Digital


CASS plays Casanova to CMA’s current account commitments

The UK’s Current Account Switch Service (CASS) says it meets one of the commitments set out in response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) final report into retail banking. As Banking Technology reported in January, the CMA accepted undertakings from the Bacs payment scheme, which owns and manages CASS, that commit it to delivering […]

HSBC gets swift on Tradeshift capital financing platform

HSBC and business commerce firm Tradeshift have partnered to offer a supply chain and working capital management platform – usable from any device. The platform will let buyers automate and digitise “paper-heavy” processes from all their suppliers and organise financing in one place. This “game-changing” (sounds familiar) solution will combine electronic ordering and invoices, document […]

RBC’s video MyAdvisor makes banking clients wiser

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has launched a live video service to let its clients connect in real time with its advisors. Called MyAdvisor, it uses an online advice platform to digitally connect a client to an advisor, where both can view and adjust a dashboard showing the client’s savings and investment goals and establish […]

Mastercard buys NuData Security for IoT spree

Mastercard will acquire Vancouver-based biometrics firm NuData Security as it looks to make something out of the internet of things (IoT). NuData provides online and mobile anti-fraud solutions using session and biometric indicators. Mastercard will integrate NuData to its suite of fraud management and security products. Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security for […]

HSBC and First Direct to get VocaLink Pay by Bank app

VocaLink’s Pay by Bank mobile payment app will soon be available to customers of HSBC and its subsidiary, First Direct. Pay by Bank app, created by VocaLink’s payment innovation team Zapp, enables people to make “digital debit” payments for goods and services via their banking app, with payment made directly from a current account. HSBC […]

Fiserv brings the max to PyraMax tech overhaul

Wisconsin-based mutual savings bank PyraMax has chosen Fiserv to modernise its retail banking operations. The bank will move to the DNA account processing platform and add integrated mobile, online and branch banking solutions, including palm-vein biometric authentication. The software will be supplied on an outsourced basis, from a Fiserv data centre. Richard Hurd, CEO and president, […]

Bokis in mobile payments first with Dankort card

Members of a Danish banking collective, Bokis, have become the first in the country to offer mobile payments using Dankort, the national debit and credit card. Bokis includes 62 banks that form the small to mid-sized banks segment of Lokale Pengeinstitutter (the Association of Local Banks, Savings Banks and Co-operative Banks in Denmark), together with […]

Square launches in UK

San Francisco-based payments specialist Square has landed in the UK. This is the fifth market for Square, following the US, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Fintech funding round-up: 28 March 2017

Enjoy a word-lite delight with our brief fintech funding round-up. Features Clarity Money, The Glue and OOjiBO. US-based Clarity Money, a personal finance app, has announced a $11 million Series B funding round led by RRE Ventures and Citi Ventures. This financing comes three months after Clarity Money launched its product and eight months after […]

Automation in US banking – part 2

Art Gillis, a seasoned banking technology consultant (working in the computer industry since 1958 – and listed as a top 25 tech consultant by the American Banker) and author, presents his latest “Automation in Banking” report (#31!), which looks at the US core banking and ancillary software market.

House of Lords calls for action on UK financial exclusion

The House of Lords Financial Exclusion Committee is calling for the UK Government, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and banks to give greater priority to tackling financial exclusion. In its new report, “Tackling financial exclusion: A country that works for everyone?”, the Lords want an end to the “scandal of the poorest being excluded from […]

Samsung makes your wedding ring a payments plaything

Samsung, Smartlink and Ingenico have unveiled their “contactless companion platform” (CCP) to let people pay for things using anything they’re wearing — such as a watch or a wedding ring. It has been built with a dual interface smart card chip for multiple applications and form factors. Users tap the wearable on an NFC card […]

RBS continues with branch closures and job cuts

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is closing 30 of its own branches and 128 of its subsidiary, NatWest, putting 470 people out of work. The bank says this decision is a result of the changing consumer behaviour, which has now shifted to digital banking.

Isbank does good deed with fully digital mortgage service

Turkey’s largest bank, Isbank, has introduced a digital mortgage process where users can follow up credit pre-approval, the actual appraisal and overall credit process 24×7. In the bank’s “instant transaction” area, users’ mortgage applications are pre-approved within a “few seconds” and users can upload title deed images and pay the appraisal fee online to start […]

Samsung Pay makes its India debut

Digital payments app, Samsung Pay, has been launched in India. Access is limited to those who signed up for the early access programme and available only on its mid-segment and flagship Samsung Galaxy devices.

Tug of love turns to group hug for banks and fintechs

With the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and open architecture framework set to come into force next year, regulation may well tip the scales between banks and fintechs for customer loyalty, according to a new report conducted for Temenos by the Economist Intelligence Unit. In the 36-page study, “Symbiosis: Your bank has your trust. […]

Samsung moves on Siri with Bixby AI

Watch out Siri and Alexa, Samsung has unveiled its own artificial intelligence (AI) solution called Bixby. This will be a new interface on Samsung’s devices – with the imminent Galaxy S8 getting it first – and when an application becomes Bixby-enabled, it will be able to support “almost every task” that the application is capable […]

Everyone is a bank with Babb’s blockchain plan

London-based fintech start-up Babb App says it is creating a bank based on a “permissioned” blockchain implementation of a distributed ledger using Ethereum smart contracts. The Babb banking platform will operate a decentralised information model to “minimise costs while maximising data fidelity and security” – i.e. the usual suspects. It expects to do a soft […]

“Game changer” Jargon Bank moves office

UK-based challenger Jargon Bank has taken the fintech world to new levels of rapture with the move of its London office 100 metres down the road. As Banking Technology reported last year, the “game changer” bank launched offering “compelling and innovative” products, which raised more questions than answers. This was followed in February with an […]

Infographics: PSD2 explained

This nifty infographics, created by the European Payments Council (EPC), explains all you need to know about PSD2, from what it will change and its key components (such as APIs) to who the new players are.

IBM Cloud comes to China

Wanda Internet Technology and IBM have signed an agreement for the former to enter the public cloud business in China. This will be done via a new firm – Wanda Cloud Company – built on the IBM Cloud Platform.

Automation in US banking – part 1

Art Gillis, a seasoned banking technology consultant (working in the computer industry since 1958 – and listed as a top 25 tech consultant by the American Banker) and author, presents his latest “Automation in Banking” report (#31!), which looks at the US core banking and ancillary software market.