News


Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 13 November 2017

Following Friday’s (10 November) feisty blockchain and Bitcoin action, here’s another round-up. Features CryptoCoinBits, European Commission, R3 and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. With increasing fears about Bitcoin ICOs and bubbles bursting, it was inevitable someone would see a gap in the market. Enter CryptoCoinBits, which has unleashed a Bitcoin trading platform and asks: “So how can […]

Crime moves upmarket as fraud becomes UK’s number 1 offence

New research from Experian claims fraud is now the UK’s most common criminal offence, much to the dismay of thugs and hoodlums everywhere, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). The company’s Annual Fraud Indicator 2017 estimates the annual cost of fraud in the UK is £190 billion, exceeding the total gross domestic product of 148 […]

Mastercard, Bank Asia and a2i team for financial inclusion in Bangladesh

Access to Information (a2i, an innovation lab supported by the Bangladeshi government), Bank Asia and Mastercard have signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate financial inclusion in Bangladesh by making digital payment services accessible countrywide through the Union Digital Centres (UDCs).

Talend acquires API design and test specialist Restlet

Talend, which specialises in big data and cloud integration, is acquiring the outstanding shares of Restlet SAS, a France-based company that specialises in API design and testing, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). Although no financial details were released, all 16 members of the Restlet staff along with the company’s founder will join […]

Fintech funding round-up: 10 November 2017

Just when you thought there couldn’t be more following yesterday’s (9 November), Wednesday’s (8 November) and Tuesday’s (7 November) fintech funding round-ups, here’s more news action. Featuring Crux, Accern and Blume Ventures.

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 9 November 2017

Whether it’s AI to bridge cryptocurrencies or someone accidentally losing it, something is always going on, whether right or wrong in the world of blockchain and Bitcoin. Our latest round-up features Parity, AiX, R3 and SIA.

Payments round-up: 9 November 2017

We got a trilogy folks. Following the payments round-ups on 8 November and 7 November, here’s more paytech action. Features PayPal, NCR, Samsung, Scotiabank, Mastercard and Eftpos. It’s been offering cross-border payments in India for a decade, but PayPal has now launched domestic operations in the country as it looks to take on Paytm and […]

Microsoft looks to secure clouds with Project Cerberus

Microsoft is looking to make cloud infrastructure safer at the hardware level with a new offering called “Project Cerberus,” which is the company’s latest contribution to the Open Compute Project (OCP), reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). Company engineers unveiled Cerberus at Zettastructure, the European digital infrastructure conference, which is taking place this […]

Mobey Day Barcelona: disruption, money and forward thinking

This year’s Mobey Day continues with the consistent collaboration between banks, start-ups and fintechs. Focusing on the development of technology during a time of disruption, the biggest players drew attention to leading in future challenges and trends.

UK start-up secures inevitable Hollywood movie sequel

With unerring predictability, the Hollywood movie machine has churned out a sequel for the energetic and eventful life story of a UK-based payments start-up. As reported in May, the rise of Charon Ferries, the creation of the husband and wife team of Michelle and Mark Morrison (who have defied all known laws of the universe […]

Fintech funding round-up: 9 November 2017

Briskly following yesterday’s (8 November) and Tuesday’s (7 November) fintech funding round-ups, here’s more brief news action. Features WeLab, FinMkt and FriendlyScore. Hong Kong’s lending platform WeLab has raised $220 million of combined Series B+ equity and debt financing – and has won the backing of the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, International Finance Corporation (IFC) […]

Payments round-up: 8 November 2017

Just yesterday (7 November) was a payments round-up, but here’s more action from the lively paytech place. Features Apple, Coinsilium Group, UMT United Mobility Technology, Visa and even the Olympic Winter Games. Apple, which is rarely out of the news, has set up Apple Pay Cash for person-to-person (P2P) payments in Messages. This feature is […]

Fintech funding round-up: 8 November 2017

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s (7 November) fintech funding round-up, here’s more money action. Features WeSwap, OakNorth Bank and OTCX. Peer-to-peer currency exchange platform WeSwap has revealed its £8 million series B investment round led by London-based private equity firm IW Capital. As WeSwap nears the end of 2017, it says further product features include […]

Payments round-up: 8 November 2017

A distinctly European feel in the latest payments round-up by Banking Technology (Paybefore’s sister publication). Stars Facebook Messenger, the UK’s Payment Systems Regulator, Concardis and AliPay.

Fintech funding round-up: 7 November 2017

Not cash-strapped just backed. Our latest fintech funding round-up features Douugh, Choice Financial, Monzo and Smartkarma. All rise please. Banking (not baking) challenger Douugh has partnered with community bank Choice Financial to launch an integrated checking account and debit card. Choice has also made an investment to “support Douugh’s roadmap”, bringing the company’s total seed funding […]

Sunlight Payments to “revolutionise” distribution for global philanthropic sector

Sunlight Payments, a US-based paytech start-up, says it has “successfully tested a new platform to enhance controls and accountability for philanthropic funding and grants”. The test was carried out with Pathfinder International, a women’s reproductive health non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works in 19 countries.

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.

IBM’s Watson Data Platform focuses on AI

The IBM Watson Data Platform already provides data scientists with the ability to crunch numbers and share large data sets across different public and private clouds. Now the company has its sights set on artificial intelligence (AI), reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). Big Blue has announcing expanded capabilities and tools for the […]

Fintech funding round-up: 2 November 2017

The money rolls for all you fintech souls. Our latest funding round-up features TransferWise, Lendified and Glint. Let’s begin with a big one. TransferWise has got $280 million in a Series E round led by asset management company Old Mutual Global Investors and Silicon Valley VC firm IVP. A source speaking to TechCrunch and “close to […]

IBM Cloud Private extends Big Blue’s hybrid reach

IBM is looking to use its clout in the private cloud market to make it easier for more customers to create hybrid and multi-cloud cloud deployments with a new software platform called Cloud Private.

For Amazon and Microsoft, the cloud keeps giving

Someday, the consistent growth in sales for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure will have to stop, writes Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). “Someday” isn’t today.