Anyone that picks up any business publication has no doubt read about blockchain. Conceptualised around the same time as the financial crisis in 2008, blockchain as originally conceived served as a digital ledger to publicly record cryptocurrency transactions and execute contracts.
With the release of Facebook’s Q1 2017 results, there are five things worth your attention about its strategy that are relevant for financial services. In its latest results, Facebook announced a major emphasis in solving for communities and reiterating the key messages from its F8 developer conference. Q1 2017 profit is +76.6% YoY to $3.06 […]
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.
How two key technologies – cloud and cognitive – can aid banking transformation.
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.
Brad Fauss is joining Wirecard North America as general counsel and vice president, compliance and governmental affairs. In his new role, he is responsible for managing the legal, compliance and governmental affairs functions for the North American business. Wirecard, a payments and commerce leader headquartered in Munich, finalized its acquisition of Citi Prepaid Services in March 2017, as part of its global expansion strategy.
Brand power is serious business, according to a new Blackhawk Network study that found consumers trust their favorite brand almost as much as they trust their own families. What’s more, retailers can harness that brand loyalty to help with a bevy of challenges, including driving foot traffic, acquiring new customers and bolstering loyalty among shoppers.
There has been a lot of rumour and speculation recently, focused around the news that Apple is working on augmented reality (AR) as its next major product. Last year, we saw how fast the take up of AR could be with the introduction of Pokémon Go that became a massive international cultural phenomenon almost overnight. Banks need to prepare sooner rather than later if they are going to take advantage of AR and not be left behind.
The U.S. purchase volume of credit, debit and prepaid cards increased 7 percent in 2016 compared with last year, according to The Nilson Report. That purchase volume hit $5.648 trillion last year, with the volume from American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa credit cards increasing 8 percent year over over to reach a combined $3.059 trillion—the first time that figure has topped $3 trillion.
A former MoneyGram compliance head will pay a $250,000 fine and be barred from performing a compliance function for a money transmitter for the next three years after agreeing to a settlement over alleged AML and fraud prevention failures that took place at the company under his watch.
Consumers in India are increasingly turning to physical and digital gift cards. A new study showed that providers issued some 50 million gift cards over the past year, up from 20 million from the previous 12 months, an increase of 150 percent.
Everyone loves a dreamer, except in the world of banking – where digital aspirations are swiftly cut down to size by the reality of legacy systems. That is until Luis Uguina, chief digital officer for Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services Group, comes along and challenges everything you thought you knew about banks’ digital offerings.
Spreadsheets, say some, should just fade away into the dustbin of innovations’ past, but in my opinion, they might be the best bridge between the “old way” of working and the new.
The clock is winding down for Congressional lawmakers to repeal the CFPB’s final prepaid accounts rule under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Under that law, Congress has until May 9—60 legislative days after the law was published in the Federal Register—to repeal the prepaid rule by simple majority vote in the Senate. But with lawmakers currently in the midst of negotiations over a revised health care bill and Democratic opposition to the rollback likely to be strong, proponents of a repeal could run out of time.
In an increasingly globalised economy, payments have struggled to keep up and pressure is mounting on the traditional correspondent banking model.
The New York Department of Labor has fired the latest salvo in the battle over the use of payroll cards in the state. The agency has filed an appeal that could jeopardize the outcome of a petition granted to Global Cash Card to revoke the N.Y. DOL payroll card regulations, which were due to go into effect March 7, 2017. At stake are rules that are considered so burdensome by the prepaid industry that—if restored—could force some payroll card providers out of New York.
Facing increased competition from financial services upstarts and tech firms, banks are doubling down on application programming interfaces (APIs) as a competitive tool, a new report shows.
I grew up in Darwin, northern Australia and dreamt of playing hockey for my country. Today I live in Glasgow, thousands of miles away from the sunny climes of home and head up the UK operations and marketing for regtech firm Encompass.
The payroll card industry received high marks for its standards and its ability to “stretch beyond the basics,” according to a new report from the Center for Financial Services Innovation. But CFSI’s first-ever “Payroll Industry Scorecard” gave the industry an average mark for its ability to provide additional services that “improve customers’ lives.”
Legislation that would overhaul the CFPB and end taxpayer-funded bailouts of large financial institutions, among other mandates, moved one step closer to law May 4.
With MoneyGram and Western Union betting that Facebook-loving consumers will use “sendbots,” the old guard of remittance providers may have an edge on startups.
Prepaid providers are at a crossroads: They can create products that carry relative high fees, or craft consumer-friendly programs that promote financial health. Here’s a case for doing the latter.
To coincide with its just released and first “Payroll Industry Scorecard,” CFSI is separating fact from fiction when it comes to payroll cards, which continue to face scrutiny by state regulators and the media.
Sure, convenience remains vital. But to reach digitally savvy consumers—including millennials—new entrants in the payments arena will need to think socially, and be ready to chat.
To the outside observer the insurance industry may look very conservative with dominant global companies and local players operating in the way they have done for years and with very little interaction with their customers. But this is changing.
In an exclusive interview, Oliver Hughes, CEO of Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, talks about its online financial supermarket, maintaining momentum, and how US and UK banks can be occasionally underwhelming.
She witnessed the rise of electronic transactions and worked on the first shared ATM network card. Now this self-proclaimed pioneer woman has her sights set on prepaid and a mobile future.
While the maturity of blockchain discussions and advances are at different stages of development around the world, blockchain is said to be at the height of the Gartner hype cycle. This implies that 2017 will be the year where disillusionment with the technology begins. However, 2017 may also see some real breakthroughs with its application and the emergence of pockets of the first concrete results.
As banking continues to go digital, online innovators and niche players in North America are getting personal by adding social activities to their customer services.
It’s official. The CFPB is pushing back the effective date of its final rule on prepaid accounts until April 1, 2018—six months after the originally scheduled implementation date of Oct. 1, 2017. What’s more, the agency has decided to “revisit at least two substantive issues” in the final rule: requirements for digital wallets that are capable of storing funds; and error resolution and liability limitations for prepaid accounts that cannot or have not yet been registered.
Many have proclaimed that 2017 will be “the year of artificial intelligence (AI)”, with a 300% increase in investment in its technologies predicted compared with 2016. Start-ups with AI at the core of their business in particular will be looking to benefit from this surge in investment capital, as they did last year when 550 raised $5 billion in funding.
Aaron Cutler, partner, and Loyal Horsley, associate at Hogan Lovells, examine the state-level fintech regulation, proposed legislative solutions, and provides a brief overview of international regulation.
You need to tell your customers you’ve been hacked. Now what?
As the payment method gains popularity, an expert explains why young consumers buying digital content, including games, and transit tickets with their phones will be keys for the future.
What does Russell Simmons know that banks don’t? GPR can be profitable. Find out how.
A highly fragmented sales environment along with unnecessary expenses are among the main pain points for B2B payments for air travel. Here is what needs to improve.
As major companies report success from mobile ordering, an expert shows what payment providers have to consider before taking the next step.
There is no smoke without fire. The “big smoke”, as London is colloquially known, has been creating a fire of innovation in the financial technology space for years, but there are other UK fintech centres in the Southwest; Cardiff; Manchester/Leeds; and Edinburgh/Glasgow that create their own heat.
Congressional Republicans hoping to hobble the CFPB and unwind the law that supports it, the Dodd-Frank Act, have another tool at their disposal.
Addressing the views of the Department of Treasury, the CFPB, and the SEC on the regulation of the fintech industry in the US.
