Features

Apple to Testify in House Committee Hearing on Encryption

Apple will testify tomorrow before the House Judiciary Committee on encryption amid its fight with the FBI over creating software to hack an iPhone of one of the terrorists responsible for the December attacks in San Bernardino, Calif. Fellow tech companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter, are expected to file amicus briefs in support of Apple’s decision not to comply with a court order demanding that Apple comply with the FBI’s request.

Germany: the sparkasse of innovation

As established banks migrate to a digital era, new entrants in the German market are threatening to seize the moment. “We see a change in society; in the way that smart phone adoption feeds back into the way we run our business,” says Andreas Vollmer, chief IT architect of Commerzbank. “It is not just about […]

Distributed ledger identity: misplaced trust

Distributed ledgers have a role to play in identity verifications, but there are potential pitfalls, state Professor Michael Mainelli and Vinay Gupta. They are increasingly touted as the answer to the identity problems plaguing finance and government. They may well be part of the answer, but more important is recognising they are only tools to help […]

U.K. Regulator Calls for More Bank Innovation, Competition

The Payment System Regulator (PSR), a government body created to oversee the payment systems industry in the U.K., is calling for the major banks to sell a part of their stakes in U.K.-based payments provider VocaLink, which it claims will create more fertile ground for innovation and competition.

Viewpoint: A Bright Spot for Prepaid Card Issuers

The CFPB wants the nation’s top banks to offer consumers more lower-risk account choices. That could be good news for the prepaid card industry even as some might grumble about the agency meddling in their affairs.

FinCEN Stresses Importance of Cyberdata in SARs

With recent legislation calling for increased cooperation between companies and government agencies to combat potential cyberthreats, officials are asking financial institutions to include information such as IP and bitcoin wallet addresses in suspicious activity reports (SARs).

European Supervisor Wants to Tighten up EU-U.S. Agreement

Following a new privacy shield agreement, which upon approval will replace an expired Safe Harbor pact between the U.S. and the EU Commission, European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli last week said he supported the agreement.

Innovators’ Spotlight: PaySwag

Retailers have long recognized the importance of customer engagement to drive sales and retain customers. But Reno, Nev.-based PaySwag is proving the power of engagement to improve results in a somewhat unexpected sector—bill payments.

U.K. Gov’t Group Calls for Open Banking Standard

A U.K. government panel is calling for the development of an open banking standard that will enable banking data to be shared and used securely, giving consumers access to tailored financial solutions and an easier way to compare products and services.

Russian Lawmakers Want to Ban Bitcoin

Bitcoin continues to encounter hurdles as its supporters try to facilitate the digital currency’s mainstream acceptance. Though certain states and countries are welcoming bitcoin, or permitting it with certain provisos, Russia is considering a ban.

Innovators’ Spotlight: Poynt

Electronic payment options for consumers are proliferating, and shoppers expect merchants to accept the full gamut of form factors. But for retailers—especially small and midsize enterprises (SMEs)—it can be tough to keep up. That’s where Poynt comes in.

CFPB Takes Aim at Lack of Checking Account Options for Consumers

The CFPB announced today a three-prong approach to ensure consumers are receiving a fair shake regarding checking account access. But what may surprise many in the prepaid industry is that the agency also is providing information to consumers about the prepaid option.

Report: Fraudsters’ Test Runs Surged in Q4 2015

Cybercriminals could be ramping up their attacks on financial services providers, according to a new study. The fourth quarter of 2015 saw a tenfold increase in “bot attacks”—essentially test attacks meant to gauge the security of targeted systems—according to the report by ThreatMatrix, a San Jose, Calif., cybersecurity company.

FinCEN Seeks Comment on Cost Analysis of CDD Proposal (Jan. 12, 2016)

A proposed rule that would place new Customer Due Diligence requirements on financial institutions—including prepaid issuers—has taken a step forward with the release of two new documents estimating the impact and cost the proposed rule would have on regulated institutions and seeking comment from stakeholders by Jan. 25.

Fintech: friend or foe?

While the mainstay of the financial services industry was busy dealing with the global financial crisis in 2008, start-up organisations in Silicon Valley, New York, London and other major financial and technology hubs were turning their attention away from social media plays and looking to reinvent financial services.

Viewpoint: Prepaid Regulations Should Go on a New Year’s Diet

The CFPB needs to return to its original plans on prepaid regulations and put its proposed rules on a New Year’s diet. By issuing rules focusing solely on disclosure, the CFPB could issue guidance earlier in 2016 that would help consumers, prevent access disruptions, and potentially reduce the size of the landfill needed to for the mountains of noncompliant cards and marketing materials.

In third parties we (mis)trust?

Technology is transforming trust to the point that people find themselves trusting others with whom they’ve had no experience, on eBay or Facebook, more than banks they’ve dealt with their whole lives.

Senator Menendez Strikes at Prepaid Again

It’s almost become a holiday tradition for Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to propose prepaid legislation in December. His previous three attempts went nowhere, but this time he proposed his bill in November. Still, more pressing issues, such as spending and cybersecurity, may keep his measure on the back burner for now.

EU Fee Caps Effective Today (Dec. 9, 2015)

The European Union’s cap on fees banks can charge retailers for processing credit and debit card payments went into effect today, but there are some questions whether the measure will have the desired effect.

House Committee Applauds Mobile Payments Innovation (Dec. 2, 2015)

In a Congressional hearing yesterday, lawmakers examined the role mobile payments technologies are playing in disrupting traditional payments, paying particular attention to how mobile has increased payments security and enabled small businesses and underbanked consumers to access electronic payments.

Gift Cards, E-Commerce Drive Holiday Shopping

U.S. shoppers flocked to physical and online stores during the Thanksgiving weekend, with more than 151 million Americans shopping in-store and/or online, based on data from the National Retail Federation. The shopping frenzy is expected to continue, with Cyber Monday deals projected to drive 121 million U.S. consumers to shop online. Average spending per shopper was $299.60, and gift cards were especially popular, comprising a whopping 76.6 percent ($229.56) of that average total.

ERPB Approves Instant Payments Plan (Nov. 29, 2015)

Instant payments are a step closer to becoming a reality in Europe, now that the European Payments Council (EPC) has submitted and received approval on its proposal for the design of a pan-European instant credit transfer framework.

Losing the risk management war

It’s no secret that past risk management practices and regulatory frameworks failed with respect to the global financial crisis. There were a number of reasons behind this, ranging from an overreliance on quantitative analysis to poor risk governance and frameworks, not to mention a lack of understanding around concentrated risk build-up such as leverage, convexity […]

Getting fintech on bank CIOs’ radar

It is a well-known fact that banks have two types of technology: Cold War-era IBM mainframes running Cobol-based batch programmes and Evil Genius HFT systems. The mundane truth is that any financial services operation will have a range of hardware and software systems of different vintages and spend a lot of time and money living with the consequences.

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