Today in FinTech: Points Conversion; Open Banking Merger; BNPL Growth

In today’s FinTech news, it’s all about buy now, pay later (BNPL). Ayden and Afterpay are teaming up for further expansion, while Canopy joins the Visa Ready BNPL program. Plus, Tabby is launching a virtual card with Visa for BNPL purchases.

Adyen Further Grows World Alliance with BNPL Giant Afterpay

Dutch payments firm Adyen is expanding its strategic partnership with Australian BNPL leader Afterpay to expedite growth in key markets in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, the U.S. and the U.K.

Afterpay is known as Clearpay in Europe and is available to Adyen retailers in the U.K., France, Italy and Spain.

Canopy Joins Visa Ready for Seamless BNPL Payments

Loan management and servicing platform Canopy will facilitate flexible BNPL payments as part of the Visa Ready for BNPL program.

Canopy offers flexible loan management and servicing that supports tailored secure payments, and its transparent platform lets lenders and card program managers track borrowers’ balances and transactions for all products used. More than 20 partners are currently live on Visa Ready for BNPL, including ACI Worldwide, CyberSource, FIS and Marqeta.

BNPL Provider Tabby Debuts Virtual Visa Card

Dubai-based BNPL platform Tabby is partnering with Visa to launch a virtual card, created with application programing interface (API) infrastructure company M2P Fintech.

Tabby users can activate the card in the app and add it to their digital wallet. The virtual card can be used for installment payments for in-store purchases.

Mastercard’s MGX Lets Gamers Turn Points Into Gaming Bucks

Gamers can turn their unused Mastercard reward points into gaming money with the Mastercard Gamer Xchange (MGX).

This first-of-its-kind, turnkey scalable solution can be integrated into loyalty platforms using API integration. Mastercard said nearly 4,000 of the most popular games played around the world will work with MGX.

Yapily Snaps Up finAPI to Form Open Banking Giant

London-based open banking API startup Yapily is planning to acquire SCHUFA’s 75% stake in open banking API firm finAPI for undisclosed terms.

Yapily said that the combined entity will create the largest open banking payments platform in Europe and will double its customer base. FinAPI’s customers include over 50 large enterprise firms in the financial, insurance and IT industries.

South Korea’s Asset Management FinTech Akros Lists on NYSE

Asset management FinTech startup Akros Technologies is listing an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered exchange-traded fund on the New York Stock Exchange.

Akros has already launched two indexes with administrative services with Morningstar Indexes: Akros Multi-Asset Index, under the ticker symbol MPAY, and Akros Total Stock Market Index, under the ticker symbol RTRN.