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Weekly News Highlights – 22 July 2021

Let’s dive into this week’s news for fintech. New rules updated for open data and public sector information, Visa acquiring CurrencyCloud, Mollie opening a development hub in Lisbon, payment settlement pilot by Mastercard, money management app launched by Afterpay and more! Discover and enjoy the updates!

New rules on Open data and reuse of public sector information (European Commision)

17 July 2021 has marked the deadline for Member States to transpose the revised Directive on open data and reuse of public sector information into national law. The updated rules will stimulate the development of innovative solutions such as mobility apps, increase transparency by opening the access to publicly funded research data, and support new technologies, including artificial intelligence. Read more

Visa to acquire Currencycloud (Finextra)

Visa has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Currencycloud, a global platform that enables banks and fintechs to provide foreign exchange services for cross-border payments. The acquisition builds on an existing strategic partnership between the two companies that was struck in 2019 and values Currencycloud at £700 million. Under the deal, Currencycloud will continue its operations from its headquarters in London and will retain its current management team. Read more

Mollie announces Lisbon development hub (Financial IT)

Mollie, a  payment service provider in Europe, announced it will be opening a development hub in Lisbon, Portugal. The office will be home to over 100 Mollies by 2023 and is part of the company’s plans to dramatically increase its product development velocity. Primarily focused on software engineers and product managers, by the end of 2021 Mollie expects to have hired up to 20 people. By the end of 2022, the hub will support up to 60 staff, rising to more than 100 in 2023. Read more

Mastercard Taps Circle for Payment Settlement Pilot (Fintech News)

Circle, a provider of payments infrastructure for internet businesses, and Mastercard announced an engagement to use the USD Coin (USDC) to facilitate crypto-to-fiat conversions in a pilot programme to expand the ability of issuers and crypto businesses to enable customers to spend their crypto assets. The engagement will test using USDC as a means for card issuers to more easily settle payments to Mastercard, helping accelerate the world towards greater use of internet-native financial infrastructure. Read more

Afterpay launches money management app (Finextra)

Australian buy now, pay later firm Afterpay is diversifying through the launch of a ‘money and lifestyle’ app. The Money app is the fruit of a partnership inked last year with Westpac that lets Afterpay operate on the bank’s new banking-as-a-service platform. In addition, users will be able to get up to a one per cent interest rate on up to 15 different savings accounts. Meanwhile, the firm is also offering a fee-free daily account with a physical debit card. Read more

Facebook Pay comes to third-party e-commerce sites (Finextra)

Facebook Pay is extending its reach outside of the social media platforms, enabling online merchants to add the service as a payment option directly on their own sites. From August 2021, firms in the US who use participating platforms will have the ability to enable Facebook Pay as a payment option. The rollout begins with Shopify merchants and is expected to come to more platforms and payment service providers over time. Read more

Fidelity signs up to ‘fintech pledge’ (Altfi)

Fidelity International, one of the world’s largest investment firms, has become the first asset manager to commit to the Fintech Pledge. An initiative backed by HM Treasury and the Fintech Delivery Panel, which equips fintechs with the tools needed to scale their operations, it aims to accelerate the growth of the fintech sector by opening up communications between banks and leading fintech firms. Read more

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