Worldwide


Swift slow on strong security say execs

Current and former executives and managers of Swift, say for years the organisation suspected there were weak points in the way smaller banks used its messaging terminals – but did not address the issues, according to Reuters. In a lengthy investigation by Reuters, sources say that until February, “when hackers tried to steal nearly $1 […]

People on the Move: Hugh McFadden and John Leto, The Bancorp

The Bancorp has named Hugh McFadden chief operating officer of the company and the bank, pending regulatory approval. Meanwhile, John Leto has been appointed to the new role of Chief Administrative Officer of the Company and the Bank.

People on the Move: Gavin Michael, Citibank

Gavin Michael is joining Citibank as head of technology for global consumer banking, overseeing areas including branded payment cards, retail banking and fintech.

ACI Worldwide integrates Ethoca Alerts for payments gateway

ACI Worldwide will integrate Ethoca’s service, Ethoca Alerts, into its UP eCommerce Payments solution, making it available to payment service providers (PSPs) worldwide. The integration gives PSPs, acquirers, processors and their merchant customers a means to “bolster” their fraud defences with card issuer-confirmed fraud and customer dispute data. Keith Briscoe, chief marketing officer, Ethoca, says […]

Misys’ FusionBanking Essence core system live at Yoma Bank

Myanmar-based Yoma Bank has gone live with Misys’ core banking system, FusionBanking Essence. Yoma Bank, one of the country’s largest commercial banks, has been in tech modernisation mode since 2014. In-mid 2014, it issued an RFI for new core banking software, with the financial support from International Finance Corporation (IFC; a subsidiary of the World […]

Northern Trust teams with Scorpeo for corporate actions reporting

Northern Trust Corporation has signed for Scorpeo’s services to provide an “innovative” historical corporate actions reporting service. Scorpeo’s Harmonia solution enables historical analysis to generate “detailed reports to show investors exactly how much value has been missed”, the vendor explains. It will be incorporated into the Northern Trust Historical Corporate Actions Transparency report. Northern Trust’s […]

The Benefits of Implementing Mobile Payments and mPOS Systems

In an age where texting has replaced email and video chat has replaced phone calls, it’s no surprise that many consumers are beginning to readily adopt new payment form factors, such as mobile wallets, for making payments in stores and on-the-go.

People on the Move: Lamont Young, Citizens Bank

Citizens Bank has appointed Lamont Young as head of digital, adding that title to his existing role as manager of the bank’s multichannel marketing, which he’s held since joining Citizens in 2012.

People on the Move: Greg Temm, FS‒ISAC

The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS‒ISAC) has appointed Greg Temm to the newly created role of chief information risk officer.

Company on the Move: PAI, Best Places to Work Award

Payment Alliance International (PAI), a provider of electronic payment processing solutions, has been honored for the second year in a row by Louisville Business First as a “Best Places to Work” in Greater Louisville award winner.

People on the Move: Ronald Webb, Safaricom

Ronald Webb has joined Safaricom to head the Kenyan telecom operator’s financial services division, which includes the popular M-PESA money transfer service.

All the time in the world? Not if you’re an institutional trader

Organisations select a telecommunications provider for different reasons – reliability, global interconnectivity, price and performance are some of the more common drivers – so why do institutional investment arms and FX traders still buck this trend by focusing heavily on network latencies? It is simple, there are very few sectors within international finance where time […]

Green Dot and Uber Expand Debit Card Payments for Drivers

Green Dot and Uber on Aug. 16 expanded the Instant Pay option that enables Uber drivers to quickly get their earnings via debit cards. The expansion builds upon the launch earlier this year of Instant Pay through Green Dot’s Pay Award-winning GoBank mobile checking account, via a special GoBank Uber debit card.

Alibaba Buying Its Way into India, Southeast Asia

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. appears poised to continue expanding its multi-billion dollar business into India and Southeast Asia. Alibaba has been in talks with Paytm, an m-commerce platform, to acquire all of Paytm Mall or at least a large share of the company’s marketplace business, according to the Hindustan Times.

Fintech funding round-up: 15 August 2016

Let’s put the fun in funding by keeping it mercifully brief. A round-up of some key events. Finova Financial’s cloud and mobile-based consumer auto title lending platform raised $52.5 million in a combination of equity and a credit facility, one of the “largest initial rounds in fintech industry history”. The funding round was led by […]

Tesco’s PayQwik Expands to More Stores

After a successful trial run, UK retail chain Tesco will roll out its PayQwiq mobile payment service in all of its stores by the end of 2016. The QR code-based app is available for Android and iOS and enables shoppers to connect any payment card with American Express, Mastercard or Visa branding.

Reports: China Will Legalize Payments via QR Codes

Chinese consumers could soon make legal payments in that country via their smartphones and QR codes, media reports indicate. Shoppers with such online services as Alipay and Tenpay already use the codes, but they exist “in a regulatory gray zone, banned by the government, yet still continue operating,” according Ecns.cn.

Diebold completes Wincor Nixdorf acquisition

ATM maker Diebold has completed its $1.8-billion acquisition of Wincor Nixdorf. As Banking Technology reported in March, US-based Diebold announced it had met the tender condition for its German rival Wincor Nixdorf. The combined organisation will begin operating as Diebold Nixdorf tomorrow (16 August). The market share of the combined company will be about 35%. […]

Amazon and Facebook power Mizuho innovation

Mizuho Bank has carried out testing for new banking services through the Facebook bot and Amazon Echo. The tests took place in Silicon Valley, California, in partnership with two other Japanese firms – Information Services International – Dentsu and Nomura Research Institute. The companies are looking to use CUI (conversational user interfaces) to develop platforms […]

Counting the cost of legacy systems

There’s both a science and an art to arriving at an estimated return on investment (ROI) when it comes to legacy system replacement, writes Mike Maltby, product manager at Eagle Investment Systems. One of the biggest challenges in the decision-making process to replace legacy technology is demonstrating an ROI. System replacements, described by one consultant as […]

Four to score in ING innovation studio

Four start-ups will enter ING’s Innovation Studio in September to see whether they can make the big time – the launch of a viable commercial business. Axyon AI, Gekko, Startup Insight and Surance will take part in the bank’s accelerator programme, the third of its type, since it began in July 2015. ING selected the […]

Top fintech stories this week – 12 August 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Apple bites back over Australian banks’ “cartel” Don’t team up on them. Thieves steal $72m from Hong Kong Bitcoin exchange Now looking for new funding to compensate its customers. UK challenger Mondo gets banking licence It also needs […]

Can Mobile Ordering Apps Handle Payments?

As mobile app operators try to make lunch easier for workers by enabling them to reserve seats and place lunch orders before arriving at restaurants, questions are being raised about how efficiently those fledgling apps handle payments.

CVS Pay Aims to Eliminate Checkout Pain

The company’s new CVS Pay offers payments, loyalty and prescription management within the CVS Pharmacy mobile app. The service currently is available in some CVS locations in select markets, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, with a nationwide rollout expected to begin later this year, CVS said.

Payza Prepaid Card Broadens Its Horizons

The online payments technology platform provider launched the Mastercard-branded GPR prepaid card late last year in the U.S. and Canada as part of a test before taking the product globally, according to the company.

Kyc.com and Dow Jones team up for compliance drive

Kyc.com is partnering with Dow Jones, Exiger and Regulatory DataCorp (RDC) to drive standardisation and compliance for Know Your Customer (KYC) processes. The alliance plans to deliver an end-to-end KYC process integrating compliance, onboarding, sanctions, screening, negative media searches and client risk assessment across regulatory regimes and multiple jurisdictions. Joel Lange, managing director of Dow […]

Payments round-up: 11 August 2016

They said it. We read it. We edit. Here’s a round-up of events in the payments space to save you time. Payments platform Payza has expanded the availability of its Payza Prepaid Card to the majority of its account holders worldwide. It was initially launched to a “limited group” in December 2015, but Firoz Patel, […]

How Consumers Are Driving Mobile Integration across Retail Channels

In 2016, mobile payment sales are projected to reach $27 billion and users are expected to spend an average of $720, up from $8.7 billion and $376, respectively, in 2015. But exploding mobile adoption is just one of a handful of customer behaviors that are making streamlined, integrated payments a must-have for many retailers.

R3 blockchain consortium gets smart on trade finance

R3 and over 15 of its blockchain consortium member banks have “successfully” completed two prototypes using distributed ledger technology for smart contracts. The banks designed and used self-executing transaction agreements – aka smart contracts – on R3’s Corda distributed ledger platform to process accounts receivable (AR) purchase transactions, aka invoice financing or factoring, and letter […]

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC team up for blockchain-based trade finance innovation

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) have teamed up to develop a blockchain prototype for trade finance innovation. The consortium uses the distributed ledger framework provided by Linux Foundation’s open source Hyperledger Project; and the proof of concept has reduced manual processing in letter of credit transactions. […]

Oracle’s Micros POS network hacked

Oracle’s global network of 330,000 point-of-sale (POS) payment systems has been hacked by a Russian organised cybercrime group. The breach occurred on the network run by Micros Systems, which Oracle bought in 2014. The incident was first picked up by computer security expert Brian Krebs, who contacted Oracle for comment. The firm acknowledged it has […]