The mobile revolution is taking the financial services industry by storm. In less than five years it is predicted that the number of mobile phone owners using their device for banking purposes will double to over 1.75 billion. Banks cannot ignore the implications of what this means to their future business models. A mobile-first approach will be essential in leading the way.
Coming off a strong holiday season, retailers have their sights set on data security and the shopping experience. First Data’s Jerry McNerney talks about how the payments industry can help.
In 2014, payroll cards took a beating in the general press, fueling the fire in some state legislatures to impose onerous restrictions and potentially category-killer requirements. Now, CFSI, working in consultation with industry participants and consumer advocates, has created best practices for what it calls “high-quality payroll card products” that promote choice, safety, affordability, transparency and convenience (and discourage outliers).
It’s no secret that more bulge bracket trading desks are turning to online intelligence – predominantly social media – to obtain breaking news and views ahead of traditional wires. Yet, with constant pressure to get the edge over competitors, other departments of major investment banks will start following the trading floor’s lead.
Consumers in both developed and developing countries have embraced their mobile devices to check balances, make payments and conduct other financial activities. As a result, mobile banking has become a must-have offering for financial institutions. However, many are still working out how to go beyond the basics to add value for customers, increase engagement and maximise the return on the mobile channel investment.
With so much attention on FATCA in recent times, the financial services industry could be forgiven for seeing it as the most obtrusive regulation ever imposed. This view will soon change. Once the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) comes into force, financial institutions will have far greater challenges to overcome.
A range of social, political, cultural and economic factors drives cyber attacks. How well banking and financial institutions understand the drivers for an attack and how effectively they respond in the 48 hours following the discovery of an attack has a major effect on the resultant impact.
The global financial crisis triggered an avalanche of fierce criticism for the financial industry, the repercussions of which are still being felt. In its wake industry bodies around the world introduced stringent regulations that require in-depth auditing to achieve compliance and complete corporate accountability.
The Competition and Markets Authority has recently embarked on a full investigation into the so-called competitive stranglehold the four big banks – Lloyds, RBS, Barclays and HSBC – have over the UK market place. The CMA ended a five month consultation with the announcement of the investigation into accounts for customers and corporate accounts for small businesses – the CMA has already identified large branch networks and free current accounts as being barriers to entry for new banks
As in any complex document, there are some ambiguities in the FAQs and time will tell how those will play out. But, what’s clear is that for many banks, the FAQs raise the cost of doing business, which will (or should) precipitate a review of business models.
Macro trends, including increased access to mobile devices and the Internet as well as consumer appetite for deals, will continue to drive changes in shopping behavior and broaden the use of both prepaid and electronic payments in 2015.
For better or worse, financial institutions are more risk averse than ever. This is the direct result of continuing and growing regulatory scrutiny over a broad range of activities, including the compliance of financial institutions in areas such as international sanctions, the prevention of money laundering, the funding of terrorism or the facilitation of tax evasion.
We asked a number of prominent players in emerging payments to give us their opinions on what the shift in the 114th Congress might mean to payments.
With Sony the latest victim of hacking, large organisations are witnessing yet again how data breaches cause serious damage, to the tune of millions. The prevalence of hacking in the media begs the question, what’s in store for 2015?
P2P options abound, but I won’t be ditching my checkbook until providers make it easy and compelling enough for the local service providers I pay to make the switch.
As the prepaid industry matures, program managers and other providers are looking for new ways to to drive customers toward behaviors that improve both the provider’s bottom line and the consumer’s financial health.
When first reports of an integrated communications project that had attracted a $66 million investment from a consortium of banks led by Goldman Sachs appeared last year, there was an element of cloak and dagger about the enterprise. The truth is both more prosaic and more interesting according to David Gurle, chief executive and founder of the company behind it.
By facilitating payments, and clearing and settling transactions in the securities and derivatives markets, financial market infrastructures are essential nodes in a complex and ever more integrated international network of capital flows. The consequent inter-dependencies between financial market infrastructures will create new resiliency challenges
As 2015 gets under way, it is time to take stock of some of the biggest challenges facing the banking industry this year – including cybercrime, cultural change, more stress testing, ever-increasing regulatory scrutiny and a troubled economic outlook in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Maintaining credit and debit card information on behalf of financial services organisations demands the highest levels of security and customer confidence, and adhering to standards like PCI DSS plays a crucial role in this. Yet, though the standard is unique in that it regulates data protection across a multitude of industries, PCI DSS remains one of the most challenging regulations with which companies must comply. Its Janus-faced qualities – some say it’s too prescriptive, while others complain that the standards are confusingly vague – make achieving and managing compliance difficult and time-consuming
One of the trends of 2014 was its delivery of technology that we had been promised for years but had fallen short until now. Siri, Cortana and Google Now all make good on the sci-fi staple of the voice-activated computer. Virtual reality has been attempted many times, but it seems that the Oculus Rift may have finally cracked it. And biometric authentication, while often included in devices but rarely used, is now commonly used by owners of new iPhones to unlock their devices thanks to Touch ID.
Changing times call for new priorities. Clients want a partner with a nimble organization and a flexible and feature-rich technology stack, but not at the expense of business and operational reliability.
Financial services providers have amassed mountains of data about customers, but what’s it worth? Real value comes from the analysis and timely application of knowledge through push marketing campaigns and ongoing product improvements.
Apple Pay’s Touch ID application has pushed biometrics payments authentication into the mainstream. But biometrics authentication goes beyond fingerprint sensors, and voice biometrics authentication is one of the best ways to thwart identity fraud.
In 2015, organisations in the business finance solutions space are likely to spend significantly on business intelligence and analytics. This data goldmine can help organisations unlock hidden opportunities and insights
For banks, a race to remain relevant is on. In the past few weeks, Lloyds Banking Group has announced its intention to double-down on digital banking, closing branches and cutting costs. In the US, BBVA Compass announced that its agreement with startup Dwolla to offer real-time payment facilities to customers makes it the first mainstream bank to open its technology platform to digital developers like Dwolla
Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, the financial services industry has faced challenges like never before. Headlines around bankers’ bonuses, PPI miss-selling and Libor manipulation have led to a lack of trust from consumers. In response, traditional banks need to join the new generation of financial service providers and their customers in their new natural habitat – online and on mobile.
The replacement of business processes based on paper documents with the exchange of information in electronic form is a highly beneficial global trend, and the competitiveness of Europe’s economic activity will benefit from this migration.
The volume, speed and power of technology has transformed the Financial Services industry into one the most sophisticated data driven sectors in the global economy, allowing for the execution of complex global transactions at the push of a button. From high frequency trading to eCommerce to mobile banking, the financial sector is generating a huge amounts of data – in fact, almost too much data. Like individuals, institutions are facing an information overload that is limiting the promise and opportunity of technology.
Debate on the EU Payments Package, composed of the revised Payment Services Directive and the Regulation on Interchange Fees, recommenced in Brussels on Nov. 19. Although the two pieces of legislation are part of one “package,” they’re at different stages in the legislative process, and depending on how they progress, the transition into law could be smooth for the industry—or not.
Today’s consumers have high expectations − and for good reason. They have become accustomed to, and in today’s connected world, demand, anytime/anywhere access to the products, services, and information they desire and need
In today’s high-risk, cost-conscious world, buy-sides are demanding the next step in straight-through-processing, becoming increasingly impatient with the multiple screens and manual workarounds they’ve been presented with to date. Those FCMs that can meet this need will immediately become more competitive and create clear distance from those that lag behind.
As business process operations enter a new capter of accelerated transformation, technology services are not just a critical component for financial services firms – they are the business itself.
Simultaneously with the release of its 870-page prepaid account proposal last week, the CFPB issued a “Study of Prepaid Account Agreements.”
It has been a busy week for the banking industry. The first big news was the publication of a comprehensive health check of 130 large European banks by the European Central Bank, which was commissioned in response to the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone. Brussels lauded the latest investigation as the most intense scrutiny that European banks have ever been put through.
As Bob Dylan, famously sang, The Times, They Are A-Changin’. Once, the tools required to carry out a bank raid usually comprised a shotgun, old stockings and a bag labelled “swag”. Today, it’s a laptop, computer programming skills and patience. And the nature of the crime is changing too – previously, the goal was often to get away with a few thousand pounds, before lying low for a while. Now, the “prize” sought may be the theft of millions or the personal details of thousands, to be then sold on.
Blackhawk Network research reveals the reasons consumers selected gift cards as No. 1 on their wishlists for the eighth year in a row, and why gift givers are catching up to what recipients really want.
Consumers who use digital channels for their banking conduct more transactions per month than those who don’t but are less expensive to service. Maximize your m-banking adoption and usage with features that move the needle.
It’s an odd juxtaposition that the day before our nominations are due for the 2015 Paybefore Awards, the CFPB is holding a field hearing on prepaid. My hope is that the visionaries that make Paybefore Awards a remarkable annual event also make their voices—and those of their customers—heard, as the rules go from proposal to regulation.
The introduction of T+2 has marked another milestone in the effort to reduce systemic risk for firms trading European securities. But what about other asset classes, such as derivatives? The inconvenient truth is that the world of derivatives, which some view as a much riskier investment choice, lags a long way behind equities in terms of operational efficiency.
