Insights Archive

December 15, 2021

Finnish Parliament Approves Gambling Law Amendments

The Finnish parliament has approved the government’s proposal to amend gambling laws, including a modified version of its payment blocking plan.

December 14, 2021

Prosecution Of Sanctions Violations Ineffective In EU, Says New Report

There are very few individuals and businesses held effectively accountable for sanctions violations, a recently published report finds, urging EU agencies to take a more coordinated effort when addressing wrongdoers.

December 14, 2021

More Time Needed! Which? Asks Banks To Halt Branch Closures

Consumers’ association Which? is calling on banks to pause their branch closures until the UK finds a solution to protect access to cash.

December 14, 2021

News In Brief - EBA CLEARING Completes TIPS Migration

EBA CLEARING has announced that it has successfully completed the migration of its RT1 technical account from TARGET2 to the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS).

December 14, 2021

EBA Begins To Set New Standards For Remote Onboarding

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has launched a new consultation to align standards in the EU on how customers can be remotely onboarded to financial institutions.

December 14, 2021

Georgian Trade Group Protests Ad Ban Plan

The Georgian gambling industry has hit back at plans by the Prime Minister to introduce an advertising ban and hike online casino taxes.

December 14, 2021

U.S. Sports-Betting Start-Ups Face Regulatory Challenges

Investors are split on whether new operators can disrupt a marketing-dominated sports-betting space, but many point out that companies need to understand the regulatory challenges they face in doing so and in setting their own valuations for potential acquisitions.

December 14, 2021

Uncertainty Over UK White Paper Release

The UK government’s white paper on the Gambling Act may not be published until after the National Lottery licence is awarded in February 2022, according to a story in the Guardian.

December 13, 2021

Impact Analysis: Remittances In Growth Markets - An Untapped Opportunity?

Remittances provide an essential economic backbone for the large growth markets of Indonesia and the Philippines, but innovation in this space has been scarce. However, rapidly changing consumer habits coupled with recent regulatory developments may provide the perfect opportunity for disruptors to capture an important and lucrative market in two of Asia’s hottest fintech markets.

December 13, 2021

India To Review Merchant Service Charges To Ensure Economic Viability

In a new effort to boost the usage and the economic viability of digital payments, the Reserve Bank of India has announced plans to update its payment system fees, connect feature phones to its instant payment infrastructure and enable offline payment for low-value transactions.

December 13, 2021

PSR Publishes New Payments Architecture Regulatory Framework

The UK Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has issued a regulatory framework for the New Payments Architecture, laying out requirements for both Pay.UK and any future central infrastructure provider to address risks, and promote competition and innovation.

December 13, 2021

WhatsApp Payments Trial Shows Meta’s Continued Payments Shift

Meta is running a trial to provide U.S. WhatsApp users with the ability to send and receive money using the technology giant’s digital wallet vehicle, Novi.

December 13, 2021

Request To Pay Breaks New Ground With Visa And SIX Announcements

After a relatively quiet year in the news, Request To Pay is once again making headlines as two leading payments firms announce new plans for the overlay messaging service.

December 13, 2021

Alberta Soliciting Proposals For Retail, Mobile Sports Betting

Alberta gaming regulators are accepting bids from perspective operators that want to be licensed in the province to offer retail and online sports betting.

December 13, 2021

Ohio Bill On-Brand For U.S. Sports Betting In 2021

Complex legislation approved in Ohio last week completes a banner year of expansion in U.S. sports betting and underscores several policy trends that are evolving the market.

December 13, 2021

Curaçao Circulates Proposal To List Online Gambling Licensees

The Curaçao government is circulating a proposal that would create an official registry of online gambling licensees on the Caribbean island, in what it calls the first step toward developing a long awaited re-regulation.

December 10, 2021

Latest CBDC Experiment Successfully Crosses The Alps

The Bank for International Settlements, Banque de France and the Swiss National Bank have concluded a successful cross-border experiment, using a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC).

December 10, 2021

Week In Brief - December 10, 2021

A short roundup of some of the week's payments news you may have missed. This week we look at the UK Payment Systems Regulator's consultation on Confirmation of Payee, U.S. rulemakings aimed at fixing anti-money laundering loopholes, India's new national blockchain strategy, Klarna's new BNPL browser extension and news that blockchain SETL has demonstrated it can process a remarkable 1m transactions per second.

December 10, 2021

Latvia Wants To Become Global Fintech Hub

The Baltic country is trying to attract fintech businesses through an open regulatory approach, but there is more to be done if the country wants to become the new home to global fintech.

December 10, 2021

Irish Payments Collaboration Comes Up Against Regulator Scrutiny

A new mobile payments platform being developed by Ireland’s top banks has come up against a barrier, with the country’s antitrust watchdog announcing a new investigation.

December 10, 2021

Polish Gambling Industry Expects Tax Switch As Largest Bookmaker Goes Public

Poland’s bookmakers believe they are close to convincing the government to replace a 12 percent revenue tax on betting with a gross gaming revenue tax.