Barry Kislingbury, Lead Solutions Consultant Consumer Banking Europe, ACI Worldwide comments on today’s news of a BACS payments system failure affecting thousands of HSBC customers:

 “Today’s payment systems failure which has left thousands of customers across the UK without salaries ahead of a bank holiday weekend underlines yet again the urgent need to modernise the UK’s creaking banking and payments infrastructure.

Global capital markets specialist, Hatstand, announces the launch of its Cybersecurity Risk Assessment, which will enable businesses to better understand the current state of their preparedness against the risk of cyber attacks and identify any shortfalls within their existing governance programmes. 

A common approach will be key to minimising the fallout of MiFID II implementation, particularly around the extra data required for record keeping and transaction reporting and for algo identification.

North American Bancard (NAB), an industry leader in credit card processing, announced it will introduce the newest version of its PayAnywhere Mobile credit card reader, available exclusively in Apple Stores nationwide and www.apple.com in September.

 Oakam, a UK-based lender providing financial services to people who find it difficult to borrow from banks, today announced its new smartphone app is available to download from the App Store:. The app (iOS) marks the first stage of the company’s digital expansion of its proven in-store model with the intention of it being applied across the UK and beyond.

New research from the UK's leading contact centre magazine Call Centre Helper, run in partnership with NewVoiceMedia, reveals that nearly half of industry professionals (44%) name ‘IT issues’ as a key barrier to running an effective contact centre.

The survey, which asked over 600 members of the contact centre industry ‘what barriers stop you from running your dream contact centre?’ also found that budget (67%), the need for new technology (40%) and technology not being joined up (35%), are all responsible for restricting progress in the contact centre.

Hold the front page - the Chinese economy is slowing down. Who didn’t see that one coming? In an age of intertwined economies, extreme volatility in China is being exported globally. Calamity across the Chinese commodity markets this week is having largely foreseen global consequences. If ever there was an argument against globalisation, this interlocking of economic liberalism must form part of it. One thing is clear: China is undergoing a tectonic shift in its economy and this will impact markets great and small across the globe.

Technology is meant to make life easier. Be it a smart phone, TV or fridge, or even a smart water kettle, they all promise a simpler life. Whether they deliver on that is another matter entirely and the idea that more technology always equalsbetter is debatable, particularly considering that my new bathroom scales tweet my weight every time I step on them.

Fintech startup Ormsby Street has launched its innovative credit-checking tool CreditHQ in Italy, as part of a new partnership with one of Italy’s biggest and most-used banks.

Basware, the leading provider of e-invoicing and purchase-to-pay solutions, is accelerating the uptake of e-invoicing in the UK through a new senior appointment.