News


Three US FIs in tech revamps

Credit Union of Southern California, Brazosport Teachers Federal Credit Union and Rosedale Federal Savings & Loan Association are undergoing tech modernisation.

Hiccup for HSBC online banking

HSBC’s online banking went down for several hours today (27 February) – with its business customers particularly affected. The bank tweeted about the issues earlier today. We're experiencing some issues with our online services, we're working to resolve this. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. — HSBC UK (@HSBC_UK) February 27, 2017 Customers trying to access […]

Mastercard Gives its Mobile Payments a Bigger Global Stage

Mastercard significantly will expand the scope and capabilities of its Qkr with Masterpass mobile payment service, the network said Feb. 27. Not only is the technology set to debut in the U.S. and five other countries, but it will now integrate with retail software provider Oracle.

The Monday mindset: 27 February 2017

Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, our editor Tanya Andreasyan and deputy editor Antony Peyton look at what’s happened since they joined in February 2016. Like two Hollywood […]

Barclays’ banking takes weekend off

Customers at Barclays Bank suffered a worrying weekend due to problems with cash machines, debit cards and phone banking. At 2pm (UK time) on 25 February, Barclays become aware of the issues and advised customers to use other banks’ cash machines. The customers would probably have worked that out for themselves. Technical issues are affecting […]

Goldfields Money signs for tech overhaul with Rubik

Australia-based banking tech provider Rubik (soon to be acquired by Temenos) has signed a new client, Goldfields Money. Rubik’s CEO Iain Dunstan says one more new customer will be announced “imminently”.

RBS financial mess seeks digital redress

The Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) poor financial results have led to its CEO calling for more cost reductions and a faster digital transformation. The bank reported an operating loss before tax of £4.08 billion for 2016 and an attributable loss of £6.95 billion, which included litigation and conduct costs of £5.86 billion, restructuring costs […]

Input Output goes to uni for blockchain lab

Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), a blockchain architecture and development start-up, and the UK’s University of Edinburgh, have set up a blockchain technology laboratory within the university’s School of Informatics. The lab will bring together academics and students to collaborate on blockchain research and development with a focus on “industry inspired problems”. IOHK CEO and […]

Isbank partners with PPRO for cross-border payments

Turkey’s largest bank Isbank is partnering with PPRO Group for cross-border payments in more regions. The deal means the bank can offer e-commerce merchants 13 local alternative payment methods worldwide. Isbank says it can now also extend access to real-time online banking payment methods and e-wallets in more than 25 countries in Europe, Asia and […]

Mizuho takes another step towards blockchain adoption

Japanese financial services provider Mizuho has partnered with Cognizant to test cross-border document sharing and custom digital currency applications of blockchain – and the cost implications of using the technology. Mizuho says the project was a success and concluded that a tamper-proof distribution database built using blockchain could support a platform to share information and […]

R3 turns its back on blockchain?

Is the R3 consortium going to wave goodbye to $53 million in research and abandon blockchain? In a presentation on its Corda platform, R3 says it doesn’t need “block chain”. (No space is usually used, but I don’t want to be too much of a grammar Nazi.) Credit for this spot must go to Twitter […]

bPay jewel in the crown for Barclaycard payments

Barclaycard has signed two new bPay partnerships to embed contactless payment technology in watches and jewellery in the UK. The agreements are also designed to complement bPay’s proprietary range – which comprises a wristband, fob, sticker and loop – and the existing partnerships that already see the technology, which is powered by Visa, embedded within […]

UK and Canada buddy up for fintech businesses

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) have signed a new co-operation agreement to help fintech firms. The deal will enable fintech businesses in both countries to seek support from the financial regulators in each other’s market. It will also help reduce regulatory uncertainty and time to market for firms. Christopher […]

Top fintech stories this week – 24 February 2017

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! IBM and Northern Trust debut blockchain for private equity Uses the Hyperledger Fabric. Visa opens new innovation centre in London It’s the latest and largest one. Digital gets a spurt with Natwest and RBS experts Every branch gets […]

Fintech funding round-up: 23 February 2017

Let’s put the fun in funding by keeping it mercifully brief. A round-up of key events. Featuring Tala, Nymbus and Monzo. US micro-loan start-up Tala (formerly InVenture), led by founder and CEO Shivani Siroya, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. The money will support its expansion plans in South Asia and Latin America. […]

Brightstarr shines for Eurobank digital workplace dream

Eurobank, Greece’s third largest bank, has selected Brightstarr’s Unily hub as its digital workplace solution for that famous fintech trinity of innovation, communication and collaboration. Sotiris Sirmakezis, group chief digital and technology officer, says: “Unily’s combination of experience design and Microsoft expertise will help ensure Eurobank provides a great user experience that will ultimately improve […]

Clean sweep for NCR Interactive Teller tech in US

Alaska-based Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union (MVFCU) has begun deploying NCR Corporation’s Interactive Tellers at its branch locations – meaning its machines are being used in every US state. The ATM lets users interact with their financial institution’s remotely located video teller via video and audio. NCR says this tech is of “particular value to […]

Must-Reads of the Month: February

See what’s hot on Paybefore.com this month, including Global Cash Card’s win against onerous payroll card regulations in New York; the CFPB fending off attacks on multiple fronts; a new Blackhawk same-day rebates program; and more.

Bank of America zooms in on Zelle for mobile banking

Bank of America has chosen the person-to-person (P2P) Zelle service within its mobile banking app as part of its digital drive. Zelle will let clients send, receive and request money, allowing them to use the existing contacts on their mobile device to transfer money to (or request money from) “almost anyone within minutes, regardless of […]

UK’s Community Savings Bank Association selects TCS Bancs core banking system

New challenger Community Savings Bank Association (CSBA) has chosen TCS Financial Services’ Bancs core banking system on the cloud for its member banks across the UK. Last year, Banking Technology was the first publication to report on CSBA joining the British banking market. The association, which is registered as a co-operative society plans to set […]

Mogo’s new prepaid product taps into growing Canadian market

Mogo, a Canada-based fintech firm, has launched what it describes as the country’s first prepaid digital spending account managed through a mobile app, reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. The debut of the Mogo Spending Account and the Mogo Platinum Prepaid Visa comes amid robust growth in prepaid transactions in Canada. The full-service GPR card […]

Starling Bank launches open banking hackathon

UK challenger bank Starling is to host its first hackathon, opening up its API to outside developers. According to Starling, the hackathon makes it the first UK licenced bank to launch a public API in keeping with the ambitions of the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the open banking initiative. Megan Caywood, chief platform […]

Visa and Thomson Reuters go deep into India’s Fintech Valley Vizag

Fintech Valley Vizag, a project championed by the Government of the State of Andhra Pradesh in India, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Visa and Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters will use the infrastructure provided by the government and local university resources to build fintech projects in the area. Visa is expected to support […]

Bharti Airtel acquires stake in online credit platform

Bharti Airtel, through its subsidiary Bharti Airtel Services, has acquired a stake in Seynse Technologies, an India-based fintech start-up. In a regulatory filing to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the telecommunications company revealed that it was interested in the firm’s digital lending platform, Loan Singh. The solution provides loans to “credit-worthy yet underserved” […]

Digital gets a spurt with Natwest and RBS experts

To raise awareness about online and mobile banking and help customers use digital platforms, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) say they aim to deploy a “TechXpert” at every branch in England, Scotland, and Wales. NatWest is part of the RBS group, and at 1,000 NatWest and 2,000 RBS branches, these experts will help […]

Mahindra Comviva brings its payments to rural India

Mahindra Comviva has launched Payplus Aadhaar Pay, a merchant payment acceptance solution, as it targets the rural areas of India. The Aadhaar infrastructure, created by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), onboards customers and provide them with online services. UIDAI collects the biometric and demographic data of residents, stores them in a centralised database, […]

ING and Société Générale oil up on blockchain

ING and Société Générale have used blockchain to carry out a live oil trade between parties with Mercuria, the global commodity trading group. The platform, called “Easy Trading Connect”, is designed for paperless trading and aims to digitalise and standardise commodity transactions in order to “increase speed and efficiencies” in the trade process. The prototype […]

Mogo’s New Prepaid Product Taps into Growing Canadian Market

Mogo, a Canada-based fintech firm, has launched what it describes as the country’s first prepaid digital spending account managed through a mobile app. The debut of the Mogo Spending Account and the Mogo Platinum Prepaid Visa comes amid robust growth in prepaid transactions in Canada.

US fintech slides, Asia and Europe rise says KPMG

Last year was a challenging one for fintech. The Brexit vote, the US presidential election, the slowdown of the Chinese economy, and fluctuations in exchange rates forced investors to tread cautiously, according to KPMG’s latest report “The Pulse of Fintech Q4 2016”. Despite a decline in overall fintech investments, 236 M&A transactions were recorded worth […]

RateSetter gets Plum deal for investing

Plum, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered Facebook chatbot, has teamed with peer-to-peer investing platform RateSetter to encourage the UK to save more. Plum says its algorithm understands spending patterns, identifies income and bills and creates a unique profile for each one of its users. It calculates a small amount of money to save or invest […]