Top Updates Weekly - Payments 🚨

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬!

Coming in hot — ”𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤" by Marcel van Oost — a recap of the most valuable insights in the Payments Industry on a weekly basis.

• 🇬🇧 Ecommpay strengthens leadership team for European growth with appointment of  Roy Blokker . Roy will be particularly focused on engaging with large, complex, and globally focused merchants to build strategic partnerships. He will also lead the development of tailored solutions that deliver optimal payment performance. With close alignment to the company’s leadership, he will play a vital role in shaping a robust commercial approach for large merchants.

• 🇯🇵 Stripe launches new features for businesses in Japan, including PayPay Corporation integration. Businesses in the country can accept PayPay for online purchases. They can also get paid out faster for PayPay transactions now in as few as four business days instead of waiting until the end of the month. Stripe is also enabling businesses to offer card installments to allow customers to split purchases into smaller payments. This is especially helpful for higher-price items.

• 🇺🇸 Circle and BitGo are about to apply for bank charters. According to The Wall Street Journal report, Circle, BitGo, and others are considering applying for some form of banking license. Other firms cited include the publicly traded US-based crypto exchange Coinbase and the stablecoin issuer Paxos . A bank charter potentially would allow crypto firms to operate like traditional lenders, taking deposits and making loans.

• 🇬🇧 Hokodo secures €10M equity raise led by Korelya Capital and Opera Tech Ventures for digital trade credit product innovation. This new cash injection will allow Hokodo to continue developing innovative digital trade credit solutions, onboard new merchants, and leverage AI to further digitise the credit management value chain, it also will support Hokodo as it rolls out a new in-store solution to offline and omnichannel merchants across Europe. 

• 🇺🇸 Payments provider Global Payments Inc. has struck a $24.2bn cash-and-stock deal to buy rival Worldpay from GTCR LLC , less than two years after the private equity group bought a majority stake in the company. As part of a three-way deal, GTCR will receive 59% of the deal value in cash and the remainder in Global Payments stock. The deal is expected to close by the first half of 2026, provided it passes antitrust hurdles. Fintech group FIS , which owned a 45 per cent stake in Worldpay, will take control of Global Payments’ issuer solutions business, which is a market leader in credit processing, valued at $13.5bn.

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This is all for this week! Enjoy the weekend 🤝☕️