What happened this week in payments

UK challenger bank CivilisedBank gets license

UK Challenger Bank CivilisedBank is the latest bank to secure a banking license. The digital-only lender has been granted a banking license authority from the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority, becoming the latest challenger bank to receive the license ahead of a planned launch in 2018.

Klarna wants to change its name to Klarna Bank

According to Business Insider, Klarna reportedly wants to change its name from Klarna to Klarna Bank. The move implies that the Swedish e-commerce company could soon be receiving its Swedish banking license, which was applied for in October 2015.

Tamden drops ‘bank’ from its name

And while one fintech unicorn wants to add in the term ‘bank’, Tandem has announced that it has dropped ‘bank’ from its name and will now operate as Tandem Money.

“We officially changed our registered name from Tandem Bank Ltd to Tandem Money Ltd,” said a spokesperson for Tandem.

“This is an obligatory change after we voluntarily returned our ability to offer savings accounts, but we will continue to trade simply as Tandem.”

TransferWise to offer cross-border payments

TransferWise, the UK-based payments transfer company, is launching a new service that allows users to make cross-border payments in a multitude of currencies.

The borderless scheme has been introduced to improve the efficiency  of sending money around the globe. The service will initially only be available for small businesses and freelancers in the UK and Europe, and will be available to those in the US next month.

TransferWise CEO and co-founder Taavet Hinrikus commented: “Business banking is notoriously expensive and difficult to set up and manage, even alternatives like PayPal are expensive for small businesses. So we’ve created the Borderless account. It’s an account that’s not constrained by country or currencies and gives businesses more freedom and control.”

Google dives into mobile wallets with Android Pay

Google wants to make it easier for its users to pay. For any consumer who wants to make a payment within a third-party app, they’ll be able to choose from any card payment they’ve previously used with their Google Account. Consumers no longer have to rely on the cards previously loaded with Android Pay.

The tech giant has unveiled a new payment tool that allows developers to mobile apps and websites store a credit card in their Google Accounts, which can be used later on.

In addition, Google said its US customers will be able to make face-to-face cash transfers using its voice assistant later this year.

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