At lunchtime on the African savannah, you needn’t be the fastest zebra to survive –you need to avoid being the slowest. You can only be sure you’re not the slowest zebra if you can see what the rest of the herd are up to. Efforts in software security to share information on attacks, responses, and best practices are important to understanding what the herd is doing …
Ever since the deployment of Apple’s NFC solution – ‘Apple Pay’, and the various competitors launches since, there’s been speculation around what the future holds for consumer payments and how security will impact it
Fixed income markets have historically been a bastion of high-touch trading, with manual processes, large tickets and little standardisation. But as recent years have seen inventory slashed and balance sheets cut in face of rising regulatory pressure, finding liquidity has become more of a challenge. A group of banks are hoping to reinvigorate the market though a standardised messaging system.
Banks know many things about their customers: they have to – for regulatory reasons, to assess risk and to cross-sell products. But there are things that banks don’t know about their customers, and ought to …
To counter cyber-crime, an organisation must have a person providing leadership and oversight in the strategic planning, execution, and assessment of security strategies, policies, procedures and guiding practices. Ensuring compliance with legal obligations in respect of information and information security is also a key responsibility. What many companies need is a chief information security officer
CFPB Director Richard Cordray today addresses the House Financial Services Committee for the bureau’s semi-annual report to Congress.
New York is considering a plan to hold top banking executives personally responsible for the quality and effectiveness of their firms’ AML efforts.
The CFPB’s Antonakes explained his bureau’s supervisory approach and enforcement actions and how they are different from that of the federal banking agencies.
January’s Basel Committee on Banking Supervision report on banks’ progress towards BCBS 239 compliance threw up a telling contradiction. While global systemically important banks “are increasingly aware of the importance” of the BCBS 239 project, their sense of preparedness has decreased. In 2013, 10 of the 31 eligible banks reported they would be unable to comply fully by the 2016 deadline. This year, that number rose to 14. It is understandable that there is more work to be done, but how is it that the G-SIBs are moving backwards?
Arising out of developments in standardised messaging, eBAM is one step towards the future of more accessible, safer banking
Limited availability of key skills is seen as a threat to growth prospects by 70% of chief executives in the financial services sector. A global survey by PwC shows that the disruptive impact of new technology and new competition in the sector has created new challenges for employers looking to hire in the months ahead. Concerns centre on the shortage of employees with the right combination of skills, with more than three quarters of executives looking for a broader range of skills when hiring than they did in the past.
Younger users are setting the stage for a payments future of wearables and mobile. See what the latest consumer research from FIS reveals.
Success in the corporate prepaid card market requires providers to offer more than just cost savings and efficiency improvements. Successful providers must also present a compelling opportunity for corporates to enhance their offering and services.
The U.S. migration to EMV chip technology, developments in mobile and contactless payments in retail and transit, and a focus on layered payments security, were the headlining themes from the annual Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a currency system seeking successful adoption must be in want of trust. Trust that a representation of value, such as a paper note, is backed by real value or a genuine obligation to repay; trust that those representations will be accepted by others as such; and trust that the representations of value are not counterfeit.
In the Oscar-winning film The Theory of Everything the lead character Stephen Hawking lays out his vision of a single equation that explains all physical aspects of the universe. This rarefied scientific debate has echoes in the more prosaic world of Transaction Cost Analysis in financial markets, where the availability of more granular data coupled with pressure from regulators is driving a whole new wave of research and analysis, says ITG’s Michael Sparkes.
Customers are looking for organisations that care about their needs in a way that is personalised, responsible, transparent and – of course – secure. In recognising this, banks are stepping up to the challenge and just as technology is at the heart of this business, so their relationship with IT suppliers is a key component of this value shift.
A company’s Net Promoter Score has become an important measure of customer satisfaction. It asks them a simple question: how likely they are to recommend that company to a friend. The responses split the audience into three groups: promoters, passives and detractors. By subtracting the percentage of detractors from the promoters, banks obtain their NPS. NPS has been a valued metric in many consumer-facing industries for several years, but its importance and influence in financial services is growing fast.
Wondering what the CFPB’s NPRM emphasizes?
Protecting your banking infrastructure from cybercriminals is one of the toughest IT challenges in banking. It keeps getting harder, even though banks are working tirelessly to protect both customers and assets. Attacks are growing in size, and new developments such as the Internet of Things mean attack surfaces are growing, as well as the number of endpoints that can be used to launch attacks.
From the early days of internet distribution, New York-based Alacra has been aggregating reference data. Chief executive Steve Goldstein told David Bannister the company’s story
he House of Representatives on Feb. 4 passed bipartisan legislation sponsored by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) that she says would require greater transparency in government and would cap the CFPB budget for FY2016 at $550 million, $36 million below its expected funding.
N.J. Governor Chris Christie (R) signed into law a bill that eliminates the collection of consumer ZIP code information for gift cards purchased at the POS, putting an end to a protracted legal battle over unclaimed property rules in the state.
As many more tech companies begin offering bank-like services, mainstream banks are searching for ways they can fight back
Merchants appear to be more apt and capable of leveraging their own data today than the preceding several years. And, they are finding that using this data is more effective in combating fraud than traditional validation services.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants to increase access to traditional banking services by getting banks to change their account-opening criteria. But broader access to checking and savings accounts doesn’t mean consumers won’t continue to seek out alternatives, including prepaid cards, which may have more features and fewer fees, according to industry observers.
Technology hiring is on the up, with employment within the industry forecast set to grow at 2.19% this year, nearly five times faster than the UK average, according to the 2015 Salary Guide from specialist recruiter Robert Half.
Britain’s banks have reliably serviced the banking needs of millions of customers for more than a hundred years; providing a safe place to store hard-earned cash, mortgages to buy dream homes, and great interest rates to accumulate savings
The mobile revolution is taking the financial services industry by storm. In less than five years it is predicted that the number of mobile phone owners using their device for banking purposes will double to over 1.75 billion. Banks cannot ignore the implications of what this means to their future business models. A mobile-first approach will be essential in leading the way.
Coming off a strong holiday season, retailers have their sights set on data security and the shopping experience. First Data’s Jerry McNerney talks about how the payments industry can help.
In 2014, payroll cards took a beating in the general press, fueling the fire in some state legislatures to impose onerous restrictions and potentially category-killer requirements. Now, CFSI, working in consultation with industry participants and consumer advocates, has created best practices for what it calls “high-quality payroll card products” that promote choice, safety, affordability, transparency and convenience (and discourage outliers).
Prepaid issuers aren’t the only ones confused by the potential implications of the FDIC’s recent FAQs on brokered deposits. The agency offered some clarifications to ABA staff but recommends issuers reach out to their examiners with specific questions.
It’s no secret that more bulge bracket trading desks are turning to online intelligence – predominantly social media – to obtain breaking news and views ahead of traditional wires. Yet, with constant pressure to get the edge over competitors, other departments of major investment banks will start following the trading floor’s lead.
The National Technical Information Service has extended by 60 days the comment period for its proposed rule to establish a certification program for access to the Death Master File. The new deadline is March 30, 2015.
Consumers in both developed and developing countries have embraced their mobile devices to check balances, make payments and conduct other financial activities. As a result, mobile banking has become a must-have offering for financial institutions. However, many are still working out how to go beyond the basics to add value for customers, increase engagement and maximise the return on the mobile channel investment.
With a string of client projects in flight, the immediate effects of the financial crisis weren’t a problem for Dublin-based Information Mosaic, but as projects that had run for two or more years started coming to an end, things got a little tougher. Fortunately, the company has one major shareholder that has both funds and a long-term view …
A range of social, political, cultural and economic factors drives cyber attacks. How well banking and financial institutions understand the drivers for an attack and how effectively they respond in the 48 hours following the discovery of an attack has a major effect on the resultant impact.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is creating a guide to help colleges evaluate institutions that offer financial accounts to students—and the CFPB is seeking input in devising the document.
As in any complex document, there are some ambiguities in the FAQs and time will tell how those will play out. But, what’s clear is that for many banks, the FAQs raise the cost of doing business, which will (or should) precipitate a review of business models.
Macro trends, including increased access to mobile devices and the Internet as well as consumer appetite for deals, will continue to drive changes in shopping behavior and broaden the use of both prepaid and electronic payments in 2015.
