Published
- 08:00 am
Cashplus announces today the launch of its transaction API. Initially this API will enable Cashplus’s accounting partners to support their clients in the SME sector where there is a huge demand for simple, online servicing.
From a technical perspective, the API is released via Cashplus.io. Their RESTful Web API services are grouped into vertical business domain areas, and delivered through a Swagger user interface. This allows Cashplus to not only publish transactional middleware operations, but also provide usage documentation which simplifies implementation and client side consumption.
Although compliant with the Open Banking initiative, Cashplus will initially provide this API to contracted partners of APS financial, the issuer behind the Cashplus Business Account.
Rich Wagner, CEO of APS financial, states “Our long-standing partners will be the first to fully benefit from the extensive transaction data held within our API. In addition to allowing more efficient reporting for their clients, these partners will work with us to further refine it for wider use. We’re really excited about this launch and can't wait to roll out our API to the wider developer market, including over 100 existing partners who have already expressed an interest .”
To handle the huge demand, APS financial has launched a registration process at Cashplus.io to capture partner interest for current and future Cashplus APIs.
”This is only the beginning of our API roadmap of initiatives. Our strong technology delivery team will be launching other core APIs for the banking industry throughout 2017. It will be a great year for our partners and the SMEs we both serve”, declared Rich Wagner.
- 05:00 am
INTERXION HOLDING NV, a leading European provider of carrier and cloud-neutral data centre services, today announced that the London Metal Exchange has expanded its footprint at Interxion’s London data centre campus with its newly upgraded trading platform, LMEselect.
Home to over 200 capital markets participants including industry-leading banks, proprietary traders and hedge funds, Interxion’s London data centre campus is at the centre of the European trading landscape, making it a logical choice to locate the primary LMEselect platform.
“Interxion provides the ideal environment for our new LMEselect platform, with best in class power and cooling and excellent cross connect access to the exchange,” comments John Lee, the LME’s Chief Technology Officer.
In addition to making Interxion London the primary production location of LMEselect for base metals, the exchange will also list its new LMEprecious products on this platform, when they launch on 10th July 2017 (subject to regulatory approval). LMEprecious responds to market demand by making available an innovative new suite of exchange-traded, loco London precious metals products.
Strategy and Market Director for Financial Services at Interxion, Bill Fenick states: “We are pleased to see the expansion of the LME in our thriving Financial Services community here in London. They will be able to take advantage of our state-of-the-art facilities as well as interconnect to their customers and ensure the best possible performance from their infrastructure”.
Interxion recently announced that it is expanding its London campus, with a £30 million investment in a third London data centre, known as ‘LON3’. Scheduled to open in 2018, LON3 will add 1,800 sqm to Interxion’s uniquely located central London data centre campus, situated between the Square Mile and Tech City.
- 07:00 am
Convenience and security are driving consumer interest in a digital on/off feature for misplaced debit cards. Wells Fargo is the latest to introduce the feature.
“I remembered the bank has this feature now and I just went online and turned off my debit card switch,” said Leo, a Wells Fargo customer who also works as a program manager for the company. “And I was lucky. I found my card the next day — under the seat of my car. So I just went back online and turned my card back on. It was easy.”
Research shows millions of people each year find out their debit cards are lost, misplaced, or stolen, according to Javelin Strategy & Research. With billions of dollars at risk from identity theft and other fraud, many feel a rush of panic when they first discover their cards missing.
Having access to a digital on/off capability helps ease those fears, industry experts said. Wells Fargo recently became one of the latest banks to introduce the feature for its debit card customers through online and mobile banking. (A similar feature is under development for consumer credit card customers, with a rollout tentatively scheduled for next year.)
“Wells Fargo’s latest innovative security feature will help better protect consumers at the convenience of their computer or mobile device,” said Adam Rice, communications director for the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry advocacy and research group. “The financial industry continues to lead the way, using technology to enhance security while providing a better, more robust customer experience.”
The feature puts customers in control, gives them the ability to block anyone from using their misplaced card, and allows them to unblock it after they find the card, said Kathy Yee, head of product management and development for Wells Fargo’s debit/prepaid card business.
Customers have shown a strong interest in the new online/mobile feature, Yee said, and it has quickly become more popular than calling a phone banker to access the capability, which has been available since 2015. After the online/mobile feature was introduced in late March, more than 100,000 customers navigated to the page to check it out in the first 14 days.
“It amazes me to see this volume — and we haven’t even done any marketing of it yet,” she said. “It is impressive how many people are just seeing the service is there, getting on their phone, and using it, without hesitating. They immediately recognize the convenience factor.”
Gerri Detweiler, a personal finance expert and author, said the digital on/off feature’s convenience and security advantages are driving consumer demand.
“Everyone knows it can be a real hassle to close accounts, change account numbers, and reset things like auto-bill payments,” she said. “I’ve heard from many consumers this is definitely a feature they want and find helpful in today’s environment when everyone is so busy multitasking. It is a real plus to be able to have more control, especially where this is so much potential for fraud.”
“It certainly saved me a lot of inconvenience,” said Leo, the Wells Fargo program manager. “It was such a time saver and gave me a lot of peace of mind.”
Wells Fargo has now taken the next step for this technology, allowing customers to activate their new debit cards via online or mobile, Yee said. That technology was first piloted with a select group of Wells Fargo team members, and was just introduced to customers earlier this week, she said.
- 04:00 am
Blockchain pioneer nChain announces the appointment of Bitcoin Foundation Executive Director Jon Matonis as its new Vice President of Corporate Strategy. In this position, Matonis will support nChain's business growth by developing commercial relationships, and evaluating opportunities for strategic investments and acquisitions.
Jon Matonis is widely recognised as a leading Bitcoin researcher and is a non-executive board director for several notable companies in the space. Since 2012, his technology and security writings have appeared in publications such as Forbes, CoinDesk, Bitcoin Magazine, American Banker, and PaymentsSource.
Jon is also a founding director for the Bitcoin Foundation which served as the industry's first nonprofit trade association originally chartered to provide financial compensation for voluntary protocol code developers and to promote the vision of Bitcoin worldwide. His career has also included senior roles with Sumitomo Bank, VISA International, VeriSign, and Hushmail.
Additionally, Matonis created the first and leading general price index for Bitcoin known as the Bitcoin Price Index (BPI), hosted the largest ever Bitcoin/blockchain conference to date in Amsterdam during 2014, and enlisted seven regional chapter offices to the Bitcoin Foundation from countries such as France, Germany, and Bangladesh.
Arthur Davis, Director of nChain Holdings Limited, comments: "Jon was immediately attractive to nChain. During his notable career, he has consistently led the integration of financial services and cryptography. His work has included foreign currency trading for Visa International, financial platform sales for RSA's VeriSign – securing its first $5 million in revenue – and end-to-end encrypted messaging for Hush Communications where as CEO he recruited PGP's Phil Zimmermann as Hushmail's Chief Cryptographer.
"Jon's philosophy for the Bitcoin protocol and network is fully in line with nChain's vision of on-chain scalability with decentralisation, advanced native scripting for the construction of smart contracts, and a dedicated move away from monolithic software.
"We are excited to have Jon's deep industry experience on our team, and look forward to working with him to achieve our vision for the Bitcoin blockchain."
Bitcoin is the dominant value transfer protocol. The collective computing power directed to its network is now 3.7 exahashes-per-second and growing, making the Bitcoin blockchain best suited to directly enable and facilitate nChain's transformative vision.
In accepting the new management team position, Matonis comments: "The resources and funding in place at nChain provide a unique opportunity to reshape the existing landscape of Bitcoin protocol influencers. It is imperative that we move towards a status quo where the actual protocol standard is separated from its primary reference implementation, similar to the existing architecture of the Linux kernel and its low-level abstraction layer."
In line with this view, nChain advocates for the formation of a neutral standards organisation to coordinate and manage the Bitcoin protocol and technical standards which in the long-term will result in a more robust software design and a flourishing of compatible implementations.
Matonis adds: "The gradual elimination of trusted third parties from our economic and legal infrastructures belies a serious and unprecedented reorganisation of many legacy social structures. The winners will be those select individuals and entities that finally liberate themselves from the current centralising, rent-seeking chokepoints. I am excited to work with nChain to support growth of the blockchain ecosystem for everyone's benefit."
The quality and breadth of relationships that Matonis brings to nChain allow the company to quickly ascertain and exploit available market opportunities, and to assist its business partners to get up to speed rapidly on the design and implementation of disruptive solutions that challenge the traditional gatekeepers.
In his role with nChain, Matonis will also continue providing thought leadership on blockchain technology. In 2011, Matonis was named Person of the Year by Digital Gold Currency Magazine and in 2015 he was appointed to the Editorial Board for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology journal Ledger. Currently, he is noted on the lists for both the Top 100 Fintech Influencers and the Top 100 Blockchain Insiders in the Crypto Sphere.
- 01:00 am
Bloomberg announced today it has received approval to issue and maintain legal entity identifiers, or LEIs, as an accredited Local Operating Unit (LOU) of the Global LEI System (GLEIS). Bloomberg joins a select network of LOUs accredited by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) to create, assign and maintain LEIs, which are increasingly being utilized by regulators to provide greater transparency into financial markets and lower risk for market participants.
Bloomberg can now issue and maintain LEIs for entities through its LEI request and registration portal: lei.bloomberg.com.
Peter Warms, senior manager of fixed income, symbology and entity content at Bloomberg, commented, ‟The LEI system helps market participants -- both public and private -- access an open source standard for identification that will be used to better understand risk across the global financial marketplace. We're proud to be a part of this global effort to adopt LEIs, enhance the quality of financial data and bring transparency and efficiency to the capital markets.ʺ
Entities that need, or are required to obtain, an LEI can use Bloomberg's portal to register for a new LEI and maintain, renew, or even transfer existing LEIs from existing LOUs to Bloomberg. The site provides for ease of use while maintaining the basic tenets of privacy and service. Entities will be able to apply for LEIs through the Bloomberg LOU in one of three ways:
1. Directly through the Bloomberg LOU website at lei.bloomberg.com.
2. Via Bloomberg’s Entity Exchange, a platform for securely exchanging data and documents related to opening and maintaining trading accounts.
3. On the Bloomberg Terminal at LEI <GO>.
“Accreditation is the process by which GLEIF evaluates the suitability of organizations seeking to operate within the Global LEI System as issuers of LEIs and custodians of LEI reference data. Becoming a member of the Global LEI System via GLEIF accreditation is a globally recognized designation of commitment to data quality and customer service. GLEIF looks forward to cooperating with Bloomberg in its role as an accredited LEI issuer” said Stephan Wolf, CEO of GLEIF.
Bloomberg's Global Data Group also supports Bloomberg's responsibilities as a Registration Authority and issuer of the Financial Instrument Global Identifier (FIGI) standard under the auspices of the Object Management Group.
"The use cases for the LEI are coming into focus because of MiFID II's January 2018 implementation deadline. MiFID II has a clear directive: 'No LEI, No trade'", commented Steve Meizanis, head of Entity Content Management at Bloomberg, ‟U.S. institutions that want to continue doing business with trading counterparties in Europe will need to obtain an LEI in order to comply with MiFID II and other regulatory mandates in Europe and around the world. We look forward to helping Bloomberg clients and other organizations adhere to these requirements by providing a seamless and cost effective way for them to request and maintain their LEIs.ˮ
As a leading provider of financial information and reference data, Bloomberg maintains information for more than 4 million public and private entities. Bloomberg's entity coverage includes basic business card data (addresses, phone and fax numbers), registry information, full sanction coverage as well as hierarchical data consisting of immediate parent, ultimate parent and obligor.
- 03:00 am
Today, Mastercard announced the completion of its acquisition of Vocalink, a leader in bank account-based payments. Vocalink’s key bank account-based technology will allow Mastercard to expand beyond card-based payments to drive the major types of electronic payment transactions.
“This is a transformational deal,” said Michael Miebach, chief product officer, Mastercard. “This acquisition brings Vocalink’s world-class technology and world-class people to Mastercard at a time of continued change in payments. I am eager for what the future will bring: more innovation, inclusion and choice that lets people, businesses and governments pay the way they want.”
The Vocalink technology will enable Mastercard to further innovate retail transactions and expand in payment flows such as person-to-person, business-to-business and government disbursements.
“Joining the Mastercard family brings tremendous new opportunities to Vocalink, our customers and our team,” said Paul Stoddart, CEO, Vocalink, a Mastercard company. “Our home base of the UK of course remains a top priority as we continue to innovate on our bank account-based payments platform and drive value through services such as fraud analytics and consulting. We also look forward to drawing on Mastercard offerings and expertise to expand to more countries and more customers around the world.”
- 03:00 am
First Data, a global leader in commerce-enabling technology, and Flywire, a leading provider of international payment solutions, today announced a new strategic agreement aimed at streamlining cross-border transactions for their respective client bases.
“First Data serves millions of businesses and thousands of financial institutions in more than 100 countries around the world,” said Frank Bisignano, Chairman and CEO of First Data. “We are excited to partner with Flywire, an innovative leader in international payment processing, to simplify cross-border payment acceptance for clients in the education and healthcare industries.”
Flywire offers a global transaction processing and receivables solution that makes international payments faster, easier, less expensive and more transparent. Today, over 1,300 clients across 18 countries use Flywire to process international payments.
As a result of the partnership, Flywire will now be able to significantly expand card payment options for their clients to make international payments even more convenient and cost-effective for their customers. In turn, First Data clients will be able to leverage the Flywire platform to accept large sum international payments from their customers, providing added transparency and easier reconciliation.
“Our goal is to take the friction out of cross-border transactions, wherever it may exist,” said Mike Massaro, CEO at Flywire. “Partnering with First Data significantly expands the payment options for our clients’ customers and has the potential to make the benefits of our platform available to tens of thousands of additional businesses and institutions around the world.”
As part of the strategic relationship, First Data will leverage Flywire’s presence in the education, healthcare, and business-to-business segments to increase its penetration in those markets. First Data will also resell and refer the Flywire platform to its clients, including those within the education and healthcare space, as well as clients in the travel and leisure, luxury goods, professional services, publishing, and technology industries. By leveraging First Data’s expansive network of clients, Flywire will be able to further its recent expansion into international payment and receivables for businesses.
- 04:00 am
Verifone, a world leader in payments and commerce solutions, announced that it has been selected as the payment solution and service provider for PrivatBank, the largest acquirer in Ukraine.
Verifone will be PrivatBank’s single source for all payment services including software, warranty and logistics. This means merchants will be able to unpack their complete POS system, set up, and begin accepting card payments within minutes. The agreement gives PrivatBank the flexibility to source comprehensive payment solutions through a monthly service model that eliminates a large initial investment, terminal management and depreciation commonly associated with payment system ownership and management.
“Our partnership with Verifone will play a major role in the journey towards broad adoption of cashless transactions in the region by significantly reducing the complexity we would face if we were to manage our merchant payment system offerings ourselves,” said Alexandr Shlapak, CEO of the PrivatBank. “Payment-as-a-service is an alternative business model that’s very attractive to many acquirers like us in Eastern Europe.”
According to industry analysts, despite the growing share of the banked population and governmental restrictions on cash payment, Ukraine remains a largely cash-based economy. However, consumers are increasingly attracted to the convenience offered by card payments thanks to rising merchant acceptance supported by leading banks that are focused on expanding their POS networks.
“As Verifone’s first service-based agreement in Ukraine, we are proud to support the country’s biggest chain of branches that will enable merchants to offer consumers better, faster and more convenient ways to pay with debit and credit cards, and the newest contactless and e-payment options,” said Bulent Ozayaz, President, Verifone EEMEA, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa. “Designed to allow clients like PrivatBank to focus on their core business in financial services, Verifone will handle the full scope of payment solutions installment and ongoing service directly with their merchant clients.”
- 06:00 am
Alphavend has just launched its first 24 hour Bitcoin machine on Brighton's seafront, yards from the famous seaside town's iconic pier. After successfully deploying machines in London and Scotland, Alphavend is optimistic about its foray on the UK's south coast.
Located in a convenience store (S.V. News) at 54-55 Kings Road, the machine will be available from 7am until 3am Sun-Thu, and 24 Hours at the weekend.
As well as offering customers the chance to buy Bitcoin, it will also shortly add the less well known, but up and coming digital currency, Litecoin, with other 'cryptos' set to follow in the near future.
The timing could not be better as Bitcoin demand had pushed it to all time record highs this week of £1,152 per BTC, almost three times its value at the same time last year
- 09:00 am
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved rule changes allowing its Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) subsidiary to expand the availability of central clearing in the repo market, strengthening both the safety and efficiency of the marketplace.
The rule approvals will allow institutional investors to participate in FICC either directly in the new Centrally Cleared Institutional Triparty (CCIT™) Service or indirectly through a sponsoring member bank.
• CCIT Service – FICC is the only central counterparty (CCP) platform in the U.S. that clears tri-party repo and debt transactions. Since 1998, FICC’s GCF Repo Service has enabled its dealer members to trade FICC-cleared general collateral tri-party repos with each other based on rate, term and underlying product throughout the day without requiring intra-day, trade-for-trade settlement on a Delivery-versus-Payment (DVP) basis. As an expansion of the GCF Repo Service, the CCIT Service will extend FICC’s CCP services and guaranty of the completion of eligible trades to tri-party repo transactions between its dealer members and eligible tri-party cash lenders.
• Sponsored DVP Repo Service – Since 2005, FICC has also offered a service that allows well-capitalized bank members to sponsor their Registered Investment Company clients into FICC. With the expansion of the sponsored membership program, FICC will now permit additional Qualified Institutional Buyer clients to lend cash and U.S. treasuries via their sponsoring member banks throughout the day.
Enabling new market participants to join FICC reduces counterparty risk, a key benefit because of the guaranteed completion of settlement in the event of a member default. In such a stress scenario, the CCP guaranty can lower the risk of liquidity drain from a large scale exit by institutional investors. A centralized liquidation of a failed counterparty by FICC would reduce the risk of fire sales that drive down asset prices and spread stress across the financial system.
Centrally clearing these transactions at FICC also offers members opportunities for potential balance sheet netting and capital relief, which, in turn, may afford institutional investors increased lending capacity and income.¬
“The repo market is a critical source of funding for broker-dealers and an important cash management tool for institutional counterparties. We believe the larger group of market participants able to use central clearing through the CCIT Service and sponsored membership program strengthens the entire marketplace,” said Murray Pozmanter, DTCC Managing Director and Head of Clearing Agency Services. “We applaud the SEC actions, and look forward to delivering increased central clearing capabilities to our expanded community.”
