As China-based payments network UnionPay continues to grow its global acceptance network, Chinese students studying abroad can use UnionPay cards for tuition payments at more than 2,000 educational institutions outside mainland China, the network announced Aug. 29.
India-based online commerce platform Paytm soon could gain a $300 million investment from China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba and Taiwan-based microchip firm MediaTek, according to an Aug. 29 report in the Financial Times.
A new international network of fintech hubs aims to foster global cooperation for the development of fintech and give the emerging industry a collective voice. Dubbed the Global Fintech Hubs Federation, the new group was formed by Innotribe—the innovation arm of global financial network SWIFT—and Innovate Finance, a fintech industry organization.
VisionFund International (VFI), the microfinance arm of World Vision, has selected BankBI’s cloud-based business intelligence and analytics solution. The Microsoft Azure-deployed solution will be used in 32 countries. VFI plans to centralise its data management and reporting efforts across its operational, social performance and financial data, as it wants to “capitalise” on opportunities in rural […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Temenos and BACB go public on core banking software project We knew back in February. Al Hilal Bank’s new CIO looks to collaborate with fintechs Let’s talk. Famous five unsettle Bitcoin with utility settlement coin Arrival of a […]
Prepaid cards have gained popularity among U.S. consumers in recent years, with 63 percent of adults buying the payments device in the year preceding June, according to a new survey report from Mercator Advisory Group. That compares to 61 percent for the last survey report, and 56 percent for the year before that.
In the wake of the cyberattack that struck international financial messaging network SWIFT earlier this year, U.S. banking regulators say that they are assessing cybersecurity threats facing the country’s financial institutions and the controls in place to defend against attacks.
Nordea and DNB will bring together their operations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to create a new bank. The two banks say their Baltic operations are “a great match”, with Nordea’s strength being in the large corporate segment, while DNB’s is in the SME segment. Both banks also have significant presence in the retail space. […]
Seoul, South Korea-based Samsung Electronics recently announced that Samsung Pay had been launched a year ago, and that approximately 100 million unique transactions have been made using its m-wallet thus far.
Innotribe, Swift’s innovation arm, and membership organisation Innovate Finance have launched a Global FinTech Hubs Federation (GFHF) to help foster innovation. To date, more than 20 countries – including Canada, China, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, and the UK – are participating in the GFHF, with more countries expected to join in the coming months. Lawrence Wintermeyer, […]
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Consumers enrolled in multiple, unrelated loyalty programs often experience confusion and friction when it comes to redeeming rewards. Some see coalition loyalty—platforms that enable customers to earn and redeem points across multiple brands and retailers—as the way to win.
Retailers are now operating in an era where convenience is key—and secure and simple payments have begun to take hold. Amy Parsons, vice president of global commerce at Discover, recently offered her insights into on-demand payment technology.
BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, ICAP and Santander have joined UBS and Clearmatics to advance their utility settlement coin (USC) concept, and plan tests in a real-market environment. USC is a digital cash model for payments and settlement. It will run on blockchain and be another rival to Bitcoin. The group plan to build on the […]
Eleonore Fournier-Tombs, RedOwl field data scientist, ponders the curious case of Galen Marsh, who stole masses of data from his former employee, Morgan Stanley, by using a very simple hack of the client data management system. In a climactic conclusion to an insider threat story that has been developing since 2015, Morgan Stanley agreed to […]
It’s no secret that the financial services industry has tended to lag behind when it comes to adopting digital technology. Far from being leaders of innovation, banks are often stifled by lumbering IT systems and an inherent sense of caution when it comes to challenging the status-quo. With growing investment in the internet of things […]
The weakest gift card retailers, according to a report from Retail System Research published Aug. 23 that gave them each zero points, include Eddie Bauer, Costco, Walgreens, and Advance Auto Parts as well as quite a few quick-service restaurant chains, including McDonald’s, Denny’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, KFC and Chick-Fil-A.
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s proposal prohibiting financial services firms from including class action waivers in arbitration agreements has another critic: The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) has sent a letter to the federal agency about the “negative” impacts the rule would have on the prepaid industry.
Walgreens on Aug. 22 became the first retailer to enable customers to earn loyalty points via NFC tap with Android Pay. The pharmacy and convenience giant’s Balance Rewards members now can load their rewards card onto Android Pay and hold their phone near the PIN pad to earn points when making a purchase.
Some members of big box retailer Costco received erroneous email messages Aug. 19 from Citi stating their Costco Anywhere Visa credit card account had been closed. The emails were intended to inform certain Costco customers that they couldn’t use their Costco Anywhere Visa cards because their memberships had expired.
In the course of a recent active business day I observed myself carrying a multitude of financial instruments. I had to make a payment from my business checking account to a local government agency and I was reluctant to use my business debit card. Should I have chosen my credit card the agency charged an […]
Are payment processors for consumer financial service providers required to understand the complex regulatory regimes to which their clients are subject, and verify that clients are complying with those requirements?
Mobile payment service Chase Pay has landed a major new merchant partner, announcing a multi-year acceptance agreement with Phillips 66 that also will boost the fuel retailer’s mobile payments and loyalty integration. Under the deal, Phillips will accept Chase Pay at fuel pumps and convenience stores that operate under its Phillips 66, Conoco and 76 brands.
Using facial recognition to log into bank accounts could present security vulnerabilities, according to a security researcher.
WEX Inc., a South Portland, Maine-based provider of corporate payment services, will kill its my Travel Cash prepaid card program in the U.K. as of Oct. 4. Shuttering my Travel Cash is part of WEX’s plan to concentrate on its corporate payments products and services, according to the company.
Square Inc. could be moving closer to its long-expected expansion into Europe. The San Francisco-based mobile payments company posted three openings for positions in the U.K. and Ireland on jobs board Indeed.com. The openings were for a compliance analyst and communications manager, both based in London, and a technical customer support rep, in Dublin.
Banking Technology, ACI Worldwide and Nets have joined forces to survey the global market about the highs and lows of its current journey towards real-time payments. From individual institutions’ readiness to key market drivers, obstacles and fraud concerns, and everything in between – survey participants from across the globe share their views.
Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) has signed for Fiserv’s Signature back office system and the Teller front-end solution. MBSL has around 100,000 customer accounts and 49 branches. Last year, it merged with its two subsidiaries, MBSL Financial Services and MBSL Savings Bank. Fiserv says the bank needed new technology that was “flexible, scalable and […]
Banking technology vendor Misys – currently residing in the hands of US-based Vista Equity Partners – is understood to be gearing up for an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. According to City AM, Misys is planning a £5.5 billion float and has appointed investment advisory firm Moelis to oversee it. In its current form, […]
Today, most banks want to be digital leaders because that is where the customers are! This has brought in a change in the attitude of many traditional banks. Arun S. Padaki, a seasoned corporate banker, credit risk and business process management consultant, explores what it takes to become a digital leader and who is already […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! New core banking project for Temenos in Canada Exclusive. Credit union in British Columbia goes for T24. Swift slow on strong security say execs “Took their eye off the ball.” Volksbank pioneers NCR Innovation Experience Room An “experimental […]
Nykredit, Denmark’s largest mortgage provider, has invested in a minority stake in a new mobile banking service, Lunar Way, and has become its banking partner. In two months’ time Nykredit will replace Københavns Andelskasse (Copenhagen Cooperative Bank), the start-up’s initial banking partner. Mark Dissing Bækgaard, head of marketing and communications at Lunar Way, tells Banking […]
Ghana-based banking start-up, Sovereign Bank, has implemented Temenos’ T24 core banking system. The project was delivered by a local integrator and Temenos’ regional partner, Global Solutions. Sovereign Bank was among the three entities granted banking licences last year. The other two are Heritage Bank and Union Savings and Loans. Sovereign Bank is a universal bank offering […]
There is no question that consumers continue to embrace card-based payments as an alternative to cash and checks, none more so than the millennials. But cash will continue to have a role.
Meant to overcome the challenges of tokenization, payment account reference (PAR) promises more complexity and cost—and will require more attention from payments providers.
Mobile wallets already offer incentives to consumers based on spending. What about offering rewards based on money management?
Swift has formed a global market practice task force of markets infrastructures and banks to assist its ISO 20022 Harmonisation Charter. Sponsored by the Payments Market Practice Group (PMPG), the task force aims to address the evolving ISO 20022 standards requirements of high value payments systems (HVPS) providers. Swift says it is a “key component” […]
SWIFT, a Belgium-based, bank-owned co-op and provider of financial messaging services, has been aware of flaws in the way smaller banks used SWIFT’s messaging terminals, thus compromising the security of the system, but the organization did little to address the matter. Those are the assertions of more than a dozen current and former high-ranking Swift officials, according to a Reuters report on Aug. 17.
Although consumers continue to adopt and use mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, new evidence indicates that such wallets are largely failing to drive repeat usage. A report released Aug. 17 by Javelin Strategy and Research found that mean mobile wallet usage has declined 20 percent over the past three years—to 3.0 purchases a month in 2015 from 3.7 in 2013.
In light of huge merchant problems accepting EMV—something that card brand stats show 66-70 percent of merchants still can’t do—EMVCo, the organization that manages the specifications for the anti-fraud chip card technology, said on Aug. 17 that it will, for the first time, provide “formal certification for contactless mobile payment devices.”
