As 2018 draws to a close, here are the top payments news stories in December and some recaps of the year too. It’s been quite a year and for those of you that have followed this blog i would like to thank you for your support and wish you a Happy and Healthy 2019.
Check out below the top payment news stories that caught my eye in December 2018:
1. Payments News – Cyber Security
- Pay.UK’s Faster Payments team launches anti-fraud Mule Insights Tactical Solution (MITS) using AML technology from Vocalink
- Amazing – Genius UK fraudster jailed
- Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) enable fingerprint and facial recognition for the CitiDirect BE login
2. Payments News – Mobile Payments
- PPRO Group and Mastercard hook up to roll out its Pay by Bank app to UK merchants
- RBR Report indicates global ATMs installed globally will drop from a peak (3.28 million) in 2017 to 3.23 million by end of 2023
3. Payments News: Blockchain / Digital / Crypto-currencies
- R3 launch Corda Settler, enabling payments originating on the Corda platform to be made through any payment systems – Ripple’s XRP is the first cryptocurrency to be supported
- Porsche and BBVA complete a acquisition loan using blockchain technology
- Blythe Masters steps down as CEO of Digital Asset Holdings
4. Payments News: Banks
- Federal Reserve along with four other regulatory bodies publish joint statement calling for the exploration of innovative solutions to Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) compliance obligations
- Citi talk at the EMEA Media Summit about removing legacy tech with new-tech such as AI, big-tech and the cloud
- HSBC launch “My Investment” – an online (robo) investment advisory service
- BBVA talk about the BigTech and the battle over data
5. Payments News: Fintech
- Mastercard and Microsoft work together to further advance innovations in digital identity
- TD Ameritrade joins forces with Tencent, offering WeChat to US users to check market data and other features
- IBM Services will be the global implementation partner for Vault, a cloud native banking platform provided by Thought Machine
- At Fintech Connect, Finextra cover:
- The focus on how data is controlled
- Comments from the DBS Innovation chief Neal Cross
- Revolut get a European Banking Licence
- Vocalink and CCE partner to introduce 24/7 real time payments, bulk payments and cheques in Peru
- Vipps (Norway) and ePassi (Finland) will use the AliPay QR code standard as they implement QR Code payments
6. Payments News: Europe – SEPA, PSD2, Open Banking, GDRP
- Accenture research reveals most large banks in Asia believe Open Banking will be a key strategic initiative in the region enabling double digit growth
- Nordea launch Instant Reporting API
- European Commission agrees to make Euro cross border payments cheaper across the entire European Union
7. Payments News: SWIFT
- SWIFT initiate SWIFT gpi pre-validation pilot to reduce payment errors with 14 banks, including BBVA
- After 7 years SWIFT CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt will step down at the end of June 2019
8. Payments News: Reports
- State Street – New Routes to Growth (big tech)
- DTCC – Systemic Risk Barometer – 2019 Risk Forecast
- New York Times – As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants
9. 2018 Round Up
- Chris Skinner’s top blog posts of 2018
- Finextra nicely summarise key events:
- CTM File round up their most popular articles of 2018
- For the Guardian, Frankie Boyle review of 2018
That’s it folks! Let me know below if I missed anything important…