Moving Money: the ATM makers’ view of the future
With the rise in mobile payments and wallets, cash is dead and so is the ATM business, right? Not according to the ATM manufacturers, who are all being remarkably sanguine.
Analysis
FIS: making a mark in mobile
Financial software giant FIS is sitting in the middle of the move to mobile, with its customers serving 21 million users. Doug Brown, senior vice president, e-banking, says that’s just the beginning.
Blog: Facebook Payments: Trust Is Worth More than ‘Likes’
If Facebook can garner trust from enough of its active users to adopt Autofill by Facebook, there are billions of dollars at stake. But, no one goes to PayPal to post baby pictures. No one congratulates 12-year-olds for winning a soccer game on Amazon. Facebook wandering into payments easily could be as awkward, especially as users become more leery of how their information is shared between Facebook and its partner sites.
FSAs Could Get Bump as Treasury Loses ‘Use-or-Lose’ Rule (Nov. 20, 2013)
The No. 1 barrier to consumer adoption of flexible spending accounts (FSAs) has been removed. The U.S. Treasury and IRS on Halloween announced they were changing their stance on the so-called “use-or-lose” rule, enabling consumers for the first time to rollover up to $500 from their FSAs instead of forfeiting those funds back to their employers.
The second coming: MiFID II due for arrival
MiFID II is almost upon us. Expect it to be the topic of conversation very soon. So what do you need to know about it?
Swift: capitalising on customer collaboration
Swift’s head of banking talks about how the industry co-operative plans to build services based the data flowing through its interbank messaging systems.
Keeping the customer profitable
Separating customer billing from core systems can have dramatic effects on the bottom line – a study by Boston Consulting Group at one bank found that 17% of clients were unprofitable.
Cordray: ‘Change is Coming’ to Prepaid Card Industry (Nov. 14, 2013)
Change is coming to the prepaid card industry, whether by regulation or legislation, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray promised lawmakers this week at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, but he declined to provide a timetable. “[Prepaid cards] are one of the problem areas in consumer financial protection because they’re a hole in the […]
A world of payment possibilities
As Ts are crossed and Is are dotted by financial institutions and corporates preparing for the Single Euro Payments Area some recent announcements point to the glittering world of opportunity beyond mundane SEPA compliance.
Conduct risk explained: fix the systems or pay the fines
Conduct risk is gaining teeth, and with MiFID II on the way it’s set to gain a whole load more. But there is just one problem: nobody quite agrees on what conduct risk means or where its boundaries are set.
Viewpoint: They Mean It—They Really, Really Mean It! (November 2013)
New OCC guidance reminds financial institutions that third-party oversight is where it’s at.
Banks “turning away business” because of regulations says Aite
Compliance concerns are causing nearly one-third of banks to turn away business, according to a new report from Aite Group.
CFPB Report Is Unclear on Timing for GPR Rules (Nov. 11, 2013)
It’s unclear whether the prepaid industry will have the CFPB’s proposed rules for GPR cards by Dec. 31, or if the wait will extend into 2014.
Innovation and opportunity in the banking sector
The chaos of the crisis did not spark renewed interest in innovation: no ideas of note were created within banks and surprisingly few people left their jobs to launch start-ups – the innovation gap in the financial sector has been largely filled by the growth of the fintech start-up sector.
Payroll Card Industry Could See More Static, Legal Experts Warn (Nov. 7, 2013)
Payroll card industry participants should brace for more potential negative news as lawmakers and plaintiffs’ attorneys around the U.S. continue fishing for outlier examples of payroll card abuse, observers say. The industry’s antennae shot up earlier this week when Pennsylvania lawmakers followed through on an earlier promise and proposed legislation to ban payroll cards. Separately, […]
Blog: The $800MM Braintree Acquisition and PayPal’s Pursuit of the Emerging Digital Marketplace (November 2013)
PayPal’s pending acquisition of Braintree will broaden its scope of innovative digital commerce solutions, support its developer platform overhaul and bring P2P competitor Venmo into the fold.
Viewpoint: HSAs Build Long-Term Wealth with Tax-Favored Savings (November 2013)
Issuers or program managers that focus marketing efforts on the savings that can be achieved through HSAs could increase account take-up and improve the profitability for those accounts at the same time.
Commodity trading analytics: exploiting a new set of options
Commodity traders are rapidly adopting new analytics tools to help, testing how a combination of powerful cloud-based processing systems and increasingly sophisticated analytics tools can boost their bottom line.
T2S: time to seize the day
To prepare for the overhaul to settlement in Europe, financial institutions need to face up to T2S and work closely with their settlement service providers to ensure that they maximise the business benefits. It’s time to seize the opportunities presented by the T2S initiative.
Viewpoint: The EC Payments Package: Will It Create a More Integrated and Efficient European Payments Market? (October 2013)
Clear and effective legislation could result in a beneficial change for business. An unclear and ineffective one would result in another obstacle to a “further integrated and efficient European payments market,” which the commission has set as the first objective the Payments Package should achieve.
House Dems Propose Pair of AML Measures (Oct. 28, 2013)
Two House Democrats have proposed measures to crack down on money laundering by deterring the use of shell corporations and giving regulators the authority to hold bank executives accountable for misconduct taking place on their watch. The first bill, proposed by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), would strengthen the government’s ability to charge individuals with violations […]
EU High Court Weighs in on Austrian Mobile Surcharge Case (Oct. 28, 2013)
A law prohibiting surcharges on certain types of payments should apply to mobile carriers, an adviser to the EU’s Court of Justice told the Austrian Supreme Court, which is currently deliberating an appeal by T-Mobile after the carrier’s surcharges were ruled illegal by lower Austrian courts. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by a […]
Banks rush to bolster compliance
Firms like JP Morgan and HSBC have taken major measures to improve internal controls so that they can comply with new and changing regulations. It won’t end there.
Ahead of Remittance Rule, CFPB Outlines Examination Procedures, Unveils Online Tool (Oct. 24, 2013)
With new regulations on remittance transfers set to take effect next week, the CFPB laid out its standards for examining companies covered by the rules. In Jan. 2012, the CFPB issued its final rule outlining remittance regulations as set by the Dodd-Frank Act. The rule was revised in May 2013 after complaints from industry participants […]
ECB Cautions against Last-Minute SEPA Migration (Oct. 24, 2013)
The European Central Bank (ECB) is calling the next three months critical for stakeholders still needing to migrate to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) for electronic payments transactions. The deadline for migration to SEPA credit transfer (SCT) and SEPA direct debit (SDD) schemes is Feb. 1, 2014. “Everybody has to be ready . . […]
Viewpoint: Let’s Make a Deal (October 2013)
Although retailers traditionally had balked at offering discounted gift cards, many are shifting strategies to keep up with consumer demand and are increasing overall sales.
The Financial Services Circus
An ex-Coca Cola chief executive was once quoted talking to staff about the work-life balance – juggling careers, family, health, friends and spirit. In the financial services industry today, work life itself is quite a balancing act.
Cyberspace: beyond the rule of law?
Cybersecurity and cyber espionage have been in the headlines the past few years as leaked stories relating to government-sponsored activities have appeared and sabre rattling between aggrieved nations has moved to the public domain. At the same time an increased volume of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) on banks and other institutions carried out […]
Blog: Security vs. Convenience: The Online Payments Conundrum
Online commerce has begun to approach saturation in Western markets, while fraud, competition and a more demanding consumer base are squeezing online payments providers.
Blog: Money2020 Opens Door to Payments’ Future (October 2013)
The second annual Money2020 in Las Vegas earlier this month had a vibe unlike payment conferences of the past, and not just because of the acrobats roaming around during networking sessions.
Blog: Mobile App Permissions: Scaring Users and Haunting Developers?
Please let me use your camera. Do you mind if I browse through your contacts so I know all your family and friends, and can call or text each at my discretion? To the uninitiated, these eerie questions read like a disturbed love note from a stalker. But these are common permissions requests for many mobile apps. Could they scare off users?
Executive profile: One on One with Amit Parikh, Discover
New head of prepaid speaks on his multifaceted career, his view on prepaid and why living in the Bay Area gives him a unique perspective on payments.
Final hurdle: rising to the operational challenge of transaction taxes
One may speculate that with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic party having secured a quite remarkable third term in office, the last in a long line of potential hurdles for the advocates of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) in Europe has been overcome
Lessons on living in a real-time payments world
Coming to the US to tell an audience of payments specialists about how the UK has transformed its national infrastructure over the past five years with the introduction of an effectively real-time payment system might have been considered a rough assignment – what can the Brits teach the wider world, particularly the US, about payments […]
Mobile payments – the tipping point
There comes a tipping point when market readiness, social behaviour and technology combine to create a sudden, ubiquitous change of behaviour. For mobile payments the tipping point may have arrived – but will there be a dominant solution?
Viewpoint: Payroll: Proof of Prepaid Power in Numbers
A group of like-minded companies came together this summer to address the recent melee in payroll cards. The work is far from over, but their activity points to the power of pooling resources and relationships for real progress and impact.
Cross-channel banking: beyond the app
Understanding and embracing cross-channel communication behaviours will become increasingly critical to success in the banking industry, writes Steve Dille, SVP of global marketing at Maryland USA based communications firm Message Systems.
Maybe next time …
What do Monty Python star Michael Palin, a municipal cemetery, the rock band Def Leppard and a long-running debate in the press room at Sibos have in common? The answer is Sheffield, Palin’s home town, which has for some years now been an also ran in the choice of the next venue for Swift’s annual travelling circus.
CFPB: CARD Act Saved Consumers Billions, But Some Concerns Remain (Oct. 3, 2013)
The credit card industry has largely cleaned up its act in the four years since sweeping new federal rules took effect, though some concerns remain, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau concluded this week. The CFPB’s 102-page report on the impact of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) passed in 2009 found […]
European Commission Considers Ways to Support Crowdfunding (Oct. 3, 2013)
Crowdfunding—a term used for a group of people pooling their money, typically through Websites, to support projects—is being used to help finance everything from films to NFC-enabled jewelry.
