Published
- 02:00 am
Digital Debit Group (DDG), a division of Qondado LLC, announces the release of the Digital Debit® mobile Bitcoin payments app. The company's utilization of the Coinbase API system with the Digital Debit® QR platform delivers the first global off-blockchain P2P mobile payments ecosystem for the growing Bitcoin user base and provides the added benefit of tokenized QR transaction codes for real-time, account-to-account transactions.
DDG believes the opportunity to build Digital Debit® utilizing the standard Coinbase API will give their QR payment system a competitive boost in the growing real-time payments space and become an instant competitor to other mobile payment apps such as Zelle, Venmo, Square Cash, and Western Union. DDG designed the Digital Debit® app with simplified features the company believes will better connect with new users, such as a single panel of operation for sending and receiving payments and the ability to personalize the app with custom background images. The company also designed an innovative visual confirmation system for successful transactions that allow the sender and receiver of Bitcoin to deal fast in rapid transaction environments such as in public venues, mobile food locations, passive donations, restaurants and courtesy tipping.
The company states that by leveraging the Coinbase API, the app will allow users to instantly purchase Bitcoin, load their linked accounts and seamlessly associate their Bitcoin values with other Bitcoin enabled products such as the Shift Visa card. Digital Debit® uses real-time Bitcoin conversions to localized fiat currencies utilizing the 1s (second) accurate Bitcoinaverage world market index to offer the best continuity with global exchanges and wallets. Bitcoin values transferred through the Digital Debit® app using tokenized QR codes exchanges payment off blockchain in real-time between Coinbase accounts. The app also supports legacy on blockchain transactions, third party wallets and cash deposit Bitcoin ATM machines.
DDG roadmap with the Digital Debit® app model includes integration with other banking platforms such as the EMVCo QR, The Clearing House Real-Time Payments, and PayPal with Qondado's Digital Credit® brand.
"We evaluated over 10 banking APIs to build our flagship Digital Debit® app and found the Coinbase API to offer an exciting opportunity to reach a global audience" says Edward Robles, CEO of the Digital Debit Group. Robles further states, "we are delivering an easy to adopt app that hides the complexities of Bitcoin behind fiat currency values that users understand. With the assurance that users can pay and get paid using local currency translation with one globally backed store of value, we see Digital Debit playing a significant role in the adoption of Bitcoin for day to day transactions."
- 08:00 am
1. Payment Services Directive (PSD2) Finally Goes Live
“It has has been a long road to PSD2, given that it was approved in November 2015 by the Council of the European Union. However, it will finally be coming into force in January 2018 and that means that banks must open up their customer data to third parties on request - whether these third parties are their direct competitors, challenger banks or nascent fintech startups.”
“For everyday consumers, much will change next year due to this. We’ll see a huge increase in banks seeking to become a ‘one-stop shop’ for their customers. In realitythis means that banks will provide wide access to a range of services, from the ability to pay from bank accounts at a touch of a finger to accessing integrated comparison tools to find the best banking deals.”
“Thanks to PSD2, banking as a whole will become much more personalised. The simple fact is that data is now as valuable as gold to financial organisations, and they need to treat it as such.”
2. RegTech Takes Off
“2018 is the year when RegTech really takes off, thanks to two key pieces of European-wide legislation coming into force, MiFID II and GDPR.”
“Due to the need to be fully compliant with these new rules, financial organisations will be looking at immediate options to help them decrease their regulatory risk and costs, while also improving the customer experience next year. The new regulations will, in future, have a huge effect as financial organisations’ relationships with regulators will rely upon real time data to be shared to improve and speed up risk management and market stability, all through the power of APIs.”
3. “Real AI” Really Progresses in 2018
“2017 has been the breakout year for artificial intelligence (AI), as the technology moved from the backroom of financial organisations to actually pointing to how banks will operate in the future.”
“Next year will see this progress further as the first real AI based consumer products and solutions come to the fore, in the form of responsive chatbots, which will become the new norm for banking customers around the world. Meanwhile, in the background, such technology will be heavily used to collect and organise data, which is especially needed with the implementation of PSD2 and will ultimately lead to more personalised banking for consumers, not only improving the customer experience but ensuring that the bank remains relevant by offering consumers the right offers at the right time and supporting them with proactive notifications whenever they encounter a situation that require the support of the bank.”
4. SME Banking Comes To The Fore
“While this year the UK government struck a deal with Britain’s biggest high street banks to extend millions of pounds of lending to SMEs, loan applications actually fell.”
“However, due to the challenging environment that European SMEs will find themselves in next year, we’ll likely see more players enter this market, which already picked up since last year, especially from new innovative fintech companies. These challengers will be focused on simplifying onboarding process, facilitating access to banking services and cutting down the red tape faced by SMEs in applying for a business loan, especially around lengthy and complex application procedures. With more players on the market, it will also become the time to find the right business models for those players, those being potentially different across geographies”
5. Cashless Society Continues. Blockchain Will Help
“Despite the UK introducing new one pound coins and ten pound notes this year, we’ll see a further acceleration to a cashless society, not only in Britain but globally in 2018. This profound shift in how people pay for goods and services will also have an effect on the rise in Blockchain adoption. As all money can more easily be traced to its rightful owner and beyond government’s control, Bitcoin will continue to rise in popularity and also valuation.”
6. Banking As A Service (BaaS) Goes International & The Rise Of The Marketplace
“Banking As A Service (BaaS) will take off globally next year, as to date it has been primarily driven in Europe. What this means is that we’ll see an increasing number of companies competing to provide ‘white label’ banking products to organisations struggling to keep up with the digital revolution. Despite a proliferation of competitors globally in this area next year, established players, such as Fidor Solutions, will appeal more broadly due to a track record of getting it right.”
“In tandem with white label products taking off next year, banking marketplaces, which offer consumers a host of different financial products will be a natural byproduct of this. They offer banks a huge opportunity to remain relevant and remain the main contact for consumers in terms of their financial needs as marketplaces will have all the financial products that a consumer could want, all in one place. Fidor Solutions, to keep ahead of this trend, will also be launching its own marketplace globally, Fidor FinanceBay in 2018, after a successful roll-out of its Beta version.”
Kunal Patel
Business Advisor/Mentor - FinTech at Startupbootcamp
I have read quite a lot on Open Banking over the last couple of years, what it means to the industry, the players and more importantly the consumer. see more
- 08:00 am
As of today, retail clients in Germany can use Prospery, a new digital platform that provides a comprehensive view of their current and potential assets, actively manages their investments and offers remote personal coaching at a fixed fee.
Dirk-Jan Schuiten, CEO of Prospery: “Many fintechs offer asset management services that are exclusively digital. Surveys show, however, that clients also want to talk to an expert. Prospery responds to this need by offering a digital platform in combination with personal coaching by chat or video call.”
Prospery consists of Prospery View, Prospery Coach and Prospery Invest. Prospery View is a free service that gives clients an online overview of their total assets, including accounts held with banks other than ABN AMRO. Clients can opt to connect their bank accounts, so their data is automatically uploaded and updated. Prospery View also gives the client insight into the development of their future assets based on tried and tested forecasting models. Prospery Invest, meanwhile, manages clients’ investments actively and fully digitally based on their individual risk profile. And Prospery Coach offers clients personal coaching by experienced and certified financial planners whenever and wherever they want, by chat or video call. Prospery Invest and Prospery Coach are offered at fixed fees (EUR 239 per month for both services), independent of the volume of assets invested.
Pieter van Mierlo, CEO of Private Banking at ABN AMRO: “Prospery is a new addition to ABN AMRO’s range of services in the German market. This fully digital service meets a growing need for flexible, individual and independent asset management at a fixed fee.”
Prospery is available to clients with assets exceeding 200,000 euros. Clients can get started within fifteen minutes.
- 09:00 am
The world is now closer and more connected than ever. Yet we still have a desire for the physical—items that you can hold and call your own.
Out of these two opposites comes N26 Metal—a card designed to feel, look, and act differently. N26 Metal is the result of hours of refining, distilling and applied design. It embodies the best of unique, physical design and the ambition for new experiences and horizons.
Put concretely, N26 Metal is a stunning card—representing the best of our unique style—that is paired with exclusive offers from curated partners, preferred Customer Support, and comprehensive travel insurance.
This card takes you places while maintaining that unique connection to the moment.
The beauty is in the details: the design behind N26 Metal
“We really wanted a card that felt different. When we first started drafting and prototyping the design of the physical card itself, we knew that would define the ultimate end product—that the benefits would fall right into place,” says Taryn Niesena, the chief designer of the Metal card.
With Metal, we’ve created two firsts: our first metal core card and Europe’s first metal core card with contactless payment abilities. Its tungsten core weighs 18 grams, making it three times heavier than standard cards.
That makes a difference. It’s a noticeable weight—you’ll feel it in your pocket and others will notice when you plunk it onto the table. It connects purpose with occasion: “The metal core is really the heart of the card. We didn’t want just another metal card though, we wanted something distinctly N26,” continues Taryn Niesena.
Connecting style to substance: a whole new, custom Metal experience
Metal quickly became a card designed to represent a new kind of identity—a group of global-minded people who want to live well and remain connected to the world without sacrificing or compromising their desires.
When we started to think about what you and other customers value, we realized it’s often N26’s unique feeling of “space.” N26 gives you access to all your finances in one, easy-to-use app.
We took this principle and created a new, personalized “N26 Metal” section for the app. Here, you can find all their benefits in one space. And there are many—Metal gives you the same comprehensive travel and purchase coverage of Black.
On top of that, we’ve partnered with innovative brands to bring you discounts and exclusive offers. Combined with preferred Customer Support, Metal sets the stage for you to explore the world while giving you the help you need while doing so.
Get a preview now—exclusive early access for N26 Black customers
Metal is launching in limited quantities for existing N26 Black users in Germany, Austria, France, and Italy. You are really the inspiration for everything we do here. Upgrading now will give you access to all of Metal’s new in-app features. But due to high demand, shipping may take a few weeks. Don’t worry though—you’ll continue to pay the same price until the card is in your hands.
We’re proud to finally announce N26 Metal to you. And with it, a whole new way to define what’s essential to you and us.
- 07:00 am
Building on its commitment to deliver a suite of next-generation governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions to assist the global financial and corporate communities, Thomson Reuters has expanded further its Connected Risk platform to include a Model Risk Management (MRM) solution, allowing institutions to demonstrate a real-time understanding of their model risk landscape, with the ability to report on the model’s governance status, sign-offs and related issues from a single platform source.
Financial modeling plays a critical role in several financial institution activities, including credit underwriting, risk management, capital adequacy and instrument valuation. The MRM solution is designed to provide Risk professionals with a holistic understanding of how each of these models in the business is derived, validated and applied. It features a simple, yet powerful approach to model governance, allowing for the capture of on-the-go updates and additions to the model inventory with real-time reporting to regulators, committees and cross-risk functions. Changes are managed robustly with an audit trail of supporting documentation, issues resolution and sign-off.
“Model transparency and efficiency continue to be key challenges widely expressed by many of our global customers seeking technological solutions that help them streamline their model governance life cycle, prevent gaps and manage risk, as well as ensure accurate reporting and issues resolution,” said Gareth Evans, managing director, Enterprise Risk Management at Thomson Reuters. “Our Model Risk Management solution not only helps save time and lowers costs, but also evidences a robust framework to internal and external stakeholders while mitigating the risk of model failure and subsequent regulatory fines and operational losses. This holistic approach embodied in our Connected Risk platform is designed to help our customers better manage the unprecedented volumes of regulatory change and complexity they face daily.”
Will Jan, vice president and lead analyst at Outsell, commented: “Niche risk and compliance solution providers are increasingly being displaced by comprehensive platforms for risk and compliance management. This stems from the needs of risk and compliance professionals to have a holistic perspective on the total risk profile of their firms. Niche solutions continue to perpetuate silos in risk reporting, mitigation, and remediation efforts, posing a weakest-link model, while connected solutions are enabling more actionable reports to the C-suite and Board.”
As model risk management procedures continue to grow in scale and complexity, so too has the level of regulation that applies to their use. The implementations of Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR), Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB), Targeted Review of Internal Models (TRIM), International Financial Reporting Standard 9 (IFRS 9) and Basel III, collectively are demonstrating global regulatory pressure. Regulators are increasingly looking at the quality and completeness of an organization’s model inventory and the underlying data and encapsulating governance process, as well as evidential documentation and sign-offs. At the same time that the depth of requirements set forth by the regulators has increased, so has the breadth and number of models used within institutions. This increased number of models has driven the need for comprehensive audit trails to be provided in order to evidence compliance.
- 08:00 am
PNC, a top-10 US bank by assets, is live on RTP, The Clearing House’s new US real-time payments system, using Finastra’s payment services hub, Fusion Payments.
“RTP enables PNC to bring a new, leading-edge solution to market as the economy becomes increasingly digital,” said Christopher Ward, EVP and Head of Treasury Management Product Management at PNC. “The ability to make an immediate payment at any time, on any day of the week, with a real-time confirmation of the payment significantly transforms the way businesses and consumers make payments in the United States. Emerging technologies such as RTP are creating opportunities for banks and clients to re-imagine our business models. At PNC, we are investing in the latest technologies and infrastructure to bring modern digital experiences and fresh product solutions that are aligned with our clients’ business priorities.”
“Solution providers such as Finastra are playing an important role in enabling early adopters like PNC to provide new products and services, including real-time payments connectivity, to their customers," said Steve Ledford, SVP of Product and Strategy at The Clearing House.
“PNC has positioned itself at the forefront of US real-time payments as an early adopter, enabling its clients to enjoy the benefits of real-time payments immediately with the launch of RTP,” said Simon Paris, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Finastra. “We’re helping banks like PNC make real-time payments a reality, so that they and their clients can more effortlessly embrace the digital future.”
“In the United States, real-time payments are being driven by market forces and user demand for real-time services,” said Erika Baumann, Senior Wholesale Banking Analyst, Aite Group. “Early adopters like PNC are leading the way in bringing the benefits of real-time payments to their business and consumer customers. Payment vendors such as Finastra have considerable experience in implementing real-time payments solutions and can be great resources for banks that seek to become early adopters of real-time payments capabilities.”
- 07:00 am
Moneythor, the financial technology company providing banks and fintech firms with a digital banking toolkit and data-driven personalisation engine, has been deployed by Orange Bank in its new all-in-one mobile banking service.
“We are thrilled to see our project with Orange Bank going live. It is another validation of our solution’s ability to support the launch of new digital banks across the globe and to enable them to deliver highly personalised experiences to their customers”, commented Olivier Berthier, CEO of Moneythor.
“Orange Bank was designed from the outset to combine the best innovations available on the market with a relentless focus on addressing customers’ expectations for money management. The Moneythor solution helps us address both and has been a key contributor to building the service”, said André Coisne, Managing Director of Orange Bank.
- 02:00 am
Citizens Bank today announced the launch of Zelle, to offer customers a fast, safe and easy way to make person-to-person (P2P) payments.
"The needs of our customers continue to evolve and we are pleased to leverage innovative digital technologies that create better end-to-end experiences in the areas that matter most," said Beth Johnson, chief marketing officer and head of virtual channels, Citizens Bank. "We want to be the first place our customers turn when they need to send or receive money, and becoming part of the Zelle Network® will allow us to deliver a convenient, user-friendly P2P payments experience.”
Citizens Bank customers can access Zelle through their mobile banking app or through online banking. After enrolling in Citizens Bank Online, enrolling in Zelle is easy. Using either the latest version of the Mobile Banking app* or Citizens Bank Online Banking, users can look for and select “Send Money with Zelle®.” From there, users can follow the enrollment steps. Consumers using Zelle can send money to almost anyone with a bank account in the United States who is registered with Zelle.**
This offering continues Citizens Bank’s digital innovations, having recently introduced a digital advisory service called SpeciFi® from Citizens Investment Services to offer customers integrated banking and digital investment services. The bank, through its partnership with Fundation, also recently announced a new digital lending capability available to small businesses.
- 03:00 am
Roostify, a provider of automated mortgage transaction technology, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Black Knight, Inc. (NYSE:BKI) to integrate its platform with Black Knight’s LoanSphere Empower loan origination system (LOS).
The integration will enable Empower users to add further efficiency and transparency to the loan origination process – from application to closing.
“As consumers increasingly demand an online, self-serve loan process, lenders are seeking to meet that demand as efficiently as possible,” says Rich Gagliano, president of Black Knight’s Origination Software division. “Integrating with the Roostify platform offers our clients a solution to deliver a seamless mortgage experience within existing Empower-based workflows.”
Roostify’s platform benefits both consumers and lenders by enabling a faster transaction, with greater visibility for all parties involved. Besides an intuitive application, consumers can upload and review documents, correspond with their loan officer and real estate agent, and gain complete transparency into the loan process from beginning to end. Without the back and forth that often occurs with collecting documents and signatures, or coordinating efforts between loan participants, loan officers are able to close more loans in a shorter period of time. With the new integration, lenders using Empower as their LOS will be able to seamlessly transfer information between the two systems, further streamlining workflows.
“Black Knight aligns with our mission to deliver a world-class mortgage experience for our mutual clients,” said Rajesh Bhat, CEO and Co-Founder, Roostify. “The Roostify platform makes the whole process more efficient and provides a better experience for everyone involved. Today’s consumer requires a faster-paced, digital experience, and lenders are ready to give them the advanced technology to accomplish that.”
