FIS continues to earn honors that recognize the realization of those efforts.

For decades, the company has been developing innovative payment solutions. Two of its newest offerings were recently honored by the 2016 PYMNTS Innovator Awards and 2016 Pay Awards.

FIS Loyalty Fuel Redemption, the industry’s first solution that allows for single-swipe redemption at the point of sale, thus enabling consumers to pay with a participating loyalty card and redeem points toward the purchase, won Best Point of Sale Innovation Award at the 2016 PYMNTS Innovator Awards.

The fraudsters’ calculation is simple: where there’s a great deal of revenue to be earned, there’s a great deal of fraud to be committed. And where there’s even more revenue to be earned, there’s even more fraud to be committed. In international e-commerce, the signs are pointing the way to increased revenue – and the fraudsters have already muscled in with new techniques.

Trend 1: E-Commerce is an Easy Target

I am honored to have been invited to speak at a panel during 

SmartStream Technologies, the Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM^®) specialist, today announced that Haytham Kaddoura has been named CEO of SmartStream and will be working with Philippe Chambadal who will be assuming the role of President. With the recent formation of the SmartStream Reference Data Utility (RDU), the success of the Fees Management Utility and in anticipation of upcoming acquisitions, Mr. Chambadal will focus on these and other strategic initiatives.

BankservAfrica, headquartered in Johannesburg and operator of Africa’s largest interoperable payments switch, will implement the INTIX Data Management technology to financial institutions’ customers located in South Africa and other African countries.

 Ovamba Cameroon Solutions an online African funding and logistics services provider for MSMEs (micro, small and medium sized businesses), has been shortlisted by African Banker magazine in its annual awards programme forInnovation in Banking. Now in their 10th year, the awards are open to all African financial institutions, including banks, micro-financiers, investment banks, development finance institutions and other financial services institutions.

Recently there has been a spate of articles describing the symbiotic relationship between the established financial services sector and the FinTech challengers. For those looking to take on the banks around the fringes, it’s a different story. For them, it’s keeping one step ahead and offering new services before the lumbering giants’ catch-up – or more likely – eat them up. But for those looking to add and sell services to existing banks, maybe the direct approach isn’t necessarily the best one.

Bank of Palestine, the largest financial institution in Palestine, has set up its first international representative office worldwide at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the global financial hub connecting businesses and institutions with emerging market opportunities across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA).