Argenta Solutions Fintech

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www.weststeincard.com
www.argentasol.com Open / Comment

2023-03-06 19:00:16 Israel is making an unprecedented move in #Payments and you should all take notice. Operators, investors and policy makers.

Today, בנק ישראל Bank of Israel formally announced that the main $ILS payment systems will be opened to foreign regulated companies for direct integration.

It covers banks and e-money institutions regulated in UK, EU and USA. Currently the threshold for consideration is two years post authorisation in the home country and having five million customers plus no known material deficiencies in operations. The conditions are clear and not unreasonable.

At this time, the release is in Hebrew but reach out to me for info.

Why is this big?

1. Competition for the local market. Israel is dominated by three big banks. Of all the great innovation coming out of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and elsewhere, there is little of it on offer for the local consumer and SME. This step is principally designed to make it easier to offer innovative fintech in the Israeli market.

2. The regulators (incl Israel Securities Authority ) are inviting foreign players taking serious steps no other regulator around the world (including some prolific press releasers). This is regulatory thinking outside the box.

3. The cost, time and risk, of entering the Israeli market should be significantly lower than it would otherwise be. You always wanted to serve those Israeli innovators before they grow big and multinational but the local market was too small for investment? Here is your opportunity. Open / Comment

2023-02-22 23:33:07 Today’s digest

The EU will not ban non-custodial crypto wallets — the changes propose to replace the word "non-custodial wallet" with "non-custodial address" , which clarifies the intentions of politicians to control user accounts, but at the same time not to prohibit non-custodial services.

Google Cloud will become a validator in the Tezos network.

Binance has announced a partnership with Ingenico, a company that provides payment terminals for cryptocurrency payments.
It is planned that such terminals will be installed throughout Europe.

Mastercard announces a partnership with Web3 Immersve that will allow you to make cryptocurrency payments using USDC in the physical and metaverse worlds. Open / Comment

2023-02-22 19:38:52 Open Banking is benefiting millions of UK citizens with innovative financial management and payment tools.

https://www.openbanking.org.uk/news/uk-reaches-7-million-open-banking-users-milestone/ Open / Comment

2023-02-20 19:22:32 Regulators generally don’t tell banks that they can’t do business with customers operating legitimate businesses.
Instead, they categorize customers as higher-risk through formal public statements reinforced in feedback from the examiners who burrow into their operations to make sure they are not taking undue risks. Banks often then decide these customers aren’t worth the regulatory headache and cut them off.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/banks-are-breaking-up-with-crypto-during-regulatory-crackdown-22de1832 Open / Comment

2023-02-16 16:49:38 The EU is discussing the use of zero-knowledge proof for digital identity cards (eID) — if passed, EU citizens will be given full control over their data and the ability to decide what information to share and with whom. Open / Comment

2023-02-14 14:54:45 The US is the second largest cards market in the world as measured by spend, with $9.6 trillion in card volume (2022), nearly double that of Europe. Important contributor to the massive US credit card market is significantly higher interchange rates than in Europe, which issuers use to fund aggressive rewards and cashback propositions to encourage consumers to use their credit cards, which creates a virtuous “flywheel” effect

European regulators have been aggressive in seeking to reduce merchant acceptance costs, and capped intra-EU consumer card interchange at 0.20% for debit and 0.30% for credit. Regulation of interchange effectively killed card-based reward schemes in Europe, leading to steep declines in many issuers’ credit card portfolios Open / Comment

2023-02-11 22:36:16 Yesterday the Bank of Lithuania restricted the activities of UAB Payrnet - Railsr, formerly Railsbank . They now temporarily can’t accept new clients. This is already the second restriction of activities among the largest Lithuanian Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) within a few weeks. A serious note for the beginning of the year from the regulator.

Railsr is a UK-Lithuanian mammoth in providing white-label payment solutions. Their name is widely known throughout EU-UK. They enable companies to issue cards and launch payment platforms, using the licence and payments infrastructure of Railsr. UAB Payrnet has 54 registered companies (“agents”) using these services.

What options are available in Europe, after Railsr is for now off the table?

On the website, PSP Circle publishes the lists with the providers of:
1. Banking-as-a-Service – to launch a payments platform or to add payments to your current services.
2. Card issuing. Open / Comment

2023-02-04 11:14:07 Stablecoin GBPT can now be exchanged for fiat at 18,000 ATMs in Britain.

A Finnish company has launched the EU-regulated EUROe stabelcoin on the Ethereum blockchain — the company suggests that EUROe will close the need for users of Eurozone digital assets. Open / Comment

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Download the WestStein app and become their client to save up. Open / Comment