Company on the Move: eShopWorld, Adding 250 New Staff
Dublin-based e-commerce services provider eShopWorld will create up to 250 new positions over the next three years as part of the company’s $30 million growth plan.
News
People on the Move: Heather McCalman, FS-ISAC
The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) has hired Heather McCalman as credit union council manager.
People on the Move: Simon Banks, Hyperwallet
Global payments provider Hyperwallet has hired Simon Banks to lead its e-commerce and gig economy businesses in the Asia-Pacific region as managing director and senior vice president of Asia-Pacific, based in Sydney.
People on the Move: Rama Sridhar, Mastercard
Mastercard has appointment Rama Sridhar to the newly created position of executive vice president, digital and emerging partnerships, Asia-Pacific.
People on the Move: Brian Dreger, National Gift Card Corp
Brian Dreger has joined B2B incentive and loyalty gifting provider National Gift Card Corp. (NGC) as chief information officer.
People on the Move: Jorden van Cann, PaymentsCompliance
PaymentsCompliance, a London-based provider of legal, regulatory compliance and business intelligence to the payments industry, has appointed Jorden van Cann as commercial director.
Company on the Move: TSYS, Most Ethical Company Award
TSYS has been recognized as a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute, a global organization dedicated to advancing the standards of ethical business practices.
Earthport revenue and payment volume power up
Earthport, a cross-border payments service provider, has reported a massive rise in its number of transactions and payment volume for the six-month period ended 31 December 2016. The number of transactions reached five million, a growth of about 85% over the prior year period. Payment volume increased by 97% to $7.80 billion and revenue per […]
Tug of love turns to group hug for banks and fintechs
With the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and open architecture framework set to come into force next year, regulation may well tip the scales between banks and fintechs for customer loyalty, according to a new report conducted for Temenos by the Economist Intelligence Unit. In the 36-page study, “Symbiosis: Your bank has your trust. […]
Will the CFPB’s Proposed Six-Month Effective Date Extension Be Enough?
In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the CFPB proposed pushing back the effective date of the final prepaid accounts rule to April 1, 2018. The six-month delay provides industry participants more time to handle the difficulties of complying with certain provisions of the rule and for the CFPB to assess whether any additional adjustments to the rule are appropriate. Comments are due by April 5, 2017.
SEC Says ‘No’ to Winklevoss Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund
The Securities and Exchange Commission denied the application of Internet entrepreneurs and venture capitalists Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to create an exchange-traded fund for the virtual currency bitcoin.
DOJ Weighs in on CFPB Leadership Case, Calls for Changes to Dodd-Frank
The Department of Justice files an amicus brief filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that the president should have the authority to fire the head of the CFPB, but stopped short of calling for the bureau’s leadership format to be changed.
CFPB Stares down another D.C. Challenge
House bill 1009 would require the CFPB and other independent federal agencies to submit regulations annually to a White House office for review, in the latest push to reform the CFPB and otherwise reduce regulatory burdens for the financial and payments industry under the Trump administration.
Samsung moves on Siri with Bixby AI
Watch out Siri and Alexa, Samsung has unveiled its own artificial intelligence (AI) solution called Bixby. This will be a new interface on Samsung’s devices – with the imminent Galaxy S8 getting it first – and when an application becomes Bixby-enabled, it will be able to support “almost every task” that the application is capable […]
Walmart Pushes Omnichannel Shopping with New Tech Incubator
Walmart recently announced another step toward further developing its e-commerce business with the creation of a technology incubator called Store No. 8 to create new retail online businesses as well as help the retail giant better compete against Amazon.com.
Illinois Regulator Joins Global Virtual Currency Consortium
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has become the first U.S. regulatory agency to join the R3 Consortium, a global partnership of banks and other parties working to develop distributed ledger-based applications for financial services. The agency oversees the regulation and licensing of banks and financial institutions, among other businesses, in the state.
Faster Loans for Consumers with Little Credit History? Experian and Finicity Think So.
New underwriting technology developed by Experian and financial data aggregator Finicity could speed up borrowing and enable millennials and other consumers with thin or no credit files to receive money. The product emerges amid a federal call for more work on helping those potential borrowers build credit scores.
Survey: how regtech savvy are you?
Banking Technology and BearingPoint are conducting a brief survey to find out the industry view on regtech and its implications for all parties involved.
ZrCoin crowdfunds first ever commodities option on blockchain
A new initiative will hold an initial coin offering (ICO) for the production of an industrial material using green technologies – creating the “first” commodity-backed cryptographic token in the process. Called ZrCoin, this will be a derivative – and with the option to buy an equivalent amount of synthetic Zirconium Dioxide (ZrO2). The latter may […]
Be Guess’s young, sexy, and adventurous guest
Are you young, sexy, and adventurous? No, me neither. It’s OK. Grab a hot chocolate, put your slippers and glasses on… and read on. Guess Watches has released watches (well, yeah) powered by Android Wear, Google’s smartwatch platform, to their Guess Connect wearable tech timepiece category, available late 2017. The global fashion powerhouse says, with […]
IBM Cloud launches enterprise-ready blockchain for Hyperledger Fabric
IBM has unveiled its new release of IBM Blockchain, the “first” enterprise-ready blockchain service based on the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric version 1.0. The service enables developers to build and host production blockchain networks on the IBM Cloud, and is underpinned by the IBM server LinuxONE. This development follows on from late last year when […]
MoneyGram Board Says Company Can Further Consider Euronet Proposal
Money transfer giant MoneyGram can give further consideration to Euronet’s surprise bid to acquire the company from under the nose of Ant Financial, which in January entered a definitive agreement to buy MoneyGram.
Wells Fargo Faces New Pressure from Top Democrat over Fake Accounts
The top Democrat on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee wants to interview executives from Wells Fargo over a scandal about fake accounts its employees set up for customers. Last year, the CFPB announced a $100 million fine against Wells Fargo for what the agency called “widespread unlawful sales practices.” The agency said the fine was the largest such penalty it has ever issued.
The Monday mindset: 20 March 2017
Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, Banking Technology deputy editor Antony Peyton doesn’t offer up one view, but the views of many. While Twitter in general may often […]
IBM Cloud launches new developer tools for financial services
IBM has unveiled its IBM Cloud for Financial Services for creating finserv apps. Users will get access to APIs, data and content to build and monetise cognitive-enabled apps for fintech firms, banks, wealth management firms and insurance companies. Initially available in beta, developers will also have the ability to build in customer insights, regulatory compliance […]
IBM Cloud comes to China
Wanda Internet Technology and IBM have signed an agreement for the former to enter the public cloud business in China. This will be done via a new firm – Wanda Cloud Company – built on the IBM Cloud Platform.
Oracle earnings look promising, but why the IaaS obsession?
Oracle has had another positive quarter as it navigates the complicated waters of business transformation, but it’s still a long way from kicking Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).
Top fintech stories this week – 17 March 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Inter-American Development Bank launches Finconecta ecosystem
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Florida-based fintech firm Above & Beyond (A&B) have unveiled “Finconecta”, a ten-month programme which integrates fintechs and financial institutions (FI) in an interconnected ecosystem. The technology platform behind it is called “Forward”, which was built by A&B, and is described as an app store-styled marketplace that allows firms to expose […]
Under Renewed Fire, the OCC Moves Forward with its Fintech Charter Plan
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is moving forward with its plan to enable fintech companies to become special purpose national banks (SPNBs), releasing a licensing manual draft supplement which provides guidance on how the OCC “will apply the licensing standards and requirements in its existing regulations and policies to fintech companies applying for [SPNB] charters“ and another document that summarizes public comments about the plan to allow SPNBs for fintech companies. The special purpose charter has no shortage of critics, but perhaps the most vocal—New York State—has turned up the dial on its opposition.
Flywire Crosses into New B2B Payment Verticals
Cross-border payments specialist Flywire is expanding beyond tuition and health care payments to offer B2B payments in several new segments, including travel, luxury goods, publishing, import/export, business/professional services and technology. Flywire already has several deployments of its new services underway, the company tells Paybefore.
India to Open Payment Interface, Ease Transactions between M-Wallets
As India’s war on cash wages on, mobile wallets continue to reap the rewards. Although some experts suggested the advent of the Reserve Bank of India’s Unified Payment Interface platform could make mobile wallets obsolete, a new plan for interoperability could be a boon for Paytm, MobiKwik, Freecharge and other mobile wallet providers.
Consumers Are Open to Payment Innovation, But First Improve Existing Tools
Retail transactions promise to become more vocal and mobile in 2017, according to a new U.K. survey report. Even so, the mainstreaming of chat bots and other new tools appears a while off, given the relatively low level of awareness enjoyed by those innovative technologies.
BBVA launches fintech challenge for start-ups
BBVA has launched the ninth edition of its “Open Talent” fintech competition – and is looking for start-ups from across the globe. The Spanish bank says this year its programme has grown from one competition to five. It will be hosting three focused world-wide competitions, more than a dozen country-specific opportunities, two specialist challenges for […]
The Bancorp Hires Neurohr to Lead Compliance
With federal and state payments regulation in near-constant flux, compliance strategy continues to be of utmost importance, especially for issuers. Amid this landscape, The Bancorp has named Bill Neurohr to head its compliance operations and serve as the point man for the company’s interactions with regulators.
Fill ’Er Up: Samsung Pay Is Now Good at ExxonMobil Stations
Samsung Pay took another stride this week, with ExxonMobil announcing that its customers can now use the mobile wallet at the pump to pay for gas. This expansion comes only months after Samsung launched a points-based rewards program for Samsung Pay.
Looks like cyber criminals are pretty smart after all
New research from Gartner has shown enterprise organisations are beginning to accept that they are not as smart as cyber criminals, and investments over the course of 2017 will reflect this.
Cachet Prices Public Offering, Looks toward a $9.3 Million Payday
Cachet Financial Solutions expects to raise nearly $9.3 million in its public offering this week, according to an SEC filing. The Minneapolis-based financial technology provider and Pay Award winner, which priced its offering at $4.50 per share, plans to use the proceeds for working capital, to pay down debt and other, unspecified purposes.
Investment Roundup: Fintech Financing Heats Up
With funds flowing from some of the biggest names in payments, including PayPal and Ant Financial, March got off to a hot start for worldwide e-commerce and fintech investment. Providers around the globe have landed hefty financing rounds from some venture capital, payments and financial services heavyweights during the first half of the month.
Fintech funding round-up: 14 March 2017
Life needs less noise. So here words are destroyed. A round-up of key events in fintech funding. Featuring Autobooks, University of British Columbia, Scotiabank and more. Michigan-based start-up Autobooks has raised $5.5 million in funding. This follows an earlier $2 million seed funding round. Draper Triangle Ventures led the latest round and was joined by […]
