Hello and welcome to the latest edition of TWIF UK & Europe!

This week we saw a variety of stories across the UK and Europe including the culmination of a long running dispute between the Card schemes (and Revolut) vs the PSR . That fact that Revolut was a co-plaintiff in this case is a mark of just how dominant they have become in the cross-border travel and digital nomad community.)

Post-Brexit legal ambiguities allowed for the creep of higher fees with the PSR arguing they have the right to cap said fees. The HighCourt dismissed Visa/MC/Revolut's challenge and all the remain's to be seen now is exactly what cap the PSR will impose on these fees.

Outside of my capacity as an editor here at TWIF I am an operator in the space, and my gut tells me that price intervention whilst ALWAYS well meaning almost ALWAYS results in pain for the consumer. Fintech is not an uncompetitive market and price capping usually ends up hurting everyone. First the Fintech's who drive consumer payment choice. And then everyone else as said Fintechs have to find new ways to cover costs or worse, dissapear leaving less choice for the consumer.

Outside of that this week's news remind's me or Rex Salisbury's Fintech tenet "at scale, all fintechs compete." We see Crypto companies getting EMI licences. Banks investigating Stablecoin adoption. Card schemes partnerting with Crypto Natives.

I've also added a couple of interesting reads. As Stablecoins continue to proliferate, I think it's high time the community familiarises itself with how it can deliver value, and crucially what pitfalls may lie seen or unseen as adoption scales across the globe. To that effect I've included some great articles on lesser considered adoption of Stablecoins for treasury, and for those who want to go deeper, a great article on Herstatt Risk, which explains what happens when banks can't settle to each other on time...

And lastly, on a personal note I just want to thank former editor Michael Jenkins for stewarding the newsletter steadfastly over these past few year and I'm really excited to be kicking off my first edition with the support of the whole TWIF team and my Co-Editor Matt Jones.

Please find another week of fintech news, financings and product launches, partners and more below!

- Daniel Cronin

👍 👎 Have feedback or news to share? Let me know via Twitter and LinkedIn.

TWIF London Founder Dinner · Luma

Join This Week in Fintech & CMS for an exclusive networking dinner at the acclaimed Devonshire. Fresh off the boat from NYC, we’ll be joined by Nik Milanović…

This Week in Fintech

Join TWIF & CMS for an exclusive networking dinner at the acclaimed Devonshire.

Past dinners have hosted a curated mix of founders, institutional leaders, and the city’s most prominent investors.

Fresh off the boat from NYC, we’ll also be joined by Nik Milanović (Founder of TWIF & GP at The Fintech Fund).

Funding 💸

Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe. Deal data powered by Dealroom.

🇳🇱Paypal Ventures backs hospitality payments solution Klearly

🇬🇧 UK regains second spot in global fintech investment

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇬🇧 Revolut and Card Schemes lose case over proposed Cross Border Fees

🇬🇧 Starling Bank introduces new daily saving feature ‘Last Digit Wigit’

Assets ₿

🇬🇧 Ripple granted FCA EMI Licence to scale payment services wihtin the UK

🇪🇺 Long before Crypto was on the scene, companies like StoneX were becoming the backbone of payments for the ‘hard-to-reach’ regions. Now they have secured MiCA Authorisation to expands its european services for its growing global institutional client base.

🇪🇺 European Parliament petitioned by more than 60 economists to move ahead with the ‘Digital Euro’. Curiously the framing has shifted from being of maintaining technological relevance to one of national and regional security.

🇪🇺 Crossmint Secures MiCA Authorization, Expanding Global Digital Asset Infrastructure Across the EU

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇬🇧 Ground-breaking first-of-its-kind savings instrument developed and recommended by Barclays

🇪🇺 Deutsche Bank Expands Support for PayPal to Strengthen Global Payment Capabilities

Infrastructure 🚧

🌍 Central Banks convene to progress testing on Global Crossborder payments initiative -  Project Agora 

🇬🇧 Teya choose Youlend to power it’s cash advance solution to its more than 30,000 UK SMEs

Payments 💰

Visa Direct partners with Stablecoin Unicorn BVNK to allow stablecoin payment access across its entire 1.7trillion network

Regulatory Corner 🔎

🇬🇧 The FCA publishes its approach to the forthcoming UK cryptoasset regulatory regime

🇬🇧 ESG ratings to be within FCA regulatory perimeter

Longer Reads 📜

Why Stablecoins will disrupt Treasury first -  Stabledash

The Herstatt Crisis - The Fintech Prof