Payments


Nasdaq and Citi team up for blockchain-powered payments reconciliation

Nasdaq and Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) have unveiled a new payment solution for automating reconciliation using Chain’s blockchain infrastructure platform. The solution enables straight through payment processing by using a distributed ledger to record and transmit payment instructions. A number of payment transactions have been done including Citi’s automated processing of cross-border payments […]

InComm’s Asia-Pac Expansion Continues with Sony Deal

InComm and Sony Interactive Entertainment HK Ltd. have teamed up to provide promotional programs in the Hong Kong market. The initiative is part of InComm’s continued investment in promotional tools that change how gift cards are purchased by connecting physical and digital channels.

Google Casts a Wider Net for Payments

Google has a new plan to become a bigger player in payments. The search engine and web marketing giant said that it’s enabling merchants and developers to “turbocharge checkout conversion” by making it easier for consumers to use the credit cards and debit cards stored with Google.

Innovation Day: Fast-Growing Prepaid Market Offers Rewards, Risks

New growth estimates for prepaid are encouraging to say the least, but providers gathering in London for the Prepaid International Forum’s annual Innovation Day said the industry must remain focused on compliance and the customer proposition to safeguard its success.

State Bank of India revamps e-commerce payments gateway

State Bank of India (SBI) has deployed the “largest payment gateway for cards’ e-commerce transactions”, according to Shiv Kumar Bhasin, CTO of the SBI group. It processes ten million transactions per day, with 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) of peak load processing capabilities. This “beats the business volumes processing capabilities of a lot of leading […]

PayPal gets its fingers all over Google Chrome’s shopping

Android Pay users on Google Chrome mobile web can now pay online using their PayPal account and their fingerprint – without needing to enter in their username or password. As reported last month, Google inked several deals with PayPal (and banks) to advance its Android Pay, and this latest partnership expands it even more. Bill […]

Payments round-up: 18 May 2017

Words cut. Time saved. A round-up of key events in the payments enclave. Featuring Australian Settlements Limited, IBM, Mastercard, UnionPay International, Visa and Wirecard. Financial services provider Australian Settlements Limited (ASL) has adopted IBM Cloud for its new payments platform (NPP) implementation. ASL provides members, including building societies, credit unions and mutual banks, with settlement […]

Payments Canada welcomes ten start-ups to its Dragons’ Den

Payments Canada has revealed the ten paytech, artificial intelligence (AI) and regtech start-ups who will compete at its “Dragons’ Den-style competition” in Toronto. Called the FinTech Cup, a collaboration between Payments Canada, 500 Startups, and the Digital Finance Institute, it wants to help innovation, find talent, and drive funding for the finalists. Money on offer […]

Trio triumph in Innotribe’s African start-up challenge

Innotribe, Swift’s innovation arm, has revealed the three winners of its third 2017 Startup Challenge for Africa in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Each start-up receives a €10,000 cash prize and will share their insights about innovation in Africa at Sibos in Toronto. The trio are: IroFit Technologies – offers small businesses processing for in-store mobile/card payments […]

Are Passwords Here to Stay?

Even as security experts lobby for tighter authentication, a study demonstrates that passwords still command the loyalty of consumers. A payments expert discusses why biometrics and other methods lag behind the warhorse of digital protection.

The View from Finovate

Payments compete for attention with “RegTech” while an overall lull in disruption suggests that fintech could be in the eye of a storm.

Paytm to launch payments bank next week

India’s Paytm has at last got final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is set to unveil its Paytm Payments Bank on 23 May. The bank was set to launch in August 2016, and teamed with IT services integrator Wipro for its plan. No reasons were given for the delay. As reported […]

Mobile money could make Africa the new boss

Samsung Pay has officially launched in the UK, continuing the evolution of the digital economy, but does this technology have the potential to disrupt the global pecking order?

Compliance Titans: Margo Hirsch Strahlberg, U.S. Bank

If Margo Hirsch Strahlberg, prepaid compliance risk management specialist at U.S. Bank, isn’t managing responsibilities at home or work, she tries to steal time away to hit the gym. “I’ve incorporated more weight lifting into my routine,” she says. “My goal is to dead-lift a few copies of the CFPB’s prepaid accounts rule.”

Vacation Savings Plan, Prepaid Card Help Employees Get Away

It’s vacation season, and employers have a new tool to encourage employees to take much-needed time off and come back more productive. 401Play is offering what it calls a vacation savings account program with a companion Capital Prepaid Services’ BlazePays Visa Prepaid Card to help employees save for vacation.

CFSI Sets the Table for Financial Health

Hoping to build on last year’s success, the Center for Financial Services Innovation is encouraging participants in next month’s FinHealthMatters Day to craft videos, write blogs and plan events that highlight the need for better financial health for U.S. consumers. FinHealthMatters Day is June 27.

Apple Pay launches in Italy

Apple Pay has landed in Italy with users able to add Mastercard, Maestro, Visa and V Pay credit and debit cards to the app. On the Italian Apple Pay website it says that the cards can be used with the banking services of Boon, Carrefour and UniCredit. It also states that more will be coming […]

SIX and Credit Suisse play same game with ATM software launch

SIX and Credit Suisse have unveiled ATMfutura – a cash dispenser which displays the same user interface and guidance on all ATMs in Switzerland. SIX and its partners were commissioned by Swiss banks to develop the centralised multivendor software and it is planned to function on all bank ATMs in the alpine nation from 2018. […]

European banks call for EC support on screen scraping ban

The European Banking Federation (EBF) is asking the European Commission (EC) for its help on a screen scraping ban due to concerns over the privacy of client data, cybersecurity and innovation. The EBF wants the EC not to dismiss a key recommendation made by the European Banking Authority (EBA) on future electronic payments in the […]

Samsung Pay makes its UK debut

Samsung Pay has arrived in the UK with Visa keen to reveal that its account holders can use their compatible Samsung smartphones for purchases worldwide. In terms of Visa, the service is available to its cardholders who bank with MBNA, Nationwide and Santander. Samsung adds that its app can be used with HSBC (Mastercard and […]

India seeks to avoid ATM tears from WannaCry ransomware

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is telling the nation’s banks to operate their ATM networks only after the machines receive a Windows update to protect them from the WannaCry ransomware affecting systems across the globe. The computer malware has spread across 150 countries and takes over users’ files with a demand of $300 to […]

UBank’s Chatbot Helps Customers with Home Loan Applications

Bank has found another way to use the artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistants. The online-only Australian bank launched RoboChat May 15 to help home buyers—and homeowners who want to refinance—complete UBank’s online home loan application more easily.

French Retailer, Bank Tag Team on Mobile Wallet

France-based retail giant Carrefour and French bank BNP Paribas have joined forces to launch Lyf Pay, a new mobile wallet that supports in-store and P2P transactions as well as loyalty cards, coupons and offers.

WorldRemit targets migrant market with US mobile money move

Digital money transfer service WorldRemit is now available in the US and it is targeting the nation’s migrant market with its mobile money services. The firm wants to tap into the $135 billion US remittance market (the global market is $600 billion) – and says mobile money lets people in emerging market economies send and […]

China’s central bank sets up fintech committee

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has set up a fintech committee, aimed at strengthening financial research, planning and co-ordination. On its website, the nation’s central bank doesn’t offer specifics about the new committee, but says fintech has “injected new vitality”, but also “brought new challenges” for financial security. PBOC will study the impact of […]

White paper: value of commercial cards for banks and their clients

This free white paper provides a structured framework for measuring performance of commercial card programmes across multiple industry sectors, suggests a range of norms for card penetration and usage, and describes the key data points for measurement. It also describes the actions that card issuers could take to maximise value from the programmes they have running: retaining business that is already fruitful, and nurturing business which could be more abundantly fruitful.

Misys brings AI to its trade monitoring software

Misys is getting in on the artificial intelligence (AI) act, with the launch of Misys FusionCapital Detect – a component for its trading solution which uses machine learning to spot booking errors, anomalies and unusual activity. The firm says FusionCapital Detect behaves as a personal assistant for trade validation teams, red flagging probable mistakes that […]

CFPB Prepaid Rule Survives Congressional Repeal Deadline

The CFPB’s final rule on prepaid accounts has survived a bid to repeal it via the Congressional Review Act (CRA), with lawmakers failing to bring the matter up for vote by the May 11 deadline. But despite the CRA efforts having fizzled, reforming the rule is still on the table.

Fintech outside London – part 2

We look at UK fintech firms working outside of the London “bubble”, examining where they are based and why; their history; target markets; clients; tech specialisations, concerns and future plans.

Moneycorp buys Commonwealth Foreign Exchange for US boost

Moneycorp in the UK has signed an agreement to acquire US-based payments firm Commonwealth Foreign Exchange (Commonwealth FX). The acquisition, subject to regulatory licensing approvals, will allow Moneycorp to “extend the geographical reach of its payments platform”. Nick Haslehurst, chief financial and operating officer at Moneycorp, says it sees “huge potential in the US among […]

British judge calls contactless cards “quite ludicrous”

A UK judge has taken a swipe at contactless card payments because they make life too easy for criminals. According to the BBC, Exeter Crown Court recorder David Bartlett says it is “quite ludicrous that the banks have allowed this to happen”, after hearing how a card was used by a thief to buy goods […]

UK start-up success story becomes Hollywood movie

The glorious rags to riches tale of a UK start-up has caught the cold, beady eye of Hollywood and been transformed into a well-polished and formulaic movie. Charon Ferries, a London-based payments firm, is the brainchild of the husband and wife team of Mark and Michelle Morrison. (Recently married, and still happy. Give it a […]