News


Report: Mobile Wallets Falling Flat on Repeat Usage

Although consumers continue to adopt and use mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, new evidence indicates that such wallets are largely failing to drive repeat usage. A report released Aug. 17 by Javelin Strategy and Research found that mean mobile wallet usage has declined 20 percent over the past three years—to 3.0 purchases a month in 2015 from 3.7 in 2013.

EMVCo Finally Addresses Merchant Slowdown Concerns

In light of huge merchant problems accepting EMV—something that card brand stats show 66-70 percent of merchants still can’t do—EMVCo, the organization that manages the specifications for the anti-fraud chip card technology, said on Aug. 17 that it will, for the first time, provide “formal certification for contactless mobile payment devices.”

Swift slow on strong security say execs

Current and former executives and managers of Swift, say for years the organisation suspected there were weak points in the way smaller banks used its messaging terminals – but did not address the issues, according to Reuters. In a lengthy investigation by Reuters, sources say that until February, “when hackers tried to steal nearly $1 […]

People on the Move: Hugh McFadden and John Leto, The Bancorp

The Bancorp has named Hugh McFadden chief operating officer of the company and the bank, pending regulatory approval. Meanwhile, John Leto has been appointed to the new role of Chief Administrative Officer of the Company and the Bank.

People on the Move: Gavin Michael, Citibank

Gavin Michael is joining Citibank as head of technology for global consumer banking, overseeing areas including branded payment cards, retail banking and fintech.

ACI Worldwide integrates Ethoca Alerts for payments gateway

ACI Worldwide will integrate Ethoca’s service, Ethoca Alerts, into its UP eCommerce Payments solution, making it available to payment service providers (PSPs) worldwide. The integration gives PSPs, acquirers, processors and their merchant customers a means to “bolster” their fraud defences with card issuer-confirmed fraud and customer dispute data. Keith Briscoe, chief marketing officer, Ethoca, says […]

Misys’ FusionBanking Essence core system live at Yoma Bank

Myanmar-based Yoma Bank has gone live with Misys’ core banking system, FusionBanking Essence. Yoma Bank, one of the country’s largest commercial banks, has been in tech modernisation mode since 2014. In-mid 2014, it issued an RFI for new core banking software, with the financial support from International Finance Corporation (IFC; a subsidiary of the World […]

Northern Trust teams with Scorpeo for corporate actions reporting

Northern Trust Corporation has signed for Scorpeo’s services to provide an “innovative” historical corporate actions reporting service. Scorpeo’s Harmonia solution enables historical analysis to generate “detailed reports to show investors exactly how much value has been missed”, the vendor explains. It will be incorporated into the Northern Trust Historical Corporate Actions Transparency report. Northern Trust’s […]

Thomson Reuters teams with Oddup for start-up rating app

Thomson Reuters has teamed with Oddup to launch a new app that rates fintech start-ups in Asia. The “first of its kind in Asia”, the app is now available on Thomson Reuters’ Eikon App Studio and provides ratings, which Thomson Reuters says enables people to “stay on top” of the growing Asia fintech scene. James […]

The Benefits of Implementing Mobile Payments and mPOS Systems

In an age where texting has replaced email and video chat has replaced phone calls, it’s no surprise that many consumers are beginning to readily adopt new payment form factors, such as mobile wallets, for making payments in stores and on-the-go.

People on the Move: Lamont Young, Citizens Bank

Citizens Bank has appointed Lamont Young as head of digital, adding that title to his existing role as manager of the bank’s multichannel marketing, which he’s held since joining Citizens in 2012.

People on the Move: Greg Temm, FS‒ISAC

The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS‒ISAC) has appointed Greg Temm to the newly created role of chief information risk officer.

Company on the Move: PAI, Best Places to Work Award

Payment Alliance International (PAI), a provider of electronic payment processing solutions, has been honored for the second year in a row by Louisville Business First as a “Best Places to Work” in Greater Louisville award winner.

People on the Move: Ronald Webb, Safaricom

Ronald Webb has joined Safaricom to head the Kenyan telecom operator’s financial services division, which includes the popular M-PESA money transfer service.

RBS cancellation of Williams & Glyn project affects 3,000 staff at Infosys

Infosys has issued a statement regarding its work with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to carve out the Williams & Glyn (W&G) subsidiarity. Infosys was a W&G programme technology partner for consulting, application delivery and testing services. It was working on the W&G project since 2013, but this came to an end earlier this month […]

Two credit unions on to Fiserv’s OnCU core processing solution

Two US credit unions have selected Fiserv’s integrated OnCU core account processing solution suites. Badlands Federal Credit Union, based in Montana, and Danville City Employees Federal Credit Union, based in Virginia, will use the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) suites. The solutions will be customised for each of them. Lisa Tickle, manager of Danville City Employees FCU, says: […]

UK competition watchdog cools ICE’s Trayport acquisition

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says it has “provisionally” found Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) acquisition of Trayport may give rise to competition concerns. ICE is the largest operator of exchanges and clearing houses in the trading of European utilities. It has its own proprietary software which allows trading of energy commodity and utility derivatives […]

Green Dot and Uber Expand Debit Card Payments for Drivers

Green Dot and Uber on Aug. 16 expanded the Instant Pay option that enables Uber drivers to quickly get their earnings via debit cards. The expansion builds upon the launch earlier this year of Instant Pay through Green Dot’s Pay Award-winning GoBank mobile checking account, via a special GoBank Uber debit card.

Alibaba Buying Its Way into India, Southeast Asia

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. appears poised to continue expanding its multi-billion dollar business into India and Southeast Asia. Alibaba has been in talks with Paytm, an m-commerce platform, to acquire all of Paytm Mall or at least a large share of the company’s marketplace business, according to the Hindustan Times.

Sri Lanka’s National Savings Bank goes into system selection mode

The National Savings Bank (NSB) in Sri Lanka is calling for expressions of interest (EOI) as it looks to upgrade its core banking system. It is now inviting bidders to supply, implement, rollout and maintain the new core banking system. EOIs should be submitted on or before 19 September 2016. Once the EOIs have been […]

Apple Pay the way for UK’s CYBG banking group

UK-based Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank – which together form CYBG – have introduced Apple Pay to its customers. The payments service is also available to its “B” customers. In May, CYBG unveiled a new digital banking platform, called B, as it gets ready to become a standalone challenger bank. Helen Page, chief marketing officer […]

UK challenger Mondo looks to fund full bank launch

UK-based challenger Mondo is looking for another £15-20 million in funding as it looks to launch as a “full bank”. Last week, Mondo got its banking licence from the Bank of England. However, Tom Blomfield, CEO at Mondo, say that “authorisation comes with restrictions”. It can only hold a maximum of £50,000 of deposits in […]

Payments start-up Cookies launches in Germany

Berlin-based start-up Cookies has launched its peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app in Germany. The app is in its beta phase and currently in invite-only mode. Everyone who registered on its website in the past few weeks and months gets a personal invite code, allowing them to use the Cookies App. It says anyone who’s not yet […]

NCR Interactive Teller tech passes 300 milestone

NCR Corporation has revealed US-based Bank of Oak Ridge and Gorham Savings Bank are the latest financial institutions (FIs) to deploy its Interactive Teller technology – taking the total number of customers beyond 300. With the tech, consumers can interact via video and audio with their banks’ remote-based video teller. NCR says its software gives […]

Fintech funding round-up: 15 August 2016

Let’s put the fun in funding by keeping it mercifully brief. A round-up of some key events. Finova Financial’s cloud and mobile-based consumer auto title lending platform raised $52.5 million in a combination of equity and a credit facility, one of the “largest initial rounds in fintech industry history”. The funding round was led by […]

Tesco’s PayQwik Expands to More Stores

After a successful trial run, UK retail chain Tesco will roll out its PayQwiq mobile payment service in all of its stores by the end of 2016. The QR code-based app is available for Android and iOS and enables shoppers to connect any payment card with American Express, Mastercard or Visa branding.

Reports: China Will Legalize Payments via QR Codes

Chinese consumers could soon make legal payments in that country via their smartphones and QR codes, media reports indicate. Shoppers with such online services as Alipay and Tenpay already use the codes, but they exist “in a regulatory gray zone, banned by the government, yet still continue operating,” according Ecns.cn.

Diebold completes Wincor Nixdorf acquisition

ATM maker Diebold has completed its $1.8-billion acquisition of Wincor Nixdorf. As Banking Technology reported in March, US-based Diebold announced it had met the tender condition for its German rival Wincor Nixdorf. The combined organisation will begin operating as Diebold Nixdorf tomorrow (16 August). The market share of the combined company will be about 35%. […]

Cutover start-up passes Nationwide digital banking test

Nationwide Building Society has “successfully” tested UK start-up Cutover’s release management software during digital banking maintenance releases this month. Cutover’s software provides a platform for teams to plan, rehearse and execute events and gives real-time communications to those involved. Matt Cox, head of insight and innovation, Nationwide Building Society, says Cutover’s prototype “clearly demonstrated the […]

Standard Chartered bringing biometrics to Asia, Africa and Middle East

Standard Chartered is rolling out a suite of fingerprint and voice biometric technologies across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The bank says the launch reaches more than five million clients, and is the “most extensive rollout of fingerprint biometric technology by any international bank and a first in most markets”. It is on a […]

National Bank of Kuwait in Egypt goes live on Temenos treasury solution

National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) – Egypt has gone live on Temenos’ Treasury Trader. Treasury Trader was launched in 2010 and is a front to back office solution. It will integrate with the bank’s Temenos T24 core banking system. Pakistan-based National Data Consultants (NDC), a regional partner of Temenos, carried out the implementation. NBK – […]

Amazon and Facebook power Mizuho innovation

Mizuho Bank has carried out testing for new banking services through the Facebook bot and Amazon Echo. The tests took place in Silicon Valley, California, in partnership with two other Japanese firms – Information Services International – Dentsu and Nomura Research Institute. The companies are looking to use CUI (conversational user interfaces) to develop platforms […]