Online security and user experience: finding the balance
Recent hacks and data breaches have shown that cybercriminals are tenacious, smart and well resourced.
Analysis
Bitcoin is useless
The recent surge in its price is good news for investors, but perhaps a death sentence for its functional value.
Fintech trends 2017: blockchain, big data… what’s next?
2017 ends with the Bitcoin having surpassed the $19,000 mark. Could this perhaps be a taste of our future?
Regulatory reporting automation: mid-size banks face increased regulatory scrutiny
As regulations evolve globally, data has become both an essential currency and a pain point for financial institutions.
Using artificial intelligence to keep criminal funds out of the financial system
Are you suspicious? This is a key question at the heart of efforts to tackle money laundering: if you work for a bank or other financial institution and have suspicions money laundering is happening, you have a legal duty to speak up.
PSD2: regulation as a catalyst for innovation
PSD2 comes into force on 13 January 2018. It aims to open up the European payments market to greater competition and transparency, but its effect will be more far-reaching, acting as a catalyst for innovation not just in payments, but in the wider financial services market.
GDPR vs PSD2: a challenging contradiction or two sides of the same coin?
Are GDPR and PSD2 really that dissimilar and incompatible? Or do they combine to create a robust security mind set?
Rise of the machines will be monitored
The Financial Stability Board has stated in its first report on AI that the risks they pose need monitoring.
Fintech companies will be a new kind of business in 2018
Fintech companies will find that they are a different kind of business in 2018 than they were in 2017.
What is the future of digital cash?
The recent World Economic Forum (WED) report “Sweden could stop using cash by 2023”, says that the country is moving towards favouring cards and mobile payment apps. Yet retailers are expected to accept cash for at least a couple of years afterwards.
The missing link: the supply side of cryptocurrency
Supply and demand are the bedrock of market-based economics. To achieve economic equilibrium, supply and demand must be in balance. If one is too high or too low, the system is in a state of disequilibrium, associated with inefficient allocation of goods – not a healthy state.
Convenience versus control: getting the balance right
Nick Kerigan, MD of Future Payments at Barclaycard, looks at how innovation is helping the payment industry to balance offering seamless payments with keeping people in control of their money.
Cybersecurity needs to be a global and coordinated effort
Recent cyberattacks, such as the October 2017 Swift attack, show how vulnerable financial firms across the globe are to the machinations of hackers.
Using the web to access online banking? Who is protecting the browser side?
To date, there hasn’t been a way to understand if online users are being compromised or to be sure precisely what they are seeing whilst visiting and interacting with a web page. We know that endpoint security and anti-viruses fail and online users can be infected even with all the precautions that they may take. Server-side security is now very mature and excellent progress has been made in that particular field.
Passport to success: optimising treasury technology in the connected age
To reap the real benefits of technology, treasurers should be thinking about an extended journey, not a day trip.
Bankers and retailers – will we see roles switch? Or simply morph into a single discipline?
Technology is having a tremendous impact on the way communities shop so changes are more or less expected as we see these shopping mall operators push back on so many dire predictions being made about them. But can they change and yes, could these changes lead to a greater overlap with banking as it exists today? Do we even need differentiation between the two and yes, will they both be able to keep us satisfied when it comes to access to our cash?
Wealthtech: a market poised for extended growth
Rapid changes are occurring in the wealth management space and the level of disruption in how advice and capital are managed is only beginning. Wealth management is a monumental industry. The players in the space run the gamut from gigantic hedge funds to individuals who manage their own investments. This changing wealth management landscape is driving a significant uptick in transactions.
Debunking six myths on regulatory sandboxes
We are living through a period of unprecedented innovation in finance, and regulators know they need to adapt to keep up with the fast pace of change. To understand and manage the risks posed by new products, services, and business models, many financial authorities are setting up regulatory sandboxes or reglabs.
What WeChat’s domination in China tells us about mobile banking in the coming age of the super app
Through increasing functionality and by consistently pushing boundaries, super apps could have the power to influence, shape and even redefine m-commerce of tomorrow. Tom Wood, co-founder and managing partner of experience design agency, Foolproof, shares his insight on the opportunities that super apps could bring to m-commerce.
Infographics: CPPO study reveals Canadian prepaid market grew 17%
The Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization (CPPO) released its second annual benchmark study, “Canadian Open-Loop Prepaid Market: 2016”, that shows 17% growth of the open-loop prepaid card market in Canada between 2015 and 2016.
Interview: Nadish Lad, Volante – destiny and dreams
In an exclusive interview with payment specialist Volante Technologies, Nadish Lad, director – head of payments product, explains the firm’s foundation, vision and its key unique selling propositions (USPs).
Three crucial questions for insurance’s digital future
Insurance is an industry at a turning point. Few could have predicted that “innovation” would become one of its watchwords, but as the digital revolution spurred on by insurtech gathers pace fundamental changes are beginning to take hold.
Q&A with Bob Raffo, FirstView Financial
Joining FirstView Financial in July 2017 as president and CEO, Bob Raffo has quickly become a proponent of developing the paytech segment, the opportunities it presents to serve larger consumer and B2B bases and accelerate payment processes.
Interview: Javier Santamaría, EPC – SCT Inst, catalyst for a new world?
It may not provide all the ticks on everyone’s wish list, but the new SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme (SCT Inst) could well be the start of something even more seismic for the European payments sector and also pave the way for a different, more immediate way of conducting business.
What defines global customer success?
Payments are changing rapidly, and the industry is struggling to keep pace. Many banks and other card issuers — including the service providers they rely on — lack the agility to stay competitive and quickly deliver the new products, features, and payments experiences today’s customers want.
Q&A with Colleen Dorwart, RGCA board chair
As we reflect on 2017 and look ahead to 2018, we spoke with Colleen Dorwart, Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA) board chair, about the most popular gifts in America.
Faure to fintech – what music can teach us about communicating the benefits of tech
On the surface Handel or Shostakovich seem a world away from the world of finance. Yet, strange as it may seem, the similarities are there. This is because both the mechanics behind music and the technology underpinning the digital transformation are – unless you’ve had first-hand experience of either – pretty abstract concepts to understand.
What a Swell Sibos we had
One of the more entertaining aspects of this year’s Sibos in Toronto was the continuation of the rivalry between the event’s host, Swift, and distributed ledger technology (DLT) firm Ripple.
Q&A with Joe Daly, Paysafe
Joe Daly, COO payments processing North America, Paysafe, talks to us about all things paytech.
Core banking: true digital banking requires innovation on all layers
By adopting a layered model that moves the focus from presentation to orchestration, banks can deliver an omni-access digital service that truly works for customers, says Peter-Jan Van de Venn, CCO of Dutch digital core banking platform provider Five Degrees.
Slow growth, new regulation and digitisation – driving innovation in the banking sector
Since the global financial crisis the banking industry has witnessed three mega-trends: slow growth, digitisation and new regulation. None of these trends look likely to abate any time soon and in fact, it appears that all of them are set to intensify in the short to medium term.
Financial innovation in LatAm calls for open collaboration with start-ups
Fintech is upending the way we understand the financial sector in Latin America; financial services are experiencing deep transformations as a result of start-ups’ love for change driven by new technologies.
Why mobile wallet acceptance is key to retail growth
A young woman has made plans to join a friend for dinner at a restaurant across town, and with a few clicks on a mobile device she sets her night in motion. Her go-to ride-sharing service has sent a car, she’s ordered a cappuccino from her favorite coffee shop – this one is free because she’s a loyalty member – and her social app pings her friend to let him know her ETA.
It’s time to pull the brake on Bitcoin
With ten years in fintech under my belt, I have seen the creation of the word itself. I have also seen the rise of various hypes, adoption of buzzwords, sky-high funding rounds, epic failures and a surprising knowledge gap in what is the world’s biggest industry.
A new edge for fintech centres in a post-Brexit world
The uncertainty produced by the Brexit vote – and the turbulent negotiations since – has led some to question whether the UK can maintain its status as a global fintech capital. But for London as much as for its rivals in the US, China and beyond, the key may lie in capitalising on the next competitive edge for fintech centres.
Biometrics: a question of standards and yet more questions
Watching the recent of smartphone launches, I am taken aback by just how much smartphone manufacturers have led to the normalisation and acceptance of biometrics by consumers.
Why blockchain won’t fix payments
There is a misconception about blockchain in the industry surrounding the belief that it is a solution to making faster and securer payments. There are some issues around the blockchain that explain why, in its present form, it isn’t an ideal replacement.
Crime thriller: Trading Down, by Stephen Norman – part 3
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been sharing some extracts from a new crime thriller, Trading Down, by Stephen Norman, long serving CIO/CTO of RBS Global Markets. Here, in the third and final extract, we return to the action at the Hamilton Datacentre crisis.
Top trends in cybersecurity
Cyber risks have evolved significantly over the last couple of years across industry sectors. The financial services industry, in particular, has become the target of choice with malicious actors exploring every avenue they can in order to identify areas of vulnerability.
Implementing derivatives clearing on distributed ledger technology platforms
Clearing houses and central clearing counterparties (CCPs) play a pivotal role in managing collateral and counterparty risk, in increasing standardisation and transparency of financial markets, and in the credit enhancement process for clearing banks. For such systemically critical functions, how appropriate are innovative new technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT)?
