Standardization is prolific in any digital sector and the payments world is no different. However, despite the existence and widespread adoption of global payment standards, we’ve still yet to achieve true standardization. This is a pertinent and complex issue for today’s market. But what are the complexities making interoperability such a priority? And how can we achieve harmonization in payment standards?

Innovation, globalization, fragmentation

Today, moneycorp announces it has acquired the Rochford Group, one of Australia’s largest independent treasury advisors. The purchase is moneycorp’s second major international acquisition of 2019, after the completion of its deal for Brazil's Novo Mundo.

Rochford, based in Sydney, also has a representative office in Hong Kong that will further extend moneycorp’s presence in both Australia and Hong Kong, as well as adding a range of new products for moneycorp’s customers.

Admiral Insurance, one of the largest UK insurers, has expanded its strategic partnership with Equifax, the consumer and business insights expert, to power its affordability assessment for instalment payments.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: ICS Financial Systems Limited (ICSFS), the global software and services provider for banks and financial institutions, and Oromia International Bank S.C (OIB), one of the most profitable banks in Ethiopia 1 , announce the successful implementation and go-live of ICS BANKS Universal Banking and ICS BANKS Interest Free Banking (IFB)software suites, to provide OIB customers with conventional and interest free banking services at 264 physical branches having IFB and Conventional banking services in each branch across the country.

CoinCorner’s CEO, Danny Scott, commented:

“It has been announced that Walmart has filed a patent for its own cryptocurrency - a USD-pegged stablecoin.

“Following the announcement of Facebook’s Libra in June, this news was certainly not unexpected - in fact, we expect to see more FAANG companies filing patents for their own cryptocurrencies in the coming months.

Black Knight Inc., a leading provider of software, data and analytics to the mortgage industry, announced that Anthony Jabbour, the company’s chief executive officer, has joined the 

Computop, the global payment processor, today announced Biometrics by Computop, its new PSD2 compliant biometric authentication service for online merchants and banks. With Biometrics by Computop, merchants can take over the strong customer authentication (SCA) in order to avoid banks having to run their own two factor authentication during the payment process.

Europe’s first dispute management company, Chargebacks911, launches CPD-accredited (Continuing Professional Development) course in chargebacks for merchants to develop and enhance their understanding of payment disputes and proactively challenge them.

The Agenda of IFINTEC Finance Technologies Conference and Exhibition (09-10 April 2019 - Istanbul, Turkey) is announced on the event website. IFINTEC is a global conference which is one of the biggest and most important conferences in EMEA region with its focus on Retail Banking, Digital Banking, Core Banking, Payment Systems, Banking Technologies, Banking IT Solutions, Digital Transformation and Finance Technologies. With 900+ attendees, attendance from 15+ countries, 30+ speakers, 30+ speaking sessions, IFINTEC 2018 Conference was organized very successfully.

Our relationship with money has changed dramatically in the last decade. For a long time the relationship was stable – people paid with cash, cheques or later cards, and had most of their interactions with a bank in-branch. This was reflected in the limited choice of banks available to consumers, as when Metro Bank opened, it was in fact the UK’s first new high street bank for more than 100 years.