More than half a million UK consumers have switched their current accounts since September, according to new figures released by the UK Payments Council. The figures have been described as positive, but market observers remain cautious over whether or not they can be sustained and whether the UK authorities are doing enough to promote innovation.
Banks must take note of the way that technology is changing how customers interact with the world around them and develop products and services that address their needs rather than the banks’.
The banking industry is complex by its nature but banks and bankers should look up from their budgets, listen to their customers, stop whining about regulations and collaborate on industry issues.
UK consumers have doubled the amount of transactions they make on their mobile phones over the last year, according to new figures released by the BBA.
While established banks struggle with their legacy systems, smaller players and new entrants are quickly adopting new technologies – but there are some trends in digital banking that are being slowly adopted by the banking industry as a whole.
Mobility has risen to such a level of importance that many people believe it deserves its own C-level position to advance and align mobility strategy throughout the enterprise. In no other industry is this more pressing than in banking where financial institutions are increasingly using mobile apps to set themselves apart from their rivals.
A new financial services innovation centre in Indonesia is aiming to capitalise on rising levels of mobile penetration and interest from banks and other financial services providers in new technologies and business opportunities in the country.
The Bank of England has become the first central bank to go live with an implementation of the Market Infrastructure Resiliency Service contingency system it has been piloting with Swift over the past few years.
The mobile payments system planned by the UK Payments Council will be branded Paym. The Council says that it will announce the go-live date next month and final testing is on track.
TSB is increasing the size of its ATM estate by more than 10% as it works to transform its retail banking network in the wake of its de-merger from Lloyds Banking Group last year.
At the end of last year, Yahoo was hit by a malware attack. It affected over two million clients, mainly in Romania, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain, putting their personal data at risk. Upon visiting the website between 27 December and 3 January, users received advertisements, some of which were malicious and infected users’ devices without even a click.
Mobile payment isn’t about reinventing the wheel – it’s about making merchants and customers’ lives better by establishing a relationship built on knowledge and trust, according to mobile payments platform Znap.
Bitcoin, gamification and Personal Financial Management are “generating more heat than light” in debates about the future of retail banking and banks should not be distracted from other major challenges including digital channels and legacy transformation.
Poland’s Getin Bank has implemented biometric signature verification in a roll-out of unstaffed remote branches using Virtual Teller Machines under its Getin Point brand. The technology allows customers to carry out banking tasks that require a signature without having to go to a traditional branch.
After many years of struggle, Mexicans may be about to snatch the crown of Latin America’s most promising financial services market from their Portuguese-speaking cousins in Brazil.
The Prudential Regulatory Authority has set out a series of requirements for non-EU banks who want to do business in the UK.
In addition to the regulatory system changes, what would the technological and infrastructure challenges of such a ruling be?
MasterCard has partnered with mobile technology specialist Syniverse under an audacious plan that aims at nothing less than “bringing mobile financial services to every single mobile user on the planet”.
What do taxis, the weather, mobile wallets and raincoats have in common? They are all potential variables in determining a person’s daily spend – and they provide a great opportunity for banks to use data to save customers money, according to Aman Narain, global head of digital banking Singapore at Standard Chartered.
Spain’s CaixaBank has developed an application for Google Glass, the futuristic and controversial new technology that is set to bring augmented reality to the masses when it launches later this year.
Revelations that Barclays customer data was being sold on the black market to corrupt City traders have caused the bank some embarrassment over the weekend– but the incident raises more questions than it answers, according to observers.
The acquisition of digital banking specialist IND Group will give Misys access to parts of its rivals’ customer base that it intends to exploit as it develops its offerings in the digital banking channel, while the closer integration of the IND capabilities will also shore up Misys’ defences against encroachment of its own ageing user base.
Thailand’s Bangkok Bank has installed a new mobile banking and payments platform built by technology company Fiserv, which it says will give customers better security and the bank a stronger presence on mobile devices.
UK retail banks lag their international peers in helping their online customers make better financial decisions, according to new research published this week.
Pakistan’s Faysal Bank has shifted the bank branches it bought from RBS in 2010 onto its SunGard core banking system, as part of a major push to integrate the business.
Turkish bank Türkiye Finans Katılım Bankası is collaborating with US infrastructure company Opengear to roll out remote management technology for its bank branch network, which it says will help to cut costs and improve efficiency.
India’s state-run post office the Department of Posts is planning to launch core banking services in the Indian capital city Delhi, as part of a major drive to become a banking services provider in the country.
UK operator O2 has revealed that its O2 Wallet service, which closed last week, was a casualty of the pace of development in the fast moving mobile payments space.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of UK current account holders would prefer to bank online or via a mobile app than via telephone or in-branch banking (29%), according to a recent survey by YouGov and business process specialist Genpact.
Belgium’s Record Bank has introduced a new mobile banking platform that it says will help customers better manage their money in real time. The features of the new mobile banking service include SEPA payment abilities and the ability for customers to check the status, transaction history and details of their own account. Established in 2001, […]
Japan’s evolving payments industry offers an opportunity for financial institutions and card issuers to capitalise on mobile technology and card schemes, according to a new report by analyst firm Celent.
The likes and dislikes of mobile banking customers around the world suggest that there is an opportunity to expand mobile services globally – but providers need to be careful they are targeting the right information to the right people, according to a new survey by analytics firm FICO.
HSBC has lost more customers since the introduction of the UK’s account switching service than any other major retail bank, according to figures published by advisory firm TNS.
The European Central Bank is to create a Euro Retail Payments Board to replace the Single Euro Payments Area Council and “help foster the development of an integrated, innovative and competitive market for retail payments in euro in the European Union”.
Turkey’s Garanti Bank and mobile operator Turkcell have partnered with Visa Europe in a deal aimed at bringing the Turkcell mobile wallet to more consumers in Turkey.
A new role for CIOs in the banking sector was highlighted at the recent Gartner Symposium: to maintain their future relevance and position, they need to be seen as consultants in the technology space, not just providers.
NCR is “fundamentally and permanently changing” financial services its financial services business with a £1.6 billion acquisition of Digital Insight, a Californian on-line and mobile banking solutions provider. It has also bought UK-based fraud prevention company Alaric.
An IT problem that left customers of RBS and its Natwest and Ulster Bank subsidiaries unable to use their accounts yesterday evening was described as “unacceptable” by a bank spokeswoman. For three hours – on what was expected to by the largest online shopping day of the year, dubbed “Cyber Monday” – the banks’ customers […]
Is there an industry more obsessed with fads than banking?. Maybe it’s because it is such a follow-the-leader industry. Perhaps it’s because banking is a very me-too business with few (if any) real brand distinctions. Or is it simply that senior management is so obsessed with the needs of shareholders.
Santander, Nationwide and Halifax have gained the most from the UK’s account switching service, while traditional banking names Barclays, HSBC Lloyds & TSB and NatWest have lost out, according to new figures released by advisory firm TNS.
RBS has confirmed that it is to launch V.me by Visa, the digital wallet built by Visa Europe. The decision follows a pilot programme, and will mean that RBS follows in the footsteps of Nationwide Building Society, which has just become the first UK high street brand to roll out the wallet to its customers.
