The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | September 12th
By Gaia Lamperti
The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.
Payments made eas(ier)
Apple Pay, the tech giant’s mobile payment service, has officially surpassed Mastercard in terms of annual transactions, processing more than $6 trillion worth of transaction volume. Now, only Visa now stands in the way of Apple Pay reaching the top spot globally. Earlier this year, Apple launched its new ‘Tap to Pay’ feature on an iPhone with no additional hardware needed. In May, Apple faced ire from the European Commission over its anti-competitive decision to limit mobile wallet app developers’ access to its contactless payments hardware and software.
Superapp Revolut is launching its own one-click payment checkout feature for online purchases. ‘Revolut Pay‘ will become a payment method in UK and EU- alongside the likes of PayPal and Apple Pay. Existing Revolut users can use Revolut Pay and pay via saved cards or directly via their account balance. Non-Revolut users can pay by using saved Mastercard or Visa cards issued by any other providers. Payments will be validated via features such as Face ID, or fingerprint unlock, and no account number will be shared.
UK politics and new banking rules
New UK prime minister Liz Truss is set for a clash with the Bank of England over post-crisis rules for banks. As the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority prepares to consult on the next iteration of the Basel rulebook governing bank capital requirements by the end of the year, it will not look for any significant relaxation of the rules, in a move that will run up against the Truss administration’s drive to slash red tape across the City.
The Bank of England announced it will postpone a key decision on interest rates following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, “in light of the period of national mourning”. The Monetary Policy Committee’s decision would now be announced at midday on 22 September. Economists had been predicting that the UK’s central bank would raise rates to 2.25% – the highest level since December 2008. Last month, the Bank raised interest rates by the highest margin in 27 years in an attempt to keep soaring prices under control. It also predicted that the UK economy would fall into recession later this year..
Where is the buzz
Venture capital investment in UK FinTech companies fell to $9.6 billion, in the first six months of the year, a reduction of nearly two-thirds compared with the same period in 2021, according to data. In total, there were 262 fintech deals, including M&A, private equity and venture capital in the first half of 2022 down, compared with 341 in the same period of 2021.
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