Visa joins LaLiga in MENA
Hey Payments Fanatic!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know I’m fascinated by where FinTech meets sports.
And this one caught my eye. 👀
Visa has become LaLiga’s Official Payment Partner in MENA, with the partnership covering the Middle East and North Africa.
Visa will work with LaLiga on digital content, marketing campaigns and fan experiences across the region. And given how big LaLiga is in MENA, this gives Visa a pretty interesting way to get closer to football fans.
I also like seeing how these partnerships are becoming more than logo placements. For Visa, sport is becoming another way to build relationships with consumers, while LaLiga gets a major global payments brand helping it grow in the region.
This is exactly the kind of FinTech × sports story I cover on FinTech in the Arena.
If you’re into the intersection of FinTech, payments and sport, come join me there.
Here’s what else is happening in payments today👇
See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💡 ACI Worldwide: The New Rules of Fashion & Sportswear Payments. A new report based on 3,000 fashion and sportswear shoppers in the US and UK shows how payments are increasingly shaping conversion, loyalty, and revenue. 39% abandon a purchase after a payment failure, while 35% buy online and collect in-store and 55% say stricter return policies would make them shop elsewhere. The report also explores payment preferences, checkout friction, omnichannel shopping, returns, and the growing role of AI — with shoppers showing a clear preference for AI that helps them save money and discover products, rather than making purchases for them. Read the full report here
NEWS
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🇺🇸 ACI Worldwide extends ACI Connetic to support Swift's blockchain-based ledger. The integration lets banks process tokenized deposit payments alongside traditional types using the same infrastructure. Swift's ledger is being piloted by 17 banks across six continents.
🌏 Solidgate and Airwallex partner to localize acquiring across global high-demand markets. Merchants using Solidgate's orchestration layer can now access Airwallex's local card acquiring without additional integration work.
🇳🇱 Adyen launches a major upgrade to Authenticate, its ML-powered authentication module within Adyen Uplift. The upgrade routes each transaction to the best authentication method in real time, in partnership with Google, Mastercard and Visa.
🇪🇸 Visa and LaLiga announce an official partnership in MENA, bringing Visa into LaLiga’s commercial ecosystem across the Middle East and North Africa. The partnership will focus on fan engagement and payment experiences across the region.
🌎 Thunes powers J.P. Morgan Payments' Xpedite Remit solution to accelerate global payouts. The collaboration provides access to 12 billion mobile wallets and bank accounts across 100+ corridors via a single connection.
🇺🇸 PayPal partners with Meta on Muse AI shopping across merchants worldwide. PayPal customers can shop and check out using Muse personal AI agents across all PayPal merchants globally.
🇺🇸 Afterpay named Fanatics' preferred BNPL partner, expanding flexible payment options across the digital sports platform. Eligible shoppers can use Pay in 4 and Pay Monthly on Fanatics.com, Lids.com, NBAStore.com, NHLShop.com, and associated partner sites.
🇬🇧 GoCardless processes the first agentic A2A payment in the UK. The transaction was completed through an AI agent initiating an account-to-account payment autonomously.
🇬🇧 Mangopay launches Echo to give platforms more control over multi-PSP payment flows. Echo is a payment orchestration layer that lets platforms route, retry and manage transactions across multiple providers. Read more
🇮🇳 PhonePe secures in-principle approval from the Central Bank of UAE, marking its first international footprint. The approval covers Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes plus Stored Value Facilities licenses. PhonePe plans to collaborate with regional banks and local vendors upon final regulatory clearance.
🇸🇰 mBank Slovakia launches BLIK mobile payments for customers, giving users access to BLIK’s mobile payment solution directly through their banking app. The service enables customers to make fast payments using BLIK’s network across online and in-store transactions.
🇺🇸 Ramp launches Ramp Accounts Receivable, a new product to help businesses manage incoming payments alongside spend. The AI tool turns contracts into invoices and matches payments back to the books automatically.
🇺🇸 Moov launches Moov Money, a new P2P solution built on the debit cards Americans already carry. The product lets users send money using existing debit credentials without downloading a new app or creating a separate wallet.
🇪🇺 ECB launches Pontes to link its payment system to blockchain markets. The service lets banks settle tokenized transactions in central bank euros. Deutsche Bank, Santander and Clearstream have completed onboarding, and the ECB will also invest part of its own funds in digital securities.
🇨🇦 Six Canadian banks explore a tokenized CAD deposit solution, aiming to keep Canada's payments infrastructure competitive as digital money evolves globally. BMO, CIBC, NBC, RBC, Scotiabank, and TD are collaborating on the first phase to move tokenized deposits across institutions.
🌍 Perk selects Katanox to improve hotel payments and financial infrastructure across its travel and spend platform. Katanox will unify B2B payments, reconciliation, and settlement for hotel bookings across the Perk platform.
🇦🇺 Eftsure acquires Relish, creating the global leader in trusted enterprise payments from onboarding to payment. The combined platform protects A$413 billion in payments a year and actively monitors 11 million vendors across 190 countries.
🇦🇪 Visa appoints Mario Makary as VP and Country Manager for the UAE. Makary brings over 12 years of Visa experience across Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and the wider Levant. He will lead market strategy and deepen engagement with clients and regulators in one of the world's most dynamic payments markets.
🇳🇱 Niclas Neglén to join Adyen as new Chief Financial Officer, bringing senior financial leadership experience to one of the world's leading global payments companies. Neglén steps into the CFO role as Adyen continues to scale its enterprise and platform business across international markets. Read more
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