Published
- 07:00 am
Brand new research from RBR reveals that the number of payment cards in circulation worldwide reached 15 billion at the end of 2017, with UnionPay continuing to hold the largest share
Financial inclusion initiatives drive growth in card issuing
There were 15 billion payment cards in circulation around the world at the end of 2017, up by 6% since the end of 2016, according to RBR’s most recent report, Global Payment Cards Data and Forecasts to 2023. As governments and central banks in developing markets continue to encourage financial inclusion, the number of cards has kept growing, providing further opportunities for card schemes.
UnionPay’s share increases as the Chinese market continues to expand
Growth in the Chinese card market has been strong for several years and the trend continued in 2017 which saw the number of cards in issue rise by 9%. The vast majority of the country’s cards are UnionPay-branded, and in 2017 the scheme accounted for 44% of the world’s payment cards, increasing its share by one percentage point compared to the previous year.
Visa (including Visa Electron, V PAY and Interlink) and Mastercard (including Maestro and Mastercard Electronic) account for 21% and 16% of global cards respectively; if China is excluded, Visa’s share is 36% and Mastercard’s 27%.
The RBR report shows that domestic schemes, usually found in the debit sector, are declining in most markets, as they are either dual-badged with, or replaced by, international schemes. However, they have seen something of a rebirth in a number of large markets in recent years. For example, India’s RuPay’s important role in a financial inclusion campaign has seen its share of the country’s cards rise to 49% since its launch in 2012.
Chinese regulations will only encourage growth in UnionPay cards
For many years, Visa and Mastercard cards in China were dual-badged with UnionPay, but a 2017 regulation prohibiting dual-badging means that this is no longer the case. As all Chinese cards issued for domestic use must be UnionPay-branded, banks are typically issuing UnionPay-only cards to replace existing dual-badged ones, while customers can request an international card for use abroad. RBR’s Daniel Dawson, who headed up the research team, said: “While some Chinese consumers and businesses will request a Visa or Mastercard card, UnionPay will account for the vast majority of Chinese cards for the foreseeable future. UnionPay will also aim to expand internationally, but Visa and Mastercard’s long history in other markets will enable them to withstand pressure from new competitors”.
- 08:00 am
iSignthis Ltd subsidiary, iSignthis eMoney Ltd, trading as ISXPay® (“the Company”), is pleased to announce its first merchant has gone live on its own integrated and unified neobanking platform comprising principal acquiring platform for Visa, Mastercard and JCB, with fund settlements being deposited to ISXPay issued ISEMCY22 International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs).
John Karantzis, CEO of iSignthis Ltd, said “We have passed yet another milestone, where our first EU based merchant is using our unified transactional banking, deposit functions and bank to bank transfer functions. The Paydentity platform is performing the identity verification, ISXPay is performing the payment processing and settlement, and Probanx.com is performing the journaling of the settlement deposits from ISXPay, with ISXPay executing outbound transactions. Our merchants will have full visibility of their settlement flows, monies on deposit, fees and transactions by logging into their Probanx.com dashboard. Merchants can now electronically transfer funds within the SEPA banking network to make supplier, payroll, utilities, tax, pension and other payments direct from their ISXPay EMA business IBAN facilities. We will be making use of the last few weeks of 2018 to ensure that all of our systems operate as expected, and we will be driving services and revenues with our contracted merchants from 2019. We are also now pushing hard to deploy our Australian capabilities, for which we anticipate to be making significant progress in the near future. Our focus as a neobank is on delivering transactional banking with deposit taking facilities to regulated entities in the EU and Australia.”
The Company has been developing its merchant and business focussed neo-banking capabilities since 2015, commencing initially with its patented identity verification service on the PaydentityTM platform, and then progressing to being an EU/EEA authorised eMoney Institution in early 2017, followed by principal licensing of Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners, Discover, China UnionPay and AMEX as payment capabilities, with Eurosystem central banking facilities and SEPA going live in the last two weeks.
The Company has also applied for an Australian ADI license directly, bypassing the ‘restricted ADI’ step, with APRA authorisation anticipated early Q2 2019. The Company has already been granted Australian licensing under the Reserve Bank of Australia “Card Access Regime” by Mastercard, with Amex, Diners, Discover and China Unionpay also licensed. Application for Reserve Bank of Australia ESA accounts has also been submitted.
- 04:00 am
Nordea Bank Abp (Nordea) has decided to further increase focus and strengthen execution within risk and compliance by consolidating resources in these areas. Two roles in Group Executive Management will be changed.
During the last couple of years, Nordea has significantly enhanced its risk and compliance units by adding resources and strengthening processes to meet both regulatory requirements and Nordea’s policies and values. Now, the next steps will be taken as Nordea is adopting an even more unified approach to how we control and manage risks across the business areas and group functions.
Risk management units in the business areas, the first line of defence, will be consolidated into a new unit, Group Business Risk Management. The unit will be led by Julie Galbo, former Chief Risk Officer, and will include Group Credit Risk Management, Group Financial Crime Prevention, Global Business Risk Implementation and Support (Global BRIS) and Chief Security Office.
Risk management and compliance in the second line of defence will be consolidated into one unit, Group Risk and Compliance. The unit will be headed by Matthew Elderfield, Chief Risk Officer, former Head of Group Compliance. A new Head of Compliance will report to the Chief Risk Officer, but as a distinct unit also have a direct reporting line to the board of directors.
Both Julie Galbo and Matthew Elderfield will continue as members of Group Executive Management.
- This is an important next step in our risk and compliance journey that will make us even better equipped to face future challenges. This will also ensure a clearer division of roles and responsibilities between the individual units and ensure a consistent control culture in the Group, says Casper von Koskull, Group CEO of Nordea.
The organisational changes will take effect 1 January 2019.
- 04:00 am
Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the banking software company, today announces it has agreed to acquire Avoka, a leader in digital customer acquisition and onboarding, subject to regulatory approvals. The acquisition further strengthens the Temenos Digital Front Office product, which has over 300 banking clients and has been recognized as a leader by top analyst houses such as Forrester and Ovum. The Avoka platform will be integrated with the Temenos Digital Front Office product, providing banks with a comprehensive single solution for their omni-channel digital banking needs. Temenos has agreed to purchase Avoka for USD 245 million.
Through this acquisition, Temenos continues to bring innovative capabilities to its Digital Front Office product that includes origination, channels, analytics, payments, risk and compliance and real-time event based marketing services all of which can be deployed either on premise or in the cloud.
Avoka has more than 85 customers that are largely served through a SaaS model hosted on the cloud, and serves all key banking segments including retail, corporate and wealth. Founded in Australia, its customer base has grown most rapidly with both top tier and mid-market banks with clients in Europe, Australia and US. With over 270 employees in offices across the US, UK and Australia, Avoka is purpose-built for creating omni-channel customer acquisition and on boarding solutions that enable banks to create simple customer-friendly experiences that improve conversion rates. Avoka clients such as a top tier bank increased new account opening by 60% and shortened customer time to onboard by nearly 70%, while another major bank created an advisor-assisted, tablet-based loan application, from kickoff to launch in 60 days.
Digital customers accustomed to a one-click retail experience expect the same from their bank and through Avoka , banks have been able to create the fastest and simplest account opening and on boarding experiences resulting in significant reductions in abandon rates and increased cross-sales. Through open APIs, Avoka offers plug and play integration to a catalogue of third-party Fintech services as well as CRM, fraud detection, risk, identity verification and analytics platforms enabling banks to accelerate their speed to market while managing compliance and risk.
Avoka’s innovative technology has won numerous awards, including the 2018 Celent Model Bank for Commercial Account Onboarding with HSBC, The Banker’s Tech Project Awards 2018 with HSBC for the compliance category, The Banker’s Tech Project Awards 2018 with Citi for delivery channels the 2017 Banking Technology Awards as well as the Australian Business Banking Awards 2017 with Bankwest.
Max Chuard, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Temenos, said: “This is a highly strategic acquisition for Temenos as it not only reinforces our leadership position within the Digital Front Office space but it also strengthens our capabilities in the US market where we are seeing significant traction as banks accelerate their digital transformation plans. Avoka is a market leader and is experiencing strong growth as banks invest in creating outstanding customer acquisition and onboarding experiences. The combination of Avoka’s capabilities along with the extensive Temenos Digital Front Office product offers banks the most complete set of services which through APIs can be easily integrated either with the market leading Temenos T24 Core Banking product or as a standalone on a third party banking system. These are truly exciting times and we look forward to offering banks a faster route to creating seamless digital customer experiences”.
Philip Copeland, Chief Executive Officer, Avoka, said: “Avoka is the recognized leader for customer acquisition and onboarding. By combining our strengths with Temenos’ expertise and reach, we will expand our scope and scale to deliver winning omni-channel, digital experience solutions to banks globally. The combination of Temenos and Avoka is an excellent fit for our customers and employees and will catapult our growth to the next stage. Together, with the leadership on both sides, we are committed to the group’s future success.”
The transaction is due to be completed by early Q1 2019 and is subject to regulatory approvals. The consideration for the acquisition is USD 245m, to be funded through cash and debt. Avoka’s total revenue grew c.30% in 2018 and is expected to grow at the same rate in 2019 to reach c.USD50m, with 50% of total revenue from recurring SaaS product revenues. The acquisition is expected to be non-IFRS EPS neutral in 2019, accretive from 2020 and to achieve group margin within two years.
- 07:00 am
Today, PayPal launched Xoom, its international money transfer service in Canada.
The global remittance market is an estimated $600 billion industry with Canadians remitting nearly $24 billion annually[1]. Canada is one of the world’s most diverse countries and is home to nearly 7.5 million foreign-born people from more than 200 places of birth[2]. Introducing Xoom will benefit more than one in five people living in Canada - many of whom support family members overseas for things like medical bills, education, utility bills, and other financial needs.
Historically, the cost of securely and efficiently managing and moving money across borders has been high, but advances in digital technology—in particular mobile—are enabling a significant reduction in remittances costs. Sending money overseas through a digital service like Xoom costs nearly half (3.93%) of the amount sent compared to the average cost of traditional remittances services (7.45%)[3].
“The traditional methods of sending money abroad are slow, expensive and stressful for both the sender and the receiver. Senders are often faced with worry about when, or if, their money will reach their loved ones,” said Julian King, Xoom’s Vice President and General Manager. “As a disruptive digital remittance provider, Xoom is helping to eliminate these inconveniences so it’s fast and easy for Canadians to send money abroad for cash pickups, bank deposits, reloading prepaid phones and paying bills for loved ones back home—all from the comfort of their homes or from their mobile devices.”
A fast, convenient and secure way to support loved ones back home at competitive rates.
Xoom customers can send up to $12,500 CAD in a single transaction[4] to over 130 countries including India, China and the Philippines. For send money transactions, depending on the receiver country, users can choose from a range of options: deposit money to a bank account, send cash for pick-up or have cash delivered directly to their recipient’s door. Xoom transfers can be tracked quickly and easily via text updates, email notifications or directly from the mobile app and website. Those who send money abroad can get their questions answered from customer support staff in English, French, Spanish and Filipino.
Xoom partners with highly credible banks and partners around the world to provide fast, secure and affordable money transfers. According to the ‘Migration and Remittances’ April 2018 report by the World Bank, globally, the top three receiver remittance countries are India, China and the Philippines. Xoom provides money transfer services to these key remittance corridors in addition to the UK, France, Italy, Germany, and many other countries in Eastern Europe and Africa.
- 04:00 am
NeoXam, a leading provider of data management and transaction software solutions dedicated to the financial industry, today announces it has received a “Finance Innovation Accreditation” by the French Public Authorities for its Artificial Intelligence (AI) offering.
Finance Innovation is the unique cluster for innovation in the French financial sector. Its goal is to accelerate the creation and development of innovative projects devoted to challenges in the service of growth and employment.
NeoXam was chosen due to its innovative AI approach. NeoXam worked with consultants to discover the most critical issue for their clients. For asset managers, this was data quality. Having to consolidate a huge amount of data from different data providers was causing some issues when it came to data classification.
With regulations such as MiFID II increasing the scope of regulatory reporting, any errors in the data could cause serious headaches for data managers. This is due to the complex reporting process – errors in the data classification could mean re-doing part or all of the involved steps, causing difficulties for clients’ Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The main valuation process and net asset value calculation may also be impacted.
Dominique Tomassoni, Innovation & Solution Manager at NeoXam explained their response: “We changed our traditional approach to explore a system based on machine learning. Previously, any data issues would have to be handled manually, with code being provided to solve issues on a case-by-case basis. The new system learns from historic data, meaning that if any data issues arise, they can be handled automatically. This not only eases the burden for data officers, but also allows them to provide a higher quality service to their own customers.”
Vincent Lapadu-Hargues, Head of Asset Management and Support to R&D projects at Pôle Finance says: “Rather than innovating for innovation’s sake, NeoXam took the time to work out what kind of solutions mattered the most to its clients, and what the best technology was to solve them. Artificial Intelligence was the perfect candidate, and it’s great to see a business engineer’s solution which is so closely focused onto its customer’s needs. Moreover, Neoxam, IT provider for financial environment, took the innovation's turn, aligning its strengths and resources onto Fintech's mindset.”
Frederik Mennes
Senior Manager Market & Security Strategy at Security Competence Center
One of the most important trends we’ll see in 2019 is the global adoption of Open Banking, especially in the United Kingdom, the European Union and Asia-Pacific (primarily in Sin see more
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- 08:00 am
As 2018 draws to a close, Infosecurity Europe 2019, Europe’s number one information security event, which next year takes place at Olympia, London from 4-6 June 2019, has challenged its CISO community within financial services and other key industry sectors to predict the trends that will shape the industry in the year ahead.
With the information security market forecast to grow by 8.7 per cent to $124 billion in 2019, according to Gartner, many of the same challenges are keeping senior security professionals awake at night, with identity and access management, insider threats, third party and supply chain risks, and cloud still seen as top challenges for year ahead.
But, according to Victoria Windsor, Group Content Manager at Infosecurity Group, CISOs are not just focusing on technology issues, but also the human element: “There are concerns about the growing skills gap in the market and a paucity of skilled, talented individuals. The expectation is that the market will continue to grow as smaller companies emerge to fill the skills gap. The ever-changing role of the CISO is also top of mind and 2019 is predicted to be the year when cyber resilience takes its rightful place at the boardroom table. But more needs to be done to bridge the gap between the C-suite and IT security function.
“2018 was the year of GDPR and the fallout from this is high on our CISOs’ list, as regulators seek to enforce compliance. Vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure due to legacy control systems, and the role of security by design for product and application development (DevSecOps) to mitigate business risk also come under the spotlight.”
Infosecurity Europe information security trends 2019:
1.) One of the most targeted sectors when it comes to cybersecurity threats, the financial services industry saw an 80% increase in attacks in 2017, according to reports by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). But while the industry is one of the more resilient sectors, George Luchita, Head of Cyber Security and IT Infrastructure, FM Capital Partners Ltd, voices his concerns over the growing information security skills gaps and the impact post-GDPR:
“My personal view is that 2019 will be a dynamic year, just like 2018. We are going to see the effects of GDPR, as regulators will start enforcing it. Information security will penetrate deeper into boardrooms, with CISO roles created to effectively manage cybersecurity risks and gain market and reputational advantages. Cyber resilience will be present on boardroom agendas. The information security skills gap will increase, driven by increase in demand and lack of specialists. Companies will find it difficult to recruit and retain experienced and talented people. As a response to absence of sufficient infosec skills, we will see a rise in the number of small cybersecurity firms looking to fill the void. Regarding IoT, in 2019 we’ll see an increase in the number of internet-connected devices, and we’ll face more issues regarding their security. There are predictions of massive attacks using IoT devices, but I doubt it will happen next year. IoT has not yet reached a critical mass or wide adoption to enable such attacks.”
2.) Justin Campbell, Director, Technology Consulting Services at Willis Towers Watson highlights the importance of security by design and the role of DevSecOps in IT operations security to ensure faster and more secure software delivery:
“DevSecOps, security by design – built-in security. The time to market and the risk of finding major structural vulnerabilities at the late stages of product development or architectural deployment are too high. Rather than novel exploits for 2019, I see the biggest challenge is providing security value at the point of development or system design. Many security professionals come from an audit and compliance perspective. There will always be a place for these professionals in certification and reviews.However, when we find the faults at the end of the process, whether through checklists or pen tests, it is often too late. At this late stage, a product is often missing its deadline to go to market or a business case requires a quick go-live. This puts a business owner into an impossible predicament. He or she needs to accept the risk or lose their business position. This makes it too tempting to accept an inappropriate level of risk or rationalise away the situation with shaky mitigations.”
3.) While 2018 saw no repeat of 2017’s WannaCry attack that affected hospitals across the UK, Nigel Stanley, Chief Technology Officer - Global OT and Industrial Cyber Security CoE at TÜV Rheinland Group, believes critical infrastructure will again be under the spotlight in 2019.
“I believe that in 2019 further significant cybersecurity flaws will be uncovered in key critical infrastructure resulting in manufacturers and operators trying to update ancient control systems with mixed results. I hope I am wrong, but I also believe that in 2019 we will see a safety critical incident that arises from a cyber attack on an industrial control system resulting in physical harm and damage. It is likely to be a sophisticated attack arising from a hybrid, geopolitical conflict. This will lead to further demands in 2019 for industrial cybersecurity and safety regulations to be tightened up and penalties for non-compliance increased. These future legal requirements will insist that industrial operators and systems’ manufacturers address cybersecurity risk to the same degree they do with safety risks.”
4.) Finally, Nick Carus, Business Development Director at LINQIT and Interim COO and Business Development Director at Caveris, predicts that executives will finally start to talk and collaborate with the IT security function to help close the threat gap
“Good news GRC is leading from the front. I predict that the focus on ‘Bridging the Gap’ between the C-suite and the IT/technology organisations, and getting the executives more interactively communicating and collaborating with IT security and all infosecurity disciplines, simply has to happen over the short term. It's the only way that organisations are going to be able to make effective strides in closing the ‘Threat Gap’.”
Infosecurity Europe, now in its 24th year, takes place at Olympia, Hammersmith, London, from 4-6 June 2019. It attracts over 19,500 unique information security professionals attending from every segment of the industry, as well as 400+ exhibitors showcasing their products and services, industry analysts, worldwide press and policy experts, and over 200 industry speakers are lined up to take part in the free-to-attend conference, seminar and workshop programme.
- 12.12.2018 -- 10:58 am
Tikhoze Banda, Country Manager UK, MANGOPAY at FinTech Connect 2018
