A coalition of bitcoin entrepreneurs and advocates are backing a petition that would exclude companies supporting the bitcoin infrastructure, as well as smaller startups, from the scope of New York’s BitLicense proposed regulations.
After several weeks of speculation, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) was indicted yesterday on federal corruption charges over allegations he accepted bribes from a donor in exchange for political favors.
Immediate payments have been available for some time now. The UK led the way with the launch of the Faster Payments Service in 2008 and other countries have followed, including Sweden, Singapore and Mexico. Real-time technology is fundamental to any mobile payments initiative and immediacy is the new norm of the digital age. Other countries can learn from the UK experience to avoid pitfalls and realise the benefits sooner.
There are two major trends in the cross-border payments world: an explosive growth in the number of payments between developed and developing countries, and the fact that governments, regulators and commercial actors increasingly favour payments being executed in local currency and discourage the use of US dollars to settle local.
In the wake of the financial crisis, the industry has been hit hard by an almost continuous stream of conduct related issues and fines; including PPI, Libor, and more recently, Forex fixing. With high levels of media and political exposure, the industry has seen its reputation suffer
Recently appointed president of investment and advisory firm Anthemis Amy Nauiokas talks about her plans to reinvent the world of financial services.
Establishing an omnichannel marketing presence for their gift card programs will help retailers appeal to the buying behaviors and expectations of a demographic with growing purchasing power.
Although it’s great to see so many new players emerge at every SXSW gathering, entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs should keep in mind some basic but key considerations when it comes to launching a new payments product. Come to think of it, this mantra isn’t bad advice for payments veterans either.
An industry group is calling 2015 the “year of the prepaid economy” in the U.K., as consumers there increasingly adopt prepaid cards for everyday spending, online shopping and transit.
Tanzania is taking steps to tighten up electronic payments against fraud, with the government working to establish best practices, regulations and supervision of efficient, effective payment, clearing and settlement systems, according to Finance Minister Saada Mkuya Salum.
As international regulators demand more detail from banks on payments to individuals and companies, the first order of business is to ensure compliance with mandates. Migrating Swift MT payment formats to ISO 20022 will allow the industry to shape the transformation of payment messaging standards rather than have others shape it – but there is a need to set timelines for implementation or cede control.
The CFPB is finalizing its consumer narrative policy and, 90 days after the policy is published in the Federal Register, consumers who have opted in will be able to make their complaints about financial products and services in the bureau’s Consumer Complaint Database public.
The Colorado congressman suggests having too many disclosures is a disservice to consumers.
Social media has taken the world by storm over the past decade. Facebook, which is generally considered to be the “grandfather” of social media, was only founded 11 years ago, YouTube the next year and Twitter two years later
The current international payments market is hugely fragmented, with multiple networks and mechanisms operating independently of each other and it is clear that new market entrants have the opportunity to shape and define the future of this industry
Following the All Payments Expo in Las Vegas, we continue to believe the payments industry is in the process of moving from the center of its own ecosystem to becoming a major component in another ecosystem—the consumer shopping experience.
Last month, the New York Times revealed that a group of hackers infiltrated more than 100 banks and e-payment systems worldwide. The attack is particularly disturbing because the attackers were able to avoid detection, even while ATMs were randomly dispensing cash, for two years.
While it’s important for merchants to comply with PCI standards, a comprehensive data security strategy requires more than PCI compliance. Merchants must move beyond a “moment in time” assessment and make security a daily consideration.
Financial market regulations across the globe are increasingly focusing on risk management. This includes ensuring it is clear who firms are trading with and for, and confirming that firms can identify the instruments being traded. As a result, the field of reference data is increasingly held under the regulatory microscope and that lens extends to the standards used to identify financial instruments, writes Chris Pickles.
The Supreme Court is backing the authority of regulators to reinterpret their own rules without seeking industry input.
The CFPB is considering next steps in weighing new regulations for arbitration agreements widely used in financial services businesses to settle consumer disputes, following today’s release of the 728-page “Arbitration Study: Report to Congress 2015.”
The long road to interchange reform in the European Union has come to an end of sorts with passage of interchange caps today in the European Parliament.
At lunchtime on the African savannah, you needn’t be the fastest zebra to survive –you need to avoid being the slowest. You can only be sure you’re not the slowest zebra if you can see what the rest of the herd are up to. Efforts in software security to share information on attacks, responses, and best practices are important to understanding what the herd is doing …
Ever since the deployment of Apple’s NFC solution – ‘Apple Pay’, and the various competitors launches since, there’s been speculation around what the future holds for consumer payments and how security will impact it
Fixed income markets have historically been a bastion of high-touch trading, with manual processes, large tickets and little standardisation. But as recent years have seen inventory slashed and balance sheets cut in face of rising regulatory pressure, finding liquidity has become more of a challenge. A group of banks are hoping to reinvigorate the market though a standardised messaging system.
Banks know many things about their customers: they have to – for regulatory reasons, to assess risk and to cross-sell products. But there are things that banks don’t know about their customers, and ought to …
To counter cyber-crime, an organisation must have a person providing leadership and oversight in the strategic planning, execution, and assessment of security strategies, policies, procedures and guiding practices. Ensuring compliance with legal obligations in respect of information and information security is also a key responsibility. What many companies need is a chief information security officer
CFPB Director Richard Cordray today addresses the House Financial Services Committee for the bureau’s semi-annual report to Congress.
New York is considering a plan to hold top banking executives personally responsible for the quality and effectiveness of their firms’ AML efforts.
The CFPB’s Antonakes explained his bureau’s supervisory approach and enforcement actions and how they are different from that of the federal banking agencies.
January’s Basel Committee on Banking Supervision report on banks’ progress towards BCBS 239 compliance threw up a telling contradiction. While global systemically important banks “are increasingly aware of the importance” of the BCBS 239 project, their sense of preparedness has decreased. In 2013, 10 of the 31 eligible banks reported they would be unable to comply fully by the 2016 deadline. This year, that number rose to 14. It is understandable that there is more work to be done, but how is it that the G-SIBs are moving backwards?
Arising out of developments in standardised messaging, eBAM is one step towards the future of more accessible, safer banking
Limited availability of key skills is seen as a threat to growth prospects by 70% of chief executives in the financial services sector. A global survey by PwC shows that the disruptive impact of new technology and new competition in the sector has created new challenges for employers looking to hire in the months ahead. Concerns centre on the shortage of employees with the right combination of skills, with more than three quarters of executives looking for a broader range of skills when hiring than they did in the past.
Younger users are setting the stage for a payments future of wearables and mobile. See what the latest consumer research from FIS reveals.
Success in the corporate prepaid card market requires providers to offer more than just cost savings and efficiency improvements. Successful providers must also present a compelling opportunity for corporates to enhance their offering and services.
The U.S. migration to EMV chip technology, developments in mobile and contactless payments in retail and transit, and a focus on layered payments security, were the headlining themes from the annual Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a currency system seeking successful adoption must be in want of trust. Trust that a representation of value, such as a paper note, is backed by real value or a genuine obligation to repay; trust that those representations will be accepted by others as such; and trust that the representations of value are not counterfeit.
In the Oscar-winning film The Theory of Everything the lead character Stephen Hawking lays out his vision of a single equation that explains all physical aspects of the universe. This rarefied scientific debate has echoes in the more prosaic world of Transaction Cost Analysis in financial markets, where the availability of more granular data coupled with pressure from regulators is driving a whole new wave of research and analysis, says ITG’s Michael Sparkes.
Customers are looking for organisations that care about their needs in a way that is personalised, responsible, transparent and – of course – secure. In recognising this, banks are stepping up to the challenge and just as technology is at the heart of this business, so their relationship with IT suppliers is a key component of this value shift.
A company’s Net Promoter Score has become an important measure of customer satisfaction. It asks them a simple question: how likely they are to recommend that company to a friend. The responses split the audience into three groups: promoters, passives and detractors. By subtracting the percentage of detractors from the promoters, banks obtain their NPS. NPS has been a valued metric in many consumer-facing industries for several years, but its importance and influence in financial services is growing fast.
