News


Viewpoint: Inside the EC Payments Package and the Aggressive Timeline for Passage

The European Parliament’s ECON Committee vote on the “Payments Package” has resulted in inconsistent legislative text that differs significantly from the EC draft proposal. With an aggressive timeline for passage, including an April plenary vote, the payments industry needs to make its voice heard on the potentially harmful impacts of the proposed changes.

Custodian bank trio cut T2S asset servicing deal with Clearstream

Post-trade services institutions Clearstream, BNP Paribas Securities Services, Intesa Sanpaolo and BBVA have formed a tie-up in Europe, which they say is aimed at better asset servicing n Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain under the ECB’s forthcoming T2S project.

Editor’s Note: Keeping What Makes You Great

We may not be the shiny new thing like mobile, but prepaid has a role to play in the new era of payments because it’s accessible to every consumer. For prepaid businesses to stay relevant and take their place in this evolving market, they must hold onto the innovative spirit and keen focus on solving problems that sparked the industry more than 15 years ago.

Mobile Parking Payments Coming to Chicago (March 11, 2014)

Many Chicago drivers soon won’t have to dig under the seat for spare change to feed the meter. The city has announced a new initiative to launch a mobile payment system for parking, set for a pilot run in the downtown area this spring, with a rollout throughout Chicago to follow.

Vodafone Wallet Goes Live Across Germany (March 11, 2014)

Vodafone’s NFC-based mobile wallet and prepaid Vodafone SmartPass Visa account went live this month in Germany, enabling Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica Deutschland mobile network subscribers to conduct contactless and P2P transactions with NFC-ready phones via participating banks.

Sally Beauty Refutes Breach Rumors (March 10, 2014)

Sally Beauty, the specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies, is the latest retailer allegedly falling prey to hackers—or, at least, becoming the victim of rumors that credit and debit card information and other customer data has been compromised.

‘Why Stop at Bitcoin?’ Congressman Asks; ‘Let’s Ban Cash’ (March 10, 2014)

With Bitcoin and other digital currencies continuing to stir controversy, one of the main arguments of critics calling for tightly regulating such forms of tender is that the currencies’ anonymous nature makes them conducive to use in illicit activities and transactions. But as a U.S. Congressman points out in a letter to federal regulators, paper money also can be used anonymously for illicit ends—and thus, the tongue-in-cheek missive claims, regulators should turn their attention to banning cold, hard cash too.

Ukraine, Turkey and Russia crises pose banking challenge

Political turbulence in the Ukraine, Russia and Turkey this year produced disagreement between senior financial industry executives at a FIX Trading Community conference in London yesterday, with some arguing that politics should not be allowed to detract from the longer-term rise of non-western economies and others arguing the opposite.

Making sense of data poses challenge for trading firms

Despite efforts to create a more transparent OTC derivatives market, market data costs have increased significantly since 2008 and the buy-side has very little to show for it, according to senior financial executives speaking at an event organised by FIX Protocol in London on 6 March.

Visa, First Data EMV Pact Could Boost Adoption (March 6, 2014)

First Data’s plan for its STAR Network to license Visa’s common Application Identifier (AID) could help get the ball rolling for EMV adoption as other debit networks continue to weigh their own options for routing debit transactions under the Durbin Amendment, observers say.

House Approves Bill to Restructure CFPB (March 6, 2014)

The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Consumer Financial Protection and Soundness Improvement Act (H.R. 3193), which combines six bills, approved by the House Financial Services Committee last November, that are designed to bring more accountability, oversight and transparency to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), according to the bill’s supporters.

ABN Amro launches global FIX trading push

ABN Amro Clearing has launched a new global trading platform for equities and futures which it says can route clients between Asia, Europe and the US using a single FIX connection.

TSB to boost ATM network by 10%

TSB is increasing the size of its ATM estate by more than 10% as it works to transform its retail banking network in the wake of its de-merger from Lloyds Banking Group last year.

APEX EMV Panel: U.S. Adoption Moving ‘At a Fast Clip’ (March 5, 2014)

Lawmakers in Washington, D.C., today are hosting the fifth in a series of hearings to discuss data breaches, their effect and possible methods to prevent them, as the All Payments Expo (APEX) wraps up four days of hot-topic discussions in Las Vegas, including payments security and fraud trends.

BGC Partners to launch Islamic murabaha contracts in Dubai

US broker BGC Partners and UAE government-run free zone the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre have done a deal to promote Islamic ‘Murabaha’ products, as part of a drive to turn Dubai into an Islamic finance hub. The DMCC has a trade platform called DMCC Tradeflow, which operates in the Jumeirah Lakes Towers Free Zone. A […]

SIX Swiss Group prepares for T+2 settlement

Switzerland’s SIX Group will move to T+2 settlement starting on 6 October 2014, bringing Switzerland into line with the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia.

Banks back Swift KYC Registry initiative

A group of major international banks have agreed to jointly develop and use the centralised Know Your Customer Registry announced by Swift at the start of the year.