In financial services, advances in AI have the potential to enhance a whole host of business processes, from predicting consumer behavior to fraud detection.  Yet, in the race to establish a competitive edge, some companies have rushed into AI deployments, resulting in some early teething problems. For instance, last year a major bank allegedly charged customers overdraft fees based on data from an AI-powered system, even when the customers were not actually overdrawn.

Starling grew quickly, from approximately 43,000 customers in 2017 to 3.6 million in 2023. However, measures to tackle financial crime did not keep pace with its growth.

Revolut, the global fintech with over 45 million global customers, is calling on Meta to commit to sharing reimbursement of fraud victims, arguing that its recently announced data-sharing partnership with UK banks and financial institutions falls woefully short of what’s required to tackle fraud globally.

FOMO Pay, a leading Singapore-based major payment institution announced a strategic partnership today with Visa, the world’s leader in digital payments. Through this collaboration, FOMO Pay will integrate Visa’s QR into the SGQR network, enabling cardholders to scan the QR code and pay with their Visa cards. FOMO Pay will enable SGQR merchants to accept Visa QR payments, enabling the use of Visa credit and debit cards for scan-and-pay in Singapore.  

Rising African countries are among the fastest-growing regions in consumer spending, according to data from the World Data Lab analyzed by EBANX, a global technology company specializing in payment services for rising markets. The giant Egypt will accelerate growth by 167%, while the smaller economies, like Ethiopia, will grow by an impressive 429% in the next decade. Kenya (115%), Morocco (107%), Ghana (106%), and South Africa (42%) are also mentioned in the analysis.

The number of UK financial institutions investing in artificial intelligence (AI) has doubled within a year, according to Lloyds Bank’s ninth annual Financial Institutions Sentiment Survey.  Almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents are investing in the emerging technology, up from one third (32%) in 2023. 

Glia, the leader in customer interaction technology, announced the launch of its Unified Interactions Index Calculator today, providing a seamless, guided digital process for financial services companies to benchmark themselves against over 500 peer companies.

With a rich history of over 200 years in the banking industry, Erste Group, a powerhouse in Eastern Europe’s financial services, has chosen to collaborate with Salt Edge, a leading open banking solutions provider. This strategic partnership, backed by the extensive expertise of both entities, is set to revolutionise multi-banking services in the CEE region. The aim is to bolster the multi-banking functionalities for Erste Group’s retail and corporate customers through the George banking app and the ErsteConnect API. 

Visa, a global leader in digital payments, is helping to bridge existing fiat currencies with blockchains through the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), a new product designed to help financial institutions issue and manage fiat-backed tokens on blockchain networks.