CREST has announced that it is collaborating with the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (HKIB) and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) to deliver its high-level cybersecurity accreditations and examinations across Hong Kong from December 2016. CREST provides internationally recognised accreditation for organisations and individuals providing penetration testing, cyber incident response and threat intelligence services. 

Ovamba Cameroon Solutions (“Ovamba”), an online African funding and logistics services provider for SMEs (small and medium sized businesses), has been recognised as the ‘Best African Lending & Finance company’ of 2016 at the African FinTech Awards and secured a spot in the top-15 for the African FinTech 100. The awards are part of the largest exhibition and conference for finance professionals, Finance Indaba Africa, held annually in Johannesburg, South Africa.

I’m losing track of the number of new banks that have announced they are launching in Britain.  I say there’s 40, but there appears to be a new one every day.  The latest one is 

ImageWare Systems, Inc. (ImageWare) (OTCQB: IWSY), a leader in mobile and cloud-based biometric identity management solutions, today distributed its newsletter featuring research from leading analyst firm Gartner on the first enterprise-ready biometric platform that seamlessly integrates with Microsoft infrastructure. ImageWare’s latest innovation, GoVerifyID® Enterprise Suite, is a multi-modal, multi-factor end-to-end biometric authentication solution that solves the numerous challenges Gartner previously identified in a research report published in April 2016.

IPC, a leading global provider of secure, compliant communications and network solutions for the financial markets community, today announced Affin Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Affin Holdings Berhad, has upgraded its financial trading communications solution to IPC’s new IQ/MAX® Touch powered by IPC’s Unigy® platform. Within two days of an initial trader test, Affin Bank, a long-time IPC customer, rolled out the IQ/MAX Touch communications device to all of its traders.

New challenger online banks have had few reputational issues. Mostly not associated with the 2008 financial crash, they have benefited from enlightened regulation and a modern approach towards mobile, digital banking.

Their customer proposition depends on a data driven approach designed for millennial, early adopting professionals with shrinking loyalties. They are rich in apps, biometrics, facial and voice recognition. Their popularity is underlined by BACS which reports consistent growth in the number of consumers ‘switching’ their accounts.

A quick round up of select recent cybercrime incidents, emerging trends, a sneak peek in to what will fraud look like in time to come and what do banks need to do combat the menace going forward?