It took 200 years before the invention of the printing press heralded the widespread use of modern banknotes. Four centuries on and blockchain technology – still barely a decade old – is moving so rapidly that the days of cash are surely numbered.

The way we use money has been revolutionised by plastic cards, online banking, contactless and smartphone payments. The next big development will see blockchain turn the concept of a cashless society from science fiction to reality.

FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a global payments technology company, has launched for United Bank of India, FSS Voice Commerce in partnership with Amazon, a real-time voice banking platform that offers customers personalized banking interactions.

VAKT, the company re-imagining commodity post-trade processing underpinned by blockchain, announces a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with essDOCS, a leading enabler of paperless trade. The MOU focuses on the North-West European barge markets, smoothing the post-trade process for all parties involved in the transaction.

The term ‘global village’ has been in use since the 1960s, but the internet has really turbo-charged the idea. It has shrunk both distance and time, making the world more interconnected. People can now exchange messages, stories, opinions, posts and videos online easier than at any time in the past.

Bolero International is partnering with Traydstream, the leader in Trade document scrutiny using artificial intelligence (AI), to provide a powerful automatic document checking service for both its corporate and bank customers saving them time and resources as well as mitigating trade finance risks.

Banco Santander (Santander), the major international financial group, has launched JCB merchant acquiring operations in Spain following a license agreement with JCB International (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB, the Japanese global payment brand. Thanks to this new alliance, Santander facilitates JCB acceptance at Santander-acquired merchants throughout Spain.

As global non-cash transactions boom and competition flourishes, many banks remain reluctant to embrace Open Banking via data sharing, ecosystem partnerships and open platforms, with multiple incumbents still being cautious of change.

Torstone Technology, a leading provider of post-trade securities and derivatives processing systems, today announces that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Numis the leading independent Investment Bank to implement Torstone’s award-winning, cloud-based platform, Inferno, to process their equities business.

Trulioo , a Vancouver-based global identity verification provider, has raised a total of C$70 million in new funding, including $60 million in Series C financing led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, with participation from Citi Ventures, Santander InnoVentures and existing investor American Express Ventures, and $10 million in unannounced follow-on funding from early investors Blumberg Capital and BDC Capital from last year. 

B-Hive, the European Banking Federation, Febelfin and FinTech Belgium join forces and today announce the very first Digital Finance Summit, on November 27, 2019 in Brussels. At the event - the biggest fintech conference ever in Belgium - entrepreneurs, financial services providers and policy makers will gather in the heart of Europe to shape the future of the European fintech ecosystem.

Innovative insights on the future of fintech