Worldwide


Alicia key to Tieto’s AI leadership team

Tieto says it is the first Nordic company to appoint artificial intelligence (AI) to the leadership team of a new data-driven businesses unit. The AI, called Alicia T, will help the management team to become “truly data-driven”; assist with unspecified “innovative ways”; and possess the capacity to cast votes. Ari Järvelä, head of data-driven businesses […]

Symphony unveils open developer platform and access to API

Symphony Software Foundation has launched an open developer platform. The foundation hosts open source development, bots, apps and integrations on the Symphony platform. It will also provide community contributors and foundation member organisations with access to the Symphony API, as well as development tools. Gabriele Columbro, executive director, Symphony Software Foundation, says open source “fuelled […]

Online and Mobile Commerce: Fraud Products to Help Protect E-Commerce Channels

Online commerce accounts for 8.5 percent of all card transactions but 45 percent of fraud, according to Javelin Strategy & Research. As more transactions move to online and mobile channels, fighting fraud in those channels will become even more challenging. Discover Global Network discusses the latest fraud-prevention tools that offer protection without adding friction.

Interview: Kyle Ferguson, Fraedom’s CEO – on the road to Fraedom

Payments technology and expense management specialist Fraedom is on the journey to tap into the $110 trillion B2B market opportunity that remains untapped today. “If the technology is both powerful and intuitive, people will use it,” states Kyle Ferguson, Fraedom’s CEO.

Blockchain & back office: a revolutionary change or not?

Blockchain has been hailed as a disruptive force capable of revolutionising the banking sector. While this may be the case to some extent, the impact may be overstated when it comes to wider back office operations, argues Paul Westgate, product manager at Linedata. In the clamour to proclaim blockchain, and those cryptocurrencies built on blockchain technology, […]

Configo launches site to aggregate banks’ API portals

Fintech start-up Configo has launched a project to aggregate the API portals launched by financial players around the world. It is not commercial driven but is “just a small project to put everything in order”, says Yosi Dahan, co-founder and CEO of Configo.

Citi’s treasury and trade goes digital with eSubmit

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions has launched electronic document submission (eSubmit) for account opening. The service is available in “select” Western European countries and allows clients to complete the account opening process by returning electronic versions of documentation rather than paper. Sabine McIntosh, global head of account services product, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions, says […]

Accenture acquires Allen International for digital banking push

Accenture has acquired London-based design consultancy Allen International as it looks to boost its digital banking ambitions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Accenture says Allen International has worked with more than 350 banks around the world including nine of the top 20 banks. Customers include Emirates NBD, Bank of Ireland, CIBC, Banorte, […]

Visa CEO Charlie Scharf Steps Down; Board Appoints Amex Vet Alfred Kelly

The desire to spend more time with family and the rigors of travel have compelled Charlie Scharf to step down as Visa Inc. CEO, according to an Oct. 17 announcement by the payments network. Replacing him is American Express veteran Alfred Kelly Jr., who was unanimously appointed by the board of directors.

Verifone Pumps up Mobile Payments at Gas Stations

Verifone said Oct. 18 that it had adopted and deployed a new mobile API standard designed to better tie together payment and loyalty applications for customers at gas stations and convenience stores.

In NFC Fight, Australian Banks Call Apple’s Security Claims ‘Baseless’

A group of Australia’s biggest banks have launched the latest salvo in their dispute with Apple over third-party access to the iPhone’s NFC hardware. In a joint filing to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the banks rebuffed Apple’s claims that they should not be allowed to collectively negotiate with the tech giant over making their own mobile payment apps available on iPhones.

Trouble in the R3 paradise?

More than 60 of financial institutions around the world (including many top-tier banks) are involved in the R3 consortium, with considerable financial and resource commitments. The international consortium promises to build a common blockchain-based platform – called Corda – but the end-result is still a number of years away.

EMV Rollout Initially Boosting ATM Fraud, but Could Eventually Slow It

With the U.S. rollout of EMV making it harder for fraudsters to target merchant POS systems, thieves increasingly have set their sights on ATMs. But cash machines won’t be such an easy target for long, as the same technology that has increased POS security is steadily making its way to ATMs.

British Banks Underreport Cyber Attacks, Report Says

U.K banks don’t report all the cyber attacks directed at them, according to a Reuters report. The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority reports at least 75 cyber attacks against financial institutions this year, but the news agency quoted experts who said that total is likely underreported. That’s in part because British banks are not required to report every such attack.

Japan Might Remove Bitcoin Tax

Japan might remove its 8 percent sales tax on bitcoin and other virtual currency transactions, according to reports. The plan stems from the country’s Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency, according to an Oct. 14 report in Japan Today. It said regulators intend to study the issue via a committee; among the questions is what constitutes a virtual currency.

BNP Paribas picks Fidessa’s derivatives trading platform

BNP Paribas has selected Fidessa’s derivatives trading platform to underpin the bank’s futures and options agency trading business. The platform will support the workflow requirements across Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America. It will also provide BNP Paribas with a suite of specialised derivatives algorithms, including benchmark algos and advanced synthetic order types to normalise trading […]

Blockchain.info gets hacked

Bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain.info has been the victim of a hack attack on its DNS servers. It experienced an outage for several hours while under attack, and Peter Smith, the CEO and co-founder, says its internal systems “alerted our infrastructure team who immediately began to assess the attack” but it “became clear the attackers gained […]

Nod and pay a virtual reality with Alibaba

Alibaba has revealed a new payment service that lets virtual reality (VR) shoppers pay just by nodding their heads. Called VR Pay, it’s been developed by Ant Financial’s (Alibaba’s financial arm) incubator F Lab, and it’s another innovation in the lively and overcrowded payments arena. With the tech, shoppers (bovine at the best of times) […]

Top fintech stories this week – 14 October 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! MasterCard to buy French payment firm Stet? EXCLUSIVE. Payments processor could be a target. Brooks Macdonald puts IT revamp with Third Financial on hold EXCLUSIVE. All freeze for wealth management firm. Banks behaving badly in Singapore Monetary Authority […]

Mala Fide Intentions

Our new series of thrillers – produced and directed by CustomerXPs and Banking Technology – narrate the tales of the fight between the forces of good (the Clari5 fraud prevention software) and the forces of evil (fraudsters). Based on real events and guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat!

Using technology in the Age of Emotion

How can the use of technology in the banking sector motivate and drive employees (and lead to improved business performance)? Dennis Fois, CEO of Rant & Rave, explores. Over the last few years we have seen challenger banks like Atom, Tandem and Starling embark on their venture to steal market share and customers from established […]

Pay Magazine – Fall 2016

Fintechs Are from Mars, Banks Are from Venus; CFPB Enforcement Lessons; Payments Infrastructure: New Routes, Not New Rails; Biometrics Pros and Some Huge Cons; Samsung Pay Talks Strategy; Smartest Payments People; Loyalty Strategies; More

Payments round-up: 13 October 2016

Make it lean, keep them keen. A round-up of events in the payments space. Nordea is leaving the Swipp collaboration and partnering with Danske Bank’s MobilePay platform in Denmark and Norway. The shared payment solution’s plan is a reaction to “new international players” who “regularly appear in the market”. Danske says it will begin converting […]

White Paper | Driving High Frequency Trading and Compliance With In-Memory Computing

This paper looks at the current state of high-frequency trading – why it’s popular and what types of strategies and technologies are being used. It then explores how in-memory computing can meet the technological challenges and increase trading profits. As competition intensifies in the field of high-frequency trading, financial services firms need a new level […]

ISITC Europe and Oasis to define technical standards for blockchain

The International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication (ISITC) Europe and the Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (Oasis) are to jointly define technical standards for blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Fintech funding round-up: 13 October 2016

Fintech funding without the tub-thumping. A realistic and brief round-up of key events. ComplyAdvantage, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help firms manage compliance, has revealed an $8.2 million Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital. The funding will allow the regtech firm to do the usual stuff – growth and […]

SIBOS Interview: Payments trends in EMEA

Alain Raes, CEO EMEA and Asia Pacific, Swift, discusses the main payment trends in Europe, including real-time and the Global Payments Innovation Initiative.

SIBOS Interview: The securities services industry

Bruno Prigent, Head of Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) and Mathieu Maurier, Global Head of Sales and Relationship Management discuss the global securities industry and SGSS’s plans for the future.

SIBOS Interview: Gerry Gaetz, Payments Canada

SIBOS Interview: Gerry Gaetz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Payments Canada discusses the modernisation of Canada’s payments system with Tanya Andreasyan, editor of Banking Technology.

Infosys blockchain powers ICICI Bank and Emirates NBD trade finance ops

ICICI Bank and Emirates NBD say they have successfully executed the “first” banking transactions using blockchain in international trade finance in India and the UAE respectively. The development saw the exchange and authentication of remittance transaction messages as well as original international trade documents related to purchase orders, invoices, shipping and insurance, among others, electronically […]

Federal Appeals Court Declares CFPB Structure Unconstitutional

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Oct. 11 deemed the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) unconstitutional because of it being led by a single director, calling the bureau a “gross departure from settled historical practice” in which independent agencies are led by commissioners or board members, according to the court’s decision.

CFPB Fines Navy Federal Credit Union $28.5 Million

The CFPB has fined Navy Federal Credit Union $28.5 million for improper debt collection action. That breaks down to $23 million going to victims and a $5.5 million civil penalty, the federal consumer agency said.

Applying Augmented Reality to an Omnichannel Retail Environment

Virtual reality (VR) has been grabbing headlines this year with major players across several industries entering the market. But there is evidence to show that augmented reality (AR) may be a more valuable platform in the years ahead. So what exactly is AR and what are the potential applications that could help take it from a small niche to a multi-billion dollar industry in just a few years?