News


European Payments Council unveils SEPA rulebooks for 2015

The European Payments Council has set out new requirements under the Single Euro Payment Area Credit Transfer and Direct Debit schemes, including changes to the time cycle, business to business rulebooks and the process for SDD collection, following SEPA implementation in August.

“Woefully inadequate” CCPs could pose major systemic risk

Despite the G20 plans put in place since the financial crisis, CCPs are still vulnerable to unforeseen risks and could put the whole financial system in jeopardy in the event of a catastrophic default, according to senior financial services executives speaking in London today.

Company on the Move: Discover, Consumer Reports Naughty and Nice List

Consumer Reports recently published a Naughty and Nice List based on company practices and policies. Discover made the Nice list by becoming the first major credit-card issuer to provide free FICO scores from TransUnion on monthly statements of qualifying cardholders.

People on the Move: Robert P. Zinn, K&L Gates

Robert P. Zinn, partner and a firm-wide leader of K&L Gates’ global corporate and transactional practice, has been named one of Global M&A Network’s Top 50 North American M&A Lawyers, part of the Top 50 Americas Dealmakers List.

People on the Move: John Walsh, SightSpan Inc.

Mooresville, N.C.-based SightSpan Inc., which advises organizations on risk-management and AML programs, announced that the company and CEO John Walsh were honored recently with a citation from the government of North Carolina.

People on the Move: Hervé Pierre, SIMalliance Board of Directors

SIMalliance, a London-based nonprofit trade association supporting the creation, deployment and management of secure mobile services and applications, has elected Hervé Pierre to serve a one-year term as the organization’s chairman of the board.

Company on the Move: YapStone, Deloitte Technology Recognition

YapStone, a global provider of Web and mobile payment solutions, has been named to the Deloitte 2014 Technology Fast 500, an annual ranking of the 500 fastest-growing North American companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology sectors.

FIX focuses on high performance with consolidated effort

FIX Trading Community has combined all its high performance trading and market data initiatives into a single working group, emphasising the importance that high performance has in the FIX family of standards. The next generation of the FIX Protocol will fully support high performance on all levels (application, presentation, session) to offer an open standard that can replace today’s proprietary interfaces for high performance trading and market data.

Banking Technology Awards 2014 – The Winners

At a gala event in London last night, industry luminaries gathered for an evening of entertainment and excitement as the winners of the 2014 Banking Technology Awards and Readers’ Choice Awards were announced.

More Must Reading from the CFPB (Nov. 20, 2014)

Lost among last week’s excitement of the issuance of the long-awaited NPRM on prepaid was another CFPB publication that’s a must read—“Study of Prepaid Account Agreements.”

Industry Leaders Outline Fraud-Fighting Techniques to U.S. Senate (Nov. 20, 2014)

Prepaid industry leaders, which included representatives from InComm, Blackhawk Network and Green Dot, met with members of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging during a hearing yesterday to outline how they’re working to prevent fraudsters from using prepaid debit cards to swindle consumers, particularly phone scams perpetrated against the elderly.

Apple Pay Faces Same Hurdles as other Mobile Wallets (Nov. 20, 2014)

Apple Pay has generated significant buzz since it launched on Oct. 21—and more than 1 million credit cards were registered in the payment app within 72 hours—but Leon Majors, president of the payments practice at Phoenix Marketing International, presented research in Chicago last week at BAI Retail Delivery 2014 that suggests Apple may have some of the same difficulties that have plagued other mobile wallets, including low acceptance.

Fines drive data to top of banks’ AML concerns

Market participants are worried about data and are deeply concerned about their ability to monitor transactions following a string of major fines to global financial institutions, according to a new report by NICE Actimize.

Google Wallet for Digital Goods to Be Discontinued (Nov. 17, 2014)

Merchants using “Google Wallet for digital goods” to accept online payments on their Websites soon will have to find a new provider, and consumers no longer will be able to check out with the Google Wallet for digital goods when buying digital merchandise.

Capital markets should get back to basics say securities experts

The securities industry is suffering from “innovatism”, a serious disease that if untreated could result in significant damage by detracting attention away from genuine business growth. At the same time, commercial pressures could force radical change in several areas of the capital markets, according to panellists at a debate hosted by Mondo Visione this week.

Industry Experts Say CFPB’s NPRM Part of Prepaid’s Evolution, Leveling of Playing Field

The prepaid industry was well-represented at today’s CFPB field hearing on prepaid accounts in Wilmington, Del. The consensus among industry experts was that the popularity of prepaid products continues to grow and that the NPRM is the next step in the evolution of the industry, as the rules could create a level playing field for prepaid providers.