Company on the Move: Emerchants, Store Financial, Rebranding as EML
Following Emerchants’ May 2016 acquisition of Store Financial’s U.S. and Canada operations, the company has unveiled a new brand name and identity: EML.
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People on the Move: Jim Hannibal, Gresham
Gresham, a provider of transaction control and enterprise data integrity software, has hired Jim Hannibal as sales director for Europe.
People on the Move: Alex Sion, JPMorgan Chase
Alex Sion, co-founder of mobile bank Moven, will join JPMorgan Chase as executive director of mobile banking, effective Oct. 3.
People on the Move: Mark Benjamin, NCR Corp.
Omnichannel transaction services provider NCR Corp. has appointed Mark Benjamin as president and COO.
Seize the ‘cognitive business model’ to win the digital race
An era of “unprecedented change” is happening, driven by new regulation and technology, Ginni Rometty, chief executive of IBM, said during a plenary address, Cognitive Business and the Future of Financial Services. “There is a moment of opportunity if you choose to seize it,” she said, referencing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, big data and […]
Daily News at Sibos 2016 top photos and captions – Day 3
Top pics and captions from Swift’s Sibos 2016 conference in Geneva! A compilation from day 3.
Sibos 2016: collaborate to drive correspondent banking
More collaboration is required among members of the correspondent banking community, despite the progress that has been made through efforts such as the Global Payments Innovation (GPI) initiative.
CLS to develop payment netting service
CLS Group has started building a payment netting service, using existing message protocols and distributed ledger technology (DLT), which will be open to all FX market participants – not just CLS members –and will also enable CLS members to net some FX trades that are currently settled outside the CLS settlement service.
Sibos 2016: markets still in “Dante’s circles of hell”
Eight years on from the financial crisis, the market climate remains challenging. The global economy is still very shaky, there is still plenty of uncertainty regarding ongoing reforms and interaction with regulators, lending is limited by higher capital requirements, extremely low (or even negative) interest rates are not generating good returns and banks need to invest heavily in IT infrastructures to appease the supervisors.
Sibos 2016: blockchain passes stupidity test
“First they think it’s stupid, then they think it’s obvious. Blockchain has passed the first test.” These are the words of an economics professor (quoted, but not present) on revolutionary ideas, and perhaps a succinct evaluation of where blockchain is right now. In a packed conference room on the Monday afternoon (26 September), the panel discussed “Blockchain 2020 – what next for adoption by the financial industry”.
Lower cost is key benefit of blockchain
Blockchain technology has the potential to help ease banks’ profitability pressures, particularly in Europe’s negative interest rate environment, an audience was told at an offsite briefing yesterday morning. Patrick Laurent, a partner at Deloitte, told delegates at a breakfast meeting organised by Temenos that companies such as Ripple had already developed blockchain solutions that could […]
Blockchain: the theme for 2016
Blockchain and distributed technology have been hot topics at Sibos this year, with a raft of announcements from banks and fintechs alike. One of the areas identified as of most promise is trade finance – an area of banking that is rife with paper-based processes.
CMB inks Obor deal with Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered Bank has entered into a One Belt One Road (Obor) strategic alliance with China Merchants Bank (CMB) to accelerate the Belt and Road initiative and help promote economic growth and regional cooperation for countries along the Road. Obor is a development strategy and framework that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries, primarily […]
Sibos 2016: Innotribe Industry Challenge – results
Innotribe’s Industry Challenge – the results of which have been just unveiled – was all about blockchain and disruptive technologies. Three star-ups won the challenge to introduce blockchain to the securities sector: SmartContract, Rise and Coin Sciences.
Swift GPI hailed a success by trial banks
A pilot project to prove the concept of Swift’s Global Payments Innovation (GPI) initiative has been hailed a success and has cleared the way for a go-live of the service in early 2017. Swift has been piloting the GPI with 21 banks, including Nordea, Citi, Bank of China and Intesa Sanpaolo since February – all […]
Swift issues plea to collaborate in fight against cybercrime
It is vital that the Swift community learns from cyber attacks and strengthens cooperation, delegates were told yesterday. Chief technology officer (CTO) of Swift, Craig Young, said such attacks were increasing in number and sophistication across all industries. Marco Gercke, director of the Cybercrime Research Institute, said: “The financial industry is lacking co-operation. I know […]
Equiniti launches new solutions
It’s a fintech double as Equiniti has developed a digital banking platform and launched a mobile biometric authentication and identity lifecycle solution.
Credit Union Australia launches two-minute customer onboarding with Cloudcase
Credit Union Australia (CUA) can now onboard a customer in two minutes, including ID verification, offer generation and account generation to the core. The underpinning solution is provided by a domestic fintech start-up, Cloudcase Software Solutions.
Axion Swiss Bank to replace legacy tech with Avaloq Banking Suite
Axion Swiss Bank, a private bank focusing on asset management and consultancy, is migrating its technology to Avaloq’s BPO centre, Avaloq Sourcing Switzerland. On the way out is ERI’s Olympic core banking system.
Christmas in New York: New State Law Restricts Gift Card Fees, Lengthens Expiration Date
t’s been a bad month for the payments industry in the state of New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law Sept. 26 imposing restrictions on gift cards and gift certificates sold in the state. The new law comes just weeks after the New York Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule regulating the use of payroll cards. The gift card law goes into effect Dec. 25, 2016, as that is 90 days from the governor’s signing.
American Express Wins Appeal in Anti-Steering Case
American Express scored a major legal victory on Sept. 26 when a federal appeals court ruled that Amex had the right to restrict retailers. Specifically, Amex had wanted to prevent Amex-accepting merchants from offering shoppers financial incentives to use other card brands. In its ruling, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit New York tossed out a lower court’s decision that said language barring such “steering” in American Express’ contracts with its merchant clients violated anti-trust laws.
Blockchain Gets Boost from Microsoft and Bank of America
Blockchain, the decentralized transaction-verification system that underpins bitcoin, received a boost Sept. 27, with Microsoft and Bank of America Merrill Lynch saying they will team up to further develop the technology.
The Dos and Don’ts of Mobile Retail Marketing
With the proliferation of smartphones among consumers, retailers have an opportunity to reach customers in thoughtful and engaging ways that could help influence the decision-making process when it comes to making a purchase. Discover offers tips on what strategies retailers should consider implementing to enhance their mobile marketing campaigns.
Sibos 2016: Focus on domestic payments for real-time success in Europe, delegates told
Delegates attending yesterday’s Making real time successful in the Eurozone session at Sibos 2016 heard that the key to success for banks will be to initially focus on their own domestic payments markets – which still constitute the vast majority of their payments.
SmartStream’s Corona Cash & Liquidity gains new live site, Raiffeisen Bank International
Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) has gone live with new cash and liquidity reporting software, SmartStream Technologies’ Corona. The bank has taken “a proactive approach to Basel III” – being the first in the region to do so, said the vendor. The new centralised solution will help to monitor and manage cash positions on an intraday basis, throughout the RBI group.
ACI Worldwide and Vocalink team up for real-time payments push
ACI Worldwide and Vocalink have joined forces “to offer a complete end-to-end immediate payments solution to launch a domestic or regional immediate payments network”. The partnership will combine Vocalink’s Immediate Payments System (IPS) offering for central payment infrastructures and ACI’s UP Immediate Payments solution for banks and financial institutions.
Cyber challenge can be met, says Swift
Swift has committed to help its members combat the cyber threat “in challenging times”, delegates heard during yesterday’s opening plenary session. Security will be a feature every day of the conference because “the cyber threat is here to stay”, said Swift chief executive, Gottfried Leibbrandt.
Sibos 2016: navigating the payments storm
The payments industry faces a perfect storm with immediate, open and context-based changes emanating from new technology, regulation and infrastructures set to “transform the landscape”.
When worlds collide: fintechs vs financial institutions
The opportunity for traditional banking processes to be transformed that is presented by innovative financial technology (fintech) developers is at risk of being squandered in many cases because of cultural differences between large inflexible enterprise culture and the enthusiastic approach of the start-up developer world.
Banif Bank opts for Pelican Transaction Banking platform
Banif Bank in Malta has selected the Pelican Transaction Banking platform. The solution will provide end to end automation of both Swift and single euro payments area payments, including integration with over the counter instructions, Banif’s internet banking system and back office.
Eurosystem updates infrastructure Vision
The European Central Bank has outlined its plans to consolidate the Target2 and Target2Securities (T2S) platforms, introduce a new European-wide instant payments platform by November 2017 and develop a new collateral management system. The Eurosystem’s “Vision 2020” plans were outlined by Yves Mersch, a member of the executive board at the ECB, at Sibos 2016.
The future of money: humans need to keep the robots in check
Udayan Goyal’s vision for the future of money revolves around seamless, instant micropayments being made continuously between autonomous apps and services all triggered by thoughts and actions of humans as they go about their daily lives.
Standards bodies embrace blockchain
A FinTech Technical Advisory Group has been established by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) TC68 Financial Services Committee. ISO has also just recently approved a new blockchain committee.
TAS and targit team up
Italy’s TAS Group and targit GmbH Austria have signed a deal to collaborate on bringing a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model for liquidity risk management and reporting within reach of tier two and three banks throughout Central and Eastern Europe, including Austria and Germany.
CSD consortium focuses on fintech for emerging markets
A central securities depositories (CSDs) consortium has been founded to help emerging market CSDs investigate and take advantage of new technologies such as blockchain. Led by Russia’s CSD, National Settlement Depository (NSD) and South Africa’s Strate, the consortium will initially focus on working with CSDs in Africa, the Middle East and Eurasia.
CFPB Targets Credit Repair Company over Illegal Fees, Marketing
The CFPB has filed a federal lawsuit against a credit repair company over what the consumer protection agency called “a series of illegal advance fees” and misrepresentations of the cost and effectiveness of the company’s services.
Report: Open-Loop Prepaid Card Loads Expected to Increase Steadily
The amount of money U.S. consumers are loading onto their open-loop prepaid cards continues to increase, and more consumers are buying open- and closed-loop gift cards for self-use, according to two separate studies by Mercator Advisory Group.
Global Balance Tips to Card Payments over Cash in 2016
Global consumer card payments will surpass cash payments for the first time this year, reaching $23.1 trillion worldwide, according to new data from Euromonitor International. Cash transactions are projected at $22.6 trillion for the year, according to the research firm.
Non-Cash Transactions Grow 8.9 Percent Globally
Global non-cash transactions grew 8.9 percent year-over-year in 2014 to reach 387.3 billion transactions, according to the 2016 “World Payments Report” from Capgemini and BNP Paribas. The report said that “developing markets drove this growth, recording a 16.7 percent increase in 2014 while mature markets grew by 6.0 percent.”
PayCommerce launches instant cross-border payments, clearing and settlement scheme
Join the consortium. PayCommerce, an open cross-border payments network, has launched an instant cross-border payment, clearing and integrated settlement programme for global banks.
