to 19 million in 2022 from 61 million in 2016. As a result, there will be a surcharge for checks and the Monetary Authority of Singapore has ordered banks to develop digital options for post-dated checks. Banks will stop issuing corporate checks in 2025, though checks will still be legal for consumers during a yet-to-be-determined transition period. —John Adams

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Klarna drops its open banking brand, but not the tech

Klarna will dump Klarna Kosma, the name the Swedish payment company gave to its open banking unit, though the company contends the move is due to the technology's success. Klarna introduced Kosma in early 2020 to draw attention to a service that sold an application programming interface connection to financial services over a network of 15,000 banks in 24 countries. Klarna Kosma will be embedded in Klarna's main payments brand as an attempt to associate it with Klarna's core payments and installment products. The firm does not plan to cut jobs as part of the move. —John Adams

Commonwealth Bank builds 'green' building service

Commonwealth Bank and Netherlands-based construction firm CFP Green Buildings are collaborating to provide commercial property clients with strategies to meet environmental goals. The bank and CFP have co-developed a digital tool that provides emissions data and insights that can aid decarbonization initiatives. There's also a calculator that determines the investments required for a project to meet the standards for the National Australian Built Environment Rating System, which is similar to LEED Certification in the U.S. The bank contends commercial property owners face a steep learning curve to understand the environmental impact of their buildings, and what steps they can take to make their properties more energy efficient. —John Adams

Mastercard updates experience center in Singapore

Mastercard has added several new features to a facility in Singapore that showcases new payment technology. Called the Mastercard Experience Center, it has added a prototype for making payments with solar credits, a virtual football match in a Web 3.0 stadium and technology that enables users to scan a product to track the ethics of that product's supply chain.The Singapore facility serves clients in the Asia Pacific region, showcasing new products through interactive displays in lab spaces. Mastercard, which has tested the metaverse and emerging uses for digital assets, has similar experience centers in New York, London, Dubai, Mexico City and Stockholm. —John Adams

Nomura’s digital-asset subsidiary gets full Dubai crypto license

Dubai awarded a full crypto license to a subsidiary of Nomura Holdings, one of the first such permits awarded by the emirate since it overhauled its regulatory regime for digital assets. Laser Digital Middle East, the Dubai-based digital-asset subsidiary of Nomura, will be able to offer virtual asset broker-dealer and investment management services locally, Laser Digital said on Tuesday. Laser plans to launch over-the-counter trading services and digital-asset investment products for institutional investors in coming months, it said. The approval "will allow us to innovate in the asset class and come up with products that suit the institutions in the virtual asset space," Jez Mohideen, chief executive officer of Laser Digital, said in an interview. Launched last fall, Laser Digital is headquartered in Switzerland and has offices in Dubai and London. It chose Dubai as one of its locations because it has a dedicated regulator for virtual assets and a growing cryptocurrency market, according to Mohideen. —Anna Irrera, Bloomberg News