ACI Worldwide Payment Solutions Enable Safe, Real-Time Transactions
Weekly news up to Tuesday, 12th August 2025
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider, today announces two milestones that mark a significant step forward for its business expansion in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office and received In-Principle Approval (IPA) for the Stored Value Facilities and the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes licenses from the Central Bank of the UAE.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🔦 REGTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Paxos to Pursue National Trust Charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
⭐️ Hong Kong-based FinTech startup Infini extends white hat offer to $49.5M hacker.
⭐️ iDenfy Adds Secretary of State Verification to KYB Platform.
⭐️ Maven leads £5 million investment in Approov.
🌎 REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
UK 🇬🇧
UK’s Digital Bank Monzo leverages data-driven insights for fraud prevention. Recent updates from the UK’s digital bank Monzo highlight their approach to product development: the implementation of a reactive fraud prevention platform and a shift from traditional dashboards to a data-as-a-product solution.
USA 🇺🇸
Visa extends cybersecurity expertise, prioritizing proactive defense strategies for clients. This new initiative, which is supported by Visa’s deep security expertise, offers cyber consulting services to help clients fight digital threats and payment fraud.
Paxos pays $48.5m to settle NY charges over Binance USD. New York regulators accused Paxos of failing to conduct sufficient due diligence on its partner, Binance. Under the terms of the settlement, Paxos will pay a $26.5 million fine and invest $22 million to strengthen its compliance program.
ASIA
Tarabut secures in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE. With this approval, Tarabut becomes the first regional FinTech to be licensed under Open Finance frameworks in all three major Gulf economies, underscoring its critical role as the infrastructure layer powering the future of financial services in the region.
TransferMate receives in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to add payment services. TransferMate can now issue accounts, e-money, and local transfers after receiving in-principle approval from Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS).
Sunrate gets initial nod for money services license in Malaysia. Sunrate has received approval-in-principle for a money services business license from Bank Negara Malaysia, the country's central bank. The Singapore-based company provides payment and treasury management services to businesses.
Ant International’s WorldFirst accelerates SEA growth with Malaysia MSB Licence. The licence will enable WorldFirst to expand its product offerings and roll out new services, facilitating international payments, especially in receiving foreign currency payments globally, with a focus on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to manage their cross-border transactions more efficiently.
AFRICA
ACI Worldwide’s advanced payment solutions enable real-time payments without risk. Outlining trends in global payments and new risks inherent in instant payments, ACI Worldwide experts noted that technologies such as cloud native payment hubs, advanced data analytics, and AI are making it safer for banks and financial institutions to embrace modernisation.