In recent years the payments landscape has evolved and transformed, in the near future it seems likely to continue to do so. 2018 is being seen as a watershed year in terms of regulatory implementation deadlines across the financial services space and the payments industry is testament to this. With the implementation of SEPA instant payments officially set for November 2017, PSD2 for January 2018 and the GDPR for May 2018 there is no doubting that payment professionals face a barrage of deadlines and challenges over the coming year.

 Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK), a global leader in mobile capture and identity verification software solutions, today reported that its Mobile Verify has improved leading European blockchain provider Nocks' customer on-boarding time by 98%, from 12 hours to five minutes. This has helped Nocks to grow its userbase by 214%.

Metro Bank, the revolution in British banking, has launched instant online account opening for its current account. For the first time, customers from across the UK can join the bank as current account holders from the comfort of their own home, office, coffee shops, sheds, hot tubs…

Leading digital identity verification provider, Jumio, has teamed up with smart cryptocurrency payments platform, Byteball, to support it in optimising “Know Your Customer” (KYC) processes for users taking part in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO today announced its partnership with Barbican Insurance Group (Barbican), a multi-platform insurance group that underwrites business predominantly through its syndicates at Lloyd’s of London, and which provides global cyber insurance coverage to its insureds.

Torstone Technology, a leading global provider of post-trade securities and derivatives processing, today announced that it has entered the Norwegian market by connecting its flagship Inferno platform to Verdipapirsentralen ASA (VPS), Norway’s Central Securities Depository.                                                                                          

Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announces three new initiatives to strengthen its global FinTech Partner program; FinLab, its cloud-based platform to facilitate the creation of new joint services; FinHub, a Fintech on-boarding program and FinNet,

Vocalink, a Mastercard company and global payment partner to banks, corporates and governments, today announced that Stig Korsgaard has joined the organisation as Vice President, European Sales. Based in Denmark, Stig’s appointment will further drive the growth of Vocalink's range of products with a focus on the development of real-time payments infrastructure and applications throughout Europe.

Radware, a leading provider of cyber security and application delivery solutions, has released its 2017-2018 Global Application and Network Security Report, which found that the percentage of companies reporting financially motivated cyber-attacks has doubled over the past two years, with 50% of surveyed companies experiencing a cyber-attack motivated by ransom in the past year.