The European Commission (EC) has set up a fintech task force as it looks to boost innovation in the region. Called the Financial Technology Task Force (FTTF), it brings together services responsible for financial regulation and for the “digital single market”, along with others dealing with competition and consumer protection policy. FTTF will be co-chaired […]
The “world’s first” peer-to-peer lender Zopa plans to launch a new digital-only bank in the UK. The application for a banking licence will be made to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The firm says the regulatory application process should take about 15-24 months. Jaidev Janardana, CEO of Zopa, says […]
OP Bank, Nordea and Danske Bank have launched a new real-time, multibank mobile payments platform in Finland. The platform was built by Tieto and Automatia (the latter operates the three banks’ shared ATM network).
SigFig, a San Francisco-based fintech start-up, is partnering with Wells Fargo to provide the bank’s clients with its robo-advisory tech and wealth management tools. A pilot version will be rolled out in H1 2017.
UK-based payments vendor Monitise has launched its Finkit partner programme with founding partner MasterCard to speed up collaboration in banking and payments. For the “first time”, the founding partners – which also include BehavioSec, Currencycloud, Envestnet | Yodlee, Experian, Fastacash, FICO, HID, iGeolise, LivePerson, Mypinpad, Syniverse and WorldFirst – have agreed to make their capabilities […]
It’s blockchain infographics time!
AmBank will be launching “a new phase of mobile banking very soon”, according to the bank’s new group CEO, Dato’ Sulaiman Mohd Tahir. The solution is provided by Backbase.
SETL, Deloitte and Metro Bank say they have completed “a series of firsts”. SETL provided a contactless smartcard for digitised payments (based on blockchain), Deloitte applied its Smart Identity blockchain ID system, and Metro Bank hosted a connected client account.
V-Key, a Singapore-based digital security firm, and Ant Financial have teamed up for mobile payments. Under the partnership, V-Key will provide its virtual software solution, V-OS, for Ant Financial to help secure transactions on AliExpress, one of Alibaba Group’s retail ecommerce platforms. (Ant Financial is an affiliate company of Alibaba Group). V-Key will also provide […]
South Korea’s Shinhan Bank is launching a Bitcoin remittance service between Korea and China, with Hong Kong as an intermediary. The service will be available in December.
City Union Bank (CUB) has become the first bank in India to introduce a robot to deal with customer queries. Called Lakshmi, the robot is based on the IBM Watson artificial intelligence (AI) engine.
US banking giant Citi is launching its own branded mobile wallet – Citi Pay – to take on rivals such as Android Pay, Samsung Pay and PayPal.
Cuscal, a major payments provider to Australia’s credit unions and smaller banks, has signed a deal with Apple to bring Apple Pay to its customers. The service will be available to nearly four million Australians that bank with 31 entities (which work with Cuscal).
Here is a boringly good guide to cryptocurrencies, courtesy of MBNA. It is not boring at all really!
UK-based Lloyds Banking Group is getting rid of further 49 branches and 665 jobs. The bank will offer services via mobile vans to the communities affected by the branch closures.
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
The R3 consortium and ten of its member banks have developed a proof-of-concept (PoC) for a know your customer (KYC) registry “that addresses the challenges associated with satisfying KYC requirements and allows identities to be managed by their owners”.
As an online retailer heading into the holidays with approximately $105 billion in sales up for grabs, competing for spend is a top priority.
PayPal is bringing its users “an early holiday present” – the integration of Siri into PayPal.
Nordea has announced it now can handle the Swift MT798 messaging in a fully automated manner. MT798 facilitates corporate-to-bank (C2B) and bank-to-corporate (B2C) communication for the processing of documentary credits and guarantees.
Israel’s Bank Leumi is gearing up for the launch of its new digital banking subsidiary, Pepper. It is expected to open its virtual doors for business before the end of 2016. The tech is provided by Temenos.
Italy’s largest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, is working with Gemalto to deliver PIN codes to customers via SMS, web and mobile banking app. Gemalto describes the project as “the world’s first comprehensive e-PIN notification service”.
Intelligent Processing Solutions (iPSL), a UK-based cheque clearing firm owned by Unisys, plans to close down seven of its nine locations in 2018. This puts 600 jobs at risk, according to trade union Unite.
UK-based banking services challenger Ffrees Fiamily Finance has launched a new “digital agency banking solution” – U Account. The account is supported by Wirecard, Global Processing Services (GPS) and payments software vendor Bottomline Technologies.
Soldo, a London-based fintech start-up, is launching its flagship multi-user spending account. Soldo is not a bank, but a prepaid MasterCard. It holds an e-money licence from the UK’s regulator, FCA.
UK-based Tesco Bank has revealed that 20,000 of its customers had up to £2,000 stolen from their accounts in a cyberattack. As a result, all online transactions have been frozen for 24 hours until the situation is bank “under full control”, according to Benny Higgins, Tesco Bank’s CEO.
Wipro has unveiled its Open Banking API Platform as its “expects a large number of banks and financial institutions to adopt open banking initiatives to conform with evolving banking regulations, meet customers’ digital expectations, and stay ahead in an increasingly competitive fintech industry”.
Where do major US banks and FIs place their digital adverts and how much they spend on these? We look at the digital marketing habits of Citigroup, Capital One and Chase (data courtesy of Pathmatics).
Eight start-ups and scale-ups in wealth management, regtech, artificial intelligence (AI), payments, big data, blockchain and cybersecurity are to take part in SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator 2.0.
Byte Academy has unveiled its first international campus with programmes in fintech, data science and Python full-stack development. The new campus is based in Singapore, supported by Standard Chartered Bank, IBM, Thomson Reuters, Microsoft and the Insead business school.
Kasikornbank (Kbank), one of the largest banks in Thailand, is exploring blockchain with IBM, “to save costs and speed up transactions”, the two companies say. The services will be launched in H1 2017, to certify the letters of guarantee (LCs).
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
There has been a tremendous amount of excitement and discussion about the potential of blockchain technology to transform the financial services industry and beyond. But the only thing that is clear at the moment is that there is still a lot of work to be done to implement wide scale use cases, clear up any regulatory uncertainly or barriers and educate institutions and employees about the technology and its potential.
Let’s put the fun in funding by keeping it mercifully brief. A round-up of some key events. KEEN Venture Partners, a new venture capital firm operating from London and Amsterdam, has announced €90 million first close of its inaugural fund. It will use the money to provide early growth capital for tech firms with a […]
Digital banking start-up Tandem has started inviting its community of 10,000 “co-founders” to be its first customers. Tandem was formed in 2014 and is accessible online, via an app and through a UK call centre. It got its banking licence in November 2015 and says its focus is on helping people manage their money rather […]
BBVA says it is the first financial institution in Spain to launch online onboarding via mobile, which allows anyone to open an account in “just a few minutes”. A customer’s identity is verified through a selfie and a video call. Users can open an account at BBVA through their mobile phone by going to its […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Weatherbys Bank live with new core banking system EXCLUSIVE. Oracle FSS’s Flexcube flexes its muscles. Mobile payments and European millennials Vocalink reveals millennials’ habits and perceptions. Japan rises to blockchain challenge with new consortium Launches with 42 member […]
Vocalink has unveiled its comprehensive research into the habits and perceptions of millennials when it comes to mobile payments. Turns out, this group is still waiting for the “Uber moment” of payments.
Citi has unveiled a new feature to let credit card members dispute certain posted charges directly within the Citi mobile app for iPhone in the US. It says it is the only major US credit card issuer to provide this feature on mobile, and the new feature is designed to provide “increased peace of mind” […]
How would you respond if someone were to ask you: “What is the purpose of the bank branch?” For decades, the first answer may have been: “To allow customers to conveniently transact with the bank and manage their accounts”. This model has now changed drastically, and banks that still operate as they used to will very quickly yield to more forward-thinking competitors.
