FinTech


R3 and Acord launch DLT-ful insurtech centre

Consortium R3 has partnered with Acord (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) to launch a virtual “centre of excellence” for distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the insurance industry. R3 counts a number of insurance companies amongst its member base, including MetLife, AIA and Suncorp Group, as well as other financial services members that have […]

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.

Mastercard Wins U.K. Approval for VocaLink Buy

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority gave its blessing April 11, enabling Mastercard to complete its acquisition of 92.4 percent of VocaLink Holdings for $920 million. The deal, which is expected to close within weeks, gives Mastercard control of a large portion of the U.K. transaction processing market.

CFSI, Chase Seek Fintech Startups for Financial Health Awards

Fintech entrepreneurs still have a few weeks left to win financial backing from two big players in the payment space. The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and JPMorgan Chase’s Financial Solutions Lab (FinLab) plan to award $250,000 to programs that help consumers build financial health, “with a special focus on those communities that are frequently underserved, such as older Americans, communities of color, people with disabilities and products that address the gender wealth gap.”

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 […]

DeVere delves deeper into fintech space with e-money app launch

Financial consultancy firm DeVere Group has launched an app-only e-money service as it pushes deeper into the banking and fintech sector. As Banking Technology reported last month, the group took advantage of Lithuania’s ambitions to attract fintech firms and set up a new office in the capital Vilnius. This was preceded by the unveiling 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 […]

Executive Profile: Walt Granville, Digiliti Money

From his current role as senior vice president of mobile innovations at Digiliti Money (formerly Cachet Financial Solutions), Walt Granville has the perfect vantage point to see the transformative power of mobile for prepaid programs. Find out more from the former pro runner, including which apps are on his must-list, where he sees prepaid in five years and the trend he’s watching most in 2017.

Tackling cybercrime: why the industry must unite

Cyberattacks have been dominating newspaper headlines for some time now. Whether it’s losing access to PayPal, a distributed denial of service attack on Lloyds Group, or Tesco Bank customers losing £2.5 million to hackers, the threat of a cyberattack in 2017 is so great that it’s not a case of if, but when one occurs.

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”.

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 4 April 2017

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s round-up, here’s more bite-sized blockchain and Bitcoin news. Featuring TaaS, Living Room of Satoshi and Bitfinex. TaaS, the “first-ever” tokenised closed-end fund dedicated to blockchain assets, will partner with two cryptocurrency exchanges, Livecoin and Kuna, to offer its tokens for trading starting on 28 April. Investors will be able […]

Protecting porous perimeters via identity access management

With the growth of “mobile working” and an increasing number of business applications migrating to the cloud, the corporate perimeter has become more porous and vulnerable, driving demand for solutions that manage access and user identities securely and efficiently. This is where identity access management (IAM) technologies come into play. ING’s Sicco Boomsma explores.

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 […]

Fintech funding round-up: 31 March 2017

Lighter and brighter – catch up with fintech funding news in our brief round-up. Features Monzo, Quint and Lidya. Mobile-only challenger bank Monzo has raised another £2.5 million from more than 6,000 investors – the highest-ever number of any Crowdcube campaign. This follows its crowdfunding record of £1 million round last year, which closed in […]

Fintech Is Poised to Thrive in Mexico

The Mexican market has everything—the market size, the interest and the right attitude. There is only one thing missing and that is the very fundamentals of what fintech represents.

Mastercard launches safer payments guide for children

Child & Youth Finance International (CYFI) and Mastercard have released a guide on banking and payment products for minors. The “Safer Payment Products for Minors” guide offers recommended practices on how financial service providers (FSPs) can develop age-appropriate payment products for minors; promoting responsible spending and financial decision-making. Walt Macnee, vice-chairman Mastercard, says: “Today’s minors […]

HSBC gets swift on Tradeshift capital financing platform

HSBC and business commerce firm Tradeshift have partnered to offer a supply chain and working capital management platform – usable from any device. The platform will let buyers automate and digitise “paper-heavy” processes from all their suppliers and organise financing in one place. This “game-changing” (sounds familiar) solution will combine electronic ordering and invoices, document […]

Waves of Change for Payments

At this week’s Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit, experts looked to mobile and transit for a view of how payments will evolve. Here is a dive into the trends that likely will keep making news in the years to come.

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 […]

PSR pushes for greater payments competition and innovation

The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is calling for even more competition and creativity in the sector over the next 12 months. At the launch of its “Annual Plan and Budget for the year 2017/18”, held at the Barbican Centre in London, it summarised its achievements and set out its ambitions to build on the […]

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 […]

Fintech funding round-up: 28 March 2017

Enjoy a word-lite delight with our brief fintech funding round-up. Features Clarity Money, The Glue and OOjiBO. US-based Clarity Money, a personal finance app, has announced a $11 million Series B funding round led by RRE Ventures and Citi Ventures. This financing comes three months after Clarity Money launched its product and eight months after […]

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?

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 […]

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 […]