FinTech Futures: Top five news stories of the week – 23 August 2024
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of fintech this week, featuring HSBC, Klarna, Mastercard and more.
HSBC reportedly considering sale of its South African business
HSBC reportedly considering sale of its South African business
HSBC Holdings is reportedly mulling the sale of its South African business to concentrate on Asian markets, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg reports that banks from Africa, China, and the UAE are among the potential interested bidders for the bank’s South African unit, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The report adds that no deal is finalised or guaranteed, and the details of any potential arrangement are still under discussion.
HSBC has had a presence in South Africa since 1995 and states on its website that its “principal activities” in the country include providing “banking services to our corporate and wholesale clients, as well as a representative office for the Private Bank”.
Klarna to resurrect BNPL fintech Laybuy in New Zealand following acquisition of assets
Swedish payments unicorn Klarna has acquired the assets of buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech Laybuy in New Zealand and says it plans to “relaunch the service in the coming weeks”.
Laybuy ceased operations in June this year, entering into a receivership after its search for a new buyer fell flat.
However, following the acquisition of its New Zealand assets, Klarna says Laybuy is now “set to make a reenergised return in New Zealand under Klarna”.
Launched in May 2017, Klarna says “half a million consumers in New Zealand have opened a Laybuy account, enabling them to shop at Laybuy’s 10,000+ merchants”.
It adds that it will now “begin to connect with Laybuy’s customers, informing them about what’s coming next for the payments provider”.
Mastercard set to lay off around 3% of global workforce
Mastercard to cut around 3% of global workforce
US payments giant Mastercard has confirmed it plans to cut around 3% of its full-time global workforce – around 1,000 employees – as a result of recently announced “organisational changes”.
In April, the company revealed its plans to realign its organisational structure into three interdependent units: Core Payments, Commercial and New Payment Flows, and Services. CEO Michael Miebach stated at the time that this strategic shift was actioned to “diversify our revenue streams and differentiate our products and solutions”.
A Mastercard spokesperson tells FinTech Futures that the company intends to “redeploy resources into growth areas” as it implements these changes.
“These actions will impact approximately 3% of our full-time employees globally and a majority of the notifications are expected to be completed in the third quarter. And, as is our normal practice, we will provide support to everyone impacted by these actions,” the spokesperson says.
CaixaBank doubles down on generative AI with launch of GalaxIA project
Spain’s CaixaBank is launching the second phase of its generative AI initiative as it looks to further roll the technology out across the group’s operations and accelerate its GenAI projects.
The bank says its new project, called GalaxIA, will look to build on its GenIAl project launched late last year with the aim to continue its experimentation with GenAI and explore new potential use cases.
According to a statement, CaixaBank says it plans to “work both on projects with immediate returns that improve quality and processing times for customers, and on medium and long-term strategic visions that substantially change the way of working in certain areas and complex business processes, such as the customer mortgage process”.
Swiss National Bank announces launch of instant payments in Switzerland
SNB announces launch of instant payments in Switzerland
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has announced the market launch of instant payments in Switzerland.
The introduction of instant payments has been enabled by a technical framework established in November 2023 in partnership with SIX Interbank Clearing.
Around 60 Swiss financial institutions can now receive and process instant payments, encompassing more than 95% of Swiss retail payment transactions.
The SNB says that some institutions have “already launched retail offerings enabling customers to send instant payments”, with more banks expected to announce similar services “in the coming months”.
The central bank predicts that “all financial institutions active in retail payment transactions will be reachable” by the end of 2026 “at the latest”.
