Last week in payments: Top five things you need to know

Klarna and ASOS form strategic partnership

European payments provider Klarna has announced a partnership with ASOS as part of the ‘buy now pay later’ scheme.

UK customers with the iOS or Android ASOS app can now use Klarna’s ‘Pay later’ solution to pay for their items up to 30 days later – with no interest or fees.

Nicola Thompson, Global Trading Director at ASOS said: “We are constantly looking for new ways to improve the ASOS experience for our 15.4 million customers around the world.

“We know people love the option of paying later only for the things they keep, and are excited to introduce this for customers shopping on our app in the UK.”

N26 set to launch in the UK in 2018

Digital German bank N26 has announced its plan to expand to the UK in the first half of 2018.

The Berlin-based start-up launched in 2015, N26 began as a current account with a Mastercard. It now operates as a full bank, giving customers access to instant overdrafts and international transfers.

The fintech has amassed incredible popularity, with over 500,000 customers in 17 European countries.

Tesco Bank incorporates facial recognition into its mobile banking app

Tesco Bank has today announced changes to its mobile banking app, which will enable iPhone X customers to log in and authenticate payments using face ID.

The announcement demonstrates Tesco Bank’s drive to provide its customers with convenient and flexible solutions for managing their money.  To date, the bank has seen over 1 million customers register for the mobile app as their preferred method of accessing their account.

Grant Bourbousson, Digital and Customer 2020 Director, said: “This addition illustrates our continued commitment to developing digital services that utilise the latest technologies available, and which really meet our customers’ needs.”

Remitly raises $115m in global expansion

Mobile money transfer service Remitly has announced that it has agreed to raise up to $115 million in Series D funding, subject to applicable third party and regulatory approvals. The Series D financing will be led by Naspers’ fintech investment division PayU, a global online payment service provider.

Remitly customers are sending nearly $4 billion annually around the world while saving millions in fees and enjoying a better overall customer experience compared to traditional providers.

“Hundreds of millions of households and small merchants across the globe don’t have access to traditional banking services, stifling opportunity. We believe in the enormous potential of technology to unlock financial services for these underserved populations and Remitly is ready to take the stage,” said Laurent le Moal, CEO at PayU.

American Express upgrades SafeKey authentication

American Express recently announced SafeKey 2.0, the next generation of its online authentication tool built specifically to meet the needs of today’s increasingly mobile commerce environment.

The growing adoption of digital commerce has put greater emphasis on the need for merchants and card issuers to continue evolving their fraud-prevention strategies to address emerging threats while ensuring their customers can easily check out online. SafeKey 2.0 enables merchants and card issuers to exchange more detailed transaction information, which will help to further reduce fraud and eliminate friction when a customer makes a payment by reducing requests for one-time passwords.

Jaromir Divilek, Executive Vice President, Global Network Business, American Express said: “SafeKey 2.0 complements American Express’ fraud-prevention capabilities by addressing the evolving needs of merchants, card issuers and Card Members.”

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