Money Transfer Goes Social: What the Facebook Land Grab Means
With MoneyGram and Western Union betting that Facebook-loving consumers will use “sendbots,” the old guard of remittance providers may have an edge on startups.
Analysis
How to Grow Prepaid through Financial Well-Being
Prepaid providers are at a crossroads: They can create products that carry relative high fees, or craft consumer-friendly programs that promote financial health. Here’s a case for doing the latter.
‘Mythbusting’ Payroll Cards
To coincide with its just released and first “Payroll Industry Scorecard,” CFSI is separating fact from fiction when it comes to payroll cards, which continue to face scrutiny by state regulators and the media.
How Fintech Startups Are Transforming Retail Banking and Finance
Sure, convenience remains vital. But to reach digitally savvy consumers—including millennials—new entrants in the payments arena will need to think socially, and be ready to chat.
The future of insurance is collaboration
To the outside observer the insurance industry may look very conservative with dominant global companies and local players operating in the way they have done for years and with very little interaction with their customers. But this is changing.
Interview: Oliver Hughes, Tinkoff Bank
In an exclusive interview, Oliver Hughes, CEO of Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, talks about its online financial supermarket, maintaining momentum, and how US and UK banks can be occasionally underwhelming.
Executive profile: one on one with Joan Herman, Sunrise Banks
She witnessed the rise of electronic transactions and worked on the first shared ATM network card. Now this self-proclaimed pioneer woman has her sights set on prepaid and a mobile future.
2017: South Africa – blockchain fizzle or sizzle?
While the maturity of blockchain discussions and advances are at different stages of development around the world, blockchain is said to be at the height of the Gartner hype cycle. This implies that 2017 will be the year where disillusionment with the technology begins. However, 2017 may also see some real breakthroughs with its application and the emergence of pockets of the first concrete results.
Innovation spotlight: North American FIs going social
As banking continues to go digital, online innovators and niche players in North America are getting personal by adding social activities to their customer services.
CFPB to Delay Final Prepaid Rule by 6 Months, ‘Revisit’ Aspects with New Proposal
It’s official. The CFPB is pushing back the effective date of its final rule on prepaid accounts until April 1, 2018—six months after the originally scheduled implementation date of Oct. 1, 2017. What’s more, the agency has decided to “revisit at least two substantive issues” in the final rule: requirements for digital wallets that are capable of storing funds; and error resolution and liability limitations for prepaid accounts that cannot or have not yet been registered.
Co-bots, not robots: the next big step for AI in insurance
Many have proclaimed that 2017 will be “the year of artificial intelligence (AI)”, with a 300% increase in investment in its technologies predicted compared with 2016. Start-ups with AI at the core of their business in particular will be looking to benefit from this surge in investment capital, as they did last year when 550 raised $5 billion in funding.
Fintech in the US: where is regulation headed?
Aaron Cutler, partner, and Loyal Horsley, associate at Hogan Lovells, examine the state-level fintech regulation, proposed legislative solutions, and provides a brief overview of international regulation.
Four best practices in responding to a security breach
You need to tell your customers you’ve been hacked. Now what?
What’s Behind the Rise of Carrier Billing?
As the payment method gains popularity, an expert explains why young consumers buying digital content, including games, and transit tickets with their phones will be keys for the future.
What If You Could Make Prepaid More Profitable?
What does Russell Simmons know that banks don’t? GPR can be profitable. Find out how.
The Missing Piece in B2B Air Travel Payments
A highly fragmented sales environment along with unnecessary expenses are among the main pain points for B2B payments for air travel. Here is what needs to improve.
What’s Next for Mobile Ordering?
As major companies report success from mobile ordering, an expert shows what payment providers have to consider before taking the next step.
Fintech outside London – part 1
There is no smoke without fire. The “big smoke”, as London is colloquially known, has been creating a fire of innovation in the financial technology space for years, but there are other UK fintech centres in the Southwest; Cardiff; Manchester/Leeds; and Edinburgh/Glasgow that create their own heat.
The CFPB and Dodd-Frank Could Face another Congressional Threat
Congressional Republicans hoping to hobble the CFPB and unwind the law that supports it, the Dodd-Frank Act, have another tool at their disposal.
US fintech regulation: a divided picture at the federal level
Addressing the views of the Department of Treasury, the CFPB, and the SEC on the regulation of the fintech industry in the US.
Mastercard Wins U.K. Approval for VocaLink Buy
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority gave its blessing April 11, enabling Mastercard to complete its acquisition of 92.4 percent of VocaLink Holdings for $920 million. The deal, which is expected to close within weeks, gives Mastercard control of a large portion of the U.K. transaction processing market.
Payments: how the West will be copying the East
Payments industry practitioners in the European Union are understandably obsessed with the implications of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). This was evident at the recent European Payments Summit, held in the Netherlands, where PSD2 dominated many of the discussions.
U.S. Rep. Tipton Pushes for Longer CFPB Prepaid Rule Delay
The CFPB accepted comments on its proposed delay of the effective date for its final rule on prepaid accounts through April 5. Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) likes the idea of a delay so much, he’s proposing giving the industry even more time.
Tackling cybercrime: why the industry must unite
Cyberattacks have been dominating newspaper headlines for some time now. Whether it’s losing access to PayPal, a distributed denial of service attack on Lloyds Group, or Tesco Bank customers losing £2.5 million to hackers, the threat of a cyberattack in 2017 is so great that it’s not a case of if, but when one occurs.
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.
FDIC Savings Pilot Helps Students, Banks
Students gain financial literacy and banks develop important relationships with the community and new banking customers as shown in the FDIC’s Youth Savings Pilot.
Credit Card Complaints Increase in CFPB’s Latest Snapshot Report
Billing disputes and fraud, identity theft and embezzlement are among the most common complaints that consumers have about their credit cards, according to the CFPB.
States Square off in Fight over CFPB Leadership Structure
The states weigh in on the CFPB leadership structure with two amicus briefs. A group of 17 states, plus the District of Columbia, has sided with the agency as it fights a court ruling that says the president should have the authority to fire the head of the CFPB. Meanwhile, 15 other states have taken an opposing stance.
PIF Seeks Clarity, Exemptions as U.K. Moves toward PSD2
As the U.K. moves ahead with plans to implement the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), the Prepaid International Forum (PIF) has asked regulators for more clarification on certain aspects of how the framework will be applied in the country.
Class Action Filed Against Bank over Prison-Release Cards
A proposed class action lawsuit was filed by a former prisoner who claims he had no choice but to receive a prepaid card upon his release instead of the cash he arrived with, minus any card fees he was charged.
Supreme Court Finds N.Y. Surcharge Laws Regulate Speech
The Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision finding that a New York law prohibiting merchants from disclosing surcharges to cover the costs of credit card processing while allowing for discounts in the case of cash transactions regulated speech
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.
Netspend Settles with FTC for $53 Million
Facing charges by the Federal Trade Commission that Netspend deceived cardholders and denied or delayed their access to funds, the TSYS subsidiary agreed to a $53 million settlement, which consists of $40 million on deposit in customer accounts and $13 million in refunded fees. Netspend doesn’t admit any wrongdoing under the terms of the settlement.
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.
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.
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.
Waves of Change for Payments
At this week’s Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit, experts looked to mobile and transit for a view of how payments will evolve. Here is a dive into the trends that likely will keep making news in the years to come.
Vroom, Vroom: Vehicles Accelerate the Future for Payments
A drive through the emerging landscape of in-vehicle transaction projects shows a wide variety of services that could appeal to consumers and push payments forward. But there’s still work to do before automakers are off to the races.
U.K. Makes Official Its Intent to Leave EU
A little after noon in Brussels March 29, a British ambassador delivered a letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk that set the wheels into motion for the U.K.’s exit from the EU. Today’s announcement makes official the results of the historic vote June 23, when 52 percent of voters in the U.K. stunned many around the world when they opted to leave, or “Brexit,” as it’s commonly called.
Wells Fargo Settles Account-Scandal Claims but Runs Afoul of Federal Regulator
Wells Fargo will pay $110 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by U.S. consumers over a scandal about fake accounts its employees set up for customers without their knowledge. But the trouble continues for the financial institution, which has received a dim evaluation from a federal regulator.
