LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 30, 2025--
WorldFirst, an all-in-one digital cross-border payment and treasury account service for global businesses, announced a 300% surge in emerging markets transaction volume during the first half of 2025. The growth figures were disclosed during WorldFirst's recent Financial Partners Day in London, which was attended by more than 60 representatives from over 30 financial institutions.
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A key goal of the Eurosystem’s retail payments strategy is to make it easier for businesses in Europe to send and receive payments to and from other countries. Against this backdrop, the event discussed how to leverage bank-fintech collaboration—through interoperability, SME-focused solutions, and digital innovation—to build a more resilient and inclusive financial ecosystem.
Simplifying Global Payments for Growing Businesses
Coco XU, founder of London-based pet supply brand Cococat, saw her eco-friendly cat litter soar into Amazon's top 100 within a year. "As a new brand with global ambition, our biggest challenge was managing multi-currency cash flow and securing efficient fund transfers to the UK," she said.
The turning point came when Cococat discovered WorldFirst. By leveraging WorldFirst’s account service, Cococat reduced transaction costs by 20% compared to traditional methods while cutting settlement time from 5-7 days to near real-time.
The story exemplifies the broader industry transformation. Over 1.2 million merchants worldwide, including Cococat, are using WorldFirst's bank-supported solutions featuring global coverage, secure transactions and operational efficiency. Key offerings include:
"The power of fintech-bank collaboration lies in building a more robust and inclusive financial ecosystem," noted Clara SHI, CEO of WorldFirst. "This synergy enables us to deliver solutions with global coverage, efficiency, and security to SMEs engaged in cross-border commerce. In turn, it provides our financial partners with a strategic gateway to the vibrant—and often hard-to-reach—SME economy."
WorldFirst’s banking network includes eight global systemically important banks, such as J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered, Barclays, HSBC, Citibank and others. In Europe, BNP Paribas stands as one of its key strategic partners.
Pierre Fersztand, Global Head of Cash Management, Trade Solutions & Factoring at BNP Paribas, commented on the partnership: "Today’s clients expect seamless digital experiences supported by the stability of a global bank. Our collaboration with WorldFirst ensures we remain at the forefront of providing innovative trade finance and cash management services that drive growth and financial inclusion."
What’s next? Extending the technology and innovation to the industry
Banks and fintechs are making significant technological strides to bridge the gap between the needs of the global economy and the capabilities of today's cross-border payment systems. As part of this effort, WorldFirst is launching a series of AI-driven initiatives to enhance security, compliance, and user experience:
AI-driven risk management - WorldFirst enhances its fraud detection capabilities by integrating advanced AI and machine learning algorithms. This enables real-time transaction screening, maintains a sub-0.01% fraud rate, and streamlines compliance processes.
AI-Guided Cross-Border Support - WorldFirst’s intelligent assistant Anthea, provides 24/7 multilingual support—helping sellers overcome cross-cultural barriers, language gaps, and local payment preferences.
"At WorldFirst, we see AI as the core driver for the next generation of cross-border trade," highlighted Clara. "Our focus is shifting from merely leveraging AI for risk defense to actively deploying it to empower businesses. By simplifying technical complexity, we are democratizing access to the global economy and turning cross-border payments into a streamlined experience for every business."
Mahesh Kini, Global Head of Cash Management, Standard Chartered, said: "We are pleased to see the increased positive impact that our partnership with WorldFirst is making on its clients and the broader ecosystem. This is in line with our efforts to offer seamless and secure last mile digital payment and FX solutions that enable these companies to scale their operations."
Complementing its digital capabilities, WorldFirst is also expanding its physical presence with new offices in Kuala Lumpur, Mexico, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia—strengthening its local support network across key markets.
This approach resonates deeply with clients. As the founder of Cococat Coco Xu noted: "Another key deciding factor was WorldFirst’s physical presence. Knowing they have an office here in London is incredibly reassuring. Whenever we have a question, we can talk to a real person who understands our local context. It truly feels like a partnership."
About WorldFirst
WorldFirst offers cross-border payments and treasury services through its global business account, empowering growth for SMEs in e-commerce, trade, and the broad platform economy. WorldFirst simplifies key financial operations, including international payments, collections, currency conversions, and treasury management, all in a one-stop account. Leveraging the technological strengths, WorldFirst delivers industry-leading transaction security and reliability. WorldFirst has supported over 1.2 million customers, enabling payments in 100+ currencies across more than 210 countries and regions. Learn more about WorldFirst at https://www.worldfirst.com.
WorldFirst and its financial partners came together to discuss how to advance collaboration to better serve SMEs at the WorldFirst Financial Partners Day in London.
ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump would not be the first president to invoke the Insurrection Act, as he has threatened, so that he can send U.S. military forces to Minnesota.
But he'd be the only commander in chief to use the 19th-century law to send troops to quell protests that started because of federal officers the president already has sent to the area — one of whom shot and killed a U.S. citizen.
The law, which allows presidents to use the military domestically, has been invoked on more than two dozen occasions — but rarely since the 20th Century's Civil Rights Movement.
Federal forces typically are called to quell widespread violence that has broken out on the local level — before Washington's involvement and when local authorities ask for help. When presidents acted without local requests, it was usually to enforce the rights of individuals who were being threatened or not protected by state and local governments. A third scenario is an outright insurrection — like the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Experts in constitutional and military law say none of that clearly applies in Minneapolis.
“This would be a flagrant abuse of the Insurrection Act in a way that we've never seen,” said Joseph Nunn, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty and National Security Program. “None of the criteria have been met.”
William Banks, a Syracuse University professor emeritus who has written extensively on the domestic use of the military, said the situation is “a historical outlier” because the violence Trump wants to end “is being created by the federal civilian officers” he sent there.
But he also cautioned Minnesota officials would have “a tough argument to win” in court, because the judiciary is hesitant to challenge “because the courts are typically going to defer to the president” on his military decisions.
Here is a look at the law, how it's been used and comparisons to Minneapolis.
George Washington signed the first version in 1792, authorizing him to mobilize state militias — National Guard forerunners — when “laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed.”
He and John Adams used it to quash citizen uprisings against taxes, including liquor levies and property taxes that were deemed essential to the young republic's survival.
Congress expanded the law in 1807, restating presidential authority to counter “insurrection or obstruction” of laws. Nunn said the early statutes recognized a fundamental “Anglo-American tradition against military intervention in civilian affairs” except “as a tool of last resort.”
The president argues Minnesota officials and citizens are impeding U.S. law by protesting his agenda and the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Customs and Border Protection officers. Yet early statutes also defined circumstances for the law as unrest “too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course” of law enforcement.
There are between 2,000 and 3,000 federal authorities in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, compared to Minneapolis, which has fewer than 600 police officers. Protesters' and bystanders' video, meanwhile, has shown violence initiated by federal officers, with the interactions growing more frequent since Renee Good was shot three times and killed.
“ICE has the legal authority to enforce federal immigration laws,” Nunn said. “But what they're doing is a sort of lawless, violent behavior” that goes beyond their legal function and “foments the situation” Trump wants to suppress.
“They can't intentionally create a crisis, then turn around to do a crackdown,” he said, adding that the Constitutional requirement for a president to “faithfully execute the laws” means Trump must wield his power, on immigration and the Insurrection Act, “in good faith.”
Courts have blocked some of Trump's efforts to deploy the National Guard, but he'd argue with the Insurrection Act that he does not need a state's permission to send troops.
That traces to President Abraham Lincoln, who held in 1861 that Southern states could not legitimately secede. So, he convinced Congress to give him express power to deploy U.S. troops, without asking, into Confederate states he contended were still in the Union. Quite literally, Lincoln used the act as a legal basis to fight the Civil War.
Nunn said situations beyond such a clear insurrection as the Confederacy still require a local request or another trigger that Congress added after the Civil War: protecting individual rights. Ulysses S. Grant used that provision to send troops to counter the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists who ignored the 14th and 15th amendments and civil rights statutes.
During post-war industrialization, violence erupted around strikes and expanding immigration — and governors sought help.
President Rutherford B. Hayes granted state requests during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 after striking workers, state forces and local police clashed, leading to dozens of deaths. Grover Cleveland granted a Washington state governor's request — at that time it was a U.S. territory — to help protect Chinese citizens who were being attacked by white rioters. President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to Colorado in 1914 amid a coal strike after workers were killed.
Federal troops helped diffuse each situation.
Banks stressed that the law then and now presumes that federal resources are needed only when state and local authorities are overwhelmed — and Minnesota leaders say their cities would be stable and safe if Trump's feds left.
As Grant had done, mid-20th century presidents used the act to counter white supremacists.
Franklin Roosevelt dispatched 6,000 troops to Detroit — more than double the U.S. forces in Minneapolis — after race riots that started with whites attacking Black residents. State officials asked for FDR's aid after riots escalated, in part, Nunn said, because white local law enforcement joined in violence against Black residents. Federal troops calmed the city after dozens of deaths, including 17 Black residents killed by local police.
Once the Civil Rights Movement began, presidents sent authorities to Southern states without requests or permission, because local authorities defied U.S. civil rights law and fomented violence themselves.
Dwight Eisenhower enforced integration at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas; John F. Kennedy sent troops to the University of Mississippi after riots over James Meredith's admission and then pre-emptively to ensure no violence upon George Wallace's “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” to protest the University of Alabama's integration.
“There could have been significant loss of life from the rioters” in Mississippi, Nunn said.
Lyndon Johnson protected the 1965 Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery after Wallace's troopers attacked marchers' on their first peaceful attempt.
Johnson also sent troops to multiple U.S. cities in 1967 and 1968 after clashes between residents and police escalated. The same thing happened in Los Angeles in 1992, the last time the Insurrection Act was invoked.
Riots erupted after a jury failed to convict four white police officers of excessive use of force despite video showing them beating a Rodney King, a Black man. California Gov. Pete Wilson asked President George H.W. Bush for support.
Bush authorized about 4,000 troops — but after he had publicly expressed displeasure over the trial verdict. He promised to “restore order” yet directed the Justice Department to open a civil rights investigation, and two of the L.A. officers were later convicted in federal court.
President Donald Trump answers questions after signing a bill that returns whole milk to school cafeterias across the country, in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
