A new twist on an ancient game
Lotto games have been around since before 205 BC in China, and used to finance major infrastructure projects.
Industry Comment
How the internet has democratised finance
Thanks to the internet and tech anyone anywhere can take part in financial trading.
The open future is here: now comes the hard part
The arrival of open banking will (eventually) prompt entirely new services.
How are traditional market players responding to cryptocurrencies?
2017 will probably be noted for two things – Donald Trump took office and the world took notice of cryptocurrencies.
How can insurtech ramp up your firm’s digital renaissance?
Explore the crucial elements of an effective digital strategy.
Three steps to improving customer engagement with AI
What does 2018 have in store for AI, and how can companies get the most out of it?
Blockchain – not for payments?
Blockchain still has the subject of heated discussion and massive investments of time and money.
We were kings when fees went to zero
Spirios Margaris discusses the troubling future of zero fee financial services.
Top six trends in payments
What trends will be impacting the payments industry this year?
Close to you – how white-label partnerships will continue to evolve
They have deepened and broadened, now covering more services than have been traditionally associated with the term.
Four regtech trends of 2017
Cast your mind back to 2017. Did the trends predicted shake the industry as much as we thought?
Is the insurance industry ready for autonomous cars?
Driverless cars; opportunity for the insurance sector or a challenge that could lead to its downfall?
AI is on!
Implementation of first uses cases around real-time contextual added-value banking notifications and offers to make their appearance in 2018.
Don’t fear the rise of the robots
With wildly conflicting views from experts on the topic, and given that most of us had our first interaction with artificial intelligence whilst watching The Terminator, it isn’t hugely surprising that there is a fear of the rise of the robots.
A look back at 2017 and ringing in a new year for the payments industry
2017 has been another eventful year for the payments industry. From celebrities like 50 Cent getting involved (more on this later) to businesses neglecting the needs of pretty much every generation bar millennials, there hasn’t been a dull moment.
Virtual branching: how disruptive innovations are changing financial services
The ability to blend artificial intelligence (AI) and human interaction should resonate strongly with financial service organisations due to their need to be highly targeted and responsive. When you provide the right service to a consumer at the right time, you can affect their behaviour and give them the push needed to complete the purchase.
Are contact centre agents the new face of consumer banking?
The desertification of local banking is shifting the burden of live consumer interaction to contact centres. The question is: are your agents ready to become customer-facing bankers?
Son of a nutcracker: credit union leadership lessons from Buddy the Elf
Walk with me through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly gum drops.
Online security and user experience: finding the balance
Recent hacks and data breaches have shown that cybercriminals are tenacious, smart and well resourced.
Bitcoin is useless
The recent surge in its price is good news for investors, but perhaps a death sentence for its functional value.
Fintech trends 2017: blockchain, big data… what’s next?
2017 ends with the Bitcoin having surpassed the $19,000 mark. Could this perhaps be a taste of our future?
Using artificial intelligence to keep criminal funds out of the financial system
Are you suspicious? This is a key question at the heart of efforts to tackle money laundering: if you work for a bank or other financial institution and have suspicions money laundering is happening, you have a legal duty to speak up.
Rise of the machines will be monitored
The Financial Stability Board has stated in its first report on AI that the risks they pose need monitoring.
The missing link: the supply side of cryptocurrency
Supply and demand are the bedrock of market-based economics. To achieve economic equilibrium, supply and demand must be in balance. If one is too high or too low, the system is in a state of disequilibrium, associated with inefficient allocation of goods – not a healthy state.
Convenience versus control: getting the balance right
Nick Kerigan, MD of Future Payments at Barclaycard, looks at how innovation is helping the payment industry to balance offering seamless payments with keeping people in control of their money.
Cybersecurity needs to be a global and coordinated effort
Recent cyberattacks, such as the October 2017 Swift attack, show how vulnerable financial firms across the globe are to the machinations of hackers.
Using the web to access online banking? Who is protecting the browser side?
To date, there hasn’t been a way to understand if online users are being compromised or to be sure precisely what they are seeing whilst visiting and interacting with a web page. We know that endpoint security and anti-viruses fail and online users can be infected even with all the precautions that they may take. Server-side security is now very mature and excellent progress has been made in that particular field.
Bankers and retailers – will we see roles switch? Or simply morph into a single discipline?
Technology is having a tremendous impact on the way communities shop so changes are more or less expected as we see these shopping mall operators push back on so many dire predictions being made about them. But can they change and yes, could these changes lead to a greater overlap with banking as it exists today? Do we even need differentiation between the two and yes, will they both be able to keep us satisfied when it comes to access to our cash?
Wealthtech: a market poised for extended growth
Rapid changes are occurring in the wealth management space and the level of disruption in how advice and capital are managed is only beginning. Wealth management is a monumental industry. The players in the space run the gamut from gigantic hedge funds to individuals who manage their own investments. This changing wealth management landscape is driving a significant uptick in transactions.
Infographics: CPPO study reveals Canadian prepaid market grew 17%
The Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization (CPPO) released its second annual benchmark study, “Canadian Open-Loop Prepaid Market: 2016”, that shows 17% growth of the open-loop prepaid card market in Canada between 2015 and 2016.
What defines global customer success?
Payments are changing rapidly, and the industry is struggling to keep pace. Many banks and other card issuers — including the service providers they rely on — lack the agility to stay competitive and quickly deliver the new products, features, and payments experiences today’s customers want.
Q&A with Colleen Dorwart, RGCA board chair
As we reflect on 2017 and look ahead to 2018, we spoke with Colleen Dorwart, Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA) board chair, about the most popular gifts in America.
Faure to fintech – what music can teach us about communicating the benefits of tech
On the surface Handel or Shostakovich seem a world away from the world of finance. Yet, strange as it may seem, the similarities are there. This is because both the mechanics behind music and the technology underpinning the digital transformation are – unless you’ve had first-hand experience of either – pretty abstract concepts to understand.
Q&A with Joe Daly, Paysafe
Joe Daly, COO payments processing North America, Paysafe, talks to us about all things paytech.
Slow growth, new regulation and digitisation – driving innovation in the banking sector
Since the global financial crisis the banking industry has witnessed three mega-trends: slow growth, digitisation and new regulation. None of these trends look likely to abate any time soon and in fact, it appears that all of them are set to intensify in the short to medium term.
Why mobile wallet acceptance is key to retail growth
A young woman has made plans to join a friend for dinner at a restaurant across town, and with a few clicks on a mobile device she sets her night in motion. Her go-to ride-sharing service has sent a car, she’s ordered a cappuccino from her favorite coffee shop – this one is free because she’s a loyalty member – and her social app pings her friend to let him know her ETA.
It’s time to pull the brake on Bitcoin
With ten years in fintech under my belt, I have seen the creation of the word itself. I have also seen the rise of various hypes, adoption of buzzwords, sky-high funding rounds, epic failures and a surprising knowledge gap in what is the world’s biggest industry.
Biometrics: a question of standards and yet more questions
Watching the recent of smartphone launches, I am taken aback by just how much smartphone manufacturers have led to the normalisation and acceptance of biometrics by consumers.
Crime thriller: Trading Down, by Stephen Norman – part 3
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been sharing some extracts from a new crime thriller, Trading Down, by Stephen Norman, long serving CIO/CTO of RBS Global Markets. Here, in the third and final extract, we return to the action at the Hamilton Datacentre crisis.
Top trends in cybersecurity
Cyber risks have evolved significantly over the last couple of years across industry sectors. The financial services industry, in particular, has become the target of choice with malicious actors exploring every avenue they can in order to identify areas of vulnerability.
