The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | Dec 2nd
By Puja Sharma
The Weekly Wrap is published every Friday and recaps the week’s main stories and deals, as well as upcoming events and announcements. For Prime subscribers only.
The Big Story
Poland’s government is reviewing PayPal’s terms of service, including the ability to block access to accounts and impose contractual penalties, a move that could result in a fine of 10% of PayPal’s revenue in the country, as reported by Reuters. According to UOKiK (Office for Competition and Consumer Protection), PayPal has not explained the prohibited actions that can result in penalties enough, making it unclear for users to understand. Regulations should be written in a precise language and be based on clearly defined criteria, according to the regulator.
The head of UOKiK, Tomasz Chrostny, said in a statement that agreements, particularly those defining the negative consequences of prohibited activities, should be written in simple and comprehensible language while being precise and based on clearly defined criteria.
An emailed statement from PayPal stated the company would respond to UOKIK appropriately. According to PayPal, it remains deeply committed to its compliance obligations and works closely with regulators globally to comply with all applicable rules and regulations.
Deals of the week
- Buckzy Payments raises $14.5m in Series A financing
- Geidea announces partnership with Gastro-Trends
- Adumo raises R190m
- SEBA Hong Kong establishes APAC presence with new Hong Kong office
- astrantiaPay selects SaaScada for Business Payments in Switzerland
- Coutts and BGF raise £80m to back entrepreneurs in the UK
- Knox Wire and GlobeTopper announce $50m global payment partnership
- Atom bank raises £30m equity to boost lending
- Singapore and UK strengthen their FinTech partnership
- SABB partners with Visa’s Cybersource for its eCommerce Acquiring Business
- Strategic Risk Associates raises $12m in Series B funding
Be on the lookout for
Global financial technology leader FIS announced the expansion of its annual InnovateIN48 FinTech competition to include early-stage FinTech startups in the APAC region. Originally an employee-based innovation competition in 2013, FIS expanded the InnovateIN48 program to students in 2021. InnovateIN48-Partner Edition is the first time the company has hosted an ideation competition for startups in the APAC region.
Keynote speaker Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and other speakers discussed current industry trends aligned with these themes, while registrants from 35 countries learned about FIS’ innovation ecosystem, products, and APIs.
FIS has expanded its InnovateIN48 FinTech competition to startup FinTech companies in the APAC region for the first time. The competition welcomed nearly 200 fintech companies from 11 APAC markets to develop and pitch their innovative ideas to FIS leaders.
InnovateIN48-Partner Edition is an opportunity for FIS to use its strength to drive innovation throughout the APAC region and help early-stage FinTechs develop their ideas and build a proof of concept.
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