USA


US shifts to EMV as Obama and Apple weigh in

The US is finally adopting EMV after an eventful 12 months in which barriers have been overcome. Merchant reluctance is diminishing, good progress is being made, and the ‘EMV train’ is now picking up speed, according to a new report by analyst firm Celent.

Customer Not Present threat prompts response from US providers

As the US moves to adopt EMV chip and PIN cards and mobile payments, authentication is becoming a serious concern, particularly for customer not present transactions – evidenced by the number of Money20/20 exhibitors focusing on the topic in contrast to the blockchain focus of much of last year’s event.

Diebold unveils concept banking “experience” at Money20/20

ATM maker Diebold has unveiled a new concept banking platform with four “experience zones” at the Money2020 conference in Las Vegas. The concept aims to demonstrate how banks can combine convenience, security and self-service with a low cost ‘footprint’.

Brett King preaches the “good news” of mobile banking

Banks need to stop trying to exploit customers and start actually helping people, according to Brett King, chief executive at Moven. Instead of getting people to max out their credit card, a progressive bank should use smartphones and Big Data to help the consumer with the little things.

NYSE defends controversial “retrograde” self-regulation plan

Financial market participants have criticised plans for the New York Stock Exchange to begin monitoring itself through its non-profit division, NYSE Regulation, describing the move as a “retrograde step” that will never work in practice. NYSE is currently monitored by FINRA, an independent organisation.

Comerica wins Direct Express RFP

Comerica Bank, the incumbent issuer of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Direct Express prepaid debit card program to distribute benefits to Social Security recipients, will continue in that role under a new five-year agreement, according to a blog post published today on the department’s Website.

Dark pools, market manipulation and benchmark rigging top risks warns report

Regulators in the US and Europe are stepping up investigations into dark pool activity, market abuse and manipulation of financial benchmarks following a spate of damaging incidents in recent months. Tougher regulatory oversight could have a significant impact on all three areas, according to a new report by financial services technology provider SunGard.

US mobile payment firm LoopPay wins Visa funding

Mobile payments provider LoopPay has secured funding from global payments firm Visa as it pioneers a technology that capitalises on the installed base of magnetic stripe-reader point-of-sale systems rather than NFC, which is the current favourite in mobile payment circles.

CFTC’s O’Malia warns regulators to “Do No Harm”

Commissioner Scott O’Malia of the US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission has called for continuing international co-operation on market surveillance and warned that current oversight mechanisms are flawed in terms of the data they collect and the way that they analyse it.

DTCC pushes move to T+2 settlement for US markets

US clearing body the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation is pushing a move to shorten the settlement cycle for the US markets to T+2, claiming support from industry bodies and firms including JP Morgan.

Flash Boys ‘star’ Ronan Ryan says market better off without HFT

One of the central characters featured in Michael Lewis’ controversial book Flash Boys, has added fuel to the fire of debate over high frequency trading by claiming that in a market with less HFT, average order sizes would get larger and long-term investors would benefit.

Real-time payments: coming to America?

When the US Federal Reserve Banks asked for comments on improving the US payments system, the tech industry and merchants said “let’s go” while the incumbents said “whoa, not so fast” …

Known Unknowns: preparing for SEF-traded FX options

The Dodd-Frank Act launched the acronym SEF into the alphabet soup of modern capital markets, After three years of repeated discussions, consultations, submissions and furious wrangling, Swap Execution Facilities finally come into operation this week.

SIX Financial Information gets ready for FATCA

Switzerland’s SIX Financial Information has begun delivering FATCA tax information to the US Inland Revenue Service, ahead of the controversial extraterritorial tax’s reporting deadline in July.

PNC Bank signs up to OB10 e-invoicing

US bank PNC has linked its invoice automation platform to OB10, the global e-invoicing network run by specialist firm Tungsten Corporation, in a deal that the bank says will help its commercial customers by making payments faster and improving the quality of payments data. PNC Bank is the first commercial bank in the US to […]

Derivatives reform chaos “stupid and self-inflicted”

Reforms to the way derivatives trade in the US and Europe are causing a conflict between consumer desire for bespoke solutions and regulatory attempts at standardisation – and the self-inflicted panic as the deadline approaches indicates the cost may be too high, according to a panel of senior capital markets representatives speaking at an event organised by the Futures and Options Association in London on Tuesday.

No SEFs please, we’re bankers …

Most banks are still not ready for the arrival of Swap Execution Facilities, the new category of trading venues created by the Dodd-Frank act in the US to handle OTC derivatives. Worse still, market participants are almost universally negative about SEFs, according to a new paper by research house GreySpark Partners.

Barclays fined again for “widespread” failure to keep records

Barclays has been fined $3.75 million by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for its failure to keep electronic records, including emails and instant messages, which are required by law. The failure is the latest in a string of recent fines for the bank.

Credit Agricole CIB outsources US IT in multimillion deal

Credit Agricole CIB has signed an outsourcing deal with Genpact, in which the technology firm will help the bank by providing its IT development and maintenance, production support, infrastructure management and user support in the US.

US banks “not prepared” for Dodd-Frank swap rules

A surprisingly high proportion of US banks are still not prepared to comply with Dodd-Frank’s regulations on swaps, despite the impending arrival of mandatory trading on swap execution facilities, according to Charley Rich, vice president of product management at tech firm Nastel.

Nasdaq signs algo testing deal with Thesys

Nasdaq OMX is planning to launch a test facility for algo trading early next year. The Algo Test Facility will be developed jointly with Thesys Technologies, a subsidiary of Tradeworx,

Sapient rolls out FATCA compliance service

Sapient Global Markets has released a suite of software and services designed to help companies meet FATCA, the controversial new US regulation that obliges banks to report their US customers so that they can be taxed.

US-Europe derivatives rulemaking deal “falls at first hurdle”

Senior financial industry executives have expressed disappointment at the failure of the US and European securities regulators to realise a deal over derivatives reforms and swap execution facilities, the new category of US execution venues brought in under the Dodd-Frank Act.

Race for speed intensifies as HFT goes global

Trading firms need to upgrade their technology as often as every three months or face getting left behind by the ferocious pace of competition, according to specialists behind the HFT industry’s breakneck expansion into the world’s emerging markets and untamed asset classes.

Foreign money transmitters face state-by-state regs in the US

Some European money transmitter companies are learning what insurance carriers from outside the US. learned years ago — the country is a nightmare of financial regulations that can differ sharply from state to state. And European companies that are doing business in individual states probably need a license from that state.

“Problematic” US shutdown causes SEF blues at the EU

The European Commission has expressed concerns that the US government shutdown is preventing a deal between the EU and US regulator, just as new swaps rules come into force for firms based both inside and outside the US.

Swap trading reforms hit the rocks as CFTC’s O’Malia recommends delay

As CFCT commissioner Scott O’ Malia calls for more time for SEF reforms to be implemented, senior market observers are concerned that the new rules will not only fail to meet their 2 October deadline, but will also hurt ordinary market participants and increase systemic risk rather than reduce it.

Pinnacle Bank outsources processing to Fiserv

US based Pinnacle Bank has chosen to outsource its processing to Fiserv as part of its Precision bank platform, in a move the bank says will help it to scale and roll out new products including mobile banking, bill payment and checking. Based in the town of Elberton in the US state of Georgia, Pinnacle […]

US local banks sign up to Temenos T24 core banking cloud

US banks Clare Bank and Farmers Exchange Bank have chosen to install cloud-hosted core banking services from vendor Temenos, in a deal that the banks say will help them reduce costs and roll out products to customers more easily.