Recent News

On January 25, PayPal CEO Alex Criss unveiled 6 new products, “innovations to revolutionize commerce,” based on artificial intelligence. Chriss joined the company in September 2023 and is trying to leverage AI tools as much as possible to grow the company. What are these new features that should appear in PayPal? Example: The "smart receipts" feature should use AI to predict the next purchases from the merchant. In this way, the merchant will provide personalized recommendations and cashback offers in electronic receipts. Fastlane is a one-click payment feature. Customers simply save their details in Fastlane for one-touch checkout. The advanced offers platform will provide merchants with unique customer data based on their previous purchase history. Thus, the company believes that knowledge about its customers, the history of their transactions, as well as merchants' orientations - will help to open new opportunities for the company in symbiosis with artificial...

Changes to the preferential tax regime were approved by the Portuguese Parliament in December 2023. For which categories of persons will the preferential tax regime continue to apply? First, these are persons who are already registered as non-permanent residents on the date of entry into force of the new law, provided that the 10-year benefit period has not been exhausted. Also persons who were already tax residents of Portugal on December 31, 2023. Individuals who became resident for tax purposes before December 31, 2024 and apply for the NHR regime and meet certain criteria are also eligible for benefits. The criteria include the presence of a previous employment contract, employment contract or secondment contract concluded before December 31, 2023, with the performance of duties on the territory of Portugal; concluded lease agreement or other agreement granting the right to use or own real estate in Portugal until October 10, 2023; a signed reservation agreement or promissory note agreement for the acquisition of ownership of real estate in Portugal by October 10, 2023; and some others. Family members of taxpayers mentioned above also fall under the preferential...

Australia has suspended applications for people investing more than A$5 million ($3.3 million) in the country as part of a broader immigration policy reform aimed at attracting more skilled migrants. Source:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-22/australia-halts-golden-visa-under-broad-migration-overhaul?srnd=wealth&embedded-checkout=true&leadSource=uverify%20wall All applications for the Significant Investor or Golden Visa program have been stopped. Investor visas like Australia's have come under fire around the world amid accusations that they have been abused by wealthy people and have failed to benefit the countries themselves. The key issue is that the funds involved are often directed into real estate or financial assets rather than into productive areas of the economy. Home Affairs Minister Claire O'Neill said the visa was one of "many aspects" of Australia's migration system that the government plans to change to "create a system that benefits our...

Revenue grew 23% compared to a year earlier. Payment volume reached £30.6 billion, up from £26.4 billion. Source:https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/wise-account-sees-40-growth-in-income-as-active-customers-reach-7-5-million-20240116 Wise currently has 7.5 million active users. The figure, which includes 392,000 business customers, is up about 30% year-on-year. Wise CEO Christo Käärmann said he was "pleased" with the company's results for the latest quarter, despite a 1% decline in sales per customer. “We have accelerated global payments in US dollars by optimizing payouts with one of our banking partners, and expanded the Wise Interest Asset [money market fund] offering in seven European markets, including France and Spain,” Käärmann said. Wise raised its full-year revenue growth forecast. The fintech expects revenue to grow 44% in the financial year ending March 2024. Wise expanded its partnership in the most recent quarter. During the quarter ended December 31, 2023, the firm partnered with UK business bank Allica Bank, travel platform Agoda and global expense management solutions company...

According to the new legislation, citizenship can be applied for after 5 years of permanent residence. This period can be reduced to 3 years if the applicant speaks German at level C1, volunteers and takes an active part in public life. In this case, retention of original citizenship is allowed without restrictions. Lifting the ban on dual citizenship, which also applies to children born in Germany and acquiring German citizenship. Children born in Germany will also be able to obtain German citizenship if their parent has been a legal resident of the country for more than 5 years. Persons over 67 years of age no longer require a written test in German; an oral confirmation of language proficiency will be sufficient. It is important that obtaining the status of a tax resident in Germany with all that it entails is...

New taxation and reporting rules came into force on January 1, 2024. Therefore, UK residents with an income of more than £1,000 per annum from secondary activities must register as self-employed, keep accounts and submit information to HMRC. This tax is not new; previously it was also necessary to declare income when carrying out trading activities. But, nevertheless, the government is tightening the requirements. All transactions must be reported to HMRC. This applies primarily to trading platforms. They must transmit information about all transactions. The first reporting deadline is the end of January...

The agreement should lead to amendments to the AMLD, as well as determine the direction of the AMLA (the future regulator). There are several key points of the agreement reached. Source:https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/01/18/anti-money-laundering-council-and-parliament-strike-deal-on-stricter-rules/ Registers of beneficial owners will be reopened. In this way, members of the public with a legitimate interest, including the press and non-profit organizations, will be able to access the registers of beneficial owners of companies. Enhanced Due Diligence. The European Commission will conduct an EU-level assessment of the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing and will prepare recommendations for Member States on the measures they should use when conducting risk assessments at national level. Expanding the circle of accountable entities. Sellers of cars, high-end aircraft and yachts, as well as works of art will become obligated entities. Other sectors that will be subject to customer due diligence and reporting obligations will include sellers of luxury goods such as precious metals, gemstones and watches. All cryptoasset...

Quantum computing startup Quantinuum has raised $300 million in funding. The company is now valued at $5 billion, and JPMorgan Chase led the funding round. Source:https://www.quantinuum.com/news/honeywell-announces-the-closing-of-300-million-equity-investment-round-for-quantinuum-at-5b-pre-money-valuation Additional participants included Mitsui & Co., Amgen and Honeywell, which remains the company's majority shareholder. This investment brings the total amount of capital raised by Quantinuum since its inception to about $625 million. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of the world's first universal fault-tolerant quantum computers. JPMorgan Chase has one of the world's most respected teams of specialists working on quantum technologies in the financial services industry and has been working with Quantinuum and its predecessor companies since 2020. Today, Quantinuum technologies are used by leading companies, including Airbus, BMW Group, Honeywell, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Mitsui and...

To support the neobank's rapid growth trajectory and global expansion into merchant acquiring, Jabil Inc. and Revolut continue their fruitful cooperation. Jabil's dedicated, pre-certified point-of-sale (POS) hardware platform, as well as other retail automation technologies transforming digital commerce, will soon be introduced. Source:https://ffnews.com/newsarticle/paytech/jabil-teams-with-fintech-leader-revolut-to-scale-development-and-production-of-innovative-mobile-payment-mpos-solution/ “Jabil has been instrumental in accelerating the time to market for Revolut Reader by providing critical product design, development, testing and certification capabilities,” said Alex Codina, general manager of merchant acquiring at Revolut. Starting in 2021, Jabil is partnering with Revolut to diversify its product portfolio, including the launch of Revolut Reader, a compact, dedicated hardware platform that allows merchants to accept payments in stores or on the...