Published
- 02:00 am
Mastercard today announced the appointment of Ed McLaughlin to president, Operations and Technology, effective May 1, 2017. McLaughlin succeeds Rob Reeg, who will move to a consulting role reporting to Ajay Banga, president and CEO, and will help to ensure a smooth transition through October 1, 2017.
“Ed’s experience and know-how across our portfolio, combined with an entrepreneurial mindset, made him the ideal choice to continue the growth and advancement of our technology operations,” said Banga. “He’s a proven entity to our teams, our customers and industry stakeholders. It’s this foundation of delivering meaningful products and the highest levels of security that will continue to differentiate us in this increasingly digital world.”
In 2010, McLaughlin was named chief emerging payments officer, leading the development and launch of the company’s digital strategy, partnerships and platforms, including Masterpass, Mastercard Send and Mastercard Digital Enablement System (MDES), the digital token program. McLaughlin joined Mastercard in 2005 as head of bill payment and healthcare, and was named chief franchise development officer in 2008.
Prior to joining Mastercard, McLaughlin led product and strategy at Metavante, a financial services technology company, and was co-founder and CEO of Paytrust, an online payments company acquired by Metavante in 2002. Earlier in his career, he was the executive vice president of product and marketing at LogicWorks, Inc., a start-up data modeling software. McLaughlin is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
Over the course of 22 years, Reeg played a significant role in guiding the organization through its evolution as a technology company. He was the chief architect of the company’s strategic processing platform and global network operations.
Rob Reeg, President, MasterCard TechnologiesReeg originally joined Mastercard in 1995, before being named chief technology officer in 2005. He assumed his most recent position on the company’s executive management team in May 2008. Prior to joining Mastercard, Reeg held IT and business leadership positions with Sprint Corp., Cleveland Pneumatic, Totco Inc. and Conoco Inc.
“It would be impossible to recount all of Rob’s many contributions and accomplishments over the past two decades,” said Banga. “He’s pushed us to be at the cutting edge of operational efficiency and accuracy. Rob brought that same passion and caring to our culture and our people, being a tireless advocate for diversity and inclusion initiatives. We wish Rob and his family every happiness in this next chapter.”
- 02:00 am
Key people behind a planned new Israeli bank account switching service turned to the experienced team behind the UK’s Current Account Switch Service (CASS) to tap into their knowledge and expertise.
The two day visit gave the Israeli delegation an insight into how CASS was created and implemented, as well as the research that has informed latest developments, and the strategy for building on success moving forwards. Bacs also arranged for the visitors to meet with representatives from Her Majesty’s Treasury, the Payment Systems Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Competition and Markets Authority, as well as people from the UK Open Banking team.
Anne Pieckielon, Bacs Director of Product and Strategy, leads on CASS for the UK. She said: “CASS is clearly recognised as a world leading switching service and we were delighted to share our knowledge and experience on how we have made the service such a success since launching almost four years ago.”
Kfir Battat, from Israel’s Ministry of Finance, said: “The visit to Bacs to talk about CASS exceeded all our expectations and we thank Anne and all her team for the opportunity to learn more about the UK banking market and in particular CASS. The UK clearly has an excellent switching service and we are very grateful for the two day visit.”
- 09:00 am
LCH Ltd, a leading global clearing house, announced today that it has established deposit and intraday liquidity facilities with Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway.
As part of the account opening process, LCH has become a direct member of NBO, the payments system operated by Norges Bank which allows financial insititutions to settle payment obligations on a real-time gross settlement basis.
Martin Pluves, CEO, LCH Ltd, said: “As a global leader in clearing and risk management, LCH is delighted to announce the opening of this new account with Norges Bank. Adding this central bank account strengthens credit and liquidity risk management at the CCP and expands sources of liquidity, in line with international standards for financial market infrastructures.”
LCH also maintains central bank concentration accounts in Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Euros, Sterling, and Swiss Francs.
- 08:00 am
Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, has opened a new banking card personalization center in Dubai, bringing the benefits of highly responsive, locally-based support to the region's fast developing financial services sector. The new center is fully certified by Visa and MasterCard, and offers a one-stop solution for EMV card personalization and associated services such as PIN by SMS, including the option of same day delivery. Banks will therefore be able to offer their end users an enhanced customer experience, and reap the benefits of improved flexibility, business continuity, reliability, and cost efficiency.
The first customer to take advantage of the new center is Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a leading Islamic financial services group with 88 branches and a presence that extends across the UAE and six other Middle East and European countries. Gemalto will provide ADIB with personalization services for debit and credit cards, along with an enhanced and fully integrated packaging, fulfillment and PIN mailer service that is tailored precisely to the individual requirements of the bank and its clients. As a global company, Gemalto's new personalization center also supports the ability to securely deliver replacement banking cards to VIP customers when they are traveling abroad.
The opening of the Dubai center reflects and supports the rapid migration to EMV banking that is taking place throughout a region where cash has traditionally dominated. By 2021 it is predicted that 902 million EMV bank cards will be in circulation in the Middle East and Africa, up from 303 million in 2015.
"The Millennial generation is increasingly demanding an instant, personalized service and ADIB is fully committed to a program of digital transformation that can meet and exceed their expectations," said (name), (job title) for ADIB. "This collaboration with Gemalto is central to this goal, helping us deliver exceptional reactivity and protection for our customers."
"The Middle East is experiencing a dramatic shift in the financial landscape, as citizens recognize the benefits of cashless transactions and banks pioneer a range of innovative digital products and services," said Eric Claudel, Senior Vice President Banking & Payment CISMEA at Gemalto. "Employing highly innovative technology, our new center offers a 360º solution that will keep banks at the forefront of this rapidly changing market, facilitating broader commercial strategies and providing greater freedom to focus on core activities."
Arturo González Mac Dowell
CEO & Founder at Eurobits Technologies
On Monday 27 March 2017 the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs held a Scrutiny Session on the see more
- 03:00 am
Today, Walmart, an American giant multinational retailing corporation, has revealed launch of Bluebird2Walmart money transfer service via mobile phones, scheduled for beginning of May.
The new solution will enable accountholders of Bluebird to digitally transfer money for cash pick up at any Walmart store. Bluebird users can access the new service by visiting the website or by downloading Bluebird app on their smartphones. There is no need for money receivers to have a personal account on Bluebird. They just can collect it at any Walmart store, in a few minutes after the transaction is completed.
Earlier, Walmart has already introduced money transfer service, powered by Ria and delighted its customers with considerable amount of saved fees and ease of procedures. The new online service will also allow lowering transfer fees, while providing convenient and smooth money transfer experience. Moreover, company’s representatives promise price consistency with the new Walmart2Walmart prices, irrespective of the stores location.
Kristy Ward, vice president, Walmart services comments: “We are extremely proud of the significant savings our customers have enjoyed in the three years since Walmart2Walmart was introduced. For the millions of customers who rely upon transferring money to help family and friends – whether regularly or in times of urgent need – we know saving money on costly fees can make a big difference.” “Now, with even lower fees for Walmart2Walmart, as well as the option to send money digitally with Bluebird, we continue to deliver on our mission to save customers’ money, as well as time.”
- 01:00 am
AGORA Data, Inc., a Texas-based provider of technology solutions for the financial services industry, announces the launch of its groundbreaking and market-disrupting exchange software for the auto finance industry. AGORA is a cloud-based marketplace that enables buyers and sellers of auto loans to transact in a direct manner without the need for brokers or intermediaries.
AGORA founder and CEO Steve Burke, a thirty-year veteran of auto finance, launched the business in response to the many friction points and inefficiencies that exist in the manner that auto loan portfolios currently trade – namely poor and inconsistent data, lack of transparency from the brokers that dominate the market and heightened regulatory concerns over unsecured transmission of personal consumer data.
AGORA founders partnered with a Silicon Valley firm to combine market-leading software development and financial services expertise to build their revolutionary platform.
"We are highly confident that AGORA will massively disrupt the status quo and rapidly become the standard through which auto loans are traded going forward," said Burke. "We have strong conviction about the future success of AGORA and that it will be a game changer for the industry. Since we launched AGORA on April 3, 2017 we have listed over $100 million in loans for sale – well ahead of our projected pace. By using AGORA, buyers and seller will never pay broker fees again!" Burke continued.
Steve Gertz, partner to AGORA said, "With AGORA, we've created an innovative platform that introduces a new way to buy and sell loans in a secure marketplace. Our focus is providing a more sophisticated and easy way to transact."
Through its proprietary technology, AGORA maps directly into dealer management systems ("DMS") and loan servicing systems ("LSS") to allow dealers, finance companies and other prospective sellers of loans to seamlessly load their loan data into the AGORA network. AGORA captures and stores the data in a standardized fashion and in a highly secured and encrypted environment. Once loaded, sellers can flag specific loans they wish to advertise as available for sale, along with any key terms and conditions of the offered portfolio.
Using AGORA's flexible and customizable search engine, interested buyers can search to find portfolios that meet their specific criteria, filter based on a wide range of conditions and reflect bids (including material terms and conditions) back to the seller.
- 06:00 am
Jack Henry & Associates' Symitar division today announced that, included in its new core wins during the first ten months of its fiscal year, the company has added six new billion-dollar core credit union footprints for the Episys system.
The $1.3 billion-asset Credit Union of Texas out of Dallas is one of these additions, selecting Episys for in-house processing. Eric Pointer, the credit union’s president, said, “We identified the need for a core partner that could deliver both internal process efficiencies and the technology to better serve our members. Episys is simply the best fit for our needs due to its high level of customization and extensive third-party integration. The system possesses a level of flexibility and scalability that can effectively grow with us in the future.”
Four of the other credit unions will also deploy Episys in-house, including the $1.1 billion Black Hills Federal Credit Union in Rapid City, S.D., and $2.3 billion Langley Federal Credit Union in Newport News, Va.
St. Paul, Minn.-based Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union with assets of $1.9 billion was the record-breaking sixth billion-dollar signing. The credit union has opted to run Episys in an outsourced environment via Symitar EASE™. This delivery model is attractive to Affinity Plus because of how it will allow the credit union’s team to focus on optimal system utilization and efficiency. Affinity Plus wants to afford its IT staff the time to really partner with various business units on using Episys to its fullest, and in turn enable those business units to be as efficient as possible.
All six credit unions will implement multiple other offerings from Jack Henry & Associates to further enhance their core platform. Two solutions consistently included across each of these new relationships are Symitar’s Advanced Reporting for Credit Unions™ for business intelligence and analytics, and Episys® Data Store™ for near real-time analysis and reporting. Together, these tools arm credit unions with a meaningful view of their data for more effective, proactive decision making.
Ted Bilke, president of Symitar, said, “Our Episys system continues to prove its value for credit unions of all sizes. It has the most diverse user base in the market, and is the most widely deployed core platform. While we’ve served a large share of the billion-dollar space for a while now, we are excited to bring more credit unions of this size into the Episys family. Oftentimes it is these clients who help drive ideas and innovation for the entire Episys community, finding new ways for credit unions to better serve their members year after year.”
This week, Symitar hosts its annual Executive Forum in Las Vegas, an event that brings together Episys credit union executives to talk candidly about their core platform’s latest enhancements, new ideas, and industry trends. This year’s gathering will have executives from more than 60 billion-dollar credit unions, another company milestone.
- 05:00 am
IHS Markit, a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, today announced it has joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a global trade association that promotes the understanding, acceptance and use of digital assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT), also known as blockchain technology.
“We see opportunities to use DLT to help our clients reduce operational risk and cost, use collateral more efficiently and fundamentally change the risk profile of complex financial products,” said Jeff Billingham, vice president at IHS Markit. “We are pleased to support the Chamber in advocating for policies that help realize these goals while fostering higher levels of trust in global financial infrastructure through technology innovation.”
“The deep industry expertise that IHS Markit offers will be key in furthering the Chamber's advocacy and education initiatives and securing the future of distributed ledger technology," said Perianne Boring, founder and president of the Chamber of Digital Commerce. “We are thrilled to welcome IHS Markit to the Chamber’s membership.”
Based in Washington, D.C., the Chamber of Digital Commerce brings industry leaders and policymakers together to engage on digital assets and blockchain. Chamber members are from prominent organizations in the blockchain ecosystem, including startups, software companies, global IT consultancies, financial institutions and investment firms.
- 08:00 am
As our APAC hub, our Singapore office will allow us to work even closer with our customers across the region. We’re building a team within Singapore's growing FinTech scene, focussed on bringing TransferWise’s fast, fair money transfer services to Asia Pacific.
The Singapore government’s commitment to FinTech makes it a prime location for innovation. We’re looking forward to contributing to the flourishing FinTech ecosystem.
Online verification
Working alongside the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), TransferWise is one of the first remittance companies allowed to verify customers online. That means customers won’t have to come to our office to get verified anymore.
Here's what our CEO, Taavet Hinrikus had to say: “Online verification not only makes it easier and more convenient for the customer, it also provides better protection as it means that companies can tackle financial crime more effectively.
It’s a great step forward in creating a financial services sector that is focused on what’s best for the customer, rather than what’s best for the banks. Because of this we can fully launch our service in Singapore. That means people in Singapore finally have an alternative to the banks and remittance companies.”
People and businesses send over SGD 1.75 billion monthly with TransferWise. And they’re saving SGD 2.5 million in bank fees every single day.
