News


Ex-Barclays CEO back with new firm and digital banking platform

Antony Jenkins, former CEO of Barclays, is back with a new company called 10x Future Technologies and launched a new core digital banking platform. As Banking Technology reported in June, Jenkins, who was sacked by Barclays in summer 2015 for failing to transform the bank quickly enough, set up 10X Future Technologies. At that time, […]

Brave new Bitcoin for Tullett Prebon

Tullett Prebon Information (TPI), a provider of real-time price information from the global OTC financial and commodity markets, has signed a deal with Brave New Coin (BNC) to distribute its digital currency data. TPI says this is the “first time such a comprehensive view of the entire digital currency landscape has been made available to […]

Earthport revenue and payment volume take off

Earthport, a cross-border payments service provider, has revealed its revenues increased 18% to £22.8 million for the full year (FY) 2016 – powered by the rise in payment volume and transaction numbers. For the year ended 30 June 2016, it says payment volume increased to more than $11 billion, a 64% increase prior to the […]

“Outstanding sales” boost Fiserv revenue

Fiserv’s GAAP revenue increased 5% in the third quarter to $1.38 billion, with 8% growth in its payments segment and 2% growth in the financial segment, compared to Q3 2015. The firm also released figures for the first nine months of 2016, with GAAP revenue rising 5% to $4.07 billion, with 8% growth in the […]

Top fintech stories this week – 28 October 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! HSBC Private Bank live with Avaloq Banking Suite EXCLUSIVE. It’s on in Switzerland and Luxembourg. European Association for Biometrics conference Eyes down for our event review. New challenger bank to launch in UK Hampshire Community Bank wants a […]

Report: Consumers’ Use of Mobile Devices in Stores Stops at the Register

U.S. consumers’ usage of mobile devices in-store ranks as one of the highest compared with shoppers in other countries. However, their use of mobile devices at the POS drops dramatically, according to the 2016 FutureBuy report, which tracks trends in online, mobile and brick-and-mortar shopping. The results indicate that payments providers have work to do to convince shoppers m-wallets are worth the effort.

Money20/20: The Future ATM Features Biometrics, Leaner Look

Sleek, small, clean and thumbprint-operated—a new Diebold Nixdorf ATM shown off at this week’s Money20/20 show in Las Vegas points toward the future of cash distribution, and speaks to the spreading potential of biometrics in payments.

Discover Global Network Brings Startups into Global Spotlight at Money 20/20

Last month, Discover Global Network announced its support of two fintech scholarship contests hosted by the Center for Financial Services Innovation, an authority on consumer financial health, and Gefen Capital, an investment group representing U.S. and Israeli investors that focuses on investing in Israeli startups. The contest winners, Lenny, Debitize, and PayKey, received financial awards from CFSI and Gefen Capital, and were given the opportunity to demonstrate their unique solutions in the DGN exhibition booth onsite at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, the largest payments and innovation conference in the world.

People on the Move: Tiffani Montez, Aite Group

Financial services research and advisory firm Aite Group has hired Tiffani Montez as a senior analyst in its retail banking and payments practice, where her research will span card issuance for prepaid, credit and debit cards.

People on the Move: Joel Sherwin, Neopay

London-based compliance consultancy Neopay recently opened a U.S. office in Los Angeles to serve clients on both sides of the pond and named Joel Sherwin president of U.S. operations.

People on the Move: Gerd Schenkel, Tyro Payments

Gerd Schenkel has been appointed CEO of Tyro Payments, an Australian financial institution specializing in acquiring, where he will be tasked with leading the company’s growth and public advocacy activities.

CFPB Snapshot: Prepaid Complaints Drop 21% from Previous Month

It may come as no surprise that the CFPB’s latest monthly complaint snapshot released Oct. 25 focuses on complaints related to prepaid products, considering the agency released its long-awaited final prepaid accounts rule earlier this month. But despite the bureau’s contention that “the report shows that consumers continue to experience issues trying to manage their accounts and access funds,” prepaid-related complaints to the bureau dropped 21 percent in September.

Money20/20: Samsung Pay Expands Globally via Mastercard and Deals

Samsung Pay is expanding. The mobile wallet early next year will offer the Masterpass online payment service from Mastercard to Samsung Pay users. That comes as Samsung Pay deploys to Malaysia, Russia and Thailand, putting the mobile wallet in 10 countries total, executives said this week at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas.

Money20/20: Blackhawk’s Roche on Harnessing Brand Power

Payments are moving up the value stream and becoming an engagement platform, moving beyond the transfer and settlement of funds to more deeply connect a consumer and brand. In this environment, payment providers—including those in the gifting and rewards verticals—can leverage the popularity of other brands to improve their own value and stand out from the pack. Those were among the main takeaways from a Money20/20 keynote from Talbott Roche, president and CEO, Blackhawk Network.

Money20/20: Walmart Pay Lessons Learned—and the Road ahead

With Walmart Pay showing strong growth since launching earlier this year, Walmart’s Daniel Eckert—one of the main architects of the service—provided some insights into the motivation behind creating Walmart Pay and what’s in store for the service. Speaking in a Tuesday afternoon session at Money20/20 in Las Vegas, Eckert characterized Walmart Pay as an effort to improve the checkout experience in particular.

TSYS Signs on as Processor for Optal’s Virtual Card Payments

TSYS will be processing payment authorizations for Optal Financial Ltd.’s virtual card payments business, according to an Oct. 26 announcement. London-based Optal is a global provider of B2B payments services, including virtual account numbers, and is one of Europe’s biggest virtual card issuers, according to the companies.

Co-op turns cop in ATM crime coup

The UK-based Co-op has teamed up with forensic technology company SmartWater to roll-out a new deterrent linking criminals back to the scene of an ATM crime. In a “first of its kind”, SmartWater have adapted their dispersal technology to ensure that both the criminals and the stolen cash are marked, regardless of how the ATM […]

SETL blockchain powers Cobalt’s FX post trade

London-based blockchain firm SETL and Cobalt DL, a private peer-to-peer network, have teamed up to use SETL’s OpenCSD within the Cobalt FX post trade platform. The service is set to launch in 2017, with 15 institutional FX participants “already committed” to the service. Earlier this year, SETL unveiled the OpenCSD platform, its first commercial offering, […]

BBVA favours Amazon Web Services for cloud drive

BBVA has reached a global agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) as it looks to cloud computing to boost its digital banking services. The agreement, which is part of a series of accords that the group is making with providers, turns AWS into its “preferred” cloud infrastructure services provider. AWS will execute the migration of […]

Bank of America to launch AI chatbot

Bank of America has unveiled its new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to help customers make decisions on their finances. Called Erica, a nod to the name America, it will be available inside the bank’s mobile app in 2017. Customers can do the usual AI stuff – chat via text or voice – and it’s all […]

Money20/20: PayPal COO on Facebook Messenger Integration, Contextual Commerce

Fresh off announcing a plan to bring PayPal payments to Facebook Messenger, PayPal Inc. Chief Operating Officer Bill Ready said the move was part of the company’s larger push to serve what he called “contextual commerce”—enabling mobile payments to take place in areas outside of the traditional checkout environment.

Mastercard, BofA Employing Bots to Enhance Customer Service

The rise of chat bots in financial services and payments continues with announcements this week from Mastercard and Bank of America that each company will be introducing similar technology. Mastercard is launching a bot for client banks’ and merchants’ customers and BofA’s bot, which it says is more of an “assistant” will service its banking customers.

RGCA Survey: Consumers Are Getting Smarter about Gift Cards

Consumers are getting savvy to the myriad ways gift cards can be used, given, stored and obtained. For example, though 46 percent of consumers surveyed still prefer to hand cashiers a physical gift card, nearly 14 percent would rather load, store and redeem gift cards using a mobile wallet, and 40 percent of respondents were amenable to using mobile or plastic methods, according to a survey released Oct. 24 by the Retail Gift Card Association.

Chinese tourism powers Verifone and Alipay payment partnership

Verifone is partnering with Alipay to enable retailers in North America and Europe to accept payments from Chinese tourists. According to Verifone, nearly 100 million Chinese consumers annually travel abroad and use Alipay to make purchases. This latest partnership follows quickly on Alipay’s deals with Zapper and Ingenico – both for the same reason as […]

CBA and Wells Fargo in “world-first” interbank blockchain trade transaction

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Wells Fargo and trading firm Brighann Cotton have completed the “first” global trade transaction between two banks using blockchain, smart contracts and the Internet of Things (IoT). The transaction involved a shipment of cotton from Texas to Qingdao, China, using a distributed ledger – Skuchain’s Brackets system – for all […]

Dassault Systemes unveils seven finalists for KYC/AML start-up challenge

French software firm Dassault Systemes has named the seven finalists for its “3D FinTech Challenge” 2016 to address anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) issues. This is its fourth annual accelerator programme in collaboration with senior finance executives, regulators and “influencers”. As Banking Technology reported in August, Dassault Systemes invited start-ups to apply. […]

Envestnet Yodlee extends tie-up with Backbase, unveils updates

Envestnet Yodlee has extended its partnership with omnichannel banking specialist Backbase. The two companies have been collaborating for some time. With the new agreement, Backbase will be providing its customers with integrations to the Envestnet Yodlee data aggregation platform.

Money20/20: Cordray Says CFPB No Foe of Fintech

Those seeking to innovate in the financial services sector might view the CFPB as more of an obstacle than a partner. But bureau Director Richard Cordray sees the consumer protection watchdog as very much a friend of fintech. During a keynote session capping the opening day of Money20/20 in Las Vegas, Cordray said the CFPB and regulated fintech providers can learn a lot from each other.

InComm Taps Mastercard Vet for Leadership Role

Matt Lanford will join Atlanta-based prepaid product and technology company InComm as senior vice president and general manager, overseeing its financial services team, effective Oct. 31. Lanford, who has held numerous leadership roles at Mastercard in the U.S. and in Europe, will take the lead in expanding InComm’s consumer-facing Vanilla brand of gift and GPR products.