Regina Lau

Digital money will be a big theme in 2025. We laid the ground this year in our Innovate Finance response to this year's Bank of England consultation on innovation in money and payments. We called for  an ambitious, forward-thinking UK National Payments Vision (NPV), with political and government direction and buy-in from regulators, consumers and industry, to set the context for the Bank’s work on the future of money and payments. We were delighted that such a Vision was published by HM Treasury shortly afterwards. We also set out three priorities, drawing together the views of UK FinTechs: ⚛️ Digital money and payments: The Bank’s role should be to support the development of, and stability across, a diverse form of payments and money. This must include a vibrant stablecoin ecosystem and other digital assets, as well as commercial bank digital money and CBDCs. Any approach to future money that focuses purely on commercial bank digital money (deposit taking banks) and/or CBDCs will be concentrated in centralised ledgers and misses the opportunity of decentralised blockchain technology. 🛜 Interoperability:  To promote a diverse range of payments innovations, such as Account to Account (A2A), stablecoins, tokenised deposits (digital commercial bank money) and CBDCs, payment methods need to be interoperable to enable low or no cost exchange and transfer. Rather than a single "unified ledger" the UK should support and enable development of interoperable ledgers and digital settlement across payments methods. 🤝 Engagement with FinTech and innovation ecosystem: In terms of experiments , there is a risk that only large players and incumbents will have the resources and bandwidth to engage with the bank. We would encourage the bank to consider new ways of engaging – and potentially financially supporting – innovators to test new digital models and experiments and establish a new, regular FinTech / innovators forum for ongoing discussion of the future of money and testing of further iteration of the bank’s thinking. You can read more in our full paper here: https://lnkd.in/eqtnSWJa In 2025 at Innovate Finance we will be even more active advocating in this space with Digital Pound Foundation. In the light of the UK National Payments Vision we will be particularly be looking to ensure that work by regulators supports the vision on choice and competition in payments and innovation and next generation technology. We need pace and ambition in the UK and we need to ensure that regulators do not just back digital money by deposit taking banks and/or central banks (important as these are - they have to be part of the mix) but also promote diversity and innovation. #Stablecoin #DigitalMoney #Payments #Innovation #CBDC

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Mate, How does that matter to you and me? Are we going to get any money from it? Is society going to get anything out of it? Will that risk them their banking license? Will that impact their valuation? Will that impact their NPS ( Net Promoter Score)? Will that impact their growth and expansion?

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It's almost two weeks since the European Women Payments Network (EWPN) multi-city conference and it's been amazing to see the continued spread of positive energy ripple across this platform. It was such an honour to curate the agenda and host the London event, (alongside an incredible team of ladies in the organising committee) and we packed in so many important topics around diversity and inclusion, spanning neurodiversity, accessibility, technology design, customer-first payments solutions, career resilience, and ESG. The delegates were inspired and energised after the event, which was encouraging to see. However, we set out to achieve much more than that. Our theme for the multi-hub event was 'Make it Last' and to live up to that, you have to drive sustained action. One of the key things we'll be doing next is sharing the video recordings from all the sessions and we'll spread that content far and wide to make sure the information and messages reach as many people as possible. So, watch this space for more! Each session included a call to action and a number of practical insights that our speaker shared. So, while we wait for the gazillions of gigs of video to be edited and shared, here are a couple of those actions you can take to make DE&I last. 1. Talk to your neurodivergent colleagues - are there some everyday ways you can accommodate their needs in your working interactions. 2. Get in touch with Neurodiversity in Business (NiB) - the Neurodiversity Charity in Business to get more insights on what training course and other resources are available to help your company become more neuroinclusive. 3. Get familiar with the European Accessibility Act and check out the resources that Purple Tuesday have to offer. What can you and your company explore and commit to by this year's Purple Tuesday on 12th November? 4. Take a look at Project Nemo - what can your business do to promote disability inclusion in fintech? Are your products and technologies inclusive by design? Are there customers you can serve better by being more inclusive? 5. Can your business become more sustainable? Can you contribute to the ESG agenda for the payments industry? Check out Project ESG from The Payments Association to see how you can support their mission. Of course the final one should go without saying, but please join EWPN! We welcome everyone, regardless of gender or background. Visit ewpn.eu

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In today's economic landscape, where retailers like SuperDry and Ted Baker are feeling the squeeze, it's vital for retailers to innovate to safeguard their profits. With online shopping reigning supreme, brick-and-mortar stores must evolve to thrive. Delia Pedersoli's latest piece shines a spotlight on an exciting development: Pay By Bank. This groundbreaking technology simplifies transactions, letting users authorise payments straight from their mobile banking apps with the use of a QR code —no extra downloads required! It's a win-win: consumers enjoy seamless transactions and heightened security, while merchants make significant savings by eliminating interchange and scheme fees. Plus, with real-time processing, retailers can access revenue faster and minimise fraud risks. While traditional tactics like inventory management and rent negotiations are important, embracing digital transformation opens new doors for growth. Pay By Bank is reshaping the retail experience, offering streamlined transactions and enhanced security for both consumers and businesses. Huge thanks to Finance Derivative for spotlighting our take on this game-changing payment trend! #Retailers #Payments #PaybyBank

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Interesting comments from Marion King, Trustee of OBIE at the https://lnkd.in/ezwadQYJ yesterday, along with some great data points. “Open Banking together with Real time payments could and should provide a viable alternative to cards” “The Economic model, the pricing mechanism. How is this [open banking] paid for; who pays in the value chain. Because without an effective fair exchange of value the open banking market will not be able to afford consumer protection.” “So where are we now in bridging the gaps . . . . . Standing up the Future Entity, that is the replacement of open banking. That will be a central capability that will manage: the scheme, the trust framework, the standards basically the rules of the game and will liaise and interop with other open data sectors so it goes beyond just payments.” 17% of small businesses use open banking 1.5bn API calls in March 60% of API calls have a payment attached to it, gateway to enabling a transaction or a payment Estimated that UK Open Banking is worth around £4bn of growth and employs around 5,000 people. Tony Craddock Jan van Vonno The Payments Association Adam Cox Sindy Cain Georgina Wilczek

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My thoughts for Cogo on what the new Labour Government means for FinTech and climate change action - based on excellent questioning by Lucy O'Connor #FinTech #GreenFinTech #RegTech #ClimateSolutions #PolicyInsights

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A big thank you to Open Banking for publishing this case study today, highlighting the huge benefits for small businesses and charities from Wonderful's payment processing services (which are entirely free for the latter). If you operate a small business or UK charity, don't take our word for it...! #PaymentsInnovation #Payments #OpenBanking #Charity #SmallBusiness #SME

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June Updates from The Bank of London! 📢 🚀 We’ve been so busy building that we’re a tad late with the June product updates, please find a summary of what we have been up to!! ✨ API Enhancements: - Create, edit & manage physical accounts - View virtual accounts and transaction histories - View, edit & cancel direct debit mandates via API. 🔒 🖥️ Online Banking: - We've now launched the ability for clients to utilise two-factor authentication apps within our online banking experience. - We've further digitised the onboarding experience for authorised payment service providers with agents. - Customers now have an enhanced payments search and payee management experience. - Customers can now receive in-app, SMS & e-mail notifications for a number of different client scenarios. All personalised to your preferences. The velocity & significance of our change is starting to grow & we’re all excited to continue to keep building for prospects & clients alike. Charlotte Bullock / Dan Turdean / Andy Day / Tom Spence / Nanna Bergmann

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UK digital bank Monzo Bank invests $4 million on its Irish division to push the expansion in Europe UK-based digital bank #Monzo has injected €4 million into its new Irish division, marking a significant step in its European expansion plans. This move follows CEO TS Anil's announcement earlier this year that Ireland will serve as Monzo's gateway to European markets. By establishing an EU office in Ireland, Monzo aims to extend its innovative banking services across the continent. Founded in 2015 by Tom Blomfield, Jason Bates, Paul Rippon, and Gary Dolman, Monzo has rapidly grown to serve around 10 million personal customers and over 450,000 business customers. Competing with other digital banks like Starling Bank and Revolut, Monzo has distinguished itself with user-friendly features and a focus on making money work for everyone. The bank recently reported a pretax profit of £15.4 million for the 13 months up to March, a significant turnaround from a £116 million loss the previous year. This financial upswing was fueled by a surge in revenue to £880 million and lending £1.4 billion to customers—a remarkable 84% increase. With its expansion into Ireland, Monzo is not only solidifying its presence in Europe but also setting the stage for further growth, including plans to enter the U.S. market. The bank continues to innovate with new products like Monzo for Under 16s and Monzo Pension, aiming to provide comprehensive financial solutions for a diverse customer base. The article on Crowdfund Insider in the first comment.

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This latest story on Monzo Bank (covered here by Sky News) is obviously great news for the tens of thousands of Crowdcube investors who previously invested in the company. Those that backed the business in 2016 at a pre money valuation of £29m will be especially pleased with themselves. The more interesting story for me is the continued normalisation of large secondary liquidity events for staff while companies continue to remain private. Revolut have done it recently and both they and Monzo have followed their peers in the US in structuring these types of deals. Continued regulatory support with the introduction of things like the Public Offer Platform Regime means companies can turn to both institutional investors AND their customers and retail investors to deliver sizable secondary liquidity events for employees and early investors. Our software coupled with our regulatory permissions in the UK and EU means we can seamlessly manage thousands of sellers at a time for companies. We can also convert your customers and users to buyers of those shares, providing buy side liquidity at the same time. https://lnkd.in/ewAjY_mG

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Not working 9 to 5 According to YouGov – only 6% of the UK population now work the once classic 9 to 5 hours. The new standard for physically being in the office is around 60% of the time. Estimates of the scale of the gig economy vary, but according to the World Bank it encompasses 12% of the global labour force. Those are huge changes but do modern #employeebenefits reflect and incorporate that evolution in the world of work? How are forward looking firms responding? What role does technology and #innovative #payments solutions play in creating next-gen benefits packages that better meet the shifting needs of the workforce? Can the personalisation of benefits be delivered in a costly manner? And how does all of this impact the competition for #talent and #retention? Join us tomorrow – 10 December at 2:00 pm (GMT) to find out how to give the people what they want, what they need, when they need it. Come with questions for our panel of experts Anna Porra from Paymentology João Franqueira 🧠 from Coverflex and Ruchita Bansal Sharma Victoria Smart Victor Cruz Anna Kochanova Becky SalesNadia Benaissa Rachelle PalmerLizzy Mosehle Luis Rocha Micha P. Emma Sharp

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Do platforms overlook payment tech and leave legacy integration untouched simply because they “just work”? On this weeks episode I sat down with Martin O'Donnell and AJ Davison to discuss this topic and many more, including… - Challenges in the Debt Collection Sector - Digital Approach to Partnerships - Importance of payment within digital journeys - Identifying vulnerability and providing support One of the main goals of our podcast is to shed light on niche industry tech and payment challenges, for both ourselves and our audience. How can we possibly make a difference without dedicating time to share value and market insights with our customers, partners, and prospects? -------------------------- Ps. Throughout our podcast, we've posed the same closing question to every guest, and each response has been really interesting. Martin's answer focused on the concept of the “fear of action” and that stepping out of your comfort zone is where genuine opportunities lie. Head over to Spotify if you like and have a listen 🎧 DebtStream x Acquired.com

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The National Payments Vision needs to be bold and directional ↗️ Trust, resilience and security are table stakes. All payments need those things. Setting the UK on course to a ubiquitous alternative to cards is visionary. This is not controversial stuff. A lot of it is already envisaged in the Payment Systems Regulator's 5 year strategy, and Pay.UK's vision for the New Payments Architecture. We just need HM Treasury's #NationalPaymentsVision to push it to the finishing line. Here are our thoughts on five payment system enhancements that will do that: https://lnkd.in/eTTiGwNR Amy Smith Roisin Edwards Patrick Keenan Open Banking #npv #A2A

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Who said cash is dead. What this is really is an indictment on the payments industry that we have not yet managed to create a better solution that entices more people away from cash. The challenge is that whilst there is a section of the economy that still prefers cash we need to mandate acceptance for them on the high street. We only have to look at Scandinavia to see how effective A2A and other solutions can support the move away from cash with a carrot. A key part of this is the Bank ID solution they have, we need a national digital identity in the UK to help drive the move from cash and better solutions that give people better choices. Tony Craddock Neil Harris David Birch The Payments Association https://lnkd.in/e5G-2MEB

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Understanding Interchange Fees and Their Merchant Impact 💡 Interchange fees are once again in the news, as a class action lawsuit against Mastercard and Visa related to the charges businesses face on received card payments has been given the go-ahead to advance in the UK. Interchange fees are one of three parts of the fees charged to a merchant for card processing, along with processing fees and card scheme fees. These three fees are together often referred to as the Merchant Service Charge: the money paid by a merchant to their acquiring bank for both the card services and the technology necessary to process transactions. The processing fee is charged by the payment processor for processing the transaction. The card scheme then receives the card scheme fee for the use of their network 🌐 Finally, there is the interchange fee itself. This is paid by the merchant’s acquiring bank, which holds a business’ account and accepts deposits from its sales, to the issuing bank, which provides the card to the customer, to cover a variety of costs and the inherent risk of approving a payment. Where things become complicated, however, is that while the banks are the recipients of these fees, it is the card schemes that charge and collect them on their behalf; more importantly, it is the card schemes that determine the rate of the fee in the first place 💳 There are in fact two kinds of interchange fees: bilateral and multilateral. The former is rarer, but sees an interchange rate directly agreed between an issuing and an acquiring bank. Theoretically, any merchant could negotiate such an agreement with their acquiring bank, but in reality this is impractical for all but the largest of entities. More commonly, interchange fees will be multilateral, in which the rate is agreed by multiple parties and payable between the respective payment service providers of the customer and the merchant. Interchange fees as set by card schemes are neither universal nor static. Visa and Mastercard set different rates for different regions, and publish updated rates in April and October each year. There are further factors that complicate interchange fees, with there being differences based not just on region or card scheme, but also what kind of card is being used to pay, whether the transaction is card-present or card-not-present, a merchant’s category code and whether the transaction is domestic or cross-border 🌎 The European Commission has previously stated that interchange fees make up roughly 70% of the price merchants incur from payment service providers, however Stripe has estimated that it may be as high as 90%. It is not surprising that why we are now seeing action on these merchants' behalf to challenge what are seen by some to be prohibitively high rates. Source: FXC Intelligence - https://t.ly/MQx6c #Fintech #Banking #Ecommerce #Retail #Merchants #FinancialServices #Cards #Payments #Interchange #Processing #Scheme #Fees

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Monzo Bank the leading digital bank in the UK (also present in the US) with over 7m users is launching Under 16s Account. What a great idea! Monzo new account will let children set savings goals, organise their money with savings Pots, access in-app financial education. Monzo for Under 16s will give children their first taste of saving and budgeting, as well as receiving scheduled pocket money payments and using a contactless debit card to pay for things – as well as their own Monzo app linked to a parent’s account if the child owns a smartphone. Teen Banking is an offer that Community Banks and Credit Unions can't ignore if they want to grow their deposits and retain their future customers. How can they deploy a teen banking solutions ? They have three potential approaches to mobile banking for teenagers. They can either act as direct providers of teen banking services, similar to what Capital One offers. Alternatively, they can partner with fintechs offering teen banking services, effectively reselling these services. Lastly, they can opt to become customers of white-label solutions offered by certain fintechs claiming to provide a white-label offering. But what exactly does "white label offering" mean, and how does it align with the claims? In essence, it should mean that the financial institution's end users become the true customers of the FI, giving them the sense that they are banking with their community bank or credit union, with deposits remaining at the FI level. However, the reality of these "white label offerings" can be quite different: What's the reality with these "white label offerings" out there? - it is at best a co-branded solution upon subscription (then it is fully the Fintech app & brand) - the customer receives a complimentary subscription the 1st year - the end user has to connect her / his FI account as the Fintech funding source. Agora (Financial Technologies formerly Agora Services) stands out as the only fintech (pure B2B provider - no risk of cannibalization) capable of empowering community banks and credit unions with a genuine white-label solution: - The FI institution's brand remains front and center. - The FI retains ownership of its customers and members. - Deposits are securely held by the FI, not by another partner held. - Revenues generated belong to the FI. What's more, Agora's white-label teen banking solution can be swiftly deployed within weeks, without the need for complex integrations with the FI's core systems. If you're interested in learning how to implement a true white-label teen banking solution, don't hesitate to get in touch with us. See here Monzo detailed offer https://lnkd.in/ebgyS2wY #digitalbanking #corebanking #bankingsolutions #payments #fintechsolutions #digitaltransformation #fintech #baas #neobanks #challengerbanks #embeddedfintech #creditunions #communitybanks #embeddedfinance #nichebanking #ai #teenbanking #whitelabelsolutions

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Very interesting article in the Financial Times which sums the situation up perfectly. The new entrants have moved the market on with the services delivered, however despite being used for their "free" or innovative services, users still remain wedded to the incumbents. https://lnkd.in/eR3kaGXV

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“Bad regulation doesn’t mean regulation is bad.” June is a busy time for #Fintech folks. I’m at Fintech Week London today hearing about the importance of right size regulation as an enabler of innovation and a driver of inward investment from Lord Holmes. #Fintech #OpenBanking #Payments #Regulation

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Yesterday the Payment Systems Regulator held a session demonstrating the commitment to the first phase of #VariableRecurringPayments and future use case development. The PSR brought together a great panel including Hannah Regan Kate Fitzgerald, Phillip Mind, Jane Moore and Maria Booker to discuss the regulatory, banking, merchant and consumer perspectives of VRP. One topic that resonated with me was the poverty premium faced by consumers who can't pay regular direct debit for #energy and other #utilities. This seems deeply unfair and is something the payments industry can help facilitate change with better payment solutions. The example below illustrates how we at Trustly view hashtag #VRP providing flexibility to consumers who want to mix regular payments with one-off payments. We use an example of someone self-employed with irregular income facing accumulated energy debt. They pay a manageable weekly amount and use the same VRP mandate to pay off the full balance when they can. Furthermore, this solution will be considerably lower cost for Utility suppliers than accepting card payments. If you would like to understand more the full white paper "Open Banking: Creating Positive Energy" is available here https://lnkd.in/eV5rRUvm #fintech #openbanking #energy #payments

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