Five years in the making
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Five years in the making - UK Open Banking finally gains momentum
Chris Jones over at PSE Consulting has been judging the performance as a payment product in the wider UK landscape.
On the face of it Open Banking has come along way since its inception in January 2018:
7 million users (inc. 1.2 million first-time users)
8 million monthly payments
1 billion successful API calls every month
270 regulated providers of services
Chris asks do consumers’ want to use Open Banking given how much choice they already have? Chris compares Open Banking with another youthful product, BNPL, and then with the more traditional backbone of payments in the UK cards and Faster Payments.
Read:
Chris Jones: 5 years in the making - UK Open Banking finally gains momentum.
Financial Services and Markets Bill: Access to cash and digital financial services
As the Financial Services and Markets Bill progresses through parliament, Lord Holmes has helpfully provided an update on a series of amendments he has introduced.
We are currently in Committee Stage of the Financial Services and Markets Bill in the UK House of Lords - examining this important legislation clause by clause, line by line, debating the principles, highlighting concerns and suggesting changes.
Yesterday, I introduced four amendments, all with the intention of improving meaningful access to cash – which also means ensuring acceptance of cash - as well as accessible and secure cash infrastructure - and access to financial services including digital financial services.
Lord Holmes
More:
Numeral launches in the UK to help fintechs access EU markets
Paris-based banking aggregation and payment automation platform Numeral has launched in the UK to help fintechs address the EU market by accessing Sepa and fighting IBAN discrimination.
The launch comes with the support of Sepa, Bacs, and FPS payments for UK fintechs, and follows integrations with UK banks Lloyds, Barclays, and HSBC.
Numeral’s banking aggregation and payment automation platform provides fintechs with fast, future-proof and cost-effective access to SEPA, Bacs, and FPS through their banking partners. Firms such as Swile, Spendesk, and Alma use thre outfit as their bank connectivity and payment automation provider and are on track to process €5 billion in 2023 with the platform.
Using Numeral, UK fintech companies can connect to and send and receive SEPA payments with the EU banks of their choice, effectively benefiting from EU IBANs
Édouard Mandon, CEO, Numeral.
The firm has set its sights on the UK, where it says that, since Brexit, customers of fintechs have faced renewed cases of IBAN discrimination - where companies refuse to accept an IBAN for payment in euros due to its country code.
More: Numeral
Crypto on and off ramps
Following moves by HSBC, Nationwide and Santander, NatWest is the latest UK bank to impose restrictions on customers buying cryptocurrency, citing the risk of scams.
The bank is putting a daily limit of £1000 and a 30-day payment limit of £5000 to crypto exchanges "to help protect customers from losing life changing sums of money".
We have seen an increase in the number of scams using cryptocurrency exchanges and we are acting to protect our customers. Stuart Skinner, head, fraud protection, NatWest
NatWest says that cryptocurrency scams cost Brits £329 million a year, noting that crypto is not protected by the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme and most providers aren’t regulated by the FCA.
Also, Binance is halting Sterling deposits and withdrawals after Paysafe, its partner for the service, cut it off. In an email to customers, Binance says it will suspend sterling deposits and withdrawals via card and Faster Payments from 22 May. The exchange says the move has been forced by Paysafe subsidiary Skrill's decision to stop offering fiat services.
Previously (2021) the exchange lost access to Faster Payments after the FCA ordered it to stop regulated activities in the UK.
A brief history of (US) retail banking
A brief history of retail banking in the US: from unique to cross-state branches, downsizing, and eventually digital banking. Are bank branches a thing of the past?
A two hour trip
Kielder in Northumberland holds the dubious honour of being the British village furthest from a cash machine. Residents of this picturesque community, which is just three miles south of the English/Scottish border, have to travel 18 miles to reach the nearest free ATM machine at a Co-operative store in the village of Bellingham.
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Mercedes-Benz drivers can now pay for services by onboard fingerprint sensor
Mercedes-Benz is introducing in-car fingerprint-based payments to drivers in Germany.
Mercedes-Benz drivers in Germany and other markets can already pay for fuelling directly from the car via the Mercedes me app and a smartphone or via the onboard MBUX infotainment system using a PIN.
The new Mercedes pay+ system, which applies Visa's Delegated Authentication and Visa Cloud Token Framework technology, enables drivers to pay for digital services and on-demand hardware upgrades in the Mercedes me Store using a fingerprint sensor in the car.
Cardholders with an eligible Visa credit or debit card can use the service by linking their card with their Mercedes me user account and activating Mercedes pay+ in the vehicle via MBUX.
Payment from the car by fingerprint will be extended to other services such as fuelling as well as to other European markets later this year.
In brief
Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover have paused work on a new merchant category code for American gun merchants, citing pushback from Republican lawmakers.
Bank of Scotland introduces personalised gambling spend limits
‘Shakeup of late payments can’t come soon enough’ - Access PaySuite – Andrea Dunlop
Open Banking: VRPs set for commercial take-off
TfL to stop selling paper tickets entirely as contactless soars and sales of season tickets plummet
ANZ to trial offline CBDC payments via smart cards and Bank of Canada say that offline CBDC could boost financial inclusion and privacy
Nationwide overhauls payment processing with Accenture and Form3
ICYMI
Out with the old, in with the new - Paym: I hardly know you
Five things businesses need to know about the UK’s New Payments Architecture
Enhance your payments knowledge
Payments:Unpacked is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.