Tide Rolls Out Numberless Cards to SMEs

Tide Rolls Out Numberless Cards to SMEs
Tide Rolls Out Numberless Cards to SMEs

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

Tide is changing business cards by removing all printed numbers. 🤯

Card-not-present fraud in the UK reached nearly £400 million last year, with related scams adding millions more.

By hiding numbers and codes, Tide aims to stop these common frauds early. Card details will now appear only in the Tide app.

“Criminals have been plundering printed card details for too long, and small businesses have paid the price,” said George Schmidt, Tide’s UK & Europe chief executive.

Scroll down to read the full story and get your daily dose of FinTech 👇

Cheers,

Marcel


POST OF THE DAY

🌍 Airwallex has been quietly collecting licenses 🤯 

Airwallex holds 60+ financial licenses and regulatory registrations globally, across the US, UK, EU, China, APAC, and Latin America. 

Airwallex Licenses Collection

FINTECH NEWS

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🇺🇸 eToro Reports Second Quarter 2025 Results. Net contribution rose 26% year-over-year to $210 million, and assets under administration surged 54% to $17.5 billion. Funded accounts increased by 14% to 3.63 million. Adjusted EBITDA grew 31% to $72 million, reflecting improved operational efficiency. 


PAYMENTS NEWS

🌎 How a smarter currency choice can save the sale by Francisco Huerta, Chief Product Officer, PagoNxt Payments. For Latin America's digital economy to thrive globally, the focus must shift to providing transparent, fair, and seamless currency conversion experiences that build trust and ensure successful transactions. Read the full article

🇳🇬 FinTechCashless Economy gains ground as E-payments reach ₦295.5 trillion in Q1 2025. A recent report by ACI Worldwide projects Nigeria’s real-time payment transactions to reach 19.7 billion by 2028, up from 7.9 billion recorded in 2023.

🇺🇸 Google Pay expands rewards and BNPL options with Affirm and Zip. Google announced new features designed to provide online shoppers in the U.S. with more choice, convenience, and value. Chrome autofill now displays reward details for over 100 credit cards, helping users choose the best option for their purchases.

🇦🇪 UAE closes in on launch of Digital Dirham. The CBUAE has already put in place the core infrastructure and can now issue, redeem, and distribute the Digital Dirham to licensed financial institutions through a custom-built issuance platform utilising DLT.

🇰🇿 Alipay+ links with Kaspi.kz for cross-border payments in Kazakhstan. Users of 12 Alipay+ enabled payments can now scan-to-pay via Kaspi QR. Kazakhstan is the first country in Central Asia to accept Alipay+, according to a press release. Read more

🇺🇸 Flutterwave boosts margins in profitable growth push. Africa’s top payments tech firm achieved 20% year-on-year growth in enterprise transaction volume while securing 20 additional U.S. money transmitter licenses, bringing its direct regulatory footprint to 34 states.

🇺🇸 Unlimit adds an integrated Click-to-Pay flow to its online payments solution for merchants worldwide. This new feature marks a significant step forward in Unlimit’s mission to deliver faster, more secure, and frictionless payment solutions that drive growth for merchants.

🇺🇸 Bleap launches Global Send. With Global Send, users can send money instantly from their Bleap wallet to anyone in the world using only a phone number or any payment address, including a crypto wallet, payment link, or traditional bank account.

🇮🇳 India's UPI system faces backlash as small vendors receive GST notices based on digital transaction data. This has led to a shift back to cash transactions, with vendors fearing tax scrutiny. Concerns rise that aggressive formalisation efforts may push the informal economy further underground, undermining the goals of financial inclusion and transparency.

🇨🇦 Nuvei taps stablecoin rails to power payouts in emerging markets. By leveraging stablecoin rails to facilitate the backend movement of value, Nuvei offers businesses a powerful new way to move fiat funds across borders with greater speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, helping reduce reliance on costly intermediaries. 

🇮🇳 Paytm's unit gets Indian central bank nod to operate as online payment aggregator. In August 2024, the company said it would apply to the Reserve Bank of India to seek a payment aggregator license. That move came seven months after the central bank ordered it to wind down its payments bank.


REGTECH NEWS

🇨🇿 Signicat integrates Bank iD System. This move positions Signicat as one of the few international providers to offer Bank iD within its portfolio, now comprising over 36 digital identity methods. Bank iD is a secure, bank-issued e-identification system used by over 4.6 million people in the Czech Republic.

🌍 Nium expands Verify in Europe through partnership with iPiD. As part of this deepening collaboration, iPiD is also leveraging Nium’s Verify technology to enhance its validation capabilities, marking a mutual partnership between two of Singapore’s most prominent FinTech innovators.


DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇳🇱 Airwallex receives MiFID licence to launch Yield in the Netherlands, paving the way for European businesses to generate income on idle funds. This important authorisation will enable Airwallex to offer Money Market Funds, a new way to generate returns on their idle cash - an opportunity that is not typically available through traditional banks.

🇬🇧 BVNK introduces Smart Treasury. This new feature is available for customers of Layer1, BVNK’s self-managed infrastructure solution. It also powers BVNK’s treasury operations, bringing efficiency benefits for customers using our managed payments service.

🇬🇧 Tide tackles fraud with a simple change to payment cards. Tide is aiming to tackle payment fraud by modifying the cards it issues to customers. The LocalGlobe-backed firm has decided to remove printed numbers from its payment cards, in a move it describes as a first for business card providers.

🇬🇧 Revolut still doesn’t have its full UK banking licence. Last July, Revolut finally obtained its long-awaited UK banking licence. But one year later, Revolut’s banking licence remains in the “mobilisation” period, awaiting a final sign-off before it can start operating as a fully licensed bank in its home market. Additionally, Revolut seeks regulatory approval from Morocco’s Central Bank. While awaiting a response from the Moroccan central bank, the FinTech giant, which claims a global user base of 60 million, will continue its recruitment drive to support operations.

🇰🇭 Cambodian digital bank launches nation’s first debit-credit card. Wing Bank, a digital bank in Cambodia, has launched the Mastercard One Card, the first in the country to combine debit and credit card functions in a simple card. Keep reading

🇲🇽 Mexico FinTech Stori eyes IPO by 2027 with trend toward profits. The company offers payment cards, personal loans, and high-interest deposit accounts in the country with a focus on the underbanked population. Stori claims to have a 99% approval rate for its credit card as part of its strategy of targeting middle- and low-income consumers.


BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇺🇸 Bakkt announces CEO transition amid Shift to ‘Pure-Play crypto infrastructure company’. The company said in the release that the leadership transition “reflects the natural progression of Bakkt’s transformation into a pure-play crypto infrastructure company.”

🇺🇸 FinTech giant Stripe is building ‘Tempo’ blockchain with crypto VC Paradigm. The FinTech giant Stripe is developing a new blockchain, according to a recent job posting on a site for the crypto lobby group Blockchain Association. Tempo is a high-performance, payments-focused blockchain.

🇺🇸 Monero faces a major 51% attack threat, XMR price slides to a 3-month low. An attack could cost $75 million daily, allowing transaction reversals and possible network control. The founder claims the attack was to strengthen Monero against future organizational threats.

🇺🇸 Circle posts second-quarter loss and sees revenue increase 53%. The eye-popping success of Circle’s June 5 IPO, its shares traded almost 10 times their offering price at one point, spoke to the optimism surrounding the potential growth to be found in this once-obscure corner of the crypto market.

🇮🇪 Kraken now lives across all 30 EEA countries under MiCA. All EEA clients are now directly served by Kraken’s MiCA-regulated entity, authorized by the Central Bank of Ireland. This go-live represents the full activation of its MiCA license, enabling Kraken to deliver services across the region under a single, unified regulatory framework.


PARTNERSHIPS

🇦🇺 ubank & Infinity Squared bring clarity to financial chaos in new campaign. See Money Better, Do Money Better brings to life the invisible stresses of modern money management. The campaign reimagines the overwhelming money moments that are all too familiar for young Aussie banking customers.

🇬🇧 Clearbank enters channel relationship with Algbra. Through the partnership, Algbra will be able to offer ClearBank’s agency banking, faster payments, and virtual account services to customers on its platform, helping them expand their reach without having to reinvent backend infrastructure.

🇪🇸 Santander charts "data and AI-first" future with new OpenAI partnership. The Spanish banking group, which has previously deployed AI for fraud detection and customer service enhancement, is now expanding its generative and agentic AI capabilities across product management, credit, marketing, service, operations, and other banking functions.

🌍 The Aleo Network Foundation enters into a partnership with Revolut to list the ALEO token throughout Europe. Combined under this integration, Aleo and Revolut stand primed to assist developers, enterprises, and institutions in shaping the future of the digital asset ecosystem.

🇮🇳 Neon and Razorpay partner to bring world-class DTC payments to the gaming market in India. The integration enables Neon clients to accept payments from players in India using local currency via UPI‑enabled methods, in addition to credit and debit cards.


DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

🇬🇧 New FinTech from Wise and Revolut alumni Riva Money scores £2m investment. The company’s stated mission is to address the high costs and slow settlement times associated with cross-border transactions. Read more

🌍 HoneyCoin secures $4.9M funding to power cross-border payments with stablecoin. The investment will fuel HoneyCoin’s mission to transform cross-border payments using stablecoin technology, driving faster, cheaper, and more compliant financial solutions across Africa and global markets.

🇮🇳 Indian FinTech firm FincFriends nets $4.7M debt funding. The company plans to use the latest funding to scale its digital credit offerings for underserved borrowers across categories via its flagship lending platform, RupeeRedee.  Keep reading

🇺🇸 Transak raises $16M from IDG Capital and Tether to scale stablecoin payment network.  The company plans to use the funds to expand its stablecoin payments stack and enter new markets. Continue reading


MOVERS AND SHAKERS

🇬🇧 ClearScore Group appoints Geeta Gopalan as Independent Non-Executive Director. Geeta Gopalan brings over 25 years of leadership experience in financial services, spanning commercial and retail banking in the UK and internationally. Her distinguished career includes significant contributions to social investment and community development. 

🇧🇷 Nubank appoints Eric Young as Chief Technology Officer. Young will report directly to David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank, focusing on maintaining operational excellence, driving international expansion through platformization, and advancing critical AI technologies to accelerate growth. 

🇧🇷 Gowd strengthens executive team with strategic appointments in technology and expansion. It appoints Juan Trujillo as Chief Technology Officer and Raul Guisado as Head of Expansion. With a mission to modernize cross-border payments and decentralized finance, these appointments mark a significant milestone in Gowd's rapid global scale-up.


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