EMEA Daily: UK Wants to Court Big Tech

In today’s top stories from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the British government is preparing to release a set of policies designed to attract Big Tech companies to the country.

Also, Card issuing platform Marqeta is integrating into Western Union’s European digital banking platform, while open banking platform Tink and FinTech app Revolut are working together to expand open banking to more people across Europe.

UK Sets Course to Woo Big Tech

The British government is preparing to unveil a set of policies designed to lure the major players tech sector, from artificial intelligence to quantum computing to digital health, to the U.K.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is due to publish a digital strategy that will combine many of the government’s existing tech policies into one document, with an announcement that could arrive during London’s Tech Week, which starts on June 13.

The strategy is expected to say that the U.K. needs to strengthen its position as a global science and tech superpower, highlighting areas including AI, quantum computing and semiconductors.

Marqeta Partners with Western Union for Digital Banking in Europe

Card issuing platform Marqeta has joined forces with money transfer giant Western Union and will integrate into Western Union’s European digital banking platform.

That platform offers a real-time multi-currency digital wallet. Combined with Marqeta’s card issuing platform, customers will now get have access to Western Union’s entire remittance service online with funds paid out to a physical or virtual Visa card.

The companies say their collaboration capitalizes on Marqeta’s open API card issuing platform while letting Western Union handle the workflow with real-time insights into card activity.

Tink and Revolut Team on Open Banking Tech Expansion

Open banking platform Tink and FinTech app Revolut are working together on a strategic plan to expand open banking to more people throughout Europe.

Tink’s payment initiation services (PIS) technology will let Revolut users in Europe move money into their Revolut accounts. Tink’s PIS technology gives customers the ability to authorize transfers from any bank account without leaving the Revolut app.

“Revolut is one of the biggest success stories of the financial services revolution, offering services that better meet the needs of customers,” said Daniel Kjellén, co-founder and CEO of Tink. “We are excited to be a part of the next stage in Revolut’s growth and see this partnership as an important step in the mass-market adoption of open banking-powered payments across Europe.”

Prove Steps up Fight Against Authorized Push Payment Fraud in UK

Digital identification company Prove Identity is working with financial firms and mobile carriers in the U.K. and using its Trust Score to fight against authorized push payment (APP) fraud.

Prove’s Trust Score is designed to help banks fend off APP attacks by analyzing telecommunications signals and behavior patterns to identify possible fraud-like activity during high-risk transactions.

“APP scams are among a newer set of scams that rely on socially engineering humans to authorize transactions,” said Prove UK and EU Vice President Keiron Dalton. “These scams are even more detrimental since the transactions are initiated by the consumers themselves, so it’s imperative that we have an understanding of what constitutes unusual activity while delivering services to legitimate consumers securely and with little friction.”

Barclaycard, Liberis Offer SMBs Revenue-Based Financing

British payments company Barclaycard and embedded business finance platform Liberis have joined forces to help small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers access to personalized, revenue-based financing.

London-based Liberis says partnership gives customers access to Barclaycard Business Cash Advance, a solution designed to help fund SMBs with fixed-cost financing.

“We are very excited to launch our finance partnership with Barclaycard to provide personalized business finance to their small business customers,” said Liberis CEO Rob Straathof. “This investment is a testament to our leadership position in embedded business finance and shows how banks and FinTechs can create vital partnerships to help even more small businesses obtain the funding they need to grow.”