Sri Lanka Enters the Tap-and-Go Era with Google Pay Launch
Hey Digital Banking Fanatic!
Commercial Bank of Ceylon just became the first bank in Sri Lanka to enable Google Pay for Mastercard cardholders.
It’s a meaningful milestone for the country’s payments stack. Debit and credit card users can now tap and go with Android devices, locally and globally, without carrying physical cards.
Tokenisation sits underneath it all, keeping credentials off devices and out of merchants’ hands.
For the Commercial Bank, this is nothing new...
However, it's a way to boost everyday payments with an infrastructure that adapts to how people actually live and spend, while also contributing to the advancement of digital adoption in Sri Lanka.
A related signal from Europe’s incumbents
Over in the UK, NatWest Group agreed to buy Evelyn Partners for £2.7 billion, its biggest deal since the financial crisis.
The move more than doubles NatWest’s assets under management and cements wealth as a core growth pillar as rate-driven income cools.
Payments are going fully digital on one side. Balance sheets are shifting toward fee-based models on the other. Different markets, same underlying pressure to evolve.
👉 More stories from the Digital Banking ecosystem coming tomorrow. Scroll down to see what’s really driving and shaking up the sector today.
Cheers,
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🇱🇰 ComBank makes history as the first bank in Sri Lanka to enable Google Pay for Mastercard cardholders. Customers can transact seamlessly at contactless-enabled Point-of-Sale terminals across Sri Lanka and at any location globally where Mastercard is accepted, eliminating the need to carry physical cards.
🇬🇧 NatWest to buy Evelyn Partners in $3.68 billion bid to break crowded wealth market. NatWest said it expects the deal to generate about 100 million pounds in annual cost savings and announced a 750 million pound share buyback. Continue reading
🇦🇺 Revolut surpasses 1 million users in Australia. Marking the milestone since launching in Australia six years ago, the company said it now has more than 100 staff locally and plans to invest a further $400 million into the market over five years. Keep reading
🇨🇿 Czech Bank challenges Revolut with new multi-currency service. Partners Banka now allows clients to hold and manage several currencies within a single account without extra fees. The bank says the goal is to simplify everyday international payments while keeping exchange costs predictable.
🇬🇧 Digital bank Monzo wrongly rejects fraud refunds for more than 1,000 customers. The ombudsman overturned 34% of Monzo’s decisions across 3,372 cases, the worst rate among major UK banks, involving authorised push payment scams, card fraud, and identity theft.
🇮🇪 Zippay vs Revolut: The battle for Ireland’s instant payments. Ireland’s major banks are launching Zippay, an instant payments service built into their mobile apps to rival Revolut. While Zippay will enable easy person-to-person payments, Revolut already has strong traction with around three million Irish users, including a large teenage base.
🇺🇸 Bilt customers are getting Wells Fargo cards they didn’t ask for. Wells Fargo’s split with Bilt Technologies sparked confusion after customers who closed their accounts still received Wells Fargo Autograph cards. The cards were mailed before Bilt’s deadline due to production timelines, and both firms said recipients could simply discard inactive cards.
🇺🇸 MrBeast’s Beast Industries to buy Gen Z–Focused Banking App. Beast Industries has agreed to buy Step Mobile, a teen-focused banking app, the companies plan to announce Monday. The acquisition will expand the YouTube star's reach beyond media, restaurants, and packaged food into financial services.
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