The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | July 28th
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
Federal Reserve launches FedNow, an instant payments system. Interbank payments facilitate transactions between banks and credit unions, claiming to be instant and available at any time. It will operate in parallel with Fedwire and FedACH, which are already available from the Federal Reserve. The US central bank is launching the new system on Thursday with the aim of making everyday payments faster and easier.
The system has currently been adopted by 35 banks and credit unions, including the Bureau of the Fiscal Service operated by the US Department of the Treasury.Early adopters also include 16 service providers, including ACI Worldwide, BNY Mellon and FIS, which will support banks and credit unions with payment processing.
Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, expects that more banks and credit unions will adopt the system “over time”. When this happens, the system’s instant payments capability is poised to extend to their customers through associated apps, websites and other interfaces.
Deals of the week
- GIMO raises $17.1m Series A funding from venture fund TNB Aura
- Thales acquires US-based cybersecurity firm Imperva for $3.6b
- Settle secures $145m credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank
- Airtel Money and TerraPay enable cross-border payments in UAE
- YES BANK introduces UPI payments on its RuPay credit card
- Fidelity International enters India; opens office in Bengaluru
- GoLogiq plans to acquire Symplefy for $30m
- Razorpay launches MoneySaver Export Account for Indian exporters
- Tuum and Numeral partner to streamline payments across Europe
- Klarna partners with UK luxury store Liberty to offer BNPL services
- 10x Banking plans to enter APAC for digital banking transformation
- Bankjoy and Plaid team to offer secure account management for businesses
Be on the lookout for
ICAEW: Banks and chartered accountants can help accelerate green transition
Regional-level alignment on sustainability reporting standards, policy, and taxonomies are needed to support the GCC’s economic transition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. That was the view of experts gathered for ICAEW’s joint webinar with the UAE Banks Federation (UBF), held virtually last month.
Moderated by Peter Van Veen, Director of Corporate Governance and Stewardship, ICAEW, the discussion centred on the necessary involvement of banks and chartered accountants to help companies and governments tackle climate change and reach sustainability commitments.
The UAE’s upcoming COP28 event, coupled by an increase in stakeholder interest and their willingness to pay a premium for sustainable products, has become a driving force for climate change action and investment. However, according to the panellists, the progress made in reporting is only the start of the ESG journey and international alignment is more important than the speed of its development.
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