It only seems like yesterday that I was summarising the top payments news stories for February 2015 – Is it me, or is time flying?!?! So in March cyber security continued to hit the headlines with various reports highlighting the extent of the issue. Various FinTech, digital/cryptocurrency and innovation related payment news stories also caught my eye. There’s no doubt, those themes will continue to dominate the news in 2015.
Following are my top Payments News stories (in no particular order!) for March 2015:
1. Payments News: Cyber Security
Cyber security continued to dominate the payments news stories in March 2015:
- Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) published 2014 statistics revealing the extent of fraud in the UK payments space
- Kreditech data breach has resulted in personal information being published on a website – the breach is widely suspected to be an inside job
- PayPal acquire CyActive, a cyber security firm, and establish a security hub in Tel Aviv
- The US Department of Justice charged 3 men for what they called “one of the largest reported data breaches in US history”
- Javelin Strategy & Research released a 2015 Identify Fraud Study highlighting the identify fraud advances and set backs in 2014. One of the alarming statistics was that $16 billion was stolen from 12.7 million US consumers in 2014…
- Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK) revealed how social media is being used by fraudsters to lure people into money laundering
2. Payments News: US Happenings…
- The US Federal Reserve Consumer and Mobile Financial Services 2015 report reveals key findings and trends around consumers’ use of mobile to access financial services
- US House of Representatives have formed the Congressional Payments Technology Caucus (CPTC) – the objective of this group is to explore innovative technologies in the payments industry
3. Payments News: Naughty Naughty…
- Paypal has paid the US government £5.1 million for allowing payments to sanctioned countries
- The Bank of England published the independent findings from a Deloitte review of the RTGS outage on 20th October, 2014
- The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee published a stinging report labelling banks in Northern Ireland as a block to recovery with IT systems “not fit for purpose”. The report continues to remark that the banks must step and have a key role to play in the economic recovery of the area
4. Payments News: Fintech…
- An Accenture report – The Future of Fintech and Banking – reveals how investment in Fintech companies grew globally by 201% in 2014 with Europe experiencing the highest level of growth
- A Deloitte report – Why FinTech Collaboration with Financial Services can drive job creation in Ireland – identifies 5 factors that Deloitte believe will help guide the success of the Fintech sector in Ireland
- The UK Government Office for Science published FinTech futures: the UK as a world leader in financial technologies a report that stresses the importance of Fintech and how to become a world leader in the fintech sector
- MasterCard increases its presence in Silicon Valley by expanding its San Carlos Center of Excellence and moving its Emerging Markets team there
- Tyro FinTech hub opens up in Sydney, apparently Australia’s first fintech hub….
5. Payments News: Digital / Cryptocurrencies
- A Credit Suisse article – Bitcoins – Money without Phyiscal Form – assess the banks perspective of Bitcoin
- Intel moved to boost its special innovation project group with a Cryptic Researcher post to further understand the opportunities offered by decentralised ledgers
- A Reuters article highlighted how IBM is considering the use of blockchain technology “to create a digital cash and payment system for major currencies” – blimey..!
- Nasdaq’s X-Stream Trading technology will be used by Noble Markets as the platform for trading digital currencies for institutional investors
- The UK government released its findings following a consultation on digital currencies. The Digital Currencies – Call for information states the benefits and risks of digital currencies and the governments proposed next steps
- In an amazing story US Federal Agents are charged with Bitcoin money laundering and wire fraud charges as part of the Silk Road investigation
6. Payments News: Digital Innovation
- The British Bankers Association (BBA) in conjunction with Accenture published a Digital Disruption: UK Banking Report highlighting the challenges and opportunities of digital banking
- Alibaba revealed plans to authorise payments using facial recognition technology, replacing the need for passwords and pins
- At the BBVA annual shareholders meeting Francisco Gonzalez revealed how the bank was “building the best digital bank of the 21st century“
- BMO Harris Bank launches what it calls America’s largest card-less ATM network, enabling users to withdraw cash from an ATM using their smartphone
- The European Payments Council published the requirements for a interoperable card and terminal infrastructure that would support card not present transactions across Europe
- In a pilot project Gemalto, Samsung and Telfonica are enabling mobile NFC ticketing for the public transport system in Madrid
7. Payments News: Takeovers
- Banco Sabadell agree a £1.7 billion takeover bid for TSB Banking Group
- D+H enters an agreement to acquire Fundtech, a US-based global payments solutions provider, for $1.25 billion in cash
8. Payments News: Facebook Payments
Facebook announced the ability in the coming months, through Facebook Messenger, to send/receive payments. The initial implementation would be available in the US only. Check out my post 10 things I learnt about Facebook Payments for more information…
9. Payments News: UK Stuff…
- Banks and other key stakeholders sign an agreement – Industry Protocol on Branch Closures – to minimise the customer and community wide impact of bank branch closures
- Transport for London (TfL) was revealed as the fastest growing contactless Visa merchant in Europe, with 1 million contactless payments made on 13th March, 2015
- The Financial Conduct Authority press release revealed how the current account switching service (CASS) is working well, but there was a broader lack of confidence in the CASS
10. Payments News: Apple Pay
I feel like I have to mention Apple, just because the European turf is beng prepped for it. This survey by Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG) reveals the results of their US based survey of 500 iPhone 6 and 6 Plus users. GlobalNewswire provide a useful summary of the survey results…
That’s it folks! Let me know below if I missed something important….