Ok folks, I know i have been quiet for the past few months. But now i am back and will be looking to post more regularly. Let’s kick off with a look back at the top payments news stories for August 2018:
1. Payments News – Cyber Security
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- The US Department of Justice reports that 3 members of the prolific cybercrime gang Fin7 have been arrested
- FBI warns of a carefully coordinated global fraud plot – ATM Cashout – where hackers compromise bank or payment card processing machines and use cloned cards to withdraw large sums of cash in a few hours
- Thomson Reuters and the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) partner on projects to further develop fintech in Singapore, focusing on technologies that will help resolve financial crime
- The UK financial ombudsman outlines the evolution and sophistication of cybercrime and warn banks that they should not assume their customers have acted with gross negligence
2. Payments News – Mobile Payments
- Tencent’s WeChat Pay launches in Malaysia – the first ‘export’ of the payments platform in Asia beyond China and Hong Kong
- Samsung Pay launched 3 years ago goes from strength to strength, surpassing 1.3 billion transactions
- Google updates and rebrands its Tez payments app in India to Google Pay
- Warren Buffett is reportedly looking to invest in Paytm
3. Payments News: Blockchain / Digital / Crypto-currencies
- Intercontinental Exchange, BCG, Microsoft & Starbucks link up to form Bakkt – an ecosystem that allows consumers to buy, sell and store digital currencies on a global platform
- Eurex regional head of Asia, Roland Schwinn, explains “the digitization of assets has started”
- IBM and Maersk create TradeLens – a blockchain enabled shipping solution
- Monetary Authority of Singapore announces Project Ubin Phase 2 – to develop Delivery versus Payment (DvP) capabilities
4. Payments News: Banks
- HSBC to implement Quantexa tech into its systems this year to help identify money laundering
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia Chief Matt Comyn discusses 2018 financial results
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia Smart Assets proof of concept combines Internet of Things (IoT), smart contracts and blockchain tech and data to enable farmers to make better and timely decisions
- RBS seeks help from online challenger Starling Bank to become digital
5. Payments News: Fintech
- Starling Bank launches Banking-As-A-Platform APIs
- Revolut crowd investors make 19x on their original investment
- Facebook seeks financial data about their users from banks
- Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announces the launch of PayNow Corporate – extending instant payments via just a mobile or NRIC number to business, corporate and government agencies
- Square’s Cash App downloads surpass Paypal’s Venmo
- Amazon is reportedly making inquiries around setting up a UK insurance price comparison website
- Revolut launches Revolut Metal and provide a neat Q&A post
- Bloomberg highlights a deal where Google purchased Mastercard transaction data allowing them to understand when online ads resulted in physical store sales in the US
6. Payments News: Europe – SEPA, PSD2, Open Banking, GDRP
- Open banking enables Santander customers to link up to the Moneybox fintech app
7. Payments News: SWIFT
- SWIFT, Iranian sanctions, an independent SWIFT system and Angela Merkel’s response
- SWIFT announce plans to test instant cross-border payments in Asia
- Ebury, a UK based fintech, goes live with SWIFT gpi
8. Payments News: Reports
- GlobalData survey highlights how alternative payment methods such as mobile and digital wallets are growing and displacing traditional payment methods (card, bank transfers, cheques, cash) in Asia-Pacific region
- Loop Ventures – Apple Pay increasingly central to iPhone
- Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane talks to the BBC about the AI Threat
- World Economic Forum – The New Physics of Financial Services
That’s it folks! Let me know below if I missed anything important…