Payment Expert’s Fintech Unwrapped delivers the latest developing news that has shaped the sector over the course of the last week.
This week, Mastercard launched its Wallet Service solution after Apple enabled digital wallet providers access to its NFC technology, simplifying contactless payments.
Also this week, Nubank became a fully licensed Mexican bank the same week it announced a newly created role, Bibby and HSBC are backing SME growth in two key regions, GoCardless extended the capabilities for Pay by Bank, and Mambu received accreditation from the world’s largest payment messaging firm.
Mastercard to simplify digital wallets after Apple opened the market
Mastercard’s Wallet Service solution has been rolled out to digital wallet developers to simplify contactless payments that rely on near-field communication (NFC).
Leveraging its Secure Element software, Mastercard is aiming to enable contactless payments for a more broad range of developers to support Android and iOS mobile devices. The solution enables developers to access more platforms to make contactless payments without EMVCo certification.
This comes in response to when Apple opened its NFC chip technology to third parties – with attached costs – to offer Apple Pay from their platforms and apps on iOS devices. The US Department of Justice also filed a lawsuit against the company accusing Apple of monopolising the market by blocking access to its tap and go payment technology.
Pablo Fourez, Chief Digital Officer, Mastercard, said: “While consumer adoption of alternative wallets will take time, expanded platform access gives banks and fintechs new opportunities to innovate.
“Ultimately, consumers could be the biggest winners of these changes, gaining access to a broader range of digital wallet experiences, rewards, value-added services and payment options offered through the apps they already use every day.”
Nubank becomes Mexican bank amid LatAm boardroom reshuffle
Nubank received a full banking licence in Mexico the same week it announced plans to consolidate its Latin American operations.
The licence from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) in Mexico was approved to allow Nubank to operate as a full-service bank. This enables it to serve its 15 million Mexican customers under regulatory oversight.
In accordance with its continuing momentum across LatAm, Nubank Brazil CEO, Livia Chanes, has been appointed as CEO of LatAm in a newly created position designed to streamline the digital bank’s operations and growth in the region.
Nubank Mexico and Colombia CEOs, Armando Herrera and Marcela Torres, respectively, will report to Chanes.
Chanes said in a statement: “My commitment is to ensure that Mexico and Colombia benefit from everything we’ve built in Brazil. We’re already the largest private financial institution by number of customers in Brazil, but we know we still have enormous opportunities to grow across our different segments.”
HSBC backs Bibby to support European and Asian SME growth
Bibby Financial Services has received €250m from HSBC UK to support its growth across Europe and Asia for its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients.
The move will enable Bibby to fund and support SMEs in Europe and Asia to achieve growth, as well as gaining access to HSBC’s Global Trade Solutions team.
The team includes more than 150 working capital specialists across 50 countries and territories, supporting business across international markets.
Theo Chatha, Chief Financial Officer at Bibby Financial Services, said: “Alongside global tensions and persistent inflation, access to flexible working capital remains a key challenge for businesses across Europe and in Asia.
Bruce Richards, Head of Strategic Transactions, Global Trade Solutions at HSBC UK, added: “The new pan-Eurasian facility provides back-to-back receivables financing across seven jurisdictions and will enable BFS to continue to grow its support for small and medium sized businesses.
GoCardless and Sage extend Pay by Bank partnership
GoCardless will integrate Pay by Bank within Sage’s business cloud accounting arm to offer customers an instant way to pay bills online.
By embedding ‘Pay by Bank’ as an within Sage invoices, small businesses will be able to collect one-off charges alongside regular direct debit payments.
Transactions are made directly from one account to another, without the risk of expired or lost card details. The payment method focuses on reducing failed payments on the first try, avoiding traditional card networks to cut single transaction costs by an average of 54%.
Tom Metcalfe, Director, Global Partnerships at GoCardless, said: “This expanded partnership solves that pain point directly by combining automated recurring collections and instant open banking payments, allowing teams to protect their cash flow and keep card costs down.”
Paul Fairless, Fintech Partner Strategy and Business Development Director at Sage, added: “By bringing Pay by Bank natively into SageBusiness Cloud Accounting, we’re closing the loop between invoice creation and real-time bookkeeping. It means payments can be reconciled automatically, reducing manual work and giving businesses a clearer view of their cash flow.”
Mambu onboards firms to Swift for global/domestic payments
Mambu has become a certified enabler of Swift’s Business Connect, enabling financial institutions to connect to Swift’s global financial messaging network through its cloud-native model.
As part of this certification, Mambu announced the onboarding of financial institutions on its payments platform, the Mambu Payments Hub, giving institutions a single platform to manage cross-border payment flows alongside domestic and other international payment schemes.
As well as the Swift certification, Mambu will also provide Swift Alliance Cloud connectivity while managing the infrastructure, security, and compliance requirements typically associated with Swift access on behalf of its customers.
Édouard Mandon, VP Payments at Mambu, said: “We’re proud to bring fully managed Swift connectivity to our customers. BankB is already live, using our Swift Alliance Cloud connectivity to connect to ING as their SEPA sponsor bank, and we have several more institutions completing their Swift onboarding and set to go live in the coming weeks.
“This certification means our customers can access Swift’s global network without the operational burden of managing the infrastructure themselves.”
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