Orange Puts Bank on Hold amid Struggle to Get it Right
Orange has put the brakes on its ambitious plans to venture into the world of mobile banking after finding the proposition doesn’t quite meet its standards.
Payments
Fintech funding round-up: 30 June 2017
A handy round-up of who’s investing in what in the fintech space. Featuring Revolut, Tango Card and ClauseMatch.
PayPal makes strategic investment in online lender LendUp
Is PayPal’s investment in online lender LendUp a hint that the underbanked may not remain the underserved for long?
Top fintech stories this week – 30 June 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Cennox acquires Diebold UK & Ireland business
Following the ruling of the UK’s Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA), Diebold Nixdorf has shed some of its business. Diebold UK & Ireland has been sold to Cennox.
PFS deal to provide Moneymailme users with prepaid cards
Users of Moneymailme will have the option of using physical and virtual prepaid cards to make purchases with the funds in their e-wallets. The new feature, announced June 28 at the Money 20/20 Europe conference, is the result of a partnership between the London-based social money transfer provider Moneymailme and Prepaid Financial Services, a U.K.-based payments technology provider.
P2P Is Gaining Steam, but Security Concerns Remain
Consumers prefer to use P2P payments for retail purchases, paying back relatives and friends, and settling bills—but not so much for contributing to group gifts or paying housing costs, according to a new report from NerdWallet. It also found that that while only 35 percent of U.S. consumers use such P2P products as Venmo, PayPal and Square Cash, 63 percent are interested in the payment technology.
Investment Roundup: Visa Buys Stake in Klarna; Revolut, Tango Land Financing
Investors continue to show strong interest in fintech-based payments services providers, as Visa acquires an equity share in fast-growing Swedish e-commerce specialist Klarna, and startups Revolut and Tango Card land significant financing rounds.
Six Key Themes from Money20/20 Europe
After a frantic few days in Copenhagen for Money20/20 Europe, Paul Butterworth, strategic marketing director at Trustonic, used the time during his flight home to digest the discussions and presentations and come up with the key takeaways from the fintech event.
Money20/20 Europe: a finale for financial inclusion
For the finale of the final day of Money20/20 Europe, financial inclusion was discussed with resolute optimism for a bright future.
People on the move: Jean Douchey, i2c Inc
Payments processor i2c Inc. has appointed Jean Douchey as senior vice president of operations.
Company on the Move: Cardtek, OSPT Alliance
Payment solutions provider Cardtek has joined the OSPT Alliance, a global association chartered to help the transit, mobile and loyalty markets move toward an open infrastructure for fare collections.
Company on the Move: Digiliti Money, Russell Microcap Index
Mobile fintech provider Digiliti Money Inc. has joined the Russell Microcap Index.
Company on the Move: Payworks, German Enterprise Award
Global POS services provider Payworks has received a 2017 German Enterprise Award from Worldwide Business Review.
Company on the Move: TSYS, Civic 50 List
TSYS has been recognized by Points of Light, the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, as one of the most community-minded companies in the U.S.
Nets and Sthaler team up for finger-vein enabled payments
London-based biometric tech vendor Sthaler is working with Nordic payments provider Nets to introduce finger-vein enabled payments to the consumer market in Europe.
Association of Banks of Singapore launches PayNow mobile payments service
The Association of Banks of Singapore (ABS) has unveiled a new funds transfer service – PayNow – that requires only a mobile and identity card numbers to enrol.
Alipay comes to Spain with BBVA
BBVA has signed an agreement with Chinese tech giant Ant Financial to enable Chinese tourists to pay in Spanish stores using the Alipay mobile wallet. BBVA is the first Spanish financial institution to be working with Alipay.
Money20/20 Europe: Asia in the ascendant
Denmark took a back seat at Money20/20 Europe as the lively fintech scenes in China and India fell under the spotlight with a wealth of information and stats.
Money20/20 Europe: advancing APIs to a happy place
The interest from the fintech community in APIs burns brighter than a thousand suns, but where will this technology and the spirit of open banking take us?
CFPB Snapshot: California Leads Nation in Complaints to Agency
The CFPB receives more than 20,000 complaints every month, according to Director Richard Cordray, and the bureau’s latest installment of its Monthly Complaint Report highlights consumer complaints at the state level. As of June 1, the CFPB has received more than 1.2 million complaints across the country since it began accepting them in 2011. The top three states with the most complaints are California, Florida and Texas with 159,158, 111,559 and 93,472 complaints, respectively.
CFPB Clamps down on Credit Repair Companies, Leadership
The CFPB on June 27 filed two complaints and proposed final judgments in federal court against four California-based credit repair companies and three individuals for “misleading consumers and charging illegal fees.”
Money20/20 Europe: PSD2 Creates More Questions than Answers
On June 26, artificial intelligence captured the imagination of some at Money20/20 in Copenhagen. But during the June 27 sessions on the second day, it was like I had stepped back in time to November 2016, reported Deputy Editor Antony Peyton. Last year, at the Payments International conference in London, PSD2 left some in the payments industry confused as to where the risks and opportunities lie.
Visa invests in paytech firm and bank Klarna
Visa is investing in Klarna, a Swedish payments and banking firm, and the two firms intend “to develop a future strategic partnership”.
Payscout Launches Virtual Reality Commerce with Visa’s Help
Retail payments have taken another step into the future. Payment processor Payscout has launched a virtual reality system that employs Visa Checkout and enables consumers to examine products before ordering them for delivery to shoppers’ homes.
Flywire Snags PayPal for Cross-Border Payments
Cross-border payments and receivables specialist Flywire has added PayPal to its platform as a funding option, enabling businesses, students and patients to fund cross-border payments via PayPal accounts. PayPal now is available as a payment method for Flywire users in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and European Union, Flywire said.
Study: Americans Uneasy about Finances Provide Opportunity for Financial Service Providers
One-fourth of Americans say they have too much debt, with 96 percent of them reporting they are financially stressed, according to a survey by the Center for Financial Services Innovation to gauge Americans’ financial well-being. While those statistics are bleak, they should signal an opportunity for banks, credit unions, fintechs and other companies to provide products, services and guidance to improve consumers’ financial stability, according to Jennifer Tescher, founder and CEO of CFSI.
Money20/20 Europe: PSD2 creates more questions than answers
The second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) is creating more questions and issues than the answers it ultimately should offer.
Mobile-only bank Pepper now live
Israel’s Bank Leumi has launched its new digital banking subsidiary, Pepper.
Wirecard’s New POS Suite Offers Merchants Power of Data
Wirecard AG has launched a new POS service that integrates self-learning technology to help retailers increase customer conversion, reduce attrition rates, predict future consumer behavior and link points of sale with e-commerce.
U.K. Regulator Calls for More Competition in Payments
The U.K. needs more competition in its retail payments infrastructure. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the country’s Payment Systems Regulator.
Starling Bank expands to Ireland, eyes “the whole world”
London-based challenger bank Starling has received a banking passport into Ireland. The bank says this is “its first step in its plans to provide services to European markets”.
Venmo tests physical debit card
Venmo is planning to introduce a physical debit card to supplement its payments app.
Starling Bank preps for future with new features
UK challenger bank Starling has launched a “Spending Insights” tool and an online community for its users – and it is setting out its future plans. Spending Insights is probably self-explanatory. It works in the app and the bank says it gives users ideas about where they can save money. It shows customers how much […]
ZineOne is the one for HDFC digital banking hub
India-based HDFC Bank has selected Silicon Valley start-up ZineOne to improve its digital banking offerings. The bank will deploy ZineOne’s Customer Interactions Hub (CIH), which will establish a single customer identity and “bring real-time, contextual, and omni-channel functionality” to interactions across businesses, applications and digital properties including web applications, mobile apps, digital wallets, website, kiosks […]
Top fintech stories this week – 23 June 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Treasury’s Walt Henderson Wins Terrence P. Maher Award
The NBPCA’s Power of Prepaid Conference kicked off in Washington, D.C., on June 22, with discussion of the prepaid industry’s most pressing challenge, regulatory uncertainty. One of the highlights of the morning sessions, however, was the presentation of the third annual Terrence P. Maher Prepaid Influencer Award to Walt Henderson, director of EFT strategy division at the U.S. Department of Treasury. Henderson has managed the Treasury’s benefits disbursement prepaid program from its inception, overseeing substantial growth and consistently high customer satisfaction.
Study: Apple Wallet Users Love Sharing Digital Coupons, Loyalty Cards
A new report indicates that retailers and brands have a powerful channel to distribute digital coupons and loyalty cards via mobile wallets: wallet users themselves. An analysis of Apple Wallet users by mobile engagement specialist Urban Airship found that every digital coupon or loyalty card a user installed on the wallet was shared to an average of 3.3 other mobile devices.
Curve Hits 50-50 Milestones; Consumer Card to Come
Curve and its all-cards-in-one Curve Mastercard and accompanying banking app apparently has struck a chord with small businesses and freelancers. More than 50,000 SMEs have signed up for the London-based startup’s program, which recorded £50 million (US$63.3 million) in user spending since the beta period began last year.
Danes gain easier mobile way to pay for groceries
Dankort, the national debit card of Denmark, has made shopping easier for consumers using iPhones.
