Top 5 Stories of the Week in FinTech

Customer Obsession: Why has Stripe Acquired Metronome?

Usage-based billing platform Metronome has agreed to join payments processing giant Stripe in a move aimed at changing how companies monetise software. 

Metronome, a provider of metered billing service, has signed an agreement to join payment processing platform Stripe. 

Under the agreement, Metronome services will become a core part of Stripe’s product suite. 

Metronome CEO and Co-founder Scott Woody describes the move as a part of the company’s six year journey to improving customer experience. 

In a blog post, Scott describes being “Customer Obsessed” as a core company value, even pinning it as the “north star” behind every company decision.

Agentic Commerce: What Could We Learn from Visa’s Success?

Visa partners with Skyfire, Nekuda, PayOS and Ramp to complete secure AI transactions, positioning itself as leader in agentic commerce infrastructure. 

Hundreds of secure AI-driven transactions have been completed by Visa and its partners across the commerce ecosystem.

The payments giant announced the milestone as part of its Visa Intelligent Commerce initiative, demonstrating that agent-initiated purchasing has transitioned from experimentation to live production environments.

Monzo: How Did it Secure a European Banking Licence?

Monzo becomes the first digital bank to secure full European Central Bank and Central Bank of Ireland licence, marking a major step in growth and expansion. 

Monzo has secured a full banking licence from the European Central Bank and the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), positioning the UK digital bank as the first fully regulated digital lender by the CBI.

The approval enables the London-based bank to expand operations across European markets starting with Ireland, where it plans to establish its official EU headquarters in Dublin.

The regulatory milestone represents a significant development for the digital bank, which has built a customer base of more than 14 million people and over 800,000 businesses in the UK since its founding in 2015.

How is Visa Supporting Africa’s Digital Economy with Orange? 

Orange Money and Visa announce partnership to boost digital economy in Africa and the Middle East with virtual cards for online payments

Orange Money has teamed up with Visa for more inclusive and accessible finance in Africa and the Middle East. 

The partnership also aims to bring an increase in the volume of online payments across the regions. 

After success in Botswana, Jordan and Madagascar, the virtual Visa card will be gradually rolled out in Burkina Faso, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sustainability: What Can Worldpay Learn From ekko?

Worldpay collaborates with ekko to offer merchants carbon footprint tracking and charitable donations at checkout across EMEA. 

Worldpay has announced a strategic collaboration with ekko that enables merchants to display the carbon footprint of customer purchases at checkout and offer optional charitable contributions.

The move positions the global payments leader as a sustainability-focused fintech at a time when 85% of retailers cite environmental responsibility as a business driver.