Top fintech stories this week – 8 September 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Mobile
Report: Mobile Wallets Reach ‘Tipping Point’
This week Apple Pay celebrated its third birthday, and ACI Worldwide and Aite Group released data on rising mobile wallet usage, indicating that consumers in the U.S. and Europe are starting to catch up with those in Asia and Latin America where mobile wallets dominate.
MoneyGram Expands MobilePass to 35,000+ Locations
The U.S.’s No. 2 remittance provider is expanding its MoneyGram MobilePass service to its entire U.S. network of 35,000 agent locations.
Mambu’s core banking tech supports challenger bank N26
Mambu has gone on the record about its core banking software project at N26, a German-based challenger bank. N26 is using Mambu’s flagship core system, provided on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis.
Alexa Speaks to U.S. Bank Customers
More than a year after Capital One unveiled the feature, U.S. Bank customers still are among the first in the U.S. to be able to complete banking tasks, such as checking an account balance or paying a credit card bill, by speaking a command to an Amazon Alexa device.
Factors in the Long Wait for EMV and Contactless in the U.S.
As some celebrate 10 years of contactless payments, Bastian Knoppers discusses why cards (not mobile wallets) are still king outside the U.S. and what it will take for the U.S. to catch up to the rest of the world on tap-and-go payments.
Onosys, LevelUp ‘Supercharge’ New Customer Acquisition for Restaurants
LevelUp’s nearly 1 million active users, as well as Chase Pay mobile wallet users, will have access to thousands more restaurants for order- and pay-ahead options, thanks to a deal with Onosys.
WhatsApp mulls business revenue stream
Facebook-owned IM service WhatsApp reckons it might finally be able to make some money by charging businesses for clever access to their punters, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology’s sister publication). Apparently quite a lot of people already use WhatsApp around the world to interact with shopkeepers and other relatively simple business transactions such as placing orders, […]
BNP Paribas Exports nexo standards to 14 European Countries
French bank BNP Paribas wants to help merchants “kiss goodbye” the costly, time-consuming and complex task of managing multiple, incompatible domestic acceptance systems. Enter global standards.
Wirecard Helps Austrian Federal Railways Go Digital
Austrian commuters with a sweet tooth may be able to save some money on their next train or bus fare thanks to Wirecard’s new digital voucher platform and a partnership between Austrian Federal Railways and Toffifee candymaker Storck.
Top 5 Best Challenger Banks: Spotlight Profiles
Our Top 5 Challenger Bank spotlight series is complete. Get to know the challengers—Cashplus, Varo Money, Revolut, Capital on Tap and Fidor Bank—looking to shake up the status quo with tech and a superior customer experience.
The Monday mindset: 4 September 2017
Fintech zeitgeist! This week Loraine DeBonis, editor-in-chief of Banking Technology’s sister site Paybefore, muses on all the money changing hands in the payments industry.
Banking Technology September 2017 issue out now
Welcome to fintech central! Good service operating on all lines. The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
Fiserv completes takeover of Monitise
US tech giant Fiserv has completed its acquisition of Monitise, a UK-based mobile payments software and solutions provider.
Top fintech stories this week – 1 September 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
ShopKeep Expands into SMB Lending
ShopKeep doesn’t just want to help small businesses accept payments, it wants to help them grow with a new merchant cash advance service.
Artificial intelligence round-up: 31 August 2017
Where’s the humanity? Well, not here as this is an artificial intelligence (AI) round-up. Features Royal Bank of Canada, Emirates NBD, and the ten greatest threats to mankind. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has announced a pilot launch of two digital services based on AI that offer insights about client’s financials and an automated savings […]
Japanese start-ups fire up in force
The land of the rising sun is seeing a rising number of start-ups power up as they hunt for fintech glory. According to Nikkei Asian Review, 46 tech companies have gone public in Japan so far in 2017, with the full-year total seen reaching 80 to 90. The highest tally in the last decade was […]
Alexa gets into bed with Cortana
Amazon and Microsoft have announced their previously competing voice-driven artificial intelligence (AI) assistants are now an item, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). The world can be a lonely place for virtual assistants. All the company they have are demanding millennials constantly asking what their latest email is or a retiree wondering what the weather […]
Google chases down Apple with ARCore launch
Google has responded strongly to Apple’s front-running approach to augmented reality (AR) with the launch of a new AR platform, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). ARCore is the Android equivalent to the Apple ARKit; in short, an AR reality platform for developers. It’s not the first time Google has had a crack at the […]
Blackhawk Network Acquires CashStar for $175 Million
Blackhawk Network Inc. keeps getting bigger. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based global technology company, has acquired digital gifting specialist CashStar Inc. for approximately $175 million in cash.
GasBuddy Unveils Payment Service with WEX
GasBuddy, a smartphone app helping nearly 70 million drivers find the best gas prices, has unveiled Pay with GasBuddy, a new payment service in partnership with WEX that provides U.S. drivers with discounts.
McDonald’s Taps Capgemini for Digital Push; Burger King Unveils Whoppercoin in Russia
Do you want fries with that? France-based Capgemini is likely to hear that phrase a lot more now that it’s signed a multiyear IT strategic provider agreement with McDonald’s Corp. Meanwhile, Burger King Russia is jumping on the cryptocurrrency bandwagon.
Singapore’s Payments Council seeks road to common QR code
The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) new Payments Council plans to set up interoperable electronic payments and has unveiled a taskforce to develop a common QR code for the city-state. As reported earlier this month, the Council launched and comprises 20 people from banks, payment service providers, businesses, and trade associations. MAS says the setting […]
Mastercard pumps up payments with Fitbit’s first smartwatch
Mastercard is bringing its contactless payments to Fitbit’s first smartwatch, Fitbit Ionic.
Heartland State Bank in core and digital banking tech revamp with CSI
Heartland State Bank, a community bank in the US state of North Dakota, is modernising its front-to-back office technology. The new tech supplier is Computer Services Inc (CSI).
NCR Takes Bigger Bite of Restaurant Business
NCR is hungry for more restaurant business, announcing its third such partnership in the last month. The Duluth, Ga.-based company is working with Performance Food Group to offer its NCR Silver cloud-based, point-of-sale solution to a new group of independent restaurants.
Bridg Raises $11 Million from Morpheus Ventures, March Capital, Visa and NextEquity
Bridg, which claims to be the first marketing software company to leverage point-of-sale data to drive “precision-marketing campaigns” for restaurant and retail brands, has secured $11 million in Series B funding.
Blockchain Roundup: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Nations, platforms and some bad news in our latest blockchain and bitcoin roundup. Find out more about the SEC’S suspension of First Bitcoin Capital Corp., an initial coin offering for cryptocurrency exchange platform KyberNetwork and more.
Digiliti Money and Urban FT in “advanced” acquisition talks
Prospective buyer Urban FT Inc. confirmed on Aug. 25 that it’s in “advanced negotiations” with Digitili Money regarding a “potential transaction that will see DGLT stave off potential bankruptcy proceedings.”
Alipay Buzz Continues with Starbucks Deal
Alipay is zipping along in terms of its international expansion. With its latest partnership, the world’s largest online and mobile payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, is now available for Mainland Chinese tourists at all 242 Starbucks branches across Malaysia.
Top 5 Best Challenger Banks: Varo Money
“There’s a reason that the bank of the future hasn’t been created yet—it’s extremely difficult,” says Top 5 Best Challenger Bank Varo Money. See if you think they’ve got what it takes to rise to the challenge.
Banking Technology Awards entry deadline extended
Due to high volume of requests, the deadline to enter Banking Technology Awards is being extended. The final chance to enter the Awards is now Friday, 8 September 2017. Nominate projects, products, services or partnerships for a Judged Award or tell us about inspirational people by nominating them for a Leadership Award. Full details on […]
Guatemalan co-operative network selects Temenos core banking platform
Guatemala-based Federacion Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Credito (Fenacoac) has selected Temenos‘ RetailSuite core banking platform for its 25 co-operatives that operate under the brand Micoope. RetailSuite is the brand name for a variety of Temenos products, and includes the T24 core banking system and the business intelligence offering, Insight BI. Banking Technology understands […]
Juniper predicts major global shift to contactless on heels of US EMV push
A new study from Juniper Research is forecasting that more than half (53%) of global transactions at the point of sale will be contactless within five years, compared with just 15% this year, reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. The new research, “POS & mPOS Terminals: Vendor Strategies, Positioning & Market Forecasts 2017-2022,” expects adoption in the US […]
Why I believe the US State Department is wrong about mobile money in Africa
The US Department of State recently released a report that identified mobile money services as particularly susceptible to money laundering in Africa. It cites services like M-PESA and M-Shwari as “services [that] remain vulnerable to money laundering activities”.
Walmart taps Google for omnichannel commerce play
Google and Walmart are teaming up to take on Amazon (and Alexa) with voice-activated commerce and more plans for 2018, reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. Starting in late September, the retail giant will be working with Google to offer hundreds of thousands of items for voice shopping via Google Assistant – the largest number […]
TerraPay teams with Instant Cash for cross-border payments
Mobile payments switch TerraPay and money transfer company Instant Cash have teamed up to enable real-time cross border money transfers for migrants that want to send money back to Africa to recipients’ mobile wallets. Powered by TerraPay’s global clearing and settlement service for mobile wallets, the partnership “will make cross-border money transfer faster and convenient […]
Walmart Taps Google for Omnichannel Commerce Play
Google and Walmart are teaming up to take on Amazon (and Alexa) with voice-activated commerce and more plans for 2018. Starting in late September, the retail giant will be working with Google to offer hundreds of thousands of items for voice shopping via Google Assistant.
Douugh Rises to Challenge with AI-Powered Banking
Banking challenger Douugh has unveiled its artificial intelligence-powered financial platform, guided by “Sophie”—a 24/7 personal assistant for finances.
