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A leading payments industry news source for more than 17 years. Glenbrook curates the news and keeps you abreast of the important daily headlines in payments.
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November 18, 2025
On the web
Brazil Eyes Taxing Crypto for Cross-Border Payments, Sources Say
Reuters
"Brazil is looking at taxing the use of cryptocurrencies for international payments, two officials with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters, closing a loophole in the country's usual levy on foreign-exchange transactions. One of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the confidential talks, said the Finance Ministry is looking at expanding its financial transaction tax (IOF) to some cross-border transfers using virtual assets and stablecoins that the central bank classified this month as forex operations."
November 17, 2025
On the wires
Pix to Approach 8 Billion Monthly Transactions as It Marks Five-Year Milestone, Ebanx Study Finds
GlobalNewswire
"Marking its fifth anniversary on November 16, Brazil’s instant payment system, Pix, is on course to surpass seven billion monthly transactions for the first time, potentially reaching 7.9 billion in December. In this month, holiday shopping typically drives peak volumes—an expected 15% increase from September. This growth is expected to push Pix’s total transaction volume in 2025 to USD 6.7 trillion. No other instant payment system worldwide has achieved this milestone so quickly—not even India’s real-time payment method, UPI."
November 14, 2025
On the web
Africa’s Digital Payments Gain Momentum: SIIPS 2025 Reveals $2 Trillion in Instant Payments Driving Growth and Inclusion
AfricaNenda
"Africa’s digital payments landscape is expanding at a record pace, marking a turning point towards more inclusive interoperable financial systems. The State of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems (SIIPS) 2025 Report, released by the AfricaNenda Foundation, in partnership with the World Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), reveals how instant payment systems (IPS) are driving economic participation, innovation, and opportunity across the continent."
On the wires
Visa Expands Visa Intelligent Commerce Across Asia Pacific, Prepares for AI Commerce Pilot by Early 2026
PR Newswire
"Visa today announced significant strides in expanding Visa Intelligent Commerce across Asia Pacific, accelerating the region's push into agentic commerce – a new era where AI-powered agents shop and pay on behalf of consumers."
November 13, 2025
On the web
ChatGPT Joins PhonePe: AI To Transform UPI Payments Across India
Patna Press
"In a major leap for India’s fintech sector, PhonePe has announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI, aiming to integrate ChatGPT-powered AI features into its digital payments app. The move marks the beginning of a new era where artificial intelligence meets everyday transactions, making UPI interactions smarter, faster, and more conversational. Through this collaboration, users will be able to access AI-driven suggestions and assistance directly within the app."
November 11, 2025
On the web
Bank of England Launches Consultation on Regulating Systemic Stablecoins
Bank of England
"The Bank of England published a consultation paper setting out its proposed regulatory regime for sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins. Such stablecoins are a new type of digital money designed to maintain a stable value and could be used for retail payments and wholesale settlement in the future. This marks a significant step in preparing for a future where new forms of digital money may be widely used for payments alongside existing ones."
Brazil Puts Stablecoins Under FX Rules
Disrupt Africa
"Brazil’s central bank will treat stablecoin payments as foreign-exchange operations while extending consumer-protection standards and licensing to crypto providers. Stricter rules typically reduce scams and increase mainstream comfort, laying groundwork for broader crypto adoption as regulated on-ramps mature."
November 10, 2025
On the web
Italy’s Banks Support Ecb’s Digital Euro Plan, but Want to Spread Out Costs Over Time: Reuters
The Block
"Italy’s banks support the European Central Bank’s plan to introduce a digital euro but want its required investments to be spread out over time, a top official of Italy’s banking association said, per Reuters. The ECB in recent weeks has advanced its plan to introduce a digital euro, finalizing a roadmap with EU finance ministers to develop the central bank digital currency (CBDC), projected to launch in 2029 given EU approval next year."
Paytm Unveils All-New App With AI Features to Enhance Payment Experience
Business Standard
"Paytm, India's full-stack merchant payments leader, has launched a redesigned version of its flagship app, integrating artificial intelligence-driven features to personalise everyday transactions for its users. The update introduces a cleaner user interface alongside over 15 new features. One of the standout innovations is the launch of "Gold Coins," a first-of-its-kind initiative that rewards users with digital gold on every payment, adding a valuable savings dimension to regular transactions."
November 7, 2025
On the web
Canada’s Federal Budget Includes Open Banking, Payments, Stablecoins as Key Focus Areas
Crowdfund Insider
"The Canadian Government has released its budget for the year 2025. The budget primarily centers on several major themes, such as: shifting from reliance to resilience, adequately protecting Canada’s sovereignty as well as security, and building a stronger Canadian economy. The budget confirms the importance of payments in enabling these core objectives via: Safer payments; more choice for Canadians; faster payments; consumer-driven banking; stablecoins; transparent international remittances; fixing misdirected payments."
RuPay Emerges as India’s Preferred Credit Card Network - All Thanks to UPI Integration
MSN
"Analysts said, RuPay has recently gained momentum in the credit-card ecosystem due to the availability of credit cards on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform. They said that currently, RuPay's share in the credit-card market is around 16 per cent as against about 3 percent two years ago, they added. In late 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had given the approval to link RuPay credit-cards only to UPI."
November 6, 2025
On the web
Beyond QR Codes: The Indonesian Unicorn Driving Southeast Asia’s Digital Payments Evolution
NBC
"Indonesian fintech unicorn Xendit is helping reshape Southeast Asia’s payment landscape by offering Stripe-like infrastructure tailored to the region’s unique challenges. In this episode of CNBC’s “Beyond the Valley,” Xendit co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Tessa Wijaya joins Arjun Kharpal at the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) to discuss unifying a fragmented payments system landscape, learning from her first startup in the food business and the challenge of moving the Asian payment market away from QR codes."
November 5, 2025
On the web
OpenAI's ChatGPT Go Now Free in India: Users Fume as UPI Payments Fail During Free Plan Rollout
The Economic Times
"OpenAI is offering ChatGPT Go free for 12 months to users in India starting November 4, 2025. The company announced that anyone who signs up during this limited-time promotional period will receive free access to the otherwise paid plan. But OpenAI's AI chatbot ChatGPT is once again facing glitches with UPI payments, second in recent months. Many users of AI chatbot complained they have experienced payment issues with the UPI option."
On the wires
Game Developers Can Now Capture More Holiday Demand With Xsolla’s Expanded Payments Portfolio
Business Wire
"Xsolla, announced new local payment methods across key markets in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The expansion introduces 10 new local payment options that match how players already pay in their home markets, including: Europe: MB Way (Portugal); Asia: JKOPay (Taiwan); Paidy (Japan); Africa: Airtel Mobile Money (Tanzania, Madagascar) and MTN Mobile Money (Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Zambia); Paga (Nigeria); Bank Transfers (Nigeria); MVola (Madagascar); Spenn (Rwanda, Zambia); Latin America: Mercado Pago (Uruguay)."
November 4, 2025
On the web
Payday Super to Deliver Stronger Retirement Outcomes for Australians
Australian Payments Plus
"Australian Payments Plus (AP+) has welcomed the passing of payday super legislation, which will help improve retirement savings for millions of Australians by ensuring superannuation contributions are paid at the same time as wages. The New Payments Platform (NPP), operated by AP+ will play a central role in enabling payday super. The ATO in August approved the NPP as a payment method for superannuation contributions and confirmed that, from July 2026, all super funds must be able to receive superannuation payments via the NPP."
November 3, 2025
On the web
PhonePe Rolls Out ‘PhonePe Protect’ to Safeguard Users From Fraudulent Transactions
ITVoice
"PhonePe has rolled-out ‘PhonePe Protect’– a security framework designed to safeguard users from fraudulent transactions. The feature also offers insights into the risks involved when transactions are declined for security reasons. ‘PhonePe Protect’ incorporates a mechanism to identify and block transactions directed toward mobile numbers that are flagged as suspicious by The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) through their ‘Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI)’ feature."
Tokenization Takes Prime Role in Hong Kong’s Fintech 2030 Strategy
Trading View
"The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is seeking to grow the tokenization ecosystem as part of its four-pronged growth strategy for its fintech sector over the next five years. In a statement on Wednesday during Hong Kong Fintech Week, HKMA said its Fintech 2030 strategy will focus “on four strategic pillars” referred to as “DART,” covering data, artificial intelligence, resilience and tokenization across 40 initiatives."
JPYC Stablecoin Launches in Japan. Has a Fraud Compensation Policy
Ledger Insights
"JPYC went live as a Japanese regulated stablecoin. It is the first Yen stablecoin to launch under Japan’s stablecoin regulations, which came into force in 2023. The law supports three types of issuers: funds transfer service providers such as JPYC, trust banks acting for third parties, or commercial banks. By international standards, the stablecoin has a novel feature – it offers compensation for fraud under certain circumstances. The issuer also announced a Philippines deal."
October 30, 2025
On the web
Eurosystem Moving to Next Phase of Digital Euro Project
European Central Bank
"The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to move to the next phase of the digital euro project. This decision follows the successful completion of the preparation phase. The Governing Council’s decision aligns with European leaders’ request to accelerate progress on the digital euro, as recently stated at the October 2025 Euro Summit."
October 29, 2025
On the web
Google Taps Yepily to Power Bank Account Verification in Europe
IBS Intelligence
"Yapily has partnered with Google to enable the rollout of Google’s bank account verification service for business customers across Europe. The partnership marks a significant milestone in advancing digital finance, combining Yapily’s secure, API-driven connectivity with Google’s innovative financial technology to deliver a seamless, fast, and trusted verification experience for businesses. The announcement comes at a pivotal time for open banking in Europe, as adoption continues to accelerate across markets."
M-PESA Ethiopia Integrates with EthSwitch to Advance Financial Inclusion and Interoperability
TechAfrica News
"M-PESA Ethiopia has announced the successful integration of its mobile money platform with EthSwitch, Ethiopia’s national payment network, marking a major milestone in the country’s journey toward financial inclusion and interoperability. The integration enables seamless money transfers and payments between M-PESA and 15 participating banks and mobile wallets across Ethiopia, with more integrations planned in the coming weeks."
October 27, 2025
On the web
China’s Digital Yuan CBDC Processes $2 Trillion
Ledger Insights
"The People’s Bank of China reported that digital yuan payment volumes nearly doubled over the past 14 months, reaching RMB 14.2 trillion ($2 trillion) through September 2025, up from RMB 7.3 trillion in July 2024. The CBDC figures represent a significant acceleration in adoption of the central bank digital currency. The surge in volume comes alongside explosive wallet growth."
October 24, 2025
On the web
Twint Fraud Is Booming: So Simple and Yet So Successful
Digitec
"The Swiss payment app Twint is being targeted by cyber criminals. They use various tricks to obtain money from unsuspecting users. Because the service is considered trustworthy, the effort required by the fraudsters is minimal."
Nigeria’s Central Bank Forms Stablecoin Working Group
Ledger Insights
"The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Olayemi Cardoso said the central bank has set up a working group in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to explore the implications of creating a stablecoin framework in Nigeria."
October 23, 2025
On the web
Brazil Shelves Digital Currency—for Now
Funds Society
"After two phases (which involved several banks and consortia), the Drex project was rolled back and will now launch in 2026, in an initial version without blockchain, focused on infrastructure for reconciling credit liens—that is, systems to centralize records and legal restrictions affecting assets used as collateral in financial operations."
October 22, 2025
On the web
New Hacker Attack via Pix Hits Tech Company and Could Reach R$40 Million
Finsiders Brasil
"Fraudsters hacked into the systems of Diletta, a company specializing in white-label software for the financial sector; FictorPay was one of the affected institutions."
October 17, 2025
On the web
Banks Will Have to Reject Transfers and Payments to Accounts Suspected of Fraud; Rule Is Now in Effect and Changes Pix Security [Brazil]
CPG Click Petróleo e Gás
"In September 2025, the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) required banks, fintechs and digital wallets to automatically reject payments and transfers to accounts classified as suspected of fraud. The regulation is already in force and marks a new stage in the security policy of the national financial system. Each financial institution is now obliged to integrate its monitoring systems with the central register of suspicious accounts maintained by the Central Bank."
October 16, 2025
On the web
Monetary Authority of Singapore Launches BLOOM Initiative to Extend Settlement Capabilities
Monetary Authority of Singapore
"The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced a new initiative – BLOOM (Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency), to extend settlement capabilities offered by financial institutions. Through BLOOM, MAS will collaborate with the financial industry to enable settlement in tokenised bank liabilities and well-regulated stablecoins, whilst effectively managing risks in the rapidly evolving digital settlement asset landscape, through standardised approaches."
October 14, 2025
On the web
OpenAI Partners With India’s Payment Authority to Bring UPI to ChatGPT
The American Bazaar
"India’s payment authority National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and fintech firm Razorpay have collaborated with OpenAI to launch AI-driven payments on ChatGPT. This initiative, which is in its pilot state, will enable people to make payments on ChatGPT via India’s homegrown payments network Unified Payments Interface (UPI)."
On the wires
EnKash Unveils India's First Unified Corporate Card Ecosystem for Businesses
PR Newswire
"EnKash, India's leading full-stack business payments and spend management platform, announced the launch of its Corporate Card Ecosystem. With this launch, EnKash introduces a unified ecosystem that integrates seamlessly with the company's broader product suite, including its award-winning Expense Management System, Corporate Cards, and UPI-based wallets for petty cash management solutions. Together, these create a completely new way for businesses to manage, track, and reconcile spends."