EMEA Daily: Verto and Xente Team up on NGO Payments; Wio Digital Bank Launches in UAE With Initial Focus on SMBs

Today in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Verto has partnered with Xente to provide payment services to NGOs and the United Arab Emirates gets a new digital bank in Wio.

Verto and Xente Team up on NGO Payments

The business-to-business (B2B) cross-border payments firm Verto, announced Tuesday (Sept. 13) that it has partnered with Xente, a multicurrency digital payments platform African businesses, to provide cross-border payment services to Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Uganda.

Verto will leverage Xente’s connectivity in Africa, which permits customers to pay verified beneficiaries even in remote areas, the firm stated in a press release.

OpenNode to Test Bitcoin Infrastructure in Bahrain

Cryptocurrency infrastructure company OpenNode is preparing to test its payment processing and payouts platform in Bahrain, a country that to date has not adopted Bitcoin payments, the company announced Tuesday (Sept. 13).

The testing will occur within a “regulatory sandbox” maintained by the Central Bank of Bahrain and is intended to show “why Bitcoin is synonymous with better business,” the announcement stated. Bahrain uses the sandbox to let companies test FinTech applications in the country on a trial basis.

VC Northzone Secures $1B in Funding to Seed European Tech Startups

Venture capital firm Northzone announced Tuesday (Sept. 13) that it has raised €1 billion ($1 billion) in its largest fundraise to date, marking its 10th funding round since its founding in 1996.

The funding will be used to back the next generation of changemakers, with the company noting in a blog post that “tech entrepreneurs today are able to shape behavior for generations to come, redefining our world, from hybrid work to travel, transportation to healthcare, retail to entertainment, and more.”

Northzone has funded some of Europe’s biggest tech players, including Spotify, Klarna, Trustpilot, Personio, Wagestream and Microverse, among others.

Founded by Bjorn Stray, Gregers Kronborg and Tellef Thorleifsson, Northzone is headquartered in London, although its team operates across six countries.

Wio Digital Bank Launches in UAE With Initial Focus on SMBs

Wio, a government-backed digital bank, has launched in the United Arab Emirates. Initially, the bank will focus on serving small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Wio’s offerings include digital cards, free debit cards and what the bank stated on its website are low foreign exchange (FX) rates.

The digital banking provider is owned by Abu Dhabi Holding Company (ADQ), Alpha Dhabi, Etisalat and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). Executives have said the bank eventually is likely to go public. Wio is regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE.

UK’s ePayments Systems Shutters For Good

The U.K.-based electronic payments company ePayments Systems is shutting up shop for good. In a post on the company website announcing the news, ePayments Systems said that it “has begun the process of closing its doors and entered into an orderly, solvent wind-down.”

The FinTech business has been closed for nearly three years after the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) identified weaknesses in its financial crime controls and ordered it to suspend all operations.

Visitors to the ePayments website are now met with a pop-up stating informing them of the closure and requesting customers to withdraw their funds as soon as possible. In Tuesday’s (Sept. 13) statement, the company said it “will now focus entirely on providing customers with refunds and working through the process of closing your accounts.”

Adyen Brings Real-Time Visa Account Updater to Europe

Adyen has become the first company to deliver the Real-Time Visa Account Updater (VAU) to Europe, which enables companies to boost authorization rates from card-on-file payments by automatically updating Visa accounts.

Real-Time VAU aims to help prevent involuntary churn and since Adyen automatically connects to the scheme’s account updater services, there is no integration needed, Adyen stated in a press release Tuesday (Sept. 13).

Previously only available in North America, Real Time VAU enables businesses to update stored customer card details in real-time. Everything happens as the transaction is being processed.

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