Contactless payments ramp up in 2017
Following the announcement WhatsApp will enter into the mobile payments arena, new estimates from Juniper Research claims Apple Pay contactless users will nearly double over 2017.
Innovation
UK regulator plays sheriff to fight “Wild West” sandboxes
As fintech regulators across the world begin to set up their own sandboxes, with different models and standards, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority says a “Wild West” version could emerge. But hang on folks, we got a new sheriff in town. Speaking at the Innovate Finance Global Summit in London, Christopher Woolard, executive director of […]
Mastercard AIs up future with start-ups
Mastercard has welcomed five new start-ups to its Start Path Global programme – its initiative to boost its share of the commerce market. The programme is open to all start-ups who focus on banking and payments and have raised a “significant seed” or Series A round of investment. Three out of the five firms joining […]
Starling Bank developer portal goes live
UK challenger bank Starling has unveiled its developer portal to enable third parties to access customer data and build on top of its platform using APIs. As Banking Technology previously reported, Starling launched its mobile app and is welcoming the first customers through its digital doors to join a beta testing programme. It also recently […]
O-Bank goes digital in preparation for IPO
O-Bank (formerly Industrial Bank of Taiwan), is keen to transform itself into “a nimble and digitally-focused boutique lender” as it gears on for an IPO.
Top fintech stories this week – 7 April 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
R3, HQLAX and five banks build collateral lending solution on blockchain
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) consortium R3, together with five of its members and financial resource management specialist HQLAX have built a collateral lending solution for liquidity transfers. The solution is based on R3’s flagship platform, Corda, and is “an operating model for a digital collateral receipt (DCR) lending marketplace”.
70% of jobs in developing markets under threat from AI – report
A new report from the International Bar Association has outlined the risks and rewards of artificial intelligence (AI), which while bordering on scaremongering also makes some good points.
How is insurtech going to keep up with the pace of fintech?
In an interview with Lisa Moyle, portfolio director of InsurTech Rising, we dive into the importance of partnerships and investments with insurtechs.
Banking Technology April 2017 issue out now
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 31 March 2017
Boiled down and brief. The best bits of blockchain and Bitcoin in one round-up. Features Waves Platform, Ripple and Synaps Loans. Fresh from its ZrCoin commodities deal success, the blockchain Waves Platform is launching its decentralised exchange (DEX) and leased proof-of-stake on the Bitcoin network mainnet. DEX can be accessed via a full node or […]
Bold statement one: statements around the bleeding edges of innovation
This is a series of posts on a subject that plays on my mind a little – the application of disruption, and innovation, when it is related through the filter of our use of language, and our desire to seem advanced.
Mastercard buys NuData Security for IoT spree
Mastercard will acquire Vancouver-based biometrics firm NuData Security as it looks to make something out of the internet of things (IoT). NuData provides online and mobile anti-fraud solutions using session and biometric indicators. Mastercard will integrate NuData to its suite of fraud management and security products. Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security for […]
How crude! IBM oils up for blockchain threesome
Natixis, IBM and physical commodities trading group Trafigura have launched the first blockchain solution in commodity trade finance for US crude oil transactions. The distributed ledger platform, built on the Linux Foundation open source Hyperledger Fabric, allows “major steps” in a crude oil transaction to be digitised on the blockchain, ensuring that famous trinity of […]
BBVA joins Hyperledger blockchain project
BBVA has become an official member of the Linux Foundation’s open-source collaborative blockchain project Hyperledger. The bank joins American Express, the Bank of England, SAP, Wells Fargo and Thomson Reuters. BBVA is already a member of R3, which is also participating in Hyperledger, and of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, which supports the creation of blockchain […]
ClauseMatch right match for Barclays compliance
Barclays has chosen smart document management provider ClauseMatch for handling policies and standards in one place with a new online editor. London-based ClauseMatch, a 2014 graduate of the inaugural Barclays accelerator programme, will provide its editor to the bank. This tool turns a “fragmented workflow” of Word documents, PDFs and e-mails and replaces them with […]
Responsibility isn’t about rules
What can banks learn from the fintech community when it comes to fostering a culture of innovation against a backdrop of regulation?
Citi Digital Money Symposium: financial inclusion – it’s not just CSR
It’s good to do good but it’s even better to do good and make a profit was my takeaway from a lively discussion around financial inclusion at the recent Citi Digital Money Symposium held in London.
Tradeshift’s AI Ada aids commerce
Supply chain finance firm Tradeshift has unveiled Ada – an artificial intelligence (AI) layer on its commerce platform. Ada will learn from user interactions, “improve business processes”, and offer contextual information. It is available to third-party developers and interacts with users platform-wide as a conversational interface. Christian Lanng, CEO and co-founder of Tradeshift, says Ada […]
Raiffeisen Bank Romania in digital tech revamp with Backbase
Raiffeisen Bank Romania, a subsidiary of Austria’s Raiffeisen Group, is modernising its channels delivery with Backbase.
Samsung makes your wedding ring a payments plaything
Samsung, Smartlink and Ingenico have unveiled their “contactless companion platform” (CCP) to let people pay for things using anything they’re wearing — such as a watch or a wedding ring. It has been built with a dual interface smart card chip for multiple applications and form factors. Users tap the wearable on an NFC card […]
Accenture, IBM and Microsoft fuel blockchain market growth
The global blockchain market will experience massive growth during the next five years – powered by the activities of “key vendors” Accenture, IBM and Microsoft. According to Research and Markets’ report, “Global Blockchain Technology Market 2017-2021”, the market will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 55.59%. One trend in the market is […]
Citi Digital Money Symposium: learning to swim during a tsunami
At yesterday’s Citi Digital Money Symposium, the question of a strategic response to fintech and the broader innovation challenge was posed to speakers from a number of large incumbent firms in the financial services sector.
Top fintech stories this week – 24 March 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
EdgeVerve calls for fintech’s magnificent seven
EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys, has launched Finacle FinTech Connect and the chance for firms to integrate their solutions into Finacle’s banking suite. Companies are invited to register for a partnership evaluation process and stand a chance to present at its event Infosys Confluence 2017 in May in San Francisco; along with joint […]
Nesta calls for SME innovation with £5m prize fund
UK-based innovation foundation Nesta has launched its “Open Up Challenge” as it looks for services, apps and tools for SMEs. The competition is now open for entries. A £5 million prize fund is on offer and it is looking for 20 entries from anywhere in the world that will use open banking APIs – “newly […]
Diamonds and blockchain are forever for SAP Ariba
SAP Ariba has unveiled its plans to use blockchain across its cloud-based applications and business network for trading goods and services. Among the first applications that SAP Ariba sees potential in involves the tracking and tracing of goods. SAP Ariba will join forces with Everledger, a London-based fintech firm. The latter captures the defining characteristics […]
Why we need diversity before AI takes over
We hear a lot about how artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to displace jobs, especially those held by women in tech, but should we also worry about a future overrun with sexist, racist machines?
Mutual distributed ledger: at the speed of need
Professor Michael Mainelli, executive chairman of Z/Yen Group, and Vinay Gupta, founder of venture capital firm hexayurt.capital, discuss mutual distributed ledger economics.
Samsung moves on Siri with Bixby AI
Watch out Siri and Alexa, Samsung has unveiled its own artificial intelligence (AI) solution called Bixby. This will be a new interface on Samsung’s devices – with the imminent Galaxy S8 getting it first – and when an application becomes Bixby-enabled, it will be able to support “almost every task” that the application is capable […]
Survey: how regtech savvy are you?
Banking Technology and BearingPoint are conducting a brief survey to find out the industry view on regtech and its implications for all parties involved.
Be Guess’s young, sexy, and adventurous guest
Are you young, sexy, and adventurous? No, me neither. It’s OK. Grab a hot chocolate, put your slippers and glasses on… and read on. Guess Watches has released watches (well, yeah) powered by Android Wear, Google’s smartwatch platform, to their Guess Connect wearable tech timepiece category, available late 2017. The global fashion powerhouse says, with […]
IBM Cloud launches enterprise-ready blockchain for Hyperledger Fabric
IBM has unveiled its new release of IBM Blockchain, the “first” enterprise-ready blockchain service based on the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric version 1.0. The service enables developers to build and host production blockchain networks on the IBM Cloud, and is underpinned by the IBM server LinuxONE. This development follows on from late last year when […]
The Monday mindset: 20 March 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, Banking Technology deputy editor Antony Peyton doesn’t offer up one view, but the views of many. While Twitter in general may often […]
IBM Cloud launches new developer tools for financial services
IBM has unveiled its IBM Cloud for Financial Services for creating finserv apps. Users will get access to APIs, data and content to build and monetise cognitive-enabled apps for fintech firms, banks, wealth management firms and insurance companies. Initially available in beta, developers will also have the ability to build in customer insights, regulatory compliance […]
IBM Cloud comes to China
Wanda Internet Technology and IBM have signed an agreement for the former to enter the public cloud business in China. This will be done via a new firm – Wanda Cloud Company – built on the IBM Cloud Platform.
Women in fintech: why do we need them and how do we recruit them?
Over the holiday period I saw my 17-year-old niece Katie reading an article in an engineering magazine about the lack of women in that industry. She is considering becoming an engineer.
Case study: Credit Suisse and SmartStream – fees and expense management
How a vendor’s acquisition of a big bank’s platform has led to the development of a utility. Credit Suisse talks about its fees and expense management transformation journey.
Top fintech stories this week – 17 March 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Inter-American Development Bank launches Finconecta ecosystem
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Florida-based fintech firm Above & Beyond (A&B) have unveiled “Finconecta”, a ten-month programme which integrates fintechs and financial institutions (FI) in an interconnected ecosystem. The technology platform behind it is called “Forward”, which was built by A&B, and is described as an app store-styled marketplace that allows firms to expose […]
