The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | Dec 1st

By Puja Sharma

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

One ExpressPay for all

UnionPay International (UPI) has extended its decade-long partnership with Worldpay, introducing UnionPay 3D Secure (3DS) and ExpressPay capabilities to expand global online acceptance for UnionPay cards. The enhancement will allow UnionPay cardholders to make eCommerce transactions across major markets, including the US, UK, and Europe, as well as sectors such as airlines, retail, and hospitality. The move reflects continued efforts by global payment networks to meet rising cross-border eCommerce demand and improve transaction security. Integrating ExpressPay positions UnionPay as a fully supported global card network within Worldpay’s payments portfolio, offering merchants an additional option for serving international customers.
The partnership upgrade underscores how networks and processors are deepening cooperation to offer more frictionless, secure, and internationally accessible digital payment options amid continued growth in cross-border commerce.

Extend has broadened its spend and expense management platform to support virtually any credit card across the three major card networks, a move aimed at giving small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) greater flexibility and centralised control over company spending. The New York-based FinTech said the update allows businesses to connect all of their existing company cards to Extend, regardless of issuing bank. The platform provides a unified dashboard for spend visibility and automates expense tracking, categorisation, and reconciliation through AI-driven tools, an area where many SMBs still rely on fragmented card programs or manual workflows.

Expense management tools have become increasingly important for SMBs amid rising operational costs, distributed teams, and more complex payment ecosystems. Extending card-agnostic support positions the platform to capture a broader segment of the SMB market, where finance teams often use a mix of cards and lack automated reconciliation systems.
Thredd, an AI-first, cloud-enabled global payments processor, has completed the migration of BigPay’s entire physical and virtual card portfolio from a legacy provider to its next-generation issuing platform, moving more than 2.5 million cards with no major disruption to customers.

Postpaid Payment Service for government fees

BPER Bank Luxembourg S.A. has selected the OLYMPIC Banking System as its new core banking platform, marking a significant step in the bank’s multi-year technology transformation strategy. The Luxembourg-based subsidiary of Italy’s BPER Group said the move will replace its legacy core system with a fully integrated, front-to-back platform designed to support end-to-end business operations. The bank, which provides wealth, private and investment management services as well as treasury, lending and securities activities, operates in one of Europe’s most competitive financial centres. Modernising its core infrastructure is expected to strengthen its ability to serve a diverse international client base and respond more quickly to evolving regulatory and market requirements.

The development highlights the broader trend of European banks accelerating core banking modernisation to improve efficiency, reduce legacy complexity, and meet rising client expectations in digital wealth and private banking services.

The Sharjah Finance Department (SFD) has unveiled a new Postpaid Payment Service for government fees and transactions through a partnership with UAE-based FinTech company Tabby. The initiative is part of Sharjah’s broader strategy to modernise financial services, enhance user convenience, and strengthen the digital ecosystem for public payments.
The service is designed to provide residents and businesses with flexible payment options, enabling them to manage financial commitments more efficiently while benefiting from a secure and reliable platform. By offering postpaid functionality, the collaboration aims to reduce payment friction and support better financial planning for customers engaging with government services.
The announcement was made at a formal signing ceremony held at SFD headquarters, attended by Waleed Al Sayegh, Director-General of the Sharjah Finance Department, Sheikh Rashid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the Department’s Director, and senior officials from both entities. The event showcased the operational mechanisms of the new service and highlighted its potential to create a more inclusive and competitive financial environment across the Emirate.

What is the Buzz

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has moved a step closer to enabling faster and more cost-efficient cross-border payments with the Euro area, announcing the start of the “realisation phase” for linking India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) system operated by the Eurosystem.
The initiative, developed in coordination with the European Central Bank (ECB) and facilitated by NPCI International Payments Ltd. (NIPL), aligns with the G20 Roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments. The roadmap emphasises improving speed, lowering transaction costs, and ensuring greater transparency and accessibility in global remittances.
According to the RBI, substantial engagement between Indian and European authorities has paved the way for technical work to begin. The planned interlinkage aims to enable instant cross-border remittances between India and the European Union, expanding UPI’s global reach and offering euro-area users a direct channel to transact with India’s increasingly digital payment ecosystem.

The RBI stated that the collaboration will now focus on technical integration, risk management and settlement design critical components in connecting two high-volume, real-time payment systems across jurisdictions.