Swift building a blockchain for real-time payments; PayPal bets on EMEA | PaymentsSource

• Key insight: Fintechs are paying more attention to cross-border payments.
• Look forward: PayPal is bullish on payments opportunities in EMEA. 
• What’s at stake: Cash continues to dwindle in the U.K., due to accelerating digital wallet growth. 

Swift has formed a consortium to build a distributed ledger to support real-time international payments, as well as accommodate the rise of digital assets.
The international messaging standards board is working with financial technology firm Consensys on a prototype for the ledger, which will use Swift’s scale–its network includes more than 11,000 banks in 200 countries. More than two dozen banks are on board for the initial work, though Swift did not release bank names or a timeframe to finish the prototype.

The partners will initially focus on real-time payments, which suffer from a lack of interoperability since most networks focus on domestic transactions in their home markets. Swift’s efforts to improve cross-border payment processing include pushing the ISO 20022 messaging standard, which lets members add data and detail to their Swift messages to verify digital transactions.  

The ledger will also be designed to record, sequence and validate transactions through smart contracts that will let members create automated triggers for payments when certain conditions are met. This is designed to support a growing number of digital currencies, such as stablecoins, cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies, according to Swift. 

“We provide powerful and effective rails today and are moving at a rapid pace with our community to create the infrastructure stack of the future,'” Swift CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso said in a release. —John Adams  

Ripple adds cross-border payout tech

Ripple, which has used its distributed ledger to power an alternative to Swift for cross-border payments, has signed an agreement with business payment company i-payout to support real-time payments to recipients in the U.S. and Canada.

Ripple and i-payout are targeting banks, payment firms and digital platforms that are paying merchants and freelancers and handling B2B transactions. The funds would be immediately available, avoiding the processing times for international payments.

The collaboration will expand to recipients outside of the U.S. in Canada by the end of 2025, using Ripple’s USD dollar–backed stablecoin. 

“This marks a foundational step toward modernizing the movement of money on a global scale, not just by making payments faster, but by embedding smarter, more flexible infrastructure directly into the platforms,” said Joanie Xie, vice president and managing director of Ripple, in a release. Ripple has entered into a series of partnerships with payment fintechs and crypto exchanges to create a network for its stablecoin. —John Adams  

Mojahid Mottakin/Adobe Stock

Jack Henry acquires PaaS company Victor Technologies

Jack Henry has bought payment-as-a-service fintech Victor Technologies from MVB Financial Corp. for an undisclosed amount, the company said Wednesday. 

Victor Technologies offers embedded payment processing and virtual ledgering services, including disbursements, receivables, cross-border payments, escrow, title, virtual accounts and digital wallets. It connects directly with Jack Henry‘s core, allowing financial institutions to offer payment services to third-party fintechs. 

“We’ve had a strong relationship with Jack Henry since our inception and are excited to join forces to expand the reach of our integrated, embedded payments platform,” said Victor President Maf Sonko. “With rapid innovation in areas like stablecoin, RTP/FedNow, and AI-driven commerce, speed and scalability are critical. Being part of Jack Henry will enable us to build on our successful growth and work together to accelerate the development of next-generation payment solutions.”

Victor was founded in 2021 by MVB Bank. Jack Henry provides MVB Bank with core banking services. —Joey Pizzolato

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

PayPal commits to spending $100M in the Middle East and Africa

PayPal is looking to grow its business in the Middle East and Africa with a fresh commitment to spend $100 million in the region over “the coming years.” 

The investment will come through a mix of minority investments, acquisitions, funding from PayPal Ventures, hiring in the region and technology launches for local businesses, according to PayPal. 

“The Middle East and Africa are home to some of the most dynamic and rapidly evolving businesses in the world,” said Alex Chriss, president and CEO of PayPal, in a statement. “By dedicating a $100 million investment to this region over the coming years, we’re investing in the technologies, partnerships and solutions that will help entrepreneurs scale faster, expand their reach beyond borders, and unlock new opportunities for growth in the digital economy.”

The investment announcement comes five months after PayPal stood up a regional hub in Dubai. —Joey Pizzolato

terovesalainen/Adobe Stock

More than half of adults in U.K. use mobile wallets: Report

Mobile wallets are gaining popularity in the United Kingdom as cash payments dwindle.

Over half of adults in the United Kingdom – 57% – used a mobile wallet in 2024, according to the Payments Market Report put out by UK Finance, a trade group representing banks and financial institutions. That figure is up from 42% in 2023. 

The growth in mobile wallet adoption comes as online and contactless payments increase across the country. About 61% of all card payments, or 18.9 billion payments, were contactless. 

“2024 was a year of firsts, all pointing to the growing shift towards digital payments – more than half of U.K. adults used mobile wallets, mobile banking overtook desktop as the main way people access their accounts and cash fell below 10% of all payments,” said Adrian Buckle, UK FInance’s head of research, in a statement. “These changes weren’t just driven by younger consumers. We saw growth in mobile wallets and buy now, pay later across older age groups too, highlighting how digital payments are becoming more mainstream across the board.” 

Cards are expected to remain the most popular way to pay in the next ten years, accounting for about 67% of all payments in the U.K. by 2034. Mobile wallet use is also expected to continue to grow, with cash and check usage declining to 4% of payments and 0.1% of payments, respectively. —Joey Pizzolato

BBVA launches virtual card in Mexico

BBVA has partnered with Mastercard and travel app Sabre Direct Pay to launch a virtual card in Mexico.

The product enables travel agencies to issue virtual cards that are distinct for each transaction, which manages security risk and supports faster processing by eliminating paper and manual processes.

Mastercard is supplying its virtual card technology, which enables BBVA to issue virtual numbers and offer more control over policies and compliance for corporate users. BBVA plans to expand the virtual cards beyond Mexico.

Mastercard has expanded its virtual card business in recent years, using open banking technology to power virtual cards for partners in travel and other industries. Visa and other payment companies have also invested in virtual cards to manage complexity in corporate payments and accommodate e-commerce growth.

The number of virtual card transactions is expected to rise from 36 billion in 2023 to 175 billion in 2028, according to Juniper Research. —John Adams  

Samyukta Lakshmi/Photographer: Samyukta Lakshmi/B

Coinbase embraces Singapore stablecoin to bolster agentic commerce

The cryptocurrency company Coinbase will support XSGD, StraitsX’s Singapore dollar-backed stablecoin, adding another option as Coinbase expands its stablecoin and agentic AI operations. 

The StraitsX stablecoin will join the U.S. dollar-based stablecoins available on Coinbase, which says this will make it easier for local firms to execute cross-border payments into Singapore and convert to local currency.

Coinbase will initially make XSGC available on Base, a Coinbase-supported distributed ledger. This will enable AI agents to interact with the blockchain to purchase NFTs and other digital assets, according to Coinbase.

Coinbase also recently launched the Foundation, an initiative that will create standards for digital agents and AI systems to make payments through a shared format. In an earlier interview, Shan Aggarwal, chief business officer of Coinbase, told American Banker, “A digital economy needs digital money, and stablecoins are the backbone. They need to be  programmable, always-on, and built to work the way AI agents do.” —John Adams 

Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg

Zinia, Banco Santander’s BNPL service, hits Amazon in Spain

Banco Santander’s pay over time service Zinia is now available on Amazon in Spain. 

Shoppers on Amazon will be able to pay for purchases between 60 euros and 3,000 euros in installments between four and 40 months, according to the Madrid-based bank. 

Zinia was launched in 2022 as a consumer finance platform for installment lending, and currently operates in Austria and Germany, where it also collaborates with Amazon. The deal with Amazon marks the first time that Zinia will be available in Spain. 

BNPL is used for only 5% of online purchases in Spain, but 50% of consumers in the country expressed interest in pay-over-time options in 2024, according to Stripe. Klarna, SeQura and  Aplazame, a BNPL product developed by Spanish bank WaZink, are other BNPL products available in the country. —Joey Pizzolato