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Whilst everyone was off this Valentine’s Day paying attention to that special someone in their life, here PaymentEye we spent the weekend lavishing attention on that special something – the Chip-and-PIN machine. Exactly 10 years ago this Valentine’s Day, all card transactions in the UK had to be Chip-and-PIN. In those ten years we have seen incredible payment innovations including contactless cards and mobile payment, both of which would never have stood a chance of surviving and thriving were it not for the framework of EMV technology that cemented cards as a reliable method of paying.

Our other stories include an interview with Brad Fauss, the CEO and president of the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association, who discusses payments for unbanked, underbanked and millennials. We also consider how people in the UK prefer to check their finances and check in on Berlin’s FinTech scene.

This Valentine’s Day marked another year in which we tried our hardest to keep secret a four-digit number – the key to our finances. Yes, this Sunday was exactly ten years since all card transactions in the UK had to be Chip-and-PIN. What a decade it’s been.

Prepaid might be exploding, but there’s still a knowledge gap when it comes to consumers, industry and government. The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) aims to change that and works to promote education and growth in the industry.

Coins and bank notes aren’t going away any time soon, but that doesn’t mean online payments companies can’t get cash in. That’s highlighted by the new partnership announced between PayPal and banking technology firm FIS to provide cardless cash at the touch of a smartphone at more than 2,000 locations in the US from today.

There’s more funding for Berlin’s fintech scene as iZettle and SumUp challenger payleven scoops up USD10m in Series D funding for its mobile payments business. The backing comes from new investor, Paris-based Seventure Partners, plus return investors Munich’s Holtzbrinck Ventures, ru-Net in Riga, B Cinque, New Enterprise Associates and MePay.

Who is more mobile when it comes to banking, men or women? Which regions of the UK like to check their finances on a computer and which people dislike tablets? These are some of the questions answered in the latest research from Halifax.