Viewpoint: Industry Must Set Record Straight on Payroll Cards (July 2013)
The prepaid industry must seize on the recent media frenzy as an opportunity to inform and educate the public, government officials and other policymakers.
Analysis
Viewpoint: The Coming Clash between Financial Technology and Financial Regulators (July 2013)
Regulators regulate, and when they do act, it can have dramatic impact on a company’s business model.
Viewpoint: What Prepaid Card Issuers Need to Know about Breakage (July 2013)
Tori Blake and Chuck Rouse explain the new rules of breakage connected to the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board’s upcoming Revenue Recognition Standards.
In New York Times, Prepaid Fee Story Misses the Mark (July 2013)
By Patrice Peyret, Banking Up In the July 1 New York Times story “Paid via Card, Workers Feel Sting of Fees,” reporters Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Stephanie Clifford raise an important question but fail to answer it: Are a significant number of employers forcing hourly workers to use expensive payroll cards? The three key conditions here […]
NFC mobile payments: overcoming the barriers for banks
The past few years have seen major changes to the way we make low value payments, from pre-paid wallets such as the Oyster Card through to contactless cards in retail transactions – thanks to Near Field Communication devices.
Reducing threats to availability in the banking sector
The financial services sector’s growing interdependence between internet-accessible clearing and transaction processing infrastructure means that a successful DDoS attack can have far reaching consequences, such as customer dissatisfaction and loss of trust, brand damage, increased operating costs and lost revenue to name just a few.
FATCA, IGAs and AML Technology
After a long wait, the first real FATCA implementation deadlines are just around the corner. To meet the new account identification requirements, by 1 January 2014, institutions should be in the process of implementing the necessary upgrades in their onboarding and overall compliance systems and processes.
Banking on a mobile relationship
The last five years have been tough for the UK banking sector, but optimism is slowly returning, writes Ian Byrne, banking director UK & Ireland at Wincor Nixdorf. Capital reserve ratios are largely being met, the prices of bank stocks are becoming more stable, and there is now even talk of the Government divesting its stake in the banks which it bailed out. Indeed the sector has deserved this boost, but it has got a lot of work to do before it can rekindle the relationship with today’s more technology-adept consumer.
Changing banking for good: aspiration or opportunity?
The possibility of jail for miscreant top bankers has hit the headlines following publication of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards final report, a compendium of all that is considered wrong with both banks and the regulator …
Safeguarding the banks: the challenging role of the security manager
Responsible for protecting people and assets across single or multiple countries in a range of different environments, the role of security manager in the finance industry is not for the faint hearted.
Blog: Mobile Payments Test Drive: Square Wallet, Starbucks App and Lemon (June 2013)
Mobile wallets get a considerable amount of media attention, but will any of them really drive users to leave the plastic card era behind? I recently did a comparison test of Square Wallet, Lemon and Starbucks’ own mobile app. While all the payment types I used worked surprisingly well, none of them was an experience that elevated shopping into the futuristic world these apps conjure up among payments enthusiasts.
Embrace the internet to determine the future of banking
The impact of the internet on the banking industry may yet turn out to be far more important than the financial crisis and the subsequent regulatory overhaul. Viewing statements on-line and making payments electronically is just the very beginning of the revolution.
ISO 20022 – A Hero for Our Times
ISO 20022 has been hailed as the lingua franca in payments and securities for some years now. It offers great potential for re-engineering the payments industry, and for process improvement, but for a standard that promises so much it is still relatively unknown.
Industry Views: Card Manufacturers Talk EMV (June 2013)
Although the network EMV liability shift is about two years out, card manufacturers already are consulting with their U.S. issuing clients to help them make decisions now about how they will approach the transition to EMV. First and foremost is the decision on when to begin, then which cards in their portfolio should have priority. […]
Next level: the changing securities markets
The securities markets are changing rapidly in the face of regulation and technology shifts, and none more so than the fixed income markets.
Blog: Physical and Digital Products In-Store Pack a One-Two Punch
By Thomas Cornelius, SVP, InComm Today’s consumers are constantly on the go—they’re busier, they multitask more and they have less time to get everything done. As a result, their shopping habits have changed. In fact, according to Forrester, more than 50 percent of in-store retail sales (approximately $1.2 trillion) are now Web-influenced. To meet the […]
The financial services production line: improving the customer journey
Customers expect their interactions to be as short, and as easy as possible, with a satisfactory outcome. This ideal customer experience can be achieved through a combination of the right strategy, the right resources, the right workforce skills and supporting tools and technology . But so many firms still fail to get it right
Lacking a legacy
Much has been said about the ‘bank 3.0’ landscape. We all now know that the Generation Y consumer, or the ‘digital native’ customer, demands a new type of banking. From online, anytime banking, to mobile payments, the face of banking is changing accordingly
Meeting the Needs of the Social Customer
While a child as young as nine years old can use Facebook and Twitter (despite rules saying users should be over 13), multi-million dollar financial service companies often fall behind in their adoption of social media.
Blog: With iOS 7 and AirDrop, Apple Moves to Kill NFC, Dominate Mobile Commerce
If you believe that Apple will support near field communications (NFC) on its next iPhone, it’s time to give up on that hope.
London financial jobs scene showing upward trend
The number of new financial services jobs available in London during May was 20% over the previous month and recruitment specialists say that the trend is upwards, but the number of new jobs in May was 59% down compared to the same period last year.
Making cross-border payments work
As the value of global cross-border payments such as workers’ remittances increases, billions of dollars are being lost to inefficient legacy systems – but that could be about to change, according to Hank Uberoi, executive director at Earthport.
Joining the dots: Thomas Zeeb, chief executive, Six Securities Services
The post-trade infrastructures behind the world’s securities markets face as much, if not more, regulatory driven change as the trading firms in the face of legislation such as the European Union’s European Market Infrastructure Regulation. While some of the effects will be negative, the regulators are showing a constructive approach and recognising that the infrastructure providers came out of the crisis well, says Thomas Zeeb, chief executive of Six Securities Services.
Temenos: moving beyond the core
The extent to which a targeted series of acquisitions over the past few years have moved Temenos from being simply a core banking system vendor to a fully-fledged financial technology specialist became clear at its recent annual user event, this year held in Abu Dhabi.
The gathering storm
Recent months have seen rising tensions over the seemingly insurmountable demands for collateral prompted by tough new financial regulation. With US Treasury estimates ranging as high as to $11.2 trillion in stressed market conditions, some observers are deeply concerned that the industry could be in danger of sliding into a black hole
Taking ethical banking global
In early 2009, soon after the global subprime fallout, the official Vatican newsletter published a rather contextual referral for Islamic banking, observing that the ‘ethical principles on which Islamic finance is based may bring banks closer to their clients and to the true spirit which should mark every financial service‘, writes Riaz Akhtar, senior consultant, […]
Notch one up for the War on Cash
The latest figures from UK retailers show a significant move to debit cards and new mechanisms like PayPal as consumers shy away from cash and credit cards.
Banking on the user-centric experience? Begin with robust data and analytics
The UK retail banking sector is characterised by a continuing lack of competition and resultant limited customer churn between financial services providers. This has made it difficult even for new market entrants to gain market share from long-standing, less popular competitors, due to the inconvenience and complexity involved in switching banks.
Cinnober seeks students for trainee programme at new Swedish fintech centre
Trading and risk technology specialist Cinnober is investing in a financial IT cluster in northern Sweden, centred on the university town of Umeå and initiating a a one-year trainee programme stating in the autumn.
Celent study says banks should put outsourced payment infrastructures into the cloud
Banks need to cross a psychological barrier and embrace the concept of outsourcing their payments operations if they are to compete on product innovation and customer service rather than simply on cost.
Money via email: will Google bring the breakthrough?
The idea of sending money via email is not entirely new. This month, however, a new financial player entered this arena: Google announced that it will integrate Google Wallet into Gmail.
Blog: User Experience Flaws Bog Down Top Retail Apps (May 2013)
By Joseph DeSetto, Emerging Payments Blogger In every technology shift, users are confronted with interfaces that were designed for the previous generation. For example, early PCs rendered graphics of Rolodexes, clocks and other analog desk accoutrements. In this tradition, users of today’s smartphones often are presented with a shopping experience that was designed for the […]
Blog: Mobile Payments: A Solution Looking for a Problem? (May 2013)
By Ginger Schmeltzer, Fiserv For years we’ve been debating why mobile payments haven’t taken off faster. Debaters point out issues with the number of players in the value chain, business model challenges, competing technologies, lack of a compelling value proposition, security concerns and more. All of these points are valid: Business models are all over […]
Remittances: a window to the future?
The $400 billion global remittances market is moving from cash to account-based transfer, but costs, regulations and new competitors are still the key issues.
Tearing up the financial services value chain
Traditional finance is not as we once knew it. The internet has completely disrupted the financial services value chain. The banks are struggling to keep up with advancing technology. Understanding mobile, cloud computing, social media, big data and how to utilise each capability are key challenges for the banks to overcome.
Identity and mobile figure large at payments and cards event
The themes of security, identity and mobility ran strongly through the Cards and Payments Middle East conference in Dubai this week – and not just because the event itself is sandwiched between related and interlinked events focusing on Mobile and Identity.
Digital progression in retail banking: Europe’s banks are not fully prepared
Across Europe many banks feel unprepared for the next phase of the ‘digital revolution’, while factors such as expensive compliance regulations, poor data management and outdated systems are constraining them from implementing new solutions
Blog: NFC: Your Move, Apple (June 2012)(2)
By Joseph DeSetto, Full Sail University Near field communication, or NFC, is a technology that, on the surface, has tremendous potential. The Japanese vending machine experience of paying for your favorite flavor of sugar water without taking coins from your wallet has been an image of the future for several years now. But for […]
Blog: Well-Designed Mobile Payments Key to App Success (October 2012)
By Joe DeSetto, Emerging Payments Blogger Great design is often highly subjective and can be maddening for executive decision makers. Steve Jobs’ well-known response to his engineers trying to find a solution he would accept was: “I’ll know it when I see it.” Design, and the delightful products and experiences that result, is an art […]
Blog: Blackhawk IPO and the Value of Prepaid Distribution
By John Grund, First Annapolis Consulting Safeway’s decision to IPO a minority stake of Blackhawk Network is yet another milestone in the evolution of the prepaid industry, given Blackhawk’s unique distribution role in the broader value chain. Green Dot and NetSpend serve as bell weathers for the market value of program managers in the prepaid […]
