I was looking back at last weeks payments news stories, and thought wow – there were some interesting happenings. I realised that we were at the end of the month, and tracked back at the key payments related news items for January 2015. Now because this is a SEPA, i.e. a European Payments related, website I am specifically focusing and highlighting European / European related payments news stories.
Here are my top 10 Payments News items (in no particular order!) for January 2015:
1. A BBVA Compass press release highlighted the need for a bank strategy to reach the millennials
2. SWIFT had a couple of things going on in January 2015:
- SWIFT appointed a new CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and COO (Chief Operating Officer)
- The European Parliament raised concerns about the level of access US authorities have to SWIFT payments data
3. The Deloitte Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions 2015 forecast the explosion of in-store payments via mobile phones
4. Bitcoin featured heavily with various stories:
- Bitstamp, the worlds biggest USD Bitcoin exchange, suspends services following a $5 million Wallet hack
- Bitcoin price slumps to a $179 low
- Coinbase launches the first US regulated Bitcoin exchange, and helps to push the price beyond $280
- Greg Baxter, Citi’s head of digital strategy, is wary of Bitcoin as a global currency
- SMU research reveals that over $11 million stolen in Bitcoin scams
5. The following technology initiatives came to an end:
- The Amazon Wallet app
- Google shelves Google Glass
6. Cyber security and crime were hot topics:
- Hackers threatened to publish 30,000 email addresses, taken from a Swiss Bank, in return for EUR 10,000
- US/UK are to collaborate and test each others resilience by conducting a series of cyber war games
- IBM published cyber crime findings for 2014
7. The Gates released their 2015 annual Letter highlighting their 5 big bets for the next 15 years
8. Apple announced mind blowing sales / profits for in its first fiscal quarter, and the CEO Tim Cook announced 2015 as ‘the Year of Apple Pay’
9. Visa announced some interesting developments:
- Visa Europe will invest more than EUR200 million to help boost the growth of digital payments
- 9 Polish banks plan to deploy contactless payments using Visa’s cloud based mobile payments services – further initiatives are forecast in Spain, Italy, France and Slovakia
10. The UK had a few hot payment initiatives kicking off:
- Google rolled out its Gmail money transfer system in the UK
- At home here in the UK, Contactless payments hit prime time TV with the installation of contactless payments terminal on one of the most popular TV soaps
Those are my top payments news stories – do you agree, or have I missed something….? If so, please let me know below…