BFC FinTech Monitor 3rd – 10th April

Stay up-to-date on all the all the latest FinTech news and information from around the world in the BFC FinTech Monitor.

Around the World:

MobilePaymentsToday.com has released materials outlining how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mobile payments industry.
British startup Curve has announced the release of multicards that do not use numbers. Instead, card data is accessed via biometrics and/or a password-protected app.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is encouraging central banks around the world to introduce digital currencies. The recommendation comes after a World Health Organization (WHO) warning about COVID-19 spreading through bank notes.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore is allocating USD 88 million to support the financial services industry, especially FinTechs. Financial support will cover up to 80% of the costs of digital products and services that “increase productivity, efficiency and operational stability, help better manage risks and/or better serve consumers.”
Visa is investing in Hong Kong FinTech company Neat, which is developing a solution for organizing international trade among small- and medium-sized enterprises.
A Finextra study indicates that financial institutions need to be more careful when introducing artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions for cybersecurity.

Russia:

Sberbank is planning to fully connect to Russia’s Quick Payment System by June.
MTS is developing its own money transfer system with the help of Kirill Palchun, the former president of Unistream.
Kirill Parska, founder of the UX-Design Studio for Banks, discusses how financial institutions in the modern world need to go beyond “just being a bank” and transform into IT companies.
Mastercard and Yandex.Kassa are launching a new tokenization technology for online payments in electronic commerce. The online store Ozon and the Burger King restaurant chain are expected to be the first users of the new service.

Ukraine:

Monobank, Ukraine’s first digital bank, will begin servicing accounts for individual entrepreneurs without requiring additional documentation. In preparation, Monobank is allowing users to pre-register for the service.
SDK.finance, a company specialized in developing software for financial institutions and FinTechs, is providing free access to its FinTech software for a period of 1 year to institutions with a valid financial license issued in the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom or Ukraine.

Belarus:

Several Belarusian banks have increased the maximum limit for payments that do require users to enter their PIN codes from BYN 20 to BYN 80.
Svetlana Shapovalova, director of development at Alfa Bank, discusses how the bank became one of the leading online banks for small- and medium-sized enterprises operating in Belarus.

Azerbaijan:

Pasha Bank, Premium Bank, ExpressBank, Kapital Bank and Unibank KB have all been named as among the best in the country in cashless payment services.

Armenia:

Armenia has announced plans to attract several international payment systems, including PayPal, into the country.

Georgia:

Tbilisi will host the Digital Forum in mid-June of this year. The forum, which is being organized by SME Banking Club, will be dedicated to highlighting mobile banking apps for business consumers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Caucasus. The forum will also celebrate the best mobile banks operating in these regions.