Today in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Adyen has tapped Tink to enable open banking payments, and Google announced its intention to launch a new cloud region in South Africa.
Expanded Tink Partnership Brings Open Banking Payments to Adyen
The open banking platform, Tink, announced in a blog post today that it has partnered with the global payments firm, Adyen, to enable instant account-to-account payments for consumers.
Often cited as an alternative to card-based payments for merchants, Adyen today stated that “open banking payments are quickly moving to the mainstream.”
The company has launched account-to-account payments in the UK first with plans to expand to new markets next year. The new product is being referred to as “pay-by-bank.”
Adyen’s launch of pay-by-bank builds upon an existing partnership with Tink, which provides its “Account Check” product for real-time account verification to allow Adyen customers to automate the setup of payouts.
Google Announces New Cloud Region in South Africa
Google today announced that it will launch its first African cloud region in South Africa.
The announcement was made by Niral Patel, the Director of Google Cloud in Africa, during today’s Google for Africa 2022 event.
“I am excited to officially announce our intent to open a Google cloud region in South Africa,” Patel said. He added that the new region is expected to $2.1 billion to the country’s GDP and support the creation of over 40,000 jobs by 2030.
“Along with the cloud region, we are expanding our network through the Equiano Subsea Cable,” he continued.
The company will also build Dedicated Cloud Interconnect sites in Johannesburg, Capetown, Lagos and Nairobi. In doing this, Google is building “full-scale cloud capability for Africa,” Patel said.
Spotify Plans to Combat Hate Speech With Kinzen Purchase
Spotify has acquired Kinzen, an Irish content moderation company, the streaming audio platform announced today.
“Kinzen’s advanced technology and deep expertise will help us more effectively deliver a safe, enjoyable experience on our platform around the world,” Spotify said in a news release.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The companies have worked together since 2020, Spotify added in the release, noting that Kinzen’s technology is particularly suited to the podcasting and audio formats Spotify provides.
The Dublin-based company uses a combination of machine learning and human expertise — along with analysis from local academics and journalists — to analyze potential harmful content and hate speech in several languages and countries, the release stated.
Because of the complexity of analyzing audio content in hundreds of languages and dialects, as well as the difficulty of effectively evaluating the nuance and intent of that content, Spotify said in the release its purchase of Kinzen will help the company better understand the abuse landscape and identify emerging threats on the platform.
Chainalysis: MENA Is World’s Fastest-Growing Crypto Market
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the fastest-growing cryptocurrency market on the planet, a report by blockchain researcher Chainalysis has found.
The report, published today on the company’s blog, found that the volume of crypto received in the region rose 48% between June 2021 and June 2022, reaching $566 billion. The data is part of Chainalysis’ larger worldwide index of crypto adoption, due to be published later in the month.
While the region’s major business hubs — countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — rarely reach the upper tier of its crypto adoption index, Chainalysis said their place in the crypto world should not be discounted.
Quadient Launches Automated Invoice Preparation, Delivery Solution
The France-based business technology firm Quadient has today launched a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that automates the preparation and delivery of invoices.
Called Quadient Impress Invoice, the new product automates and delivers invoices through each customer’s preferred channel, enables customers to pay online, tracks the status of delivery and payment, and archives invoices in compliance with local regulations, Quadient said in a press release.
Now available in the United States and the United Kingdom, the new product is to launch in France, Germany and other European countries by the end of the year.
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