Payments news stories in April continued to be dominated by Fintech and the usual Fintech companies! Fintech companies doing fintech and banks trying to be more like fintech’s. And we are perhaps seeing the real beginnings of fintech companies moving into banking. Alongside the shiny fintech stuff, there has been a good ol’ bank IT system melt down. Check out the following top payments news stories for April 2018:
1. Payments News – Cyber Security
- HSBC to use AI to help combat money laundering
- JP Morgan introduces Voice ID on the phone for credit card customer
2. Payments News – Mobile Payments
- Safaricom, PayPal and TransferTo link up to allow funds transfer between M-Pesa and PayPal accounts
- Citi survey – Mobile Banking One of Top Three Most Used Apps by Americans, 2018 Citi Mobile Banking Study Reveals
3. Payments News: Blockchain / Digital / Crypto-currencies
- The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is to create a self-regulatory group to monitor cryptocurrency and fintech
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bans regulated Indian financial institutions from dealing with virtual currencies
- Santander One Pay FX is launched, using Ripple’s xCurrent, enabling customers in Spain, UK, Poland and Brazil to complete same day international transfers
- ICICI Bank partners with 250 corporates on a trade finance blockchain platform
- Batvia – a blockchain based trade finance platform, developed by a a consortium consisting of Bank of Montreal, CaixaBank, Commerzbank, Erste Bank, IBM and UBS completes its first pilot transaction with corporate customers
- Ripple expands it global Payments network through xVia – an API solution
- BBVA completes a global corporate loan transaction via blockchain technology
4. Payments News: Banks
- Bank of America launch a Digital Mortgage Experience
- Barclays UK Ventures (BUKV) is established, a unit to create new business lines and promote innovation
- In a speech by Derville Rowland the Central Bank of Ireland launches a innovation hub
- An IT upgrade at TSB wreaks havoc into a second week
- Deutsche Bank launches new interactive big-data tool, utilising a platform called Data Innovation Group (dbDIG), to provide data driven investment solutions
5. Payments News: Fintech
- MAS – Monetary Authority of Singapore – looks to promote the ethical use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and data analytics by financial institutions
- Is PayPal sneaking into traditional traditional banking services?
- Revolut launches Vault – a spare change app
- Fintech darling TransferWise connects into Britain’s RTGS Faster Payments Scheme
- TransferWise launches borderless multi-country account and debit Mastercard for customers
- Barclays and Paypal hook up in order to hold back the big tech threat and offer an enhanced digital payments service
- Plug and Play announce 5 corporate partners to join their fintech program based out of Frankfurt
- Singapore will fast-track fintech patent applications to 6 months
- The UK Fintech sector calls for immigration clarity in order to ensure access to global talent
6. Payments News: Europe – SEPA, PSD2, Open Banking, GDRP
- Rabobank partners with IBM to desensitise data to help comply with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
- WestPac along with some other big Australian banks calls for more time to manage Open Banking risks
7. Payments News: SWIFT
- Malaysia’s Central Bank blocks a SWIFT related cyber heist
- Finextra cover the SWIFT Business Forum London – check out my amazing (!!) overview
- SWIFT set out their vision to migrate to ISO 20022 for cross border services
8. Payments News: Reports
- Nick Kerigan from Barclaycard talk to Finextra about innovation in payments
- Strategic Treasurer – Tech Tune-Up: Five Areas of Innovation that Treasurers are Focusing on in 2018 – (summary)
- Barclays Research publish 2018 Equity Gilt Study delves into economic impact of technology
- House of Lords – Select Committee on AI – AI in the UK: ready, willing and able?
- World Bank – 2017 Global Findex report
- Accenture Report – Banking Technology Vision 2018
- CB Insights – Global Fintech Report Q1 2018
- TransferWise – Mission Report Q1 2018
That’s it folks! Let me know below if I missed anything important…