PayTech


Green Dot’s Secured Credit Card to Help Credit-Challenged Consumers

To help consumers build a credit history or improve their existing credit scores, Green Dot Corp. launched Sept. 29 the Green Dot Platinum Visa Secured Credit Card. Being a secured credit card, the credit line is backed by the cardholder’s security deposit held with Green Dot Bank.

Global Card Base Grows Nearly 6 Percent, Nilson Says

Of the total card base, global brand general purpose cards accounted for about 60.79 percent at the end of 2015. Domestic general purpose cards accounted for 5.53 percent, while private label cards accounted for 33.69 percent, Nilson said.

Daily News at Sibos 2016 – Day 4

Read our fourth and final Daily News at Sibos edition of the Sibos 2016 conference in Geneva – all the latest news and analysis from Swift’s premier event of the year. Free to read online or pick up a complimentary print copy if you are at Sibos!

Ericsson rolls out mobile remittance in emerging markets

Ericsson has joined forces with HomeSend, a joint venture between Mastercard, eServGlobal and Bics that focuses on mobile money remittances in emerging markets. Ericsson’s digital wallet, Ericsson Wallet Platform, is now HomeSend Certified. The product has access to HomeSend’s network of money transfer operators, cash agents and banks in more than 200 countries. Peter Heuman, […]

Sberbank goes blockchain with Hyperledger Project

Sberbank and the Linux Foundation have entered into an agreement on the bank’s participation in the Hyperledger Project. The deal was signed at the Sibos conference in Geneva and Lev Khasis, first deputy chairman of the executive board of Sberbank, said the new development with Hyperledger, and its open source platform based on blockchain, offered “access to […]

Digitising Azerbaijan

The International Bank of Azerbaijan has partnered with Backbase to implement its omnichannel digital banking platform. With the platform, the bank will be able to provide its products and services to customers through multiple channels synchronously, creating a single multimodal touch point. The contract was signed yesterday onsite at Sibos at Backbone’s booth, between Jouk […]

Sibos 2016: collaboration will energise ISO 20022

To drive ISO 20022 adoption, the industry is calling for collaboration and for those with the ‘right stuff’ to lead the way. A panel yesterday, ISO 20022 market practice developments, gave a global view of the status of ISO 20022 in the payments and securities markets. Gerard Smith, director collateral services at LCH.Clearnet, said the […]

Blockchain: be ready to ‘fail fast and fail cheap’

Correspondent bankers have been advised to “fail fast and fail cheap” when it comes to blockchain technology. During the Blockchain and correspondent banking – The way to go? session yesterday, a panel explored the possible use cases and barriers to adoption of blockchain technology – one of the most talked about technologies at this year’s […]

Meeting hackers head-on

Online hacks are rapidly replacing the bank heists of old. With banks increasingly at risk, early threat detection is imperative. Eleonore Fournier-Tombs* explains how banks can protect themselves. In a climactic conclusion to an insider threat story that has been developing since 2015, Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a fine of $1 million to the […]

Innotribe plots rise of new fintech hubs

A decade ago, cities fought to be financial hubs; today they fight to be financial technology (fintech) hubs. While London, New York and Silicon Valley claim strong status as fintech hubs, Sibos has proved that there are plenty of emergent centres snapping at their heels. Innotribe’s Startup Challenge, which brings fintech companies to the attention […]

Financial technology: gathering speed

Financial regulators globally are putting pressure on financial institutions to move to real-time solutions in both retail and wholesale banking. Advances in technology and a desire by regulators to reduce risks in the financial system are driving the trend. Discussions about real time technology and solutions span the banking world at this year’s Sibos. While […]

Blockchain and DLT a slow burn for CSDs

Blockchain innovation for central securities depositories (CSDs) is a slow burn and one that can divide opinion. During the Innovation in CSD space: What about distributed ledger technology? session yesterday, some panellists argued that the technology would hail the end of CSDs while others said there would be no revolution, just a “natural evolution” of […]

Sibos 2016 & innovation: crossing the next frontier

There has been a huge amount of hype at this year’s Sibos about financial technology and its role in financial services. Devie Mohan* looks at the technologies that will help financial institutions cross the next frontier of innovation. The world of financial technology has seen a clear and significant shift in the past year – […]

‘People-centric’ Palestine Bank debuts

Bank of Palestine debuted at Sibos this year with a colourful booth and much interest from Sibos delegates. “We have been attending Sibos for many years as delegates and as our delegation grew from two or three people to bigger numbers, we decided to have a stand,” said Hashim Shawa, chairman and general manager of […]

Sibos 2016: central banks must innovate to stay relevant

If central banks want to retain a large share of payments in central bank money, they must innovate, said Andrew Hauser, executive director for banking, payments and financial resilience, Bank of England (BOE). Speaking during the Towards a single platform for all payments session, he said BOE consultation on a refresh of its real time […]

Sibos 2016: rethinking systems for a real time world

Open application programming interface (API) banking and immediate payments are a perfect storm for new banking, according to FIS. Established payment systems do not work in the way most consumers and businesses expect in a digital, mobile, real time world. Consumers expect instant gratification; digital money should act more like physical cash in terms of […]

People on the Move: Robbert de Vries, EastNets

EastNets, a global provider of compliance, payment and cloud solutions for the financial services industry, has appointed Robbert de Vries as the company’s new chief technology officer.

Seize the ‘cognitive business model’ to win the digital race

An era of “unprecedented change” is happening, driven by new regulation and technology, Ginni Rometty, chief executive of IBM, said during a plenary address, Cognitive Business and the Future of Financial Services. “There is a moment of opportunity if you choose to seize it,” she said, referencing artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, big data and […]

CLS to develop payment netting service

CLS Group has started building a payment netting service, using existing message protocols and distributed ledger technology (DLT), which will be open to all FX market participants – not just CLS members –and will also enable CLS members to net some FX trades that are currently settled outside the CLS settlement service.

Sibos 2016: markets still in “Dante’s circles of hell”

Eight years on from the financial crisis, the market climate remains challenging. The global economy is still very shaky, there is still plenty of uncertainty regarding ongoing reforms and interaction with regulators, lending is limited by higher capital requirements, extremely low (or even negative) interest rates are not generating good returns and banks need to invest heavily in IT infrastructures to appease the supervisors.

Daily News at Sibos 2016 – Day 3

Read our third Daily News at Sibos edition of the Sibos 2016 conference in Geneva – all the latest news and analysis from Swift’s premier event of the year. Free to read online or pick up a complimentary print copy if you are at Sibos!

Sibos 2016: blockchain passes stupidity test

“First they think it’s stupid, then they think it’s obvious. Blockchain has passed the first test.” These are the words of an economics professor (quoted, but not present) on revolutionary ideas, and perhaps a succinct evaluation of where blockchain is right now. In a packed conference room on the Monday afternoon (26 September), the panel discussed “Blockchain 2020 – what next for adoption by the financial industry”.

Lower cost is key benefit of blockchain

Blockchain technology has the potential to help ease banks’ profitability pressures, particularly in Europe’s negative interest rate environment, an audience was told at an offsite briefing yesterday morning. Patrick Laurent, a partner at Deloitte, told delegates at a breakfast meeting organised by Temenos that companies such as Ripple had already developed blockchain solutions that could […]

Blockchain: the theme for 2016

Blockchain and distributed technology have been hot topics at Sibos this year, with a raft of announcements from banks and fintechs alike. One of the areas identified as of most promise is trade finance – an area of banking that is rife with paper-based processes.

CMB inks Obor deal with Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Bank has entered into a One Belt One Road (Obor) strategic alliance with China Merchants Bank (CMB) to accelerate the Belt and Road initiative and help promote economic growth and regional cooperation for countries along the Road. Obor is a development strategy and framework that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries, primarily […]

Sibos 2016: Innotribe Industry Challenge – results

Innotribe’s Industry Challenge – the results of which have been just unveiled – was all about blockchain and disruptive technologies. Three star-ups won the challenge to introduce blockchain to the securities sector: SmartContract, Rise and Coin Sciences.

SEPA: lighting the blue touch paper

The single euro payments area is up and running and has proved to be a catalyst for change in the payments industry. We look at the story so far.

Swift GPI hailed a success by trial banks

A pilot project to prove the concept of Swift’s Global Payments Innovation (GPI) initiative has been hailed a success and has cleared the way for a go-live of the service in early 2017. Swift has been piloting the GPI with 21 banks, including Nordea, Citi, Bank of China and Intesa Sanpaolo since February – all […]