Momentum is building behind the T2S securities settlement system as it gains critical mass. While expected benefits and outcomes have not fully materialised, the unexpected benefits have captured the imagination of the post-trade industry.
Regulation is likely to be a hot topic at Sibos, both inside and outside of conference sessions. We assesses the main regulatory themes for this year’s event.
Post-trade firms SIX Securities Services and Clearstream are partnering to potentially provide services to the Swiss and European markets. Both firms recently signed a letter of intent and are now focused on fleshing out the details that will lead to a memorandum of understanding targeted for mid-December. This signing will clear the way for a […]
One of the U.K.’s first-ever class action lawsuits is targeting Mastercard, providing a potential preview of future class actions in the country. The case stems from a 2007 finding by the European Union (EU) Commission that the network’s interchange fees were too high, in breach of EU rules.
A computer scientist appears to have broken Apple’s iPhone security by simply opening the phone and replacing the main memory chip with a cloned version. As long as the researcher kept switching the chips, it allowed an unlimited number of password attempts. The researcher said that the technique, which is known and referred to as Nand mirroring, cracked a 4-digit code in 40 hours and a 6-digit code in “hundreds of hours.”
The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has proposed new regulations designed to protect against the rising threat of cybercrime targeting financial systems and consumer data. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled the plan, which would require banks, insurance companies and other financial services providers regulated by the NYDFS to establish a cybersecurity plan that meets standards set by the agency.
In a Sept. 19 ruling in a case over a cyberattacks against JPMorgan Chase and others, a federal judge became the latest to declare that bitcoin qualifies as legal tender. Manhattan District Court Judge Alison Nathan rejected an attempt by Anthony Murgio to dismiss charges that the bitcoin exchange he operated was an unlicensed money transmitting business.
A Dutch international cash management services specialist, Bank Mendes Gans (BMG), is implementing a new cash and liquidity management system, SmartStream’s Corona. It will go live in Q4 2016, managing BMG’s 500,000 transactions per month.
The full authorisation by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) covers all of AvantCredit’s credit and lending operations and includes permissions for credit broking, debt collection and debt administration.
Federal regulators are planning to tighten the screws on marketplace lenders over concerns about consumer protections and reckless lending. At a marketplace lending policy summit, U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry told lenders to expect a new regulatory framework this fall that would support “responsible innovation.”
Most people have heard of the headline-making achievements in artificial intelligence (AI); systems winning quiz shows and beating world champions in chess. These are the poster children of the discipline but there is a quieter revolution taking in shape in other areas, including regulatory compliance in financial services. Writing for Banking Technology, Mike MacDonagh, London-based […]
In a mere 15 months, approximately 5,000 financial institutions across Europe will be required to provide open access to customer, transaction and payment information via APIs. “This is a massive amount of work,” said James Whittle, director of industry policy for Payments UK, the representative body for the country’s payments industry, speaking at the EBAday […]
The Bank of England (BoE) has published a consultation paper on the next generation real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service. On the way out is the bank’s legacy 20-year old platform. The BoE is calling on the payments industry specialists to get in touch.
A new open ecosystem – where banks can enable third parties to develop mobile banking apps and cash management solutions for them – has many advantages over the previous closed world, where everybody tried to do everything themselves. The key to successful “opening up” is to provide a standard interface, such as a smart phone to a bank account, that is accessible to third parties whilst retaining the necessary control.
While it sounds like something for which you’d need to visit a doctor, Swift’s HVPS+ will likely be a talking point during the payments industry panels at this month’s Sibos. Announced in mid-August, the high-value payments system task force is an important component of Swift’s ISO 20022 harmonisation initiative. A number of central banks, market infrastructures and banks from around the world are members of the task force.
Mastercard faces a £14 billion claim ($18.6 billion) in the U.K. over interchange fees in a case filed with the country’s Competition Appeal Tribunal. The claim comes two years after the European Union labeled the interchange charged by the payment card network as unfair. European interchange caps went into effect in December of 2015.
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council has revised the “Information Security” booklet of the agency’s FFIEC Information Technology Examination Handbook.
Home Depot’s complaint asserts that Visa and Mastercard “unlawfully” fixed interchange fees at high levels.
UK-based specialist vendor Lombard Risk has launched a cloud-based collateral management platform, underpinned by its long-standing development in this space, Colline. The new solution is known as AgileCollateral.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) have signed an agreement to foster more fintech co-operation. The plan is to share information, support financial innovators, smooth out regulations, and offer more dialogue and secondments. To provide more evidence, FINMA says it is “consistently removing unnecessary regulatory hurdles” – […]
The House Financial Services Committee will meet Sept. 13 to mark up a bill that would overturn major provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. Initially proposed in June by Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the Financial CHOICE Act would strip significant authority away from the CFPB, renaming it the Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission and tasking the agency with the dual mission of protecting consumers and ensuring competitive markets.
South Korean fintech firms plans to file a complaint with regulators over Apple’s refusal to open its API.
Allevo’s open source application, FinTP, is now SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) compliant for EximBank (Export-Import Bank of Romania). The FinTP collaboration between state-owned EximBank and Allevo started one year ago, when the bank chose to implement the solution for low-value Euro payment instructions. EximBank now takes the partnership “one step further with the implementation of […]
The Brexit unrest aside, Europe is taking initiatives to make a sounder, more user-friendly economic landscape. By using technology solutions and digital innovation, the European Union (EU) is encouraging greater transparency, usability and higher standards of security for all manner of web-based banking and financial transactions. Irrespective of any governmental re-organisation, and the trickled-down impact […]
The CFPB on Sept. 8 announced a $100 million fine against Wells Fargo for what the agency called “widespread unlawful sales practices.” The agency said the fine is the largest such penalty it has ever issued.
What is FTR 2015 and how does it affect banks operating in the cross-border payments space? Marc Recker, Head of Market Management, Institutional Cash Management at Deutsche Bank, explores. The challenges and complexities of complying with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CFT) regulations are certainly not new in the financial industry. Over the past […]
Russell Investments, a US-based asset management firm, has chosen Qumram to provide compliant digital record-keeping. Qumram, a digital interaction audit solutions provider, says it mitigates risk at Russell Investments by recording and retaining all digital interactions on the firm’s corporate website in real-time, in accordance with global regulatory requirements. Qumram says that “increasingly, regulation is […]
A New York Department of Labor (DOL) rule that has been bitterly opposed by a major prepaid card association is being implemented anyway. The N.Y. DOL has issued its final rule regulating methods and payment of wages, including the use of payroll cards, in the state and includes no substantive changes from its second revised proposal in June.
Iran has won a slight reprieve in FinCEN’s latest advisory for anti-money laundering and countering terrorism measures.
Our rejuvenated Banking Technology Awards have received an unprecedented amount of entries this year – from banks, financial institutions, fintech firms and individuals worldwide – and we are happy to reveal the shortlisted candidates. Now in their 17th year, Banking Technology Awards recognise and reward excellence and innovation in the use of IT in financial […]
A spate of email fraud schemes involving stolen consumer information and financial institutions being duped into conducting wire transfers has prompted the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to issue an advisory Sept. 6 in an effort to thwart the illegal activity.
A handheld card reader released last year has helped U.S. law enforcement agencies seize or recover about $10 million in fraudulent prepaid funds, according to the Dept. of Homeland Security.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is planning to launch a regulatory sandbox and innovation hub as part of ambitions to boost its fintech brand. At the Treasury Markets Summit 2016, jointly organised by the HKMA and the Treasury Markets Association (TMA), Norman Chan, chief executive of the HKMA, says it wants to build a […]
Commerzbank is implementing UK-based AxiomSL’s platform to automate regulatory reporting requirements. The bank, Germany’s second largest, plans to deliver the SEC 15c3-1 (Securities and Exchange Commission’s uniform net capital rule) as well as other regulatory mandates such as the Financial and Operational Combined Uniform Single (Focus), Treasury International Capital (TIC), Off Balance Sheet reporting (OBS) […]
Luxembourg-based Lemanik Asset Management has chosen Linedata’s compliance monitoring software – Linedata Compliance. To comply with the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) and Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM) directives, which impose controls and “transparency discipline”, Lemanik decided to manage its report production by itself and chose Linedata to roll out the tech. […]
Prepaid card-related complaints to the CFPB ticked down in July, the bureau announced in its latest monthly consumer complaint report. The month saw 211 complaints about prepaid products, down 5 percent from 223 prepaid complaints in June and slightly below the monthly average of 215 since the CFPB began tracking prepaid complaints in July 2014.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) is looking for public feedback and comments for its proposed FRSA Regulatory Laboratory (RegLab). The RegLab will provide a “controlled environment to allow the development and testing of innovative fintech solutions”. It will be the “first of its kind” in the Middle East […]
Apple is pushing back against a bid by a group of Australia’s major banks to be allowed to negotiate collectively with the U.S-based tech giant over contactless payments. In a filing with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released Aug. 30, Apple called upon the regulator to reject a request by the banks to collectively bargain with Apple in negotiations to offer Apple Pay to their customers.
French software firm Dassault Systemes is inviting start-ups to apply to its “3D Fintech Challenge” to address anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) issues. As part of its overall 3DExperience Lab initiative, the seven-week programme will identify and help nurture six start-ups that can provide systemic warnings and a 360-degree view of customer/support […]
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has released a consultation paper on proposed changes to the payments regulatory framework and establishment of a National Payments Council. Jacqueline Loh, MAS deputy managing director, says this is an “important step for MAS and the payments industry to co-create the future of Singapore’s payments landscape; one where payments […]
