Viewpoint: Gift Card Evolution, Not Revolution
Digital gift cards bring depth, not disruption, to gift card product lines.
Analysis
Viewpoint: Attention Banks and Vendors: Don’t Forget the Contract
For banks and their third-party vendors, it’s crucial to have a solid contract. Or, at least it’s crucial if they want to avoid the ire of regulators and fines that could reach into the billions.
Viewpoint: The Case for Gift Card Exchange
Gift card exchanges play a key role in connecting motivated shoppers with retailers and driving incremental sales, according to survey data from Blackhawk Network. Consumers say they’d like to see more retail locations add gift card exchanges.
Blog: Emerging Trends in Prepaid Card Fraud
Fraudsters are ingenious at finding cracks in the bulwark against prepaid card fraud, but industry cooperation can blunt their effect with strategic practices that are surprisingly easy to implement.
Unlocking the potential of Africa
From Senegal to the Seychelles, and Botswana to Uganda, new demands and new opportunities are emerging in Africa, but there are still challenges
Trading automation, regulations, and systemic risk
The financial services industry has always pursued technical supremacy. But after years of financial crisis and attempted reforms to improve the transparency and understanding of risk exposure in financial services, we seem as much in the dark as ever …
More Lawmakers Try to Influence DOE on Campus Card Rules (Aug. 13, 2014)
Letter writing among U.S. lawmakers has been fast and furious lately as they try to influence how the U.S. Department of Education handles new rules governing universities’ and colleges’ arrangements with financial service providers that deliver financial aid dollars.
Open plan development: collaboration in retail banking
One of the most distinguishing features of the current wave of financial innovation is how the innovators are often not banks, but small fintech firms often led by former bank employees.
Ready for the ‘summer of 39’ aftermath?
This summer, regulatory pressure on financial services firms has ratcheted up to unprecedented levels. Many may have breathed a sigh of relief as Dodd-Frank rule-making slowed … but the respite was only fleeting. Since July, the industry has been bombarded with 39 new consultation papers in the EU and UK alone
Don’t drown in over-regulation
It should be no shock that the risk for banks of being caught-out for non-compliant activity has soared in recent years in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008. Banks are being monitored more closely now than ever before and it’s been difficult to escape without scrutiny or a heavy reputational impact.
CFPB Eyes the Big Ten (Aug. 11, 2014)
The CFPB is focusing on universities in the Big Ten Conference to see if these schools, some of the largest in the U.S., have appropriately disclosed their agreements with financial institutions regarding the financial products they offer their students. “Making these agreements available for all financial products shows schools’ and companies’ commitment to transparency, helping […]
Meta Out from Under Consent Order (Aug. 8, 2014)
MetaBank has been released from its Consent Order by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), according to an announcement by the bank’s parent company, Meta Financial Group.
FTC: Apps Must Provide More Consumer Info before Download (Aug. 7, 2014)
Many mobile apps used for shopping don’t provide consumers with enough information before they download them to their smartphones, according to the FTC.
New Payroll Law in Illinois Effective Jan. 1, 2015 (Aug. 7, 2014)
Paybefore typically confines discussions about state legislative and regulatory activity to the State Tracker section of Pay Gov. But after we published Pay Gov yesterday, Illinois passed a law that explicitly allows payroll cards in the state, subject to certain conditions.
SEPA Standards Take Effect in Europe (Aug. 7, 2014)
Cross-border payments in the Eurozone have reached a milestone, with Aug. 1 marking the migration deadline for all credit and direct debit transfers to comply with Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) requirements.
Viewpoint: Why HCE is an Acronym You Need to Know
HCE moves payments credentials to the cloud, which could radically speed up mobile payments development. Analyst Sarah Grotta believes HCE also offers compelling leadership opportunities for prepaid card issuers.
Viewpoint: Jack Ma and the Discovery of Billions
Alibaba Group’s $7.5 billion empire lurks like a crocodile waiting to strike its next opportunity. What does the Chinese giant’s appetite mean for the worldwide payments industry?
CFPB: Small-Dollar Overdrafts Are Big Problems for Some (Aug. 5, 2014)
Debit card-initiated overdrafts are leading to disproportionate charges for cardholders, with fees often larger than the overdraft amount, according to a new report by the CFPB.
Diebold: on the comeback trail
After a decade of being the ATM maker you’ve never heard of, Diebold is returning to Europe and a year into his tenure as president and chief executive at the firm, Andy Mattes thinks that the company’s profile is about to change.
Merchants Cautioned on New POS Malware Threat (Aug. 4, 2014)
Federal officials are warning retailers about a new form of malware that hackers could use to access POS systems and steal consumer data.
MiFID II: hearing, skirmishing and planning for battle
The reason Europe calls it a regulatory ‘hearing’ is that it is an opportunity to hear views from both regulators and the market. Of course, that’s just part of the experience as many other senses are triggered when 400 people are locked in a basement for 2 days, deprived of connectivity, food and caffeine …
Entering the Banking Technology Awards – guidelines from the editor
Entries for the Banking Technology Awards 2014 have been open for a while now, but as we move into the last few weeks, this is always a time when we are flooded with questions about the process. By way of response, here are some guidelines based on my experience chairing the judging panel over the past 11 years.
Six reasons why cloud computing will transform the way banks serve clients – and the five hurdles to overcome
The European Commission wants to bring down the barriers to cloud computing in a move that promises to revolutionise the way transaction banks can serve clients.
Financial institutions and Cybercrime: It’s only just begun
A recent bout of high profile cyber-attacks on financial institutions across the UK, US and Canada has put the spotlight back on the importance of data security and the need to be diligent when it comes to cybersecurity within the banking industry
Viewpoint: N.Y.’s Proposed Virtual Currency Licensing Regulations: The Right Direction but Still a Bumpy Road
Leading payments lawyer Judie Rinearson calls N.Y.’s proposed “BitLicense” rules comprehensive, but are they so comprehensive they’ll chill virtual currency businesses in the state? Give us your opinion in Pay Poll.
Blog: Convergence is the Real Non-Payment Payment Story
Analyst Rick Oglesby posits that what’s happening outside of payments will actually have a bigger impact than what’s happening inside payments. Crazy or on point? Read and decide.
Why we should put a mobile wallet in every pocket
The mobile wallet is having a transformative effect on people’s lives in developing countries, bringing safer, faster, easier financial services to the people who need it most
Banks’ cyber resilience requires ongoing review against escalating threats
The news last month (June) that the Luuuk malware had snared its first victim, an unnamed European bank, has again highlighted the magnitude of the challenge facing the banking sector. While the reported theft of €500,000 during the course of a week certainly does not break any records, the discovery of what is believed to be a variant of the feared Zeus malware, is just the latest in a line of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks
CFPB Proposal: Include Consumer Narrative in Complaint Database (July 17, 2014)
The CFPB wants to expand its Consumer Complaint Database to enable consumers to provide a narrative with their complaints about financial services.
Merchants Get another Extension in Debit Interchange Case (July 17, 2014)
The merchant plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Board of Governors have been granted another extension to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
HCE and NFC: threat or opportunity?
Mobile NFC services continued to expand in 2013 but the big question is, will this be amplified or disrupted by the introduction of host-based card emulation (HCE) into mainstream operating systems?
Canadian Gov’t Gauges Interest in Prepaid for Federal Benefits (July 14, 2014)
With the Canadian government planning to phase out paper checks by 2016 for federal benefits recipients, half of Canadians who are unwilling to use direct deposit would be willing to try receiving their benefits on a reloadable prepaid card, according to a public opinion report released earlier this year and commissioned by the Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC).
New legs for legacy systems
Unlike manufacturing companies, which run their operations on a single predominant ERP system supported by a few auxiliary solutions, banks have added layer upon layer of technology, ending up with an unmanageable snarl of systems and applications. Just to put things in perspective, it is estimated that on average global banks have more than 5,000 applications.
Know thine algo: how to define it, prove it, tame it. Part 1
Regulators across the globe appear divided on the question of whether tighter control of algorithmic trading is necessary: the Australians are pretty laid back about it, the Germans are ahead of the game, while political debate rages in the US …
Viewpoint: Is BLE the Next Important Innovation in Mobile Technology?
BLE is getting a lot of buzz because of its potential to complement other technologies like NFC for marketing and consumer engagement, but certain questions remain about its purpose and future.
Blog: Innovation is Coming: A New Small-Dollar Credit Offering from Canada
Canada’s Vancity Credit Union could be an inspiration for U.S. lenders as it explores new territory, working with the CFSI to devise an affordable small-dollar loan product with an unsecured credit line suitable for underbanked consumers.
Back-office legacy still holding back banks
Setting up a bank in the UK is costly, time-consuming, heavily regulated and not easy. As a result, the dynamic, start-up culture that drives innovation in many other sectors is less prevalent within banking and financial services.
The Rise of the Cyborg Financial Officer
The rise of new technologies is drastically redefining both the responsibilities of chief financial officers and the way they work, providing the ability tomake better organisational decisions with faster, accurate and more reliable data.
China moves cautiously towards options market launch this year
As China prepares to open an options market for the first time later this year, big changes are afoot in Asia’s biggest market. French trading technology specialist Horizon Software talks to Banking Technology about the kind of tools that will be needed to liberalise the Chinese economy.
T2S: Doing nothing is not an option
As the implementation of T2S approaches, there is still a gap between the readiness levels of different types of market participant, new Celent research finds. But a ‘wait and see’ approach can only take some firms so far, argues Isabelle Olivier, head of clearing and settlement EMEA at Swift
