Dmitry Kozelkin, M.S., B.B.A.

💡 Last week European Payments Council published third version of Mobile Initiated Sepa (Instant) Credit Transfer and Interoperability Guidance. Below is few highlights from the guidance SEPA Instant Credit Transfers are gaining traction within the SEPA framework, with mobile channels anticipated to play a crucial role in their adoption. Retailers being increasingly interested in SCT-based payments for both in-store transactions and mobile commerce, viewing them as a complement to traditional card payments. Several European countries have already launched various solutions in this area, reflecting the growing momentum for instant payments. Mobile Initiated SEPA (Instant) Credit Transfers (MSCTs) represent a modern approach to digital payments, allowing users to initiate instant credit transfers directly from their mobile devices. 💡 MSCT Transaction Mechanics MSCTs encompass both SCT Inst (SEPA Credit Transfer Instant) and SCT (SEPA Credit Transfer) transactions initiated through mobile devices. These transactions utilize existing payment infrastructures in the inter-PSP (Payment Service Provider) space, focusing on interactions beyond this space, such as between the payer's mobile device and the point of interaction (POI). 💡 Modes of MSCT Transactions There are two primary modes of MSCT transactions based on how payment initiation data is exchanged: 💡 Payee-Presented Data: In this mode, the payee provides necessary data to the payer, either through direct presentation or prior sharing (e.g., P2P payments). This method is widely adopted for various payment contexts, particularly P2P and consumer-to-business (C2B) payments at physical points of sale (POI), often using QR codes. 💡 Payer-Presented Data: Here, the payer provides their identification data to the payee, which can be shared through proximity technology or manually entered. This mode is appealing for businesses wanting to offer enhanced customer experiences but faces challenges such as the need for compatible POI terminals and security concerns regarding data generation. The standardization of QR codes for interoperable SCT Inst payments is currently in the final approval stage by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). 👉 Click here to read the complete guidance: https://lnkd.in/dyAiPbSz

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🚨 kevin. Has Gone Bye Bye 🚨 kevin., once viewed as Lithuania's next unicorn 🦄, has officially declared bankruptcy 💔. With ambitions to disrupt traditional card schemes by pioneering account-to-account (A2A) payments at POS terminals, kevin.’s vision seemed promising, but it has unfortunately crumbled. 💳 The company now owes €420,000 to state social insurance, with significant delays in payments to employees and partners. This marks a tough fall for a fintech company that once held high hopes of shaking up the payments industry. Comparisons to Other Fintech Failures: Wirecard: Similar to kevin., Wirecard also collapsed after financial troubles emerged, with billions in liabilities owed to investors and clients. However, Wirecard's failure involved fraud, while kevin.'s downfall seems rooted in operational and cash-flow challenges. Greensill Capital: Another fintech that promised revolutionary financial services but fell due to over-leveraging and liquidity issues. Like kevin., it highlighted the risk of fast-scaling companies failing to manage cash-flow effectively. What’s Next for Payments? kevin.’s bankruptcy raises questions about whether the traditional card schemes will continue to dominate, or if another fintech will step up with a stronger, more sustainable A2A payments solution. 💡 Do you think the card schemes will stay dominant or is the disruption still coming? Let me know your thoughts!👇 #Fintech #Bankruptcy #KevinPayments #LithuaniaUnicorn #A2APayments #PaymentInnovation #CardSchemes #future #fintech #finance

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Broken Business Savings Market Is Costing British SMEs £9 Billion a Year in Missing Interest Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, said:  “There’s no question the SME savings market is broken. “The fact the SME savings penalty has got larger since we first did our research last year – while the Bank rate has reduced slightly – is a travesty many SMEs will find hard to understand. “It’s very unfair SMEs don’t get similar rates to large companies, and our research suggests big banks won’t be improving their rates for SMEs any time soon. “It’s time for something to be done to make that change, get SMEs a better deal and release billions of pounds into the real economy.” https://lnkd.in/eqAmuVCf Chloe Fenton (née Vaidya) Georgie Burks Joe Jones James Heath Ravneet Shah Conrad Ford Mitch (Munish) Trehan Nick Baker #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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#ABCProjektai wins back #banking licence #financialservices #fintech #banks #banking #payments #ecommerce #digitaltransformation #FintechLive #DigBanking #FTWLondon https://lnkd.in/eR6DkpWh

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Credit card processing fees & rates for UK merchants 2024 Stay ahead of the game by understanding these key points: 1. Interchange Fees: Paid to card-issuing banks; varies by card type and transaction method. 2. Gateway and Processor Fees: Essential for completing transactions; additional costs apply. 3. Monthly and Hidden Charges: Be mindful of fees that could impact your bottom line. 4. Negotiating Rates: High transaction volumes can leverage better rates. For more detail, check this link below: https://lnkd.in/e8wGXVWQ

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TBC UZ Launches Salom Card, its New Flagship Daily Banking Product Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC Group operations in Uzbekistan, commented: “Launching Salom Card, our flagship debit card product, is a significant milestone for TBC as we create world-class digital banking products in Uzbekistan, making financial transactions easier and more enjoyable for our customers. It’s set to become the central element of our digital banking and financial services ecosystem, through which users can handle all their daily banking needs via an easy-to-use and accessible digital interface. This product will drive our customer growth. It will also enable us to better understand our customers and their needs, and develop and launch relevant new products and services as we expand our product offering. https://lnkd.in/eHVXqC5z Luke Cornforth Tetrashvili Nukri Sitora Tulyaganova Malika Niyazmatova Dmitry Dolbilin David Gabelashvili   #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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New Report Indicates UK SMEs Are Optimistic About the Future Corin Camenisch, Product Marketing Lead at SumUp commented on the survey: “As champions for small merchants, we conducted this survey to discover the confidence levels of small business owners and decision makers in the UK to better understand the challenges they face, gauge their optimism about their future, and identify areas where support for SMEs might be needed. “Overall, confidence levels of small business owners and decision makers across the UK are high. This positive outlook suggests that small merchants are prepared to navigate potential uncertainties and continue to thrive. “We have provided tips off the back of our findings for those just starting out in business, or who are looking to deal with unexpected market fluctuations on our full campaign page.” https://lnkd.in/e975UtrF #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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ThinCats Passes £2bn Funding Milestone for UK SMEs Mike Hackett, Chief Commercial Officer at ThinCats: “This milestone reflects ThinCats’ dedicated approach to the mid-size market and support for the local finance community with whom we work in partnership to help mid-sized businesses thrive. ThinCats’ commitment to regional investment has been a critical driver of growth and we have built up experienced teams across our network of regional support offices, and they work hard to deliver flexible funding solutions for mid-sized businesses across the UK”.   https://lnkd.in/eqMUA4Jk Daisy Knight Ricardo Bougi Ravi Anand Gary Nutley Beth England Diana Portman Stuart Thompson Amany Attia #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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Swift - Swift data shows focus needed on beneficiary leg for faster international payments Source: https://lnkd.in/g_37TPfe #swift #focus #needed #beneficiary #leg #faster #international #payments #crossborderpayments Highlights: In this paper, we aim to show the differences in speed between countries and highlight the constraining factors that are impacting a fast payments experience. These insights can help decision-makers identify the additional steps required to enhance the speed of cross-border payments to achieve the G20 targets. The equivalent of the world’s GDP moves via the Swift network roughly every three days, and these transactions include tracking information for millions of international payments. What we see by looking at the data is that international payments today travel quickly between the banks sending and receiving payments. When delays occur, however, it is typically due to factors in the receiving country that slow down the process between when the funds arrive at the end-customer’s bank and when they’re credited to their account. As we’ve seen, today 90% of all cross-border payments processed on the Swift network reach the beneficiary bank within an hour. However, further progress on speed requires significant attention to the last leg of the payment, where delays are most likely to occur. That factors in the receiving country, such as FX and currency controls, batch processing and opening hours of market infrastructures are the cause of delays was broadly identified in the 2022 Bank for International Settlements (BIS) report, Swift GPI data indicate drivers of fast cross-border payments. And over time, with the accumulation of more data, this has become even more apparent. Ongoing initiatives will help speed up payments between banks even further. These include industry-wide adoption of the rich and structured ISO 20022 data model for cross-border payments and reporting; increased use of Swift’s friction-reducing services and new solutions that help banks increase speed and transparency to end users while providing insights to help them work towards the G20 goals; and the use of technologies like AI and APIs. But this alone may not be enough unless action is also taken in countries to ensure end customers receive the money on their accounts in line with the G20’s target. 

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THE NEW UK PAYMENTS VISION Here is a brief summary, especially thinking about APP scams and Open Banking: VISION GOAL: A trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem delivered on next generation technology, where consumers and businesses have a choice of payment methods. The National Payments Vision also outlines THREE KEY PILLARS designed to guide future activity – innovation, competition and security. The (payment) regulatory framework must be clear, predictable and proportionate. The Prime Minister has been clear that regulation should support growth and unlock investment The UK government is establishing the Payments Vision Delivery Committee. The government has outlined its priorities for UK payments through a joint remit letter to the FCA and PSR. The key priorities highlighted in the payments remit letter are: 1) Enhancing coordination 2) Supporting the development of Open Banking and 3) Ensuring high standards of consumer protection 4) Driving an agile and flexible approach to delivering the UK’s retail payments infrastructure needs. The Bank of England, PRA, FCA and PSR will revise their existing MoU on cooperation in relation to the regulation of payment systems by Q2 2025. The Vision clarifies regulatory responsibilities for Open Banking, transitioning away from current arrangements to the FCA acting as the UK’s regulator in the future. PSR has committed to an independent post implementation review of the authorised push payment fraud reimbursement rules, after 12 months. The government considers that the effective delivery of the UK’s retail payments infrastructure now and through time requires a strong and effective payment systems operator. Establishing a sustainable ‘commercial model’ for Open Banking is critical for its development. Adequate consumer protection must be delivered for Open Banking payments, and the government intends to address this through the future framework. Fraud Prevention 1. The government agrees that more focus must be placed on fraud prevention. 2. The Online Safety Act 2023 imposes obligations on large technology platforms to prevent fraudulent content on their services or face substantial fines if they fail to do so. 3. There is also ongoing work from Ofcom with operators to prevent the misuse of telephone numbers by criminals, stem the tide of scam messages and address mobile spoofing. 4. The government is determined that the technology and telecommunications sectors must take further steps to tackle fraud. 5. The government has written to the technology and telecommunications sectors to call for demonstrable action to reduce the scale of incidents and losses from fraud taking place on their platforms and networks. The government will request updates on progress and action taken at the next Joint Fraud Taskforce in March 2025. https://lnkd.in/gDpbbbzZ

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Data Reporting Pioneer Kani Payments and New UK Fintech Zero | Certified B-Corp™ Team Up to Tackle Climate Change Aaron Holmes Founder and CEO of Kani Payments, says: “The partnership between Kani Payments and Zero Fintech is a powerful one that will support Zero’s ambitious vision of helping its customers to make a meaningful and positive impact on climate change. Zero offers more than just a finance app; it provides a way to make personal finance a part of the solution to environmental issues. “That’s why Kani Payments exists – our data reporting and reconciliation platform has been built by fintech experts and is designed to help disruptive fintechs like Zero to thrive and grow. We do the heavy lifting of making complex data simple and standardised, so that business can focus on giving their customers outstanding products and services.” https://lnkd.in/e5ndM3Qb Richard Theo Melissa Beckett Steven Licciardi Benjamin Dixon David Craven Lisa Stanley (Mann) Ellen Watson #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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Finom Launches SEPA Direct Debit B2B Across Its EMI-Licensed Markets, Expanding Payment Options for European SMEs “With the launch of SEPA Direct Debit B2B, we’re empowering SMEs across Europe to efficiently manage their payment flows,” said Yakov Novikov, co-CEO and co-founder at FINOM. “This feature simplifies complex financial operations, allowing small and medium-sized businesses to automate and manage their outgoing payments to other companies and tax authorities. It’s another step in our mission to build a full-stack financial operating system that enables entrepreneurs to streamline their financial commitments and focus on growing their businesses.” https://lnkd.in/eiaDuxB4 #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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✂️ Cut fees. Reduce costs... Use instant account-to-account (A2A) payments? Across Europe, merchants are dealing with high fees from card and digital wallet providers. ⚡ #InstantA2APayments offer reduced fees and fewer complexities compared to these payment networks. Not only this, but they offer faster, more agile and secure payments for consumers and merchants alike. Read more about the benefits of A2A payments for merchants and how they may enhance your bottom line ➡️ https://lnkd.in/d__EGzuB #MerchantPayments #OpenBanking #A2APayments #DigitalWallets

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#UK #Payments Industry Seeks Further Reduction of #Fraud-Reimbursement Cap #financialservices #fintech #banks #banking #ecommerce #digitaltransformation #FintechLive #FTWLondon #Finovate https://lnkd.in/eZny7THY

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Larger Loans for SMEs: Applications for Loans Over £100k Grow by Half as SME Optimism Returns Colin Goldstein, Commercial Growth Director of iwoca, said: “The UK’s SME lending market is experiencing a resurgence. We’re seeing a significant rise in loan applications, with many businesses seeking larger sums to invest in growth. This coincides with low recession fears amongst SMEs – a positive sign that could point to a stronger year ahead for our economy and the small businesses underpinning it.” https://lnkd.in/eMHgJ959 Sally Chesterton DipAF Tehmina Mirza 💜 #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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