An agreement on the establishment in the UK of a global node for a standardized digital currency based on blockchain technology was formally signed at Central Hall Westminster on January 9. China's Puerbank Group delivered the new node that will function both from an operation as well as a technological viewpoint in line with a standardized system for digital currency. The group plans to collaborate with selected companies in the UK during the establishment of the node and in an interchange of various forms of assets valued at 5 billion yuan (approx. US$720 million).

RSRCHXchange, the online aggregator and marketplace for institutional research, today released the results of a survey analysing the readiness of asset managers for the research unbundling rules coming into effect in January 2018 as part of MiFID II. The survey was conducted towards the end of last year by polling company Survation, who canvassed the views of 234 respondents, representing over 200 firms and $15trn of AUM, making this the biggest survey of its kind.

Discover Financial Services (DFS) and PayPal have signed an agreement making PayPal more widely available to Discover cardmembers, acquirers and merchants.

The agreement provides PayPal with access to Discover’s tokenization services, expanding PayPal’s reach at the point of sale, which will enable U.S. PayPal customers to pay with their Discover cards at all of the contactless-enabled merchants that accept Discover.

OANDA Global Corporation’s Board of Directors has appointed Vatsa Narasimha, formerly CFO of OANDA, as its CEO. Mr. Narasimha succeeds Ed Eger who, alongside the Board, hand-selected Mr. Narasimha for the role. Mr. Eger will remain at OANDA to support Mr. Narasimha during a transition period.

Over the past three years, Mr. Narasimha has been a critical part of the OANDA success story. Under Mr. Eger’s mentorship, he has helped the firm grow in new sectors and regions, streamlined and automated operations and built a data-driven, customer-focused team.

UK accountants are at risk of their pro-Europe stance hindering business growth, as just 13 per cent state leaving the EU will result in a commercial gain.

A study, conducted by IRIS Software Group, found a resounding 68 per cent of accountancy firms don’t believe invoking Article 50 will have an impact on their business. Of those who did believe Brexit will impact accountants, more felt this would be detrimental (18 per cent) than beneficial (13 per cent).

SWIFT announces the launch of a Proof of Concept (PoC) to explore whether distributed ledger technology (DLT) can be used by banks to improve the reconciliation of their nostro databases in real time, optimising their global liquidity.

Verint^® Systems Inc. shows a 7% drop in customer retention compared to a similar survey conducted one year ago. This latest large-scale study of more than 24,000 consumers in 12 countries across nine industry sectors—conducted in partnership with Opinium Research LLC—found that consumers who prefer to do business through digital channels are more likely to swap providers than those that engage with businesses though human touch interactions, such as those that take place by phone via the contact centre or in-store.

HID Global®, a worldwide leader in trusted identity solutions, forecasts a shift in the use of identity technology that will lead to increased adoption of mobile devices and the latest smart card technology, a greater emphasis and reliance on the cloud, and a radical new way of thinking of trust in smart environments and Internet of Things (IoT).  

Offline and online commerce are rapidly converging.  Brick & mortar retail models are rapidly changing. And consumers are increasingly demanding simple, fun and secure experiences no matter where or when they shop.

The European Banking Authority recently drafted the latest technical standards for the Payment Services Directive II (PSD2), which serves as the legal foundation for a new cross-EU payments market. In 2016, European e-commerce sales are expected to increase 17% to €183 billion and the use of payment service providers (PSPs) is increasing significantly.