O-Bank goes digital in preparation for IPO
O-Bank (formerly Industrial Bank of Taiwan), is keen to transform itself into “a nimble and digitally-focused boutique lender” as it gears on for an IPO.
FinTech
Top fintech stories this week – 7 April 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Banks spellbound by innovation? Lessons learnt from digitalisation
Dr Andreas Dombret, member of the executive board of Deutsche Bundesbank, ponders why fintech innovation is such a hot topic now, of all times, what exactly innovation in banking means, and whether banks are even capable of being innovative.
UniCredit and SIA bring Alipay to Italy
The agreement between Alipay and UniCredit has now entered the operational stage. Technological infrastructure for this has been provided by SIA.
Cachet, Rebar and Central Bank of Kansas City bring mobile prepaid programmes to community banks
Cachet Financial Solutions is working with Central Bank of Kansas City (CBKC) to bring mobile-optimised prepaid programmes to community banks. The two companies have also teamed with Rebar Interactive to provide Select Mobile Money-Express, a platform that includes a Mastercard-branded prepaid card.
WhatsApp set to join the Indian mobile money revolution
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is reportedly looking to get into mobile payments and has picked India as the best place to start.
Deutsche Bank launches new mobile payment app
Deutsche Bank has launched a new mobile payment app for Android devices.
R3, HQLAX and five banks build collateral lending solution on blockchain
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) consortium R3, together with five of its members and financial resource management specialist HQLAX have built a collateral lending solution for liquidity transfers. The solution is based on R3’s flagship platform, Corda, and is “an operating model for a digital collateral receipt (DCR) lending marketplace”.
OP Financial Group enlists Token to develop new payment solutions
OP Financial Group has partnered with Token, a Silicon Valley-based crypto-payment software provider. Token says the agreement will enable the Finnish bank “to innovate in the European open banking market and generate new revenue streams via future payment solutions”.
Finicity first to ink data exchange deal with Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo and data aggregation provider Finicity have signed a deal that provides an API-based method for sharing Wells Fargo customer information with the financial apps and services that Finicity supports.
Fintech in the US: the state of the union is questionable
An overview of the current fintech regulation in the US by the prudential regulators: the OCC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve.
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 4 April 2017
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s round-up, here’s more bite-sized blockchain and Bitcoin news. Featuring TaaS, Living Room of Satoshi and Bitfinex. TaaS, the “first-ever” tokenised closed-end fund dedicated to blockchain assets, will partner with two cryptocurrency exchanges, Livecoin and Kuna, to offer its tokens for trading starting on 28 April. Investors will be able […]
UK and India strengthen fintech ties
A team of British politicians and fintech business leaders are in India as they seek to strengthen trade and investment between the two nations. At the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, held today (4 April) in Delhi, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, and the Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley, discussed […]
Fintech funding round-up: 4 April 2017
The world is not short of money… for some. Our latest fintech funding round-up features Aeries Financial Technologies, CASHe, Perfios and Ayopop. There’s never a shortage of fintech news in India. Aeries Financial Technologies, which owns the app-only lending platform CASHe, has raised $3.8 million in Series A funding from an investor group led by […]
BNP Paribas to buy 95% stake in French digital bank Compte-Nickel
BNP Paribas is buying a 95% stake in Financière des Paiements Électroniques (FPE), which provides the digital-only bank Compte-Nickel. BNP Paribas wants to tap into Compte-Nickel’s growth – citing its 540,000 accounts opened over the past three years and that a new account is being opened in France every 30 seconds. Compte-Nickel also offers real-time […]
SIX teams with DTCC to issue legal entity identifiers in Switzerland
SIX Securities Services, which runs the central securities depository (CSD) for Switzerland, is partnering with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) to offer legal entity identifiers (LEIs) for Swiss entities. According to SIX, LEIs were devised to provide insight into corporate entities with the aim of reducing cross-platform risk exposure. By providing LEIs together, […]
Visa brings more action to Amazon transactions
Visa says it has become the first card network to give its UK commercial account holders a comprehensive view of their Amazon Business purchases. The new transaction data, available to Barclaycard, Citi, HSBC, and Lloyds Bank account holders, provides line-item details on all purchases for Amazon Business customers and integrates with reconciliation tools. Kevin Jenkins, […]
Lloyds standing small with new micro-branches
Not only is Lloyds cutting branches across the UK, it is now making them smaller in size. With the well-known rise in digital banking, the bank has plans to introduce micro-branches. This means no counters, and two members of staff with mobile tablets to help customers who dare walk into a branch. A spokesperson for […]
Attic Lab teams with Polybius for blockchain-powered bank
Ukrainian start-up Attic Lab has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Polybius Foundation to provide the blockchain backbone for a new digital bank. As Banking Technology reported in September last year, Attic Lab unveiled its open source blockchain platform and has been gaining some traction with banks in Europe. It will implement SmartMoney, a […]
Meezan Bank launches domestic payment scheme in Pakistan
Meezan Bank in Pakistan is partnering with 1LINK Guarantee, an interbank payment network service, to issue PayPak branded debit cards across the nation. PayPak is Pakistan’s “first” domestic payment scheme that aims to provide an “indigenous alternative to international payment schemes”. Ariful Islam, deputy CEO of Meezan Bank, says it “will, inshallah [God willing], develop […]
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 3 April 2017
Another day, another cryptocurrency. A concise round-up of blockchain and Bitcoin events. Features Japan, Lykke, ChronoBank and London’s Imperial College Business School. It’s the land of the rising sums, as Bitcoin is now a legal payment method in Japan. As a result, Bitcoin trades rose today – at 11am (UK time) it was up 2.8% […]
Consorsbank turns to FinLeap for digital account exchange
Consorsbank, part of BNP Paribas Germany, has implemented fintech incubator FinLeap’s digital account exchange service, FinReach. Bank users who want to move accounts to Consorsbank can do so in “a matter of minutes” and it is all done completely online. Customers will be shown all the credit transferees – and can choose who is to […]
Mortgage Gym muscles into UK market with robo-adviser launch
The “world’s first, regulated mortgage robo-adviser” Mortgage Gym will be launched in the UK in the coming months – offering online applications in 15 minutes. The service is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is free and combines robo- and live-broker advice. Mortgage Gym says its network allows brokers to acquire customers independently, […]
Voice biometrics take ANZ higher for mobile payments
Australia and New Zealand-based banking group, ANZ, has announced it will be the first Australian bank to introduce voice biometrics on mobile devices to allow higher value transactions. From the middle of this year, customers transferring more than $1,000 through ANZ’s mobile apps will be able to use their voice to automatically authorise high value […]
Accenture acquires digital ID firm Arismore
Accenture Security has completed its acquisition of Arismore, a privately held company in France that specialises in security services including identity and access management. The acquisition was first announced in December last year, and Accenture will take on 270 people from Arismore. Kelly Bissell, managing director of Accenture Security, says the deal “immediately amplifies our […]
The Monday mindset: 3 April 2017
Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, Soumik Roy looks at how India has quite a lot of fintech activity in its retail market. Did you notice? For the […]
UK’s Financial Conduct Authority gets persistent on credit card debt
Credit card firms have come in for a kicking as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed new rules to help customers who are in persistent debt. This move follows the FCA’s study of the UK credit card market, which found “significant concerns” about the scale, extent and nature of problem credit card debt. […]
Uber rival Grab buys payments start-up Kudo
Grab, a ride-hailing and mobile payments platform in Southeast Asia, will acquire Indonesia-based O2O (online to offline) ecommerce platform Kudo. The Kudo team and platform will be integrated with Grab’s proprietary mobile payments platform, GrabPay. According to Grab, Kudo’s O2O platform allows Indonesia’s unbanked consumers to shop online by connecting them with merchants and service […]
Protecting porous perimeters via identity access management
With the growth of “mobile working” and an increasing number of business applications migrating to the cloud, the corporate perimeter has become more porous and vulnerable, driving demand for solutions that manage access and user identities securely and efficiently. This is where identity access management (IAM) technologies come into play. ING’s Sicco Boomsma explores.
Banking Technology April 2017 issue out now
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
Don’t get miffed, get MiFID II authorisation
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its near final rules on the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II and encourages firms to submit applications for authorisation. These rules include changes to the trading of financial instruments – such as issues affecting trading venues, transparency of trading and algorithmic and high frequency trading. […]
Bahrain looks to Singapore for fintech fortune
The kingdom of Bahrain is looking to Singapore’s success as it tries to boost its fintech fortunes with a new ecosystem and regulatory framework. The Bahrain Economic Development Board (BEDB), Singapore Fintech Consortium (SFC) and Dubai-based asset management firm Trucial Investment Partners have teamed up for the development plans. Khalid Al Rumaihi, BEDB’s chief executive, […]
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 31 March 2017
Boiled down and brief. The best bits of blockchain and Bitcoin in one round-up. Features Waves Platform, Ripple and Synaps Loans. Fresh from its ZrCoin commodities deal success, the blockchain Waves Platform is launching its decentralised exchange (DEX) and leased proof-of-stake on the Bitcoin network mainnet. DEX can be accessed via a full node or […]
Humour the consumer with KPMG and ATB Financial innovation challenge
ATB Financial has joined forces with KPMG in Canada and fintech matchmaking firm Matchi to run a “Customer Onboarding Innovation Challenge”. The challenge is free to enter and open to any firm that has developed and built a solution in one of the four categories: Know your customer (KYC) – ideally the solution will be […]
Fintech funding round-up: 31 March 2017
Lighter and brighter – catch up with fintech funding news in our brief round-up. Features Monzo, Quint and Lidya. Mobile-only challenger bank Monzo has raised another £2.5 million from more than 6,000 investors – the highest-ever number of any Crowdcube campaign. This follows its crowdfunding record of £1 million round last year, which closed in […]
Apple Pay defeats Australian banks in payments punch-up
Apple Pay has emerged victorious in its long-running feud with four domestic banks over their permission to collectively bargain with Apple and boycott Apple Pay. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued a determination denying authorisation to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Westpac, National Australia Bank (NAB), and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank […]
Financial fraud fools UK out of £769m
Impersonation and deceptive double-dealing play their mischievous part in creating massive amounts of financial fraud in the UK. According to figures from Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK), losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques totalled £768.8 million in 2016, an increase of 2% on the previous year. Katy Worobec, director of FFA UK, […]
Bold statement one: statements around the bleeding edges of innovation
This is a series of posts on a subject that plays on my mind a little – the application of disruption, and innovation, when it is related through the filter of our use of language, and our desire to seem advanced.
Top fintech stories this week – 31 March 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Fintech Is Poised to Thrive in Mexico
The Mexican market has everything—the market size, the interest and the right attitude. There is only one thing missing and that is the very fundamentals of what fintech represents.
