Payments news stories in May highlighted cyber threats in Mexico, TSB IT issues lingered, PayPal partnerships, Ripple continued to sign-up new partners and banks pursued their respective digital transformation. And of course, it was the month in which GDPR went live. All in all, another crazy month in the world of payments. Check out the following top payments news stories for May 2018:
1. Payments News – Cyber Security
- ECB shares European Framework for Threat Intelligence-based Ethical Red Teaming (TIBER-EU) to test financial sector resilience against cyber attacks
- Mastercard will enable customers to register their fingerprint on to their bio-metric card at home
- Banks in Mexico told to connect to the country’s payment network via a backup method after a suspected cyber-attack
- In the May 2016 data breach, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) confirms that tapes containing almost 20 million account records were lost
- Hackers exploit vulnerabilities at banks to steal money through Mexico’s SPEI interbank system
- TSB IT problems have been exploited by fraudsters who are sending phishing emails and fake text messages to TSB customers
- Santander Scam Avoidance School (SAS) highlights everyday fraud risks
2. Payments News – Mobile Payments
- Samsung Pay to offer cash back feature via its app
- Google Pay (combination of Android Pay & Google Wallet) is rolling out to browsers such as Safari and Firefox, as well as iOS
- PayPal acquires iZettle
- Paypal and Google get cosy, enabling easier PayPal payments from within Gmail, YouTube and other Google apps
3. Payments News: Blockchain / Digital / Crypto-currencies
- CryptoUK, a self regulated trade association for the UK cryptocurrencies, looks to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to regulate cryptocurrency trading
- Standard Chartered plans to extend its use of RippleNet to 5 further countries
- Details of a JP Morgan patent application to use distributed ledgers for payment processing emerge
- Ripple’s xRapid solution goes from strength to strength
- HSBC and ING complete a trade finance transaction via the R3 Corda blockchain platform
- Ripple launches Xpring to help entrepreneurs and developers with their XRP related projects
- The Polish Credit Office partners with Billon to implement a blockchain based solution to store and secure customer information
- MUFJ (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group) and Akamai Technologies to develop a new blockchain based payment network – capable of processing 1 million transactions per second!
- Commerzbank partners with Thyssenkrupp to process a FX Transaction via the R3 Corda blockchain platform
- InstaRem and BeeTech to use RippleNet enabling real time payments across Singapore and South America
4. Payments News: Banks
- RBS to close 162 UK branches and cut 792 jobs
- Deutsche Bank partners with IATA to pilot a “disruptive new payments model”
- HSBC launch Connected Money app, a one stop app for users to see their accounts across various banks
- JP Morgan revamps its trading business management team
- Allied Irish Bank (AIB) accused of spying on customer social media accounts
- Deutsche Bank acquires Quantiguous Solutions to help fast forward its Open Banking strategy
- Worldline will acquire SIX Payment Services
- BBVA launches what it calls the worlds first globally developed mobile banking platform
- Check out Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing’s 2018 Annual General Meeting speech
- Embracing Open Banking ING launches a Developer Portal to promote innovation by developers in/outside of the bank
- Deutsche Bank and Postbank merge
5. Payments News: Fintech
- Mastercard and Unilever pilot an initiative in Kenya to help micro-entrepreneurs get access to credit
- Microsoft Pay to be integrated into Outlook
- Monetary Authority of Singapore plans to boost the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Singapore’s financial sector
- David Marcus (previously at Facebook Messaging, PayPal President, Coinbase board member) will lead a group at Facebook looking into blockchain
- Ride-hailing company Grab has partnered with Maybank in Malaysia to promote its own mobile wallet, GrabPay
- The Federal Reserve is keeping an eye on big tech firms trying to muscle in on financial services
- Ant Financial to work with SPD Bank in China to support the banks digital transformation
6. Payments News: Europe – SEPA, PSD2, Open Banking, GDRP
- Deutsche Bank acquires Quantiguous Solutions to help fast forward its Open Banking strategy
- EPA (Emerging Payments Association) writes to the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) demanding changes to terms to realise the true potential of Open Banking
7. Payments News: SWIFT
8. Payments News: Reports
- KPMG – Building Cyber resilience in Asset Management
- JD Power – 2018 US Retail Banking Satisfaction Survey
- Lloyd’s Bank Insights – Financial Institutions Sentiment Survey 2018
- SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) Commissioner Hester Peirce – Speech: Beaches and Bitcoin
- Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard speech – Cryptocurrencies, Digital Currencies, and Distributed Ledger Technologies: What Are We Learning?
- UK Finance – Sustainable Financial Services in the Digital Age
That’s it folks! Let me know below if I missed anything important…