Artificial Intelligence/AI


Artificial intelligence round-up: 31 August 2017

Where’s the humanity? Well, not here as this is an artificial intelligence (AI) round-up. Features Royal Bank of Canada, Emirates NBD, and the ten greatest threats to mankind. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has announced a pilot launch of two digital services based on AI that offer insights about client’s financials and an automated savings […]

Alexa gets into bed with Cortana

Amazon and Microsoft have announced their previously competing voice-driven artificial intelligence (AI) assistants are now an item, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). The world can be a lonely place for virtual assistants. All the company they have are demanding millennials constantly asking what their latest email is or a retiree wondering what the weather […]

Top fintech stories this week – 25 August 2017

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Fiserv buys payments software vendor Dovetail Pushes deeper into the payments infrastructure sector. Mobile contactless transactions hit £370m in UK in H1 2017 A whopping 336% year-on-year increase. Avaloq maintains momentum with massive earnings rise Adjusted EBITDA increased […]

Douugh rises to occasion for AI-powered banking

Banking challenger Douugh has unveiled its artificial intelligence (AI) powered financial platform, guided by “Sophie” – a 24/7 personal assistant for finances. Andy Taylor, founder and CEO of Douugh, says: “We believe the future of banking is about platform, data and identity.” Douugh plans to use Sophie to offer better financial decisions for consumers. Services […]

Qualcomm lays out AI vision of the future

Qualcomm’s view of the future is one in which every smartphone, device and car on the road is equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) via a connected – Qualcomm – chipset, reports Light Reading (Banking Technology’s sister publication). The company laid out this AI-driven view of the world last week as its Qualcomm Technologies subsidiary announced the […]

AWS beefs up security with new bouncer named Macie

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched a new machine learning-based security service, which it claims will help customers identify anomalies inside their network, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). The launch comes only a month after its S3 storage hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as Verizon customer data was left on an […]

Industry bullish on promise of fintech – Opimas research

Market players are bullish on the near- and longer-term promise of fintech, according to new research by Opimas, “Fintech Spending and Innovation in Capital Markets”. In 2017, it estimates fintech spending across all capital markets participants to exceed $127 billion.

But what about the human cost of automation?

New research from recruitment agency Robert Half has outlined the jobs which are under threat from automation, but when are we actually going to talk seriously about the dark side of artificial intelligence (AI)?

Regtech Supplier Performance Report: ignorance is no longer bliss, it’s now criminal offence

The second edition of Regtech Supplier Performance Report, featuring some 50 regtech suppliers, published by Market Fintech Limited and supported by Banking Technology, says that with over 50,000 regulatory documents published across the G20 since 2009, and an average of 45 new documents every week, we must assume that the future of banking will be driven by technological developments.

The Monday mindset: 7 August 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, Devie Mohan, founder of fintech research and data company, Burnmark, examines the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI). I was asked to speak […]

CardLinx Adds Members, Launches Retail AI Forum

The CardLinx Association announced four new members—Capital One, JCB, Yahoo! Japan and Dentsu—as well as the launch of a “groundbreaking forum” on Retail in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Sept. 12, 2017, in Chicago.

Facebook has a whoopsy as AI programme invents own language

Artificial intelligence (AI) detractors have just been given a bit more ammo after Facebook has had to shut down one of its programmes after it invented its own language, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). While it would not be considered realistic for AI to rise up and take-over the world in the near future, […]

Mexico-based MIT taps Featurespace for payments fraud prevention

Machine learning continues to take center stage in fraud prevention for the payments industry. Mexico-based payments processor MIT will use U.K.-based Featurespaces’ real-time, machine-learning platform to detect anomalies in individual behavior for fraud and risk management for its 17,000 merchant partners.

Confident Intel raises full-year revenue outlook by $1.3bn

Following a successful quarter, Intel has raised revenue outlook across the full-year owing to solid performance in artificial intelligence (AI) and driverless tech, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). Quarterly figures were looking pretty impressive too. Total revenue was reported at $14.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%, while net income stood at $2.8 billion, […]

Fintech funding round-up: 28 July 2017

The riches rounded up. Following on from the brief report on 26 July, here’s our latest fintech funding round-up. Features Brolly, Callsign and Aquiline Capital Partners. Insurtech start-up Brolly has got itself some lolly – with the closing of a £1 million seed round. The round, led by Valar Ventures, Pi Labs and Entrepreneur First, […]

Fintech funding round-up: 26 July 2017

Bread but with the bluster removed. Following on from yesterday’s concise report, our latest fintech funding round-up keeps it brief. Features Cleo, Skype, ItzCash, Ebix and research from Innovate Finance. The “Siri of personal finance,” Cleo, a virtual money assistant, has received £2 million in funding from Skype’s co-founder Niklas Zennström and venture capital (VC) […]

Layer’s new messaging design system gets conversational

FinovateSpring 2017 alumnus Layer has released a new customer engagement-enabling solution as the latest reminder of a trend toward more and better engagement options for businesses, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The San Francisco-based company has launched its Conversation Design System, giving enterprises new tools to build and customise conversational experiences for their customers “in […]

Musk disses Zuckerberg over knowledge of AI

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has given Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a very public b*tch-slap over Twitter, accusing the social media guru of not knowing much about the future of artificial intelligence (AI).

Google makes loads of money, but cloud is real story

Googlers are still swimming in cash as the latest quarter brought in $26.01 billion, and not even a $2.74 billion fine from the European Commission could dampen the mood at this party, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). The uplift in revenue, accounting for a 21% year-on-year boost, should not really come as a huge […]

Mastercard buys in to AI with Brighterion

Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion, a software company specialising in artificial intelligence (AI), reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. This acquisition follows Mastercard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security”. Brighterion’s portfolio of AI and machine learning technologies provide real-time […]

No silver lining for IBM cloud revenues

Despite a big push in its cloud-coated ambitions, IBM has revealed a drop in revenues for its technology services and cloud platforms. For its Q2 2017 results, revenues for this largest part of its business (including infrastructure services, technical support services and integration software) was $8.4 billion, down 5.1%. However, in its “strategic imperatives”, IBM […]

Mastercard Buys in to AI with Brighterion

Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion Inc., a software company specializing in artificial intelligence. This acquisition follows Masterdard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security.”

AI will be ubiquitous in 2020 but overhyped in 2017 – Gartner

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be baked into nearly every new software product and service by 2020, but the rush to claim AI integration today is causing confusion, according to a new report from analyst firm Gartner. Light Reading (Banking Technology’s sister publication) reports that while virtually every company across industry verticals is busy today figuring out […]

More human than human: banking’s AI future is all in the voice

Aditya Challa of IMImobile takes a look at some current and future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for customer experience in the financial and banking sector, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome. Beyond the current race to build chatbots, he predicts that voice-driven AI services will ultimately become the main […]

Behavioural black magic

In 1957 the US market researcher James Vicary claimed he could get moviegoers to “drink Coca-Cola” and “eat popcorn” by flashing messages onscreen for such a short time that viewers were unaware they had seen them. The term “subliminal advertising” was coined to describe this unnerving practice and it was subsequently banned in many countries.

Fintech funding round-up: 13 July 2017

And the money keeps rolling in for fintech! Features Revolut, Curve, Pixoneye and Gridspace. Banking Technology’s sister publication Paybefore reports. UK challenger bank Revolut announced a $66 million investment from Index Ventures, Balderton Capital and Ribbit Capital, which the company will use to introduce new features and expand globally, starting with Asia and North America. […]

Google extends long arm of influence further into AI

Google has launched a new initiative, Gradient Ventures, its own VC arm to seek out artificial intelligence (AI) talent and invest in start-ups, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology’s sister publication). The initiative itself is a simple one. Google will provide funds and access to experienced engineers to help the start-ups develop to the next level. AI […]

Fintech Funding Roundup: Revolut, Curve, Pixoneye, Gridspace

And the money keeps rolling in for fintech. U.K. challenger bank Revolut announced a $66 million investment it will use to introduce new features and expand globally, starting with Asia and North America. Meanwhile, Santander InnoVentures, the bank’s fintech venture capital fund, has added U.K.-based Pixoneye and Curve and U.S.-based Gridspace to its portfolio.

Regtech: features that make data work harder and smarter

There is far more to regtech than regulatory technology, or at least there can and should be. Regtech, as it is coming to be understood, must be something qualitatively different from what it’s replacing and not just a faster and better version of the same thing.

ARM says we are A-OK with AI

New research commissioned by ARM has highlighted that the tide might be turning in the acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI), not only in the industry but in the wider world.

Verizon jumps on the AI-security bandwagon

Verizon’s venture capitalist arm has started throwing its weight around the security arena, pumping cash into artificial intelligence (AI) start-up SparkCognition.

Money20/20 Europe: PSD2 Creates More Questions than Answers

On June 26, artificial intelligence captured the imagination of some at Money20/20 in Copenhagen. But during the June 27 sessions on the second day, it was like I had stepped back in time to November 2016, reported Deputy Editor Antony Peyton. Last year, at the Payments International conference in London, PSD2 left some in the payments industry confused as to where the risks and opportunities lie.

Money20/20 Europe: let AI negotiate

Are trends eclectic for artificial intelligence (AI)? Perhaps not as the fintech world is getting more imaginative and calling for the machines to negotiate on behalf of less-than-objective humans. At this morning’s (26 June) sessions at Money20/20 in Copenhagen, the themes of AI use cases in financial services and fraud were discussed.