Payment Expert’s Fintech Unwrapped delivers the latest and developing news that has shaped the sector over the course of the week.
This week, consumers once again flocked to retail and online stores for the Black Friday sales, but while sales took a surge, so too did fraud and Visa revealed some concerning figures this week.
Also this week, American Express becomes available to more merchants in the UK and Europe; ClearBank and Plaid introduce a new function to Pay by Bank; and Currensea has a new Chief Operating Officer at the helm.
Black Friday fraud continues to rise according to Visa
Visa blocked 280% more suspected fraud attempts in the UK during last week’s Black Friday sales than it did in 2024.
In a statement on December 4, the global card company said it had blocked 63% more than the Friday before (November 21). Furthermore, across Europe, Visa prevented 140% more suspected fraud attempts during this year’s Black Friday.
Some of these suspected fraud attacks Visa identified included fake shopping sites, package delivery scams, and “extra holiday cash” scams to lure in vulnerable consumers.
“Black Friday still remains a prime time for retailers – and especially for online shopping. However, where there is money to be spent, fraudsters will always try to take advantage – which is why Visa’s network never takes a day off,” said David Capezza, Interim Chief Risk Officer of Visa Europe.
Amex becomes available for UK and Europe payabl. customers
payabl. announced the integration of American Express to its UK merchant checkouts to boost payment flexibility both in-store and online.
UK and European merchants that process payments with payabl. can offer Amex to their customers and expand their base to those who use the card payment.
payabl. found that 64% of UK American Express cardmembers agree they are more likely to visit retail stores which accept American Express.
“Consumers want more choice than ever before in how they pay,” said Kristaps Zips, UK CEO of payabl. “Our collaboration with American Express helps merchants provide that choice while connecting with Amex’s high-value Cardmembers and delivering the exceptional experiences those cardmembers expect.”
ClearBank and Plaid to support cloud-native A2A payments
ClearBank partnered with Plaid on December 4 to introduce Pay by Bank to Plaid customers when using ClearBank’s virtual bank accounts.
The partnership aims to create a frictionless payment experience for businesses and customers with Pay by Bank to send and receive Open Banking payments via bank transfers.
ClearBank’s virtual accounts enable incoming payments to boost reconciliation and reduce manual processing. The cloud-native infrastructure also enables Plaid to offer faster pay-in and payouts to help companies to deliver greater account-funding solutions.
“Pay by Bank is no longer a niche option,” said Zak Lambert, Head of Product, Europe, Plaid
“Adoption is rising quickly, especially among younger consumers who expect instant, secure, and low-friction ways to pay. To meet that demand, businesses need reliable real-time payment infrastructure.”
Currensea to scale partnerships with new COO
Currensea has appointed former Wise and American Express executive Enrique Garland to become the company’s new Chief Operating Officer.
Garland will help lead Currensea’s expansion into co-branded partnerships over the coming years following past experiences of working in the loyalty and partnerships space, working for American Express for three years and in global remittances with Wise.
“Currensea is charting an impressive growth trajectory, and I’m looking forward to working alongside James and his excellent team in supporting its next phase and building a debit-led rewards model that truly works,” said Garland.
Tink’s Pay by Bank to support personal investment with Fidelity
Tink has enabled Pay by Bank for Fidelity customers to support personal investors via account top-ups.
The new capability allows users to quickly top up ISAs, SIPPs, Cash Management Accounts and General Investment Accounts directly from their bank accounts using their bank log-in details, protected by Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), such as Face ID.
“As adoption accelerates, we’re thrilled to see leading institutions like Fidelity put open banking at the heart of their payments experiences to make topping up investment accounts more seamless,” said Ian Morrin, Head of Payments at Tink.
If you would like to read from Payment Expert this week, sign up to our weekly LinkedIn newsletter, ‘This Week In Payments’, featuring the biggest news stories and in-depth features from within fintech, payments, crypto and more.
