Cor blimey… Its June ! Here we go with a round up of the payments news stories from May 2015. In this month mobile payments news stories seemed to topped the bill, with plenty of cyber security and digital currency happenings too. There were a couple of developments in user authentication and I’m sure this is a trend that will continue to be discussed in the coming months. The Fintech train motors on and attracts growing global attention and investment. Here’s my round up of the top payments news stories from May 2015…
1. Payments News – Cyber Security
- India’s Icici Bank launches voice recognition service to help authenticate customers
- The Internet Crime Complaint Centre (made up of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National White Collar Crime Centre (NW3C)) release their annual 2014 Internet Crime Report
- EBA made a couple of announcements:
- Plans to enable secure and efficient payment services across the EU under the upcoming PSD2 and IFR
- Guidelines for secure internet payments, effective from 1-August-2015
- Former JP Morgan employee pleads guilty after stealing customer data as part of a identity theft ring
- Polish Getin Bank launches DCVC (Dynamic Card Verification Code) technology in its bid to protect its customers from online fraud and theft
- Fujitsu releases the worlds first smartphone with iris authentication – replacing the need for passwords and pins
2. Payments News – Mobile Payments
- CB Insights report on the significant investment happening this year in mobile fin tech investment
- Celent reports on the state, and growth, of mobile Remote Deposit Capture (RDC)
- Google announces Android Pay, a mobile payments service that will compete with Samsung Pay and ApplePay
- Facebook payments continue to be deployed in the US, with additional functionality
- BBVA enhances their Mobile Payments App
- An Aite report – Mobile Proximity Payments: A Disruption in the Force – outlines all things mobile in the US over the coming 5 years
- Walmart partners with Alipay to initially enable mobile payments in 25 of its stores in China
- Axis Bank launches Ping Pay – a mobile payments service app – enabling payments within WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter email and phone contact list
3. Payments News: Digital / Cryptocurrencies
- Ross Ulbricht, found of the Silk Road website, is sentenced to life in prison
- Eris Industries will relocate staff out of the UK pending clarification around the re-introduction of the Communications Data Bill ( aka “Snooper’s Charter”) in the UK
- A Canadian University (Simon Fraser University) is the first to accept Bitcoin
- Xapo – a bitcoin wallet – announce 3 top appointments to their advisory board
- The New York Stock Exchange Bitcoin Index (NYXBT) is launched
- Nasdaq launches plans to utilise blockchain technology
4. Payments News: Banks
- KPMG release “The Game Changers” study revealing their analysis into challenger banks in the UK
- JP Morgan Chase Institute publish proprietary big data analysis in a report – Weathering Volatility
- Barclays announces .barclays and .barclaycard domains
- BBVA names Carlos Torres Vila as COO (Chief Operating Officer) as the bank embarks on its digital transformation
5. Payments News: Financial Inclusion
- Village Capital and eBay Foundation launch a 3 month initiative to support entrepreneurs who can deliver financial services to the “Underbanked”
- MasterCard launches MasterCard Send – a personal payments service
- Airtel Ghana and VeriFone Mobile Money announce a partnership to bring NFC payments to Ghana
6. Payments News: Fintech
- Visa Europe launches Visa Europe Collab – a international innovation hub with offices in London, Tel Aviv and Berlin
- UK Payments Council figures show the continued growth of non-cash payments in 2014
- Oracle Financial Services publish “Banking is Changing…with or without the banks“
- Gartner survey reveals limited Hadoop adoption
- Uber looks to Hyderabad to help test cash payments
- EBA publishes 2 papers – one exploring the Digital Customer Services Interface, the other on Cryptotechnologies
- The UK’s Faster Payments commissions a report detailing the benefits of the New Access Model
- Sentenial disrupts payment processing with the launch of Nuapay
7. Payments News: SWIFT
- SWIFT makes The KYC Registry available to funds distributors and custodians
- SWIFT gather a contingent of 26 executives from across the industry “to establish a common framework for ISO20022 harmonisation“
8. Payments News: Regulation
- A proposal to revise the Payments Services Directive, which is likely to be adopted later this year, is welcomed by the European Commission
That’s it folks! Let me know below if I missed anything important….