Dear Subscriber,

In this afternoon’s newsletter, Simon Newstead, Industry Strategy Director at VocaLink, looks at recent developments in PSD2 and Open banking.

Plus, we discuss how contactless payments have increased by a staggering 166% in the UK this year. Barclaycard’s research found that one in two Brits now make a contactless payment at least once a month and a fifth actually plan to increase their contactless usage.

Enjoy!

It’s beginning to look a lot like contactless, everywhere you go. So much so that contactless payments have increased by 166% year-on-year, according to new research from Barclaycard.

Lloyds banking Group has agreed to pay £1.9 billion for Bank of America’s credit card firm, MBNA, in the first acquisition by a UK bank since the 2008 financial crisis.

Black Friday shopping has been a resounding success in the UK and across the pond in the US, especially online shopping. However, some European countries are still wary about the e-commerce option.

Santander Innoventures raises fresh $100m fund to invest in fintech startups.