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 has expanded its services across Europe to help mitigate First-Party Fraud with a solution of tools.
Also this week, Checkout.com is bringing its suite of payment solutions to Samsung, Coinbase is lending its stablecoin payment services to Thunes for local payouts, a new council has been established to uncover agentic payments for local methods, and Mangopay added five new currencies to its multi-currency digital wallet.
Mastercard to tighten First-Party fraud attempts
Mastercard announced the expansion of its First-Party Trust programme in Europe to stamp out first-party fraud.
First-party fraud is when a cardholder disputes a legitimate purchase, either intentionally or because they do not recognise the transaction on their statement.
Mastercard is aiming to mitigate this by using authorisation insights to help issuers separate third-party fraud, such as fraud-risk signals that point to likely third-party fraud and flag the transactions with the highest levels of trust.
The Mastercard programme will also support merchants with provided evidence that supports issuers assessing the legitimacy of a disputed transaction, including information associated with the purchase, delivery, and authentication of the transaction, where available and appropriate.
Michele Centemero, EVP of Services Europe at Mastercard, said: “As digital commerce continues to grow, building trust across the ecosystem has never been more important. By helping merchants and issuers access relevant transaction information needed to review disputed purchases, we can reduce unnecessary disputes while strengthening confidence across the payments ecosystem.”
Checkout.com offers its suite of payments to Samsung users
Checkout.com and Samsung Electronics will support the digital commerce ecosystem by enabling greater payment flexibility for Samsung Pay, Samsung Wallet and Galaxy users.
Under the global partnership, Checkout.com will extend its support to additional Samsung Electronics’ digital-commerce environments and markets in the European Union and North America across both the Galaxy Store and Samsung.com.
Samsung will use Checkout.com’s Intelligent Acceptance, an AI-powered optimisation engine that uses real-time data from Checkout.com’s global network to help optimise transactions and reduce payment failures to improve performance.
Samsung Pay will also launch on Flow, Checkout.com’s low-code payments integration, on 31 October. This allows Checkout.com merchants to add Samsung Pay as a digital wallet option for online and in-app checkout.
Woncheol Chai, EVP of Samsung Electronics, said: “As Samsung continues to build connected digital experiences for customers around the world, we need payment infrastructure that is flexible, reliable and ready to scale across markets. Our partnership with Checkout.com will support that ambition, helping us create a more consistent foundation for digital commerce and bring Samsung Pay to more merchants through Flow.”
Thunes & Coinbase launch local stablecoin payouts
Thunes and Coinbase launched a unified infrastructure that looks to empower both companies to scale and deliver frictionless payment experiences globally.
Coinbase will integrate Thunes’ Direct Global Network into its platform, creating direct payout access to local clearing systems and alternative payment methods. Thunes will provide real-time, ‘last-mile’ delivery to billions of mobile wallets and bank accounts worldwide, allowing Coinbase customers to send funds across more countries and currencies.
Chloé Mayenobe, Deputy CEO of Thunes, said: “Digital assets have become a core part of our financial ecosystem, but connecting digital currencies to fiat and local domestic financial systems remains essential for real-world utility.”
Coinbase will power Thunes’ stablecoin infrastructure through its suite of stablecoin solutions, enabling Thunes to integrate stablecoins across its global network. This infrastructure will support Thunes’ expansion within the digital asset ecosystem
Alec Lovett, Head of Infrastructure Products at Coinbase, said: “Digital assets and stablecoins are revolutionising how value moves worldwide, and at Coinbase we are focused on unlocking their full potential. Last-mile connectivity is a key part of this, and working alongside Thunes allows us to deliver an end-to-end payment experience that offers faster, friction-free payouts across more countries and currencies than ever before.”
PPRO co-launches new council for agentic local payments
PPRO has co-launched the Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce, alongside founding members BLIK, EPI, Bancontact Company, and DIAS.
The new industry focuses on developing the agentic commerce ecosystem and how consumers prefer to pay across the global market.
The Local Payments Council for Agentic Commerce brings together payment schemes and relevant industry participants to shape the technical standards defining how local payment methods integrate into agentic protocols.
Alexander Matthey, CTO at PPRO, said: “For agentic commerce to continue gaining momentum, consumers need to be able to use the local payment methods they already know and trust, even if an AI agent is purchasing on their behalf.
“This next phase of development needs to make sure the rules around how local payments work with agentic protocols are there from the outset, rather than treated as an additional layer later on. We are bringing payment schemes together to find practical solutions to technical challenges and ensure local payments play a key role in the development of agentic commerce.”
Mangopay adds five new currencies to digital wallet
Mangopay has expanded its local payout capabilities for five new supported currencies: Australian dollar (AUD), Hong Kong dollar (HKD), Singapore dollar (SGD), Mexican peso (MXN), and Turkish lira (TRY).
The addition of local payouts in AUD, SGD, HKD, TRY and MXN gives Mangopay customers more ways to deliver local experiences while managing them through the same global payments infrastructure.
Mangopay’s wallet-first payment infrastructure supports multiple currencies, giving platforms the flexibility to manage cross-border transactions while reducing conversion costs and simplifying settlements.
The multi-currency wallet enables local routing, reducing reliance on correspondent banking and removes the additional costs that can come with cross-border transfers.
Platforms can add local payout coverage in new markets through the same Mangopay integration rather than connecting separately to local banks.
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