.svg)
- Adyen Builds Direct Connection To UK’s Faster Payments Service In 'Record Time'
- G20 Payments Roadmap Poses Crime Risk, New Report Suggests
- Škoda Launches In-Car Payments With New Pay To Fuel Service
- HSBC Completes Sale Of Retail Banking Business In France
- Spanish Central Bank Names Partners For Upcoming CBDC Pilot
- India’s CBDC Transactions Top 1m
Adyen Builds Direct Connection To UK’s Faster Payments Service In 'Record Time'
Global payments firm Adyen has announced that it has built direct connections to the Bank of England (BoE) and Faster Payments service (FPS) in only eight weeks.
The direct connection to the BoE and FPS allows businesses to pay out to their users 24/7 in less than a minute.
This is useful for businesses that pay out funds to sellers, vendors, gig economy workers or partners in the UK.
According to Adyen, 75 percent of its small and medium business (SMB) platform users say they need same-day settlement or faster.
After securing a UK banking licence in September last year, SMB platform users can also receive cash advances through Adyen Capital.
“Our new direct connections in the UK complement our connections in other markets, such as Instant Payments in the EU and FedNow in the US, helping us ensure fast flow of funds for UK customers globally,” the company said.
G20 Payments Roadmap Poses Crime Risk, New Report Suggests
The Future of Financial Intelligence Sharing (FFIS) has warned in a new report that there "appears to be a lack of joined-up policy thinking" between the push to make payments faster and cheaper and economic crime issues.
The removal of friction in payments, such as transaction screening, could make payments more vulnerable to criminal activity, the report suggests.
For example, the G20 goals, and related initiatives such as the Bank for International Settlements' (BIS) Project Nexus, fail to take into account economic crime issues.
To counter this, the report recommends that G20 policymakers introduce "economic crime security by design", so that countries can continue the fight against money laundering and fraud while also enhancing frictionless payments.
Škoda Launches In-Car Payments With New Pay To Fuel Service
Škoda has launched a new in-car payment service known as Pay to Fuel, which allows customers to make refuelling payments via credit or debit card on their vehicle’s infotainment screen.
Pay to Fuel is available for all Škoda ICE vehicles with either an Amundsen or Columbus infotainment system, and is now live in Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The stations supporting Pay to Fuel are listed in the in-car navigation. After choosing one of these, the vehicle automatically recognises the fuel station upon arrival.
The driver then opens the app on the vehicle’s display, confirms the petrol station and enters the pump number.
After refuelling, the amount of fuel is confirmed on the infotainment screen and the payment is processed. The driver then receives a notification and can pull away.
HSBC Completes Sale Of Retail Banking Business In France
HSBC Continental Europe has completed the sale of its retail banking business in France to Crédit Commercial de France (CCF), a subsidiary of My Money Group.
In a statement, HSBC Continental Europe said it will remain active in France but will refocus on its corporate and investment banking business alongside private banking and asset management.
All HSBC branches in France will be taken over by CCF, and all HSBC cards will continue to work as normal until expiry, after which they will be replaced by CCF.
Transfers and direct debits using the HSBC IBAN in France will be automatically transferred to customers’ CCF accounts by June 30, 2024.
Spanish Central Bank Names Partners For Upcoming CBDC Pilot
Banco de España (BDE) has named Cecabank, Abanca and Adhara Blockchain as its three partners in an upcoming central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot.
The pilot, which will be conducted over the next six months, will focus on interbank payments using wholesale CBDC in a simulated environment.
This will include processing and settlement activities and exchange of multiple wholesale CBDCs issued by foreign central banks.
In addition, the pilot will study the use of wholesale CBDC for settling tokenised bond purchases.
The pilot highlights Spain’s proactive approach to experimentation with digital assets. As covered by Vixio, Spain is also aiming to introduce the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation six months ahead of other EU member states.
India’s CBDC Transactions Top 1m
Indian banks have reportedly disbursed some employee benefits through the digital rupee in December.
This meant that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) met its target of 1m daily transactions by end-2023, sources have told Reuters.
The RBI's deputy governor said in July that this was the aspiration of the central bank.
However, in October, transactions were only averaging 25,000, despite being available for use via the country's popular Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
