September 2024: Top five payments stories of the month
September has seen a number of notable developments in the payments sector, including funding rounds, new hires, and new product launches.
Here, we run through five of the top payment stories from September, featuring Nexi Group, Mastercard, CleverCards, and more.
BIS’ Project Agorá to commence design phase with private sector participants confirmed
Private sector joins BIS’ Project Agorá for design phase
More than 40 private sector financial firms have confirmed their participation in Project Agorá, an initiative by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) seeking to explore how tokenisation can enhance wholesale cross-border payments.
The participants set to take part include industry heavyweights such as Standard Chartered, Lloyds Banking Group, Mastercard, Euroclear, BNP Paribas and JP Morgan Chase.
They will sit alongside the seven central banks who have supported the project since its launch in April, including the Bank of England, Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
BIS confirms that with all participants in place, Project Agorá is now ready to roll into its scheduled “design phase”.
Nexi Group lands €220m financing from the EIB
Italian paytech Nexi Group has secured €220 million in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to “support innovation in the digital payments sector”.
The EIB loan awarded to Nexi is the first ever granted to a publicly listed company in the digital payments sector.
Nexi says it plans to use the EIB financing to “develop and manage projects aimed at modernising digital payments in Europe”.
McLEAR sunsets payment ring programme
McLEAR discontinues RingPay (Image: McLEAR)
McLEAR, a wearable technology company for payments, security, and fashion, has announced the closure of its flagship RingPay programme, which comprises a prepaid account, a mobile app, and a payment ring.
Founded in 2012 and based in London, UK, McLEAR claims to have “invented the first NFC-based smart ring and is responsible for kickstarting the wearable technology ring space”. The brand was previously known as NFC Ring.
The McLEAR Ring prepaid programme is underpinned by PayrNet Limited, under a licence from Visa. PayrNet is a UK-based subsidiary of embedded finance technology provider Railsr, and is an e-money institution authorised by the UK regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
In a statement on the McLEAR website, the company attributes the decision to discontinue RingPay to “the increasing complexity and costs of maintaining” the offering.
Mastercard to pilot Payment Passkey Service in India
Paytech titan Mastercard is set to debut its new Payment Passkey Service in India with a pilot engaging some of the country’s “largest payment players”.
The initiative will include online merchants like BigBasket, banks such as Axis Bank, and payment aggregators including Juspay, Razorpay and PayU.
With the aim of replacing one-time passwords (OTPs), the service utilises passkeys and tokenisation to facilitate secure online checkout interactions and ensure that no financial account data is shared with third parties.
Mastercard says it chose India to launch its new service due to the country’s “rapidly expanding payment ecosystem and advanced tokenisation market”.
Ireland-based paytech CleverCards hires former Edenred exec Ray Brash as COO
CleverCards CEO and founder Kealan Lennon (left) with new COO Ray Brash (right)
Irish paytech CleverCards has unveiled former Edenred executive Ray Brash as its new chief operating officer (COO) amid an “ambitious growth and expansion strategy”.
Brash succeeds the position from Paul Carroll, who left the company in June after a one-year tenure.
“I am excited to be able to work for a business which puts the customer first rather than just the technology,” comments Brash.
CEO Kealan Lennon, who founded CleverCards in 2011, describes the hire as a “strategic move” that will help CleverCards scale.
The new COO joins from UK-based paytech Flyfish, where he had been serving as CEO since June last year.
