EMEA Daily: Airtel Africa Launches SmartCash Payment Service Bank; Mollie and xentral Announce Collaboration

In today’s EMEA daily news, Airtel Africa unveils SmartCash Payment Service Bank, its newest subsidiary. GoCardless announces its acquisition of Nordigen and the expansion of its open banking services, and Dutch payment service provider Mollie and xentral announce a new partnership.

Airtel Africa Launches SmartCash Payment Services Bank

Airtel Africa on Friday (July 1) announced the launch of its new subsidiary, SmartCash Payment Service Bank.

SmartCash will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airtel and provide financial services across Nigeria. Services will include accepting deposits from individuals and small businesses, carrying out payment and remittance services within Nigeria, issuing debit and prepaid cards.

GoCardless Acquires Nordigen to Offer Open Banking Capabilities

Digital payment solution GoCardless is set to acquire Nordigen, an open banking data provider. In merging, the companies connect the two pillars of open banking: GoCardless’ account-to-account payments and Nordigen’s access-to-account.

The deal, announced Friday, is expected to close later in the summer. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. By incorporating Nordigen technology into its platform, GoCardless intends to bolster its in-house open banking connectivity.

The move will help the company expand coverage and add new payment methods.

Security Firm G+D Buys Valid’s Payment, ID Business

Security technology provider Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) has acquired the payment and identity solutions business Valid USA. The acquisition includes three manufacturing facilities in the U.S.

When the deal closes later this year, G+D will integrate Valid’s businesses with its own. G+D will take over local payment card production, while its subsidiary, Veridos, which provides integrated identity solutions, will expand the driver’s license card business.

Mollie and xentral Announce Collaboration

Dutch payment service provider Mollie’s services will be integrated into German enterprise resources planning platform provider xentral’s offerings under a collaboration launched Friday and effective immediately, the companies announced.

A press release said that the arrangement is aimed at providing small- to medium-sized eCommerce businesses “smoother” payment and order management services.