Corporate connectivity – is Swift the only answer?
Corporates want easier connection to their financial institutions – is Swift the answer or do other options exist?
Industry Comment
Moral hazard: the ghost of bail-outs past
The bailout of Espirito Santo Bank brings back unwelcome memories of the events of the last financial crisis and raises the spectre of moral hazard returning to the financial services industry both in the UK and abroad. But how far have we really come since those dark days of 2008 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers and how far do we still have to go? A quick look at recent events gives us a good indication.
The rise of the Asian superbroker
As the global banks grapple with tides of regulation, fines, and a myriad of other post-crisis issues, local Asian institutions are tooling up and stepping in to fill the gaps.
Should banks consider domestic payments schemes?
Domestic card schemes have traditionally partnered with MasterCard and/or Visa in an arrangement that leaves the domestic player handling the local transactions and their international partner facilitating and controlling the international business. Should banks work with both or just partner with one of the international schemes?
Viewpoint: Finding the Genius in Mobile Payments
The available technologies that will make payments simpler, cheaper and seamless, and will therefore drive mobile payments, aren’t going away.
Viewpoint: Gift Card Evolution, Not Revolution
Digital gift cards bring depth, not disruption, to gift card product lines.
Viewpoint: Attention Banks and Vendors: Don’t Forget the Contract
For banks and their third-party vendors, it’s crucial to have a solid contract. Or, at least it’s crucial if they want to avoid the ire of regulators and fines that could reach into the billions.
Viewpoint: The Case for Gift Card Exchange
Gift card exchanges play a key role in connecting motivated shoppers with retailers and driving incremental sales, according to survey data from Blackhawk Network. Consumers say they’d like to see more retail locations add gift card exchanges.
Blog: Emerging Trends in Prepaid Card Fraud
Fraudsters are ingenious at finding cracks in the bulwark against prepaid card fraud, but industry cooperation can blunt their effect with strategic practices that are surprisingly easy to implement.
Trading automation, regulations, and systemic risk
The financial services industry has always pursued technical supremacy. But after years of financial crisis and attempted reforms to improve the transparency and understanding of risk exposure in financial services, we seem as much in the dark as ever …
Open plan development: collaboration in retail banking
One of the most distinguishing features of the current wave of financial innovation is how the innovators are often not banks, but small fintech firms often led by former bank employees.
Don’t drown in over-regulation
It should be no shock that the risk for banks of being caught-out for non-compliant activity has soared in recent years in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008. Banks are being monitored more closely now than ever before and it’s been difficult to escape without scrutiny or a heavy reputational impact.
Viewpoint: Why HCE is an Acronym You Need to Know
HCE moves payments credentials to the cloud, which could radically speed up mobile payments development. Analyst Sarah Grotta believes HCE also offers compelling leadership opportunities for prepaid card issuers.
Viewpoint: Jack Ma and the Discovery of Billions
Alibaba Group’s $7.5 billion empire lurks like a crocodile waiting to strike its next opportunity. What does the Chinese giant’s appetite mean for the worldwide payments industry?
MiFID II: hearing, skirmishing and planning for battle
The reason Europe calls it a regulatory ‘hearing’ is that it is an opportunity to hear views from both regulators and the market. Of course, that’s just part of the experience as many other senses are triggered when 400 people are locked in a basement for 2 days, deprived of connectivity, food and caffeine …
Entering the Banking Technology Awards – guidelines from the editor
Entries for the Banking Technology Awards 2014 have been open for a while now, but as we move into the last few weeks, this is always a time when we are flooded with questions about the process. By way of response, here are some guidelines based on my experience chairing the judging panel over the past 11 years.
Six reasons why cloud computing will transform the way banks serve clients – and the five hurdles to overcome
The European Commission wants to bring down the barriers to cloud computing in a move that promises to revolutionise the way transaction banks can serve clients.
Financial institutions and Cybercrime: It’s only just begun
A recent bout of high profile cyber-attacks on financial institutions across the UK, US and Canada has put the spotlight back on the importance of data security and the need to be diligent when it comes to cybersecurity within the banking industry
Viewpoint: N.Y.’s Proposed Virtual Currency Licensing Regulations: The Right Direction but Still a Bumpy Road
Leading payments lawyer Judie Rinearson calls N.Y.’s proposed “BitLicense” rules comprehensive, but are they so comprehensive they’ll chill virtual currency businesses in the state? Give us your opinion in Pay Poll.
Blog: Convergence is the Real Non-Payment Payment Story
Analyst Rick Oglesby posits that what’s happening outside of payments will actually have a bigger impact than what’s happening inside payments. Crazy or on point? Read and decide.
Why we should put a mobile wallet in every pocket
The mobile wallet is having a transformative effect on people’s lives in developing countries, bringing safer, faster, easier financial services to the people who need it most
Banks’ cyber resilience requires ongoing review against escalating threats
The news last month (June) that the Luuuk malware had snared its first victim, an unnamed European bank, has again highlighted the magnitude of the challenge facing the banking sector. While the reported theft of €500,000 during the course of a week certainly does not break any records, the discovery of what is believed to be a variant of the feared Zeus malware, is just the latest in a line of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks
HCE and NFC: threat or opportunity?
Mobile NFC services continued to expand in 2013 but the big question is, will this be amplified or disrupted by the introduction of host-based card emulation (HCE) into mainstream operating systems?
New legs for legacy systems
Unlike manufacturing companies, which run their operations on a single predominant ERP system supported by a few auxiliary solutions, banks have added layer upon layer of technology, ending up with an unmanageable snarl of systems and applications. Just to put things in perspective, it is estimated that on average global banks have more than 5,000 applications.
Viewpoint: Is BLE the Next Important Innovation in Mobile Technology?
BLE is getting a lot of buzz because of its potential to complement other technologies like NFC for marketing and consumer engagement, but certain questions remain about its purpose and future.
Blog: Innovation is Coming: A New Small-Dollar Credit Offering from Canada
Canada’s Vancity Credit Union could be an inspiration for U.S. lenders as it explores new territory, working with the CFSI to devise an affordable small-dollar loan product with an unsecured credit line suitable for underbanked consumers.
Back-office legacy still holding back banks
Setting up a bank in the UK is costly, time-consuming, heavily regulated and not easy. As a result, the dynamic, start-up culture that drives innovation in many other sectors is less prevalent within banking and financial services.
The Rise of the Cyborg Financial Officer
The rise of new technologies is drastically redefining both the responsibilities of chief financial officers and the way they work, providing the ability tomake better organisational decisions with faster, accurate and more reliable data.
T2S: Doing nothing is not an option
As the implementation of T2S approaches, there is still a gap between the readiness levels of different types of market participant, new Celent research finds. But a ‘wait and see’ approach can only take some firms so far, argues Isabelle Olivier, head of clearing and settlement EMEA at Swift
Dispelling the myths surrounding voice biometrics
With passwords continuing to attract widespread derision from consumers it seems that businesses are starting to listen to their customers and in recent weeks voice biometrics has been hitting the headlines, as the technology is set to replace the bane of so many people’s lives.
The future of digital banking: sustenance or disruption?
Banks should not be blind-sided by sustaining innovation: a large part of their digital initiatives look at delivering existing services cheaper, faster and (sometimes) better – but true disruption occurs when addressing customer needs better, faster and maybe, cheaper.
CLS: Supreme Court ruling removes threat to financial infrastructure
In a landmark ruling, the US Supreme Court has ruled that the intermediated settlement of financial exchanges is an abstract idea and therefore not patent-eligible. David Puth, chief executive of CLS, which won the case in question. discusses the implications of the ruling.
Viewpoint: Riding the Rails to Bridge the Rewards-Redemption Gap
With the advancement of smartphone technology and social media, we’re witnessing a cascade of innovation around loyalty and incentive products. But driving steady deal redemptions requires smooth connections to payment network rails.
Viewpoint: Optimizing the Prepaid Experience with Robust Mobile Offerings
Growth in prepaid GPR and payroll cards today exceeds that of all other noncash forms of payment, but stickiness remains a problem for issuers and program managers. Adding mobile access and other financial tools to the mix—such as check deposits with instant good funds and expedited bill pay–makes prepaid a compelling proposition for consumers and providers alike.
Payments as a Working Capital Tool
A lesson learned from the global financial crises was how critical free cash flow can be for corporates, their customers, and their suppliers. As businesses seek to unlock cash flow from day-to-day operations, savvy treasurers have discovered vendor payments as a means to extend payment terms while improving vendor health, writes Chris Bozek, Managing Director, Head of Global Trade and Supply Chain Products Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Piecing together the data scientist puzzle
Depending on who you speak to, the definition of a data scientist seems to mean different things to different people. Some see it as a glorified number crunching role, others believe the position requires someone more inquisitive to spot and respond to key trends.
Outsourcing: making oversight a forward-looking benefit
Could the establishment of an enhanced outsourcing oversight capability do more for asset managers than simply satisfy the FCA? A more mature set of oversight metrics could be used to provide foresight into how the outsourcer might perform in the future.
Blog: The Overdraft Problem Is Really a Credit Problem
Rather than spending time debating which option is worse for consumers—overdraft or payday loans—or focusing solely on reining in overdraft, we ought to shift our energies to creating new credit products that meet consumers’ needs transparently and affordably.
Blog: Fight Fraud without Alienating Customers Using Mobile, Knowledge-Based Authentication
While asking a customer for multiple pieces of information and presenting him with various questions satisfies federal guidelines and other legal compliance, it can throw a major wrench in the prepaid card activation model. Out-of-wallet authentication must be accomplished in real time—and that means mobile.
Risk aggregation and reporting challenges intensify for banks
The past month has been a busy one for G-SIBs – global systemically important banks – as they confront the challenges of “what full compliance looks like” in the context of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and its Principles for Effective Risk Data Aggregation and Risk Reporting.
