EMEA Daily: Staffing Shortage Leads London’s Heathrow to Limit Flights; Banque de France Enters Phase 2 of Wholesale CBDC Project

In today’s top news from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), staffing issues prompt London’s Heathrow Airport to limit passenger numbers, and Tradeteq launches a marketplace for investors.

Yapily, Soldo Team to Help SMBs Manage Payments

Open banking platform Yapily and spend management company Soldo have partnered to allow Soldo customers to instantly fund their accounts directly from their bank.

The companies hope to add more open banking solutions as Yapily continues to expand its product suite and geographic footprint across Europe.

Staffing Shortage Leads London’s Heathrow to Limit Flights

Amid staffing shortages, Heathrow Airport in London is limiting the number of departing passengers to 100,000 per day until September and has asked airlines to suspend ticket sales for the summer.

In a message on its website, the airport said the cap on passengers was due to staff shortages amid rising demand for travel, and that it had made its decision to limit passenger levels after looking at staffing numbers for check-in workers, baggage handlers, and other staff.

Last month, Gatwick Airport — also in London — and Schipol Airport in Amsterdam made similar moves as an industry that saw huge worker layoffs in 2020/2021 experiences a rebound in passenger demand.

Meta’s EU Future Hangs on Irish Authority’s Draft Data Regulations

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which includes all the national data protection authorities plus the European Data Protection Supervisor, met Tuesday (July 12). Although the meeting’s agenda did not include a discussion of Meta’s data transfer operation, following a move by the Irish Data Protection Regulator, it is likely that the topic will arise.

Last week, the Irish DPR issued a draft decision that could prevent Meta from moving data about European Union users to the United States. If the decision is finally adopted in its current terms, it could affect services like Instagram and Facebook in Europe. WhatsApp is not affected by the decision.

Tradeteq Debuts New Marketplace for Trade Finance Investors

Trade finance technology specialist Tradeteq has launched Tradeteq Access Lite, a marketplace for investors to participate in the secondary trading of trade finance assets, according to a press release.

The new marketplace has the potential to introduce new money into the realm of trade finance, which was reported to have a $1.7 trillion gap between what was needed and what banks actually lent in 2020.

Banque de France Enters Second Phase of Wholesale CBDC Project

The governor of the Banque de France (BDF), François Villeroy de Galhau, announced on Tuesday (July 12) that the bank has kicked off the second phase of experimentation into a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), which could be used to streamline domestic and cross-border transactions between banks.

He said the BDF could launch a Wholesale CBDC as early as next year.