This year got off to a fast start with a flurry of M&A activity. By the end of the first quarter, the ink was dry on major deals involving some of the biggest names in payments, including Green Dot, Chase and Mastercard. And in what could end up as the biggest buy of them all, Euronet swooped in on Ant Financial with a higher bid for money transfer giant MoneyGram.
As mobile payments continue to move into the mainstream globally, new services are rolling out on a steady basis to fill the growing demand for general and more specific use cases. Meanwhile, there’s been a recent surge of activity around “mobile” in a slightly different sense, as providers test drive car-based payments services.
See what’s hot on Paybefore.com this month, including the CFPB’s proposal to delay implementation of its final rule on prepaid; First Data and FLEETCOR joining forces; and more.
A look at the most popular Viewpoints in Pay Op-Ed so far in 2017 shows two clear trends of thought: What will happen to the CFPB and payments under the Trump administration, and how can prepaid providers reach more consumers and increase profitability?
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
It’s not easy running a successful business in the payments industry and sometimes you need a little help on your side. That’s where analysts and consultants come in—to provide perspective, trends and guidance on myriad issues you face every day. Whether you’ve worked with these consultants directly or found their insights in Paybefore articles useful, vote for the experts who have helped you and your company chart your path to profitability.
Finantix, a specialist provider of sales and advisory software to financial institutions, is implementing its digital suite at Rothschild Bank.
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 […]
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 […]
Mastercard is beefing up its transaction security and authentication capabilities in the age of connected devices, entering an agreement to acquire NuData Security, a Pay Award-winning provider of anti-fraud technology that uses session and biometric indicators to verify online transactions.
Wells Fargo will pay $110 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by U.S. consumers over a scandal about fake accounts its employees set up for customers without their knowledge. But the trouble continues for the financial institution, which has received a dim evaluation from a federal regulator.
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 […]
Oracle is exploring the feasibility of buying consultancy giant Accenture, and has hired specialists to that effect, it is understood.
A legal battle between merchants and payment networks over interchange fees that has been raging for more than a decade will continue now that the Supreme Court has declined to restore a $5.7 billion settlement agreement that was tossed out by a lower court.
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 […]
Blackhawk Network has given its incentives business a new identity, renaming it Hawk Incentives, which includes products and services formerly part of Blackhawk Engagement Solutions and the prepaid and payments company’s B2B digital incentive teams, according to a March 28 announcement.
A federal judge has dismissed an unfair practices lawsuit filed by the CFPB against a North Dakota-based payment processor. The federal agency had accused Intercept Corp. of permitting unauthorized and other illegal withdrawals from consumer accounts by its clients.
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 […]
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 […]
CFPB has taken action against Experian over allegations that the company made false claims about the uses of credit scores it sold to consumers.
In last week’s Paybefore Spotlight Webinar, attendees representing markets from across the globe said the No. 1 challenge to growing their prepaid businesses is differentiation. Find out what experts from Celent’s banking practice and global processor i2c had to say about creating dynamic prepaid products to compete in the changing payments landscape.
Hoping to bring “digital cash to everyone,” Samsung has introduced a chip platform that can enable contactless payments in watches, wristbands, key fobs and perhaps even clothing.
It’s good to do good but it’s even better to do good and make a profit was my takeaway from a lively discussion around financial inclusion at the recent Citi Digital Money Symposium held in London.
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 […]
A greenfield bank in Iraq, International Islamic Bank (IIB), has signed for the ICS Banks core banking system from ICS Financial Systems (ICSFS).
Raiffeisen Bank Romania, a subsidiary of Austria’s Raiffeisen Group, is modernising its channels delivery with Backbase.
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 […]
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 […]
At yesterday’s Citi Digital Money Symposium, the question of a strategic response to fintech and the broader innovation challenge was posed to speakers from a number of large incumbent firms in the financial services sector.
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Fintech funding news comes thick and fast, so here are four stories in one to save you time. Featuring Revolut, Jirnexu, Airpay and Quantexa. UK-based payments start-up Revolut has launched its 2017 funding round. The latest bout takes place almost a year after it raised £1 million with 10,000 investors registering, pledging in excess of […]
Criminals have deepened their focus on U.S. online transactions since the country’s October 2015 EMV liability shift, with card-not-present fraud expected to hit $6.4 billion in 2018, according to a new report from the U.S. Payments Forum. The expected total would represent a 23 percent increase from fraud losses in 2017, and a 68 percent increase from 2016.
While the Indian government works toward a digital economy, the Reserve Bank of India is soliciting feedback through March 31 on guidelines for prepaid payment instruments that could adversely affect issuers of prepaid products, including mobile wallets.
EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys, has launched Finacle FinTech Connect and the chance for firms to integrate their solutions into Finacle’s banking suite. Companies are invited to register for a partnership evaluation process and stand a chance to present at its event Infosys Confluence 2017 in May in San Francisco; along with joint […]
UK-based innovation foundation Nesta has launched its “Open Up Challenge” as it looks for services, apps and tools for SMEs. The competition is now open for entries. A £5 million prize fund is on offer and it is looking for 20 entries from anywhere in the world that will use open banking APIs – “newly […]
SAP Ariba has unveiled its plans to use blockchain across its cloud-based applications and business network for trading goods and services. Among the first applications that SAP Ariba sees potential in involves the tracking and tracing of goods. SAP Ariba will join forces with Everledger, a London-based fintech firm. The latter captures the defining characteristics […]
American Express has added two new executives to its global commercial payments division.
