Payment Trends: BAI Beacon 2017 Preview
Cut through the noise and examine the payment trends most likely to affect your bottom line.
Payments
Wirecard Continues Alipay Push with Merchant Deals
Wirecard has announced two partnerships this week to expand Alipay acceptance in Europe, one with Schustermann & Borenstein and another with Swarovski Crystal Worlds.
CK Hutchison and Ant Financial form JV for Hong Kong payments plan
Conglomerate CK Hutchison and Ant Financial have formed a joint venture (JV) to offer a digital wallet under the AlipayHK brand, with the aim to integrate online and offline payments in Hong Kong. Ant Financial says AlipayHK got over 100,000 active users in the first two weeks after its launch last May. The mobile app […]
Hawk Incentives Launches Mastercard Prepaid Incentive Card for Mobile Wallets
Hawk Incentives, a Blackhawk Network business that provides rewards and incentive solutions, has unveiled a new open-loop Mastercard prepaid card that can be added to major mobile wallets.
SunTec Xelerates its open banking ambitions
SunTec has unveiled its out-of-the-box open banking solution, offering preset configurations and definitions, through its Xelerate billing system. With the rise of open banking, SunTec wants to join the throng looking to prosper in a very competitive and crowded market. The firm says banks can use the layer to get business value from their APIs […]
BBVA analyses urbanites for big data dynamite
BBVA has launched Urban Discovery, an interactive tool open to everyone that analyses the cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Mexico City through the prism of their commercial activity. The bank says the analysis led to the creation of new maps that redraw urban borders and identify the most touristic and residential areas or those where […]
InComm expands transit business
InComm, a prepaid and payments technology company, continues to expand its tolling and transit payments business nationwide with the launch of the RiverLink Starter Kit.
Seylan Bank to swap legacy trade finance tech for Finastra’s Fusionbanking Trade Innovation
Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank is modernising its trade finance technology with Finastra’s Fusionbanking Trade Innovation system. On the way out is the legacy China Systems’ Eximbills system, Banking Technology understands.
Swych seals Series A funding
Digital gifting platform Swych has closed its Series A round with a “major strategic capital investment” from UAE Exchange Group. The amount of the investment was undisclosed, reports David Penn at Finovate (Banking Technology‘s sister company). “Swych’s global gifting technology and vision fits well with our strategy to foster purpose-based money transfers,” UAE Exchange Group […]
First Tech Credit Union Goes Live with Zelle
First Tech Federal Credit Union announced that the Zelle P2P service is live in its mobile banking app, enabling payments for more than 110,000 First Tech mobile banking members.
Tech dominates Interbrand global rankings
Interbrand has released its rankings of the most valuable brands in the world, and the technology sector has a lot to boast about, occupying six of the top ten spots, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology’s sister publication). Every now and then we just need a reminder of how important technology is for today’s society. In previous […]
Mastercard, Swarovski Launch VR Shopping
Mastercard and Swarovski have teamed up to launch a virtual reality (VR) shopping app for the Atelier Swarovski home décor line. The app immerses consumers in a home where they can browse and purchase the pieces with Masterpass.
Cashplus Expands with £30 Million Debt Facilities Led by RBS
Cashplus, a London-based alternative financial services provider—and Top 5 Best Challenger Bank—has announced two new, three-year funding arrangements totaling £30 million (US$40.52 million). The company will use the credit to expand its lending products for SMEs.
Banks going Kodak
When was the last time you visited a bank branch? While the rise of the internet, banking shifted the customer interaction from the branch to the web, the business was still owned and run end-to-end by the bank and at lower cost. For a few years now, the landscape has altered significantly bringing Kodak to […]
American private equity firm makes $5.3bn offer for Nets
In response to media speculation, Nordic payments processor Nets has confirmed that it has received a DKK 33.1 billion ($5.3 billion) takeover offer. Evergood 5, a newly formed firm controlled by funds managed and advised by American private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, has made a recommended voluntary takeover offer to acquire Nets – offering […]
How millennials are shaping the future of payments
For the millennial generation, paying for a latte using a contactless card, transferring money to a family member or friend online or buying a pair of trainers with “one click” has become the norm. This generation has not only shaped and driven the payments revolution, but is also playing an active role in developing a lot of the payment technologies emerging today.
UK watchdog approves Cardtronics purchase of ATM provider DCP
Cardtronics’ $460-million purchase of rival ATM provider DirectCash Payments (DCP) has finally been approved by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Back in May 2017, Cardtronics had to offer undertakings due to competition concerns, and initially didn’t. The CMA said at the time: “As Cardtronics has not offered these undertakings, the CMA will now […]
Fintech funding round-up: 22 September 2017
There was a round-up yesterday because fintech funding won’t go away. More action featuring Tuition.io, Apiax and Etch. Tuition.io, a US-based employer-funded student loan repayment assistance platform, has announced a $7 million Series B funding round led by Wildcat Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Mohr Davidow Ventures and MassMutual Ventures, the corporate venture […]
FinovateFall 2017: a look back at the four-day flow
Adding a pair of discussion days to Finovate’s traditional demo days format, has made it that much easier for FinovateFall attendees to answer the question perennial post-conference question: “So. What did you think?”
Will fintech cause the next financial crisis?
Payments experts weigh in on the analysis and offer their own two cents on fintech, innovation, regulation and risk.
Digiliti Money plans to delist from Nasdaq
Digiliti Money (DGLT), which is in merger negotiations with Urban FT, is planning to delist from the Nasdaq, according to its most recent SEC filing.
Top fintech stories this week – 22 September 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Innovators’ Spotlight: SPENT Money
Rather than being top of wallet, SPENT Money wants to help consumers manage and earn rewards from what’s already there—at least for now.
Fintech funding round-up: 21 September 2017
Following swiftly on from the fintech funding round-up on 19 September, here’s more concise, cash-coated action. Features CivilisedBank, HighRadius, Swirlds and Luno. UK challenger CivilisedBank, which got its banking licence in May, has agreed terms for a further round of funding from current investor Warwick Capital Partners. No more details on that but the bank […]
Swift gives final wave to four more CSDs on T2S
Swift has announced the migration of Iberclear (Spain) and the Baltic central securities depositories (CSDs) of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and their respective communities to live operations on Target2 Securities (T2S) using its value added network (VAN) solution. The migration marks the end of the T2S migration plan, which started back in June 2015. Since […]
TerraPay Partners with Bux for Mobile Money Transfers to India
TerraPay, a mobile payments switch, has partnered with bux, a mobile app money transfer service, to enable instant cross-border money transfers from Australia, Hong Kong, the U.K. and Europe to India.
Bento for Business Names Jeff Pomeroy VP of Product
Blackhawk Network veteran Jeff Pomeroy has joined the Pay Award-winning Bento for Business, a provider of employee expense management solutions for small businesses, as vice president of product.
Bankart and Nets to deliver new payments infrastructure to Slovenian banking sector
Bankart and Nordic payments processor Nets will provide the Slovenian banking sector with a new payments central infrastructure to handle both SEPA Credit Transfers (SCT) non-urgent and SCT instant credit transfers. The duo has signed an agreement where Nets will deploy and operate an instant payments solution for Bankart via Nets’ RealTime24/7 solution. The latter […]
Fifth Third Bets on Gaming with Investment, Partnership
Fifth Third Bancorp is placing its bets on the newly merged gaming payments companies NRT Technology Corp. and Sightline Payments, announcing a strategic relationship and equity investment in NRT Sightline, “one of the largest pure-play casino payment-technology companies in the world.”
3 Reasons Asia Is the Perfect Incubator for Fintech Innovation
Fintech investments in Asia-Pacific reached $10.5 billion in 2016—the highest amount to date since 2010, according to CB Insights data. See what’s behind the boom and why it matters.
Kenya leads Africa in financial inclusion innovation
Kenya is leading the way when it comes to digital innovation for financial inclusion in Africa, according to research by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). Earlier this year, CGAP says it invited firms and organisations to submit proposals for digital innovations they believe have the most potential to advance financial inclusion in […]
Interview: Aleksey Chubar, VTB – leading a fintech revolution in Russia
If you’ve got preconceptions about what fintech looks like and where it’s happening, then Aleksey Chubar, head of digital transformation at VTB, has news for you. Russia is becoming a hotbed of fintech innovation – not just domestically, but internationally too. More than that, the rapid pace of technological change in the country means you’ll soon wonder how you got left behind.
Executive profile: Solana Cozzo, Mastercard
It’s a good thing Solana (“Sol”) Cozzo is high energy. When she’s not literally running or chasing after 3-year-old twins, she’s running Mastercard’s North American prepaid and inclusive growth business. It’s hard work when you consider that “the cardable opportunity is about seven times the current market,” she says.
UnionPay Taps Allied Wallet for Prepaid Launch in Europe
Allied Wallet, a Los Angeles-based provider of online payment processing, is partnering with UnionPay International to issue a UnionPay-branded prepaid card, the “first ever’ partnership of its kind in Europe.
JP Morgan Chase goes in for the Bill for digital payments platform
JP Morgan Chase has teamed with Bill.com, the largest digital business-to-business (B2B) payments network in the US, for its new paytech platform. This B2B solution, to be rolled out next year, will be integrated into Chase’s digital platform for businesses, used for online and mobile solutions. Andrew Kresse, CEO of business banking at JP Morgan […]
Raise Pulls in $60 Million in Funding, PayPal Joins Party
Raise, which bills itself as the world’s largest gift card marketplace, has raised $60 million in a Series C funding round led by Accel, with participation from PayPal and existing investors New Enterprise Associates and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Juniper: Apple Users Likely to Reject Facial Recognition
A new survey conducted by Juniper Research has found that more than 40 percent of iOS users in the U.S. consider themselves unlikely to use facial recognition as a payment security technology. This suggests that a core use case for the iPhone X’s main security feature may struggle to gain traction among consumers, the consultancy says.
Fintech funding round-up: 19 September 2017
Four stories in one for a fast fintech funding round-up. Features Ellevest, iZettle, GoCardless and MarketInvoice. New York-based fintech Ellevest, led by former Merrill Lynch CEO Sallie Krawcheck, has got itself $34.6 million funding. Ellevest is a bit different from the rest as it was founded to provide an investing experience to “help women meet […]
Infographic: same-day ACH debits steps for success
Nacha, the backbone for the electronic movement of money and data in the US, has launched the same-day automated clearing house (ACH) debit transactions with its ACH Network.
Sky Bank in front-to-back office tech revamp with Finastra
Ukraine-based Sky Bank (formerly Region-Bank) is replacing its legacy systems with Finastra’s Fusiobanking Essence platform.
