Santander's adding tech talent; Revolut's boosting mobile payments

Bank technology professionals looking for a new gig may have a potential landing spot at Santander, while Worldline and Global Payments both fuel their diversification by entering new products. This and more are in our weekly roundup of global financial services news.

Santander hiring hundreds of staff for IT overhaul

While much of the news in the banking and technology industries has been of downsizing, there are institutions and fintechs that are hiring, often with the goal of finding talented programmers and engineers to support large automation initiatives. Santander, for example, this week put out a call for about 400 staff positions as part of the bank's four-year-old "Be Tech with Santander" program. The bank has moved more than 95% of its infrastructure to the cloud, along with other projects in areas such as open banking and digital payments. The 400 staff positions will be deployed in those areas, and will join the more than 4,500 IT professionals Santander hired in 2023. The bank employs about 28,000 technology staffers overall. —John Adams

Global Payments forms joint venture with German bank

Atlanta-based payments technology firm Global Payments has teamed with Germany-based Commerzbank for a joint venture with the goal of equipping German businesses with a range of digital payments technologies, according to a press release. The business — dubbed Commerz Globalpay — will launch during the first half of this year. It will be owned 51% by Global Payments and 49% by Commerzbank, which will house the operation at its Frankfurt headquarters. The move enables Global Payments to expand the market for its cloud-based digital and mobile payments technology, card terminals and e-commerce services, while enabling Commerzbank to add products and services for its small- and midsize business customers. The deal is subject to German regulators' approval, the release said. —Kate Fitzgerald

Revolut accelerates mobile point of sale strategy

Revolut has partnered with manufacturing and supply-chain firm Jabil to expand its mobile-point-of-sale product. Jabil will aid in product design, development, testing and certification for Revolut Reader. Revolut, which is primarily a digitally-focused challenger bank, released Reader about two years ago in an effort to provide point-of-sale payment support for merchants that also have a brick-and-mortar presence. Revolut's roots are in mobile payments, though it has added more services for consumers and mostly small businesses over the years as it attempts to build a "super app." Revolut competes with firms such as Block, Stripe and PayPal, which offer a mix of financial services, online and point-of-sale payments for small businesses. —John Adams

Google, Worldline partner on cloud payments tech

France-based payment company Worldline will use Google Cloud to expedite the payment company's "Move to Cloud" program. The Worldline initiative focuses on adding products and services that address functions beyond payment processing while battling inflation and other economic challenges. Worldline will access Google Cloud's analytics and artificial intelligence to improve how it gathers and analyzes its own data. Worldline is also applying Google's technology to its carbon-reduction strategy by reducing paper-based and manual payment processing. As part of the deal, Google will make Worldline one of its main payment partners in Europe. —John Adams

ACI inks large merchant deal in the U.K.

Co-Op, a U.K.-based cooperative that includes food, funeral, insurance and legal services, has signed a deal with ACI Worldwide to support several payment-related functions. ACI will manage in-store and online checkout, payment processing, fraud management and other business functions. ACI will additionally provide payment orchestration, which refers to routing transactions to the best payment option in terms of speed and cost. Co-Op's network includes more than 2,400 supermarkets and 5,000 other stores that are owned by a network of U.K. consumers. Co-op employs more than 60,000 people and processes about $18 billion in payments annually. "The nature of the technology means we'll be able to do things faster and more efficiently, and deliver new, seamless and secure payments experiences to our customers," Paul Fletcher, principal solution architect for Co-op Group, said in a release. —John Adams

Mastercard expands token service in the Middle East

First Abu Dhabi Bank will be the first issuer in the region to offer a Mastercard service that transfers a tokenized card number from the bank's mobile app to Masterard's Click to Pay and digital wallet. This enables the bank's consumers to make repeat payments at e-commerce sites without having to re-enter their card information. The card information is instead stored on file, with a "token," or substitute number standing in for the card number for each purchase to protect the consumer from theft. Click to Pay refers to a universal "buy button" that the four major U.S. card brands — Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Discover — use to standardize e-commerce payments. Click to Pay has existed in the U.S. and Europe for several years, and the card networks have been expanding its use globally. —John Adams

Neobank harnesses WhatsApp for U.S.-to-Mexico remittances

Nubank, a digital bank based in Brazil, has partnered with San Francisco-based remittance technology firm Felix Pago to enable cross-border payments sent from the U.S. via WhatsApp, the instant-messaging firm owned by Meta Platforms, FinTech Magazine reports. The collaboration initially will enable U.S. residents to send funds to individuals and certain businesses in Mexico. Consumers in Mexico may initiate transfers within Nubank's app by sending a request-money link to contacts in the U.S. Payers are invited to enter payment details in a Felix Pago chatbot within WhatsApp, and funds move instantly once the transaction is confirmed. Felix Pago, which uses Circle's blockchain technology, raised $2.8 million in new funding in late 2023 in a round led by Switch Ventures. —Kate Fitzgerald