Financial inclusion for SMEs is a hot topic for European governments, financial institutions, banking representatives and small business associations. All recognise that SMEs are a significant part of the region’s economy and agree that enabling and improving access to funding is a priority. However, conversations with SMEs and service providers make it clear that this…
Online businesses see a world of opportunity for cross-border e-commerce sales and executives are ready to take action. According to The Visa Global Merchant E-commerce Study, e-commerce leaders globally view international expansion and finding new cross-border customers as critical to driving growth, particularly heading into the prime holiday shopping period. A vast majority of all…
Western Union has deployed full Open Banking application programming interface (API) access to its supporting front-end domestic and international payment applications through its Western Union Business Solutions unit. This new set of APIs provides approximately 37,000 business customers the opportunity to integrate their financial institutions, accounting and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and their account…
Research from Santander and former fraudster Tony Sales has exposed the dangerous hashtags on social media being used by criminals to recruit innocent – and particularly young – people into becoming money mules: a crime which can result in a criminal record and even a prison sentence of up to 14 years. …
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) have announce the outcomes of and a report on a joint Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) research project named Project Inthanon-LionRock. Hong Kong and Thailand report on central bank digital currency prototype As a follow-up to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the…
The love affair between consumers and their mobile phones is leading to explosive growth in new digital payments across Europe. More and more consumers are shopping across borders online and using mobile in-app and in-store for purchases, while innovative retailers increasingly offer omnichannel payment services, including digital and mobile transactions. E-commerce in total rose by…
