The governor of Czech Republic's central bank is pushing his government to invest the country's reserves into bitcoin, saying Donald Trump and "Trump guys" are focusing on cryptocurrency in a manner that could cause it to rise in value.
Aleš Michl plans to submit a plan to hold up to 5% of the $145 billion reserves in bitcoin, suggesting Trump's focus on crypto is creating an investment opportunity for the country's money, if done carefully. In a
The central bank is considering putting some of the reserves in bitcoin, he said. "It currently has zero correlation to bonds and is an interesting asset for a large portfolio," Michl said in the post.
"Given the Trump campaign took in over
Brazil, for example, is considering a plan to dedicate about 5% of its reserves to bitcoin. China and Russia have made similar moves. "If enough countries adopt a bitcoin reserve, the predictions of bitcoin's price reaching unprecedented heights become realistic. And the global bitcoin reserves could ultimately surpass gold as the primary reserve asset in developed, and developing, nations," Sarreshteh said. —John Adams
Dutch government pumps the brakes on in-store BNPL
The Dutch government is looking to slow the spread of buy now/pay later services to brick-and-mortar stores, according to a letter sent to parliament last week by Finance Minister Eelco Heinen that was first
The Dutch government believes that BNPL loans are a threat to consumers because they can increase consumers' debt obligations, particularly younger consumers. The country is not looking to ban BNPL outright, but, rather, limit the points in which customers can access the short-duration loan product.
BNPL is most readily available through e-commerce marketplaces, but providers such as Klarna have sought to increase penetration at retail brick-and-mortar stores. Last September,
Australia tightens rules for BNPL
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has required buy now/pay later lenders to apply for membership in the Australian Financial Complaint Authority by June 10.
That means lenders will need an ASIC license and will be subject to added regulation as providers of "low cost credit," a new category of financial services covered by a recent amendment to Australia's National Consumer Credit Protection Act of 2020.
The new
The
Affirm upsizes forward flow agreement with Liberty Mutual
Affirm last week upsized its forward flow agreement with Liberty Mutual Investments as the buy now/pay later lender looks to shore up capital
Liberty Mutual will invest up to $750 million in Affirm through June 2027 through its loan purchasing program, and expects to invest up to $5 billion. Liberty Mutual and Affirm have been capital partners since 2019, and first entered into the forward flow in 2023.
"Liberty Mutual Investments' ability to invest across the capital structure with a single-client focus allows us to flexibly provide solutions and scale to our long-term partners, like Affirm," said John Kim, managing director and head of Alternative Credit at Liberty Mutual Investments, in a statement. "We look forward to further strengthening our partnership as this collaboration expands."
The expanded loan sale program comes on the heels of a
The BNPL company has been looking to shore up additional capital following better-than-expected earnings in its fiscal fourth quarter and
Visa pushes installments for cross-border payments
Visa is turning to a fintech partnership to push two major payment trends that are driving competition — the ability to offer forms of financing beyond credit cards and supporting digital payments between countries.
The card brand is partnering with DealMe, a South Korean digital payments company, to enable shoppers in Vietnam to finance purchases made in South Korea. The corridor is one of several South Korea-based corridors the two companies are planning, including the U.S., Australia, Japan and Singapore.
Shoppers holding Visa cards are checked for eligibility for the installment plans, with a credit decision and terms extended in a few seconds.
By using Visa Installments, which was launched in 2022, issuers enable consumers to use their existing credit card to qualify for an installment loan at the point of sale. Borrowers repay loans through their credit card, debit card or bank account.
Among banks,
Santander UK chair steps down
William Vereker has resigned as U.K. chair of Banco Santander as the Spanish bank reportedly considers changes to its British strategy.
Vereker, who became Santander's U.K. chief in 2020, led the unit through a digital upgrade strategy that accompanied the Covid-19 pandemic, part of a larger
Pay by Bank gets a boost in Germany
Account-to-account payments are coming to Germany thanks to a fresh partnership between global prepaid payments platform Recharge, Adyen and Tink, the European open banking platform Visa acquired in 2022.
Recharge will offer account-to-account payments on Guthaben.de, one of its flagship websites for the German market, according to a Tink release.
"The appetite for Pay by Bank among merchants, especially those working with [payment service providers] like Adyen, is really growing," said Thomas Gmelch, DACH payments director at Tink, in a statement. "At Tink we've seen recently that over 10,000 merchants have now chosen Pay by Bank via our PSP partnerships."
In the US,
U.K. regulators look to advance variable recurring payments in 2025
The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority and the Payments System Regulator are making variable recurring payments a priority in 2025 as part of wider open banking initiatives.
Variable recurring payments, which were first launched in 2024 in the U.K., allow customers to transfer money from one account to another at regular intervals. They are similar to direct debits, but settle in real time and have customizable parameters, such as limiting the total amount of funds that can be withdrawn.
Open Banking Limited, which was founded in 2016, will be responsible for establishing an independent operator to coordinate how variable recurring payments are made and driving the rollout of new live services that will allow customers to make those payments to utility companies, government and financial services companies, according to the FCA. —Joey Pizzolato
