IBM and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa announced today the completion of their first blockchain project to improve the bank's ability to verify customer identity.

The result of this successful pilot is an operational permissioned blockchain network that provides a view of customer identity to enable compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. This demonstrates the disruptive capabilities of blockchain technology beyond common transaction-oriented use cases.

"Blockchain is a transformative agent in our operational application, as proven by this project -- the first of its kind in France. This pilot offers a complete view of customers' documents across our distributed network," said Frédéric Laurent, COO Innovation & Operations, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. "The project helped us to understand and master blockchain for other client uses. Now, we are ready to incorporate this technology in our ecosystem."

With 3.6 million customers and a comprehensive line of banking, financial and insurance services for individuals, businesses or institutional clients, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa expects to use the technology to help improve both customer and advisors experiences. Banks often have a variety of systems that separately manage customer identity for different services provided. As a result of this successful pilot, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa group and IBM are working to federate the different silos of customer data creating a single but cross-businesses KYC platform to inform all of the banks processes, helping to reduce unnecessary duplication of information and requests. The blockchain technology identifies and uses all valid existing evidence already stored in the bank's multiple systems of record such as from mortgage applications or life insurance enrollment and bank accounts opening. This simplifies administrative processes making them reliable for the bank, which in turn can help improve customer satisfaction.

"Crédit Mutuel Arkéa applied IBM Design Thinking and agile development methods to turn a simple idea into a strategic, decentralized platform for collaboration. The availability of IBM Blockchain services and DevOps tools on IBM innovation platform Bluemix was key to accelerate the time-to-value during the development phase," said Juliette Macret, IBM Financial Services Sector Business Development Director, IBM France. "As the foundation of a robust system of trust, blockchain technology can help businesses create frictionless business transactions that improve customer satisfaction and employee efficiency."

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa relied on IBM expertise for this project, including:

· IBM Design Thinking methodologies and the IBM Studio in Paris to shape the strategic imperatives of the project, explore the initial ideas and co-design the use case from an end-user viewpoint.

· Bluemix, IBM's cloud platform, to accelerate the development of the project using a complete set of as-a-services components, including Blockchain-as-a-Service and DevOps.

· banking industry insight to guide the project and identify the business transformation opportunity.

Using the open-source Hyperledger Project fabric, the software reinforces consistency, traceability and privacy of the information, which is critical in a highly regulated environment. Ultimately, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa could enable its customers to deliver proof of their identity to third-parties such as local utilities, retailers or regulated service providers.

IBM is actively working with hundreds of clients to understand what it takes to make blockchain ready for business. Through its open source contributions and resources for blockchain software developers, IBM is advancing the science of blockchain, helping to remove complexity, and making it more accessible and open. Financial services, supply chains, IoT, risk management, digital rights management and healthcare are some of the areas that are poised for major changes using blockchain networks.

MGT Capital Investments, Inc  disclosed the details of the initial phase of a large scale Bitcoin mining operation designed to position the Company as a leader in Blockchain technologies. 

The Company has secured a location with contracted low cost hydro power in central Washington state to launch a facility generating over two PetaHash in processing power. This facility is expected to be fully operational by August 1, 2016, and has expansion capacity to nearly 10 PetaHash. The size and power efficiency of the facility will allow MGT to emerge as a domestic leader in crypto currency mining at an opportune time. The current pricing environment of bitcoin and other digital assets coupled with the release of new 16 nanometer ASIC chips provides a significant opportunity to generate excellent profit margins. 

The Company has been testing a smaller scale (100 TeraHash) operation with positive results. The testing has allowed MGT to optimize its production software as well as provide experience to its team in building out and managing a profitable mining center.

The Company has named Robert Collazo to lead this venture. Mr. Collazo has proven skills in maximizing profit margins, having led several successful build outs in various locations since the inception of Bitcoin.

This significant commitment to an in-house mining facility also prepares MGT for the increased processing demands of the many new Blockchain technologies on the horizon. As the demand for transaction processing grows, the Company can redirect its mining machines towards supporting other tasks on the Blockchain.

John McAfee, MGT's proposed Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "In order to meet the processing demand for our future cyber security products that are Blockchain based, MGT will need a large number of ASIC computers. Our announced strategy is particularly cost effective, as mining computers are perfectly suited for this task and can earn a great ROI until we utilize the processing power of these super-fast machines to support the future revenue streams of our products. Further, we pleased that Robert has agreed to join us and use his expertise to grow the project."

Path Solutions, announces today that BOK International (“BOKI”) first overseas branch office for Bank of Khartoum (“BOK”) in Bahrain has completed successfully the implementation of iMAL across its operations.

The Islamic core banking system iMAL, which was chosen over competitors’ systems, will now launch and accelerate the growth of BOKI’s banking business in Bahrain by allowing the bank to provide world-class banking services in line with the Islamic principles to corporates and high net worth individuals.

The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has granted a license to BOK, Sudan’s biggest privately owned bank, to open a branch in Bahrain. BOK International is the first branch outside Sudan and Bank of Khartoum is the first Sudanese bank holding an Islamic banking branch license in Bahrain.

“Bahrain is an increasingly competitive market. Thus, the implementation of iMAL Islamic core banking system will equip BOKI with essential tools to develop and expand its regional presence and innovate in its customer offering”, commented Mohammed Kateeb, Group Chairman & CEO of Path Solutions. And he added, “The very fast implementation is testament both to the quality of our core banking system and the expertise of the project teams from Path and BOKI. We are delighted to see iMAL going live once again at a leading Sudanese bank, longtime user of iMAL, and helping support both its national and international operations. The progression of the roll-out across the Bahraini branch will give the local banking community a huge boost in its capabilities and its international standing”.

The smooth implementation, which was completed in a short timeframe of exquisite dedication, high level of professionalism, expertise and hard work included the deployment of CSM, accounting system, trade finance, facility management, Islamic invest, fixed assets system, batch processing, report designer, SWIFT and SAFE, covering the data replication of all above modules.

“We are aiming to grow our business tenfold over the next three years in Bahrain”, said Fadi Al Faqih, Group CEO of BOK. “This groundbreaking turnkey solution and the broad experience Path Solutions has built up over the last two and a half decades were crucial to the deal. We are delighted that our team, and the experts from Path Solutions have enabled us to go live so quickly. We will be now providing our customers with an innovative range of Sharia-compliant products and services”, Faqih concluded.

“We are very pleased to partner with Path Solutions. The system will enable us to have robust internal controls and streamline our regulatory reporting and audit requirements”, said Nabeel Al Tattan, CEO of BOKI. “We will also be able to ensure the speedy delivery of Islamic products and services to our regional customers, who are increasing by the moment”.

BOK, already running its entire operations in all its branches in Sudan on iMAL, was the first bank established in 1913 by the Anglo-Egyptian regime. In 1925, it was renamed ”Barclay’s Overseas Bank“ and renamed ”Barclay’s Bank“ in 1954. Dubai Islamic Bank is the primary shareholder with 28% ownership in the bank. The other institutional shareholders are also pioneers in regional Islamic banking and include the Islamic Development Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Sharjah Islamic Bank, United Arab Emirates, Etisalat, and local and regional investors.

 Nordic digital payments specialist, Nets, has been selected by Danish banking collective, the BOKIS partnership, to launch a new NFC mobile wallet solution powered by its HCE and tokenisation platform.

The BOKIS partnership includes 62 banks that form the small to mid-sized banks segment of the Association of Local Banks, Savings Banks and Cooperative Banks in Denmark, together with five Danish regional banks: Jyske Bank, Sydbank, Spar Nord Bank, Arbejdernes Landsbank and Nykredit Bank.

The BOKIS mobile wallet solution will be available to all customers of participating banks, which collectively represent a significant proportion of Danish cardholders.

“We are excited to be the first in Denmark to announce our plans to deliver bank-issued mobile wallets from our members, providing a mobile payment solution that delivers real payment convenience to our customers,” comments Søren Nicolaisen, Managing Director, Danish Regional Bankers Association. “End users will be able to pay just by ‘tapping’ their phone at the contactless point-of-sale.”

HCE and tokenisation – the new standard for mobile contactless payments

Nets’ HCE and tokenisation platform provides Nordic banks, like those taking part in the BOKIS partnership, with an open and easily integrated transaction security capability which dramatically simplifies the process of supporting or deploying mobile payment solutions. The platform is based on internationally recognised security standards and enables banks to quickly and easily introduce HCE and tokenisation into their own mobile payment solutions, reducing time-to-market and streamlining what can be a long and complicated process. 

Hans Henrik Hoffmeyer, SVP of Mobile Services area in Nets, comments: “Historically, Nets has developed and operated the financial infrastructure supporting and driving the Nordic banks’ payment solutions. We have made significant investments on behalf of our customers in becoming a token service provider (TSP), which enables Nets to provide the security services that our banking customers need to power their future mobile solutions and new mobile services. In short, we enable banks to continue ‘business as usual’ in the mobile age.”

Secure mobile payments via tokenisation

When Danish customers perform a mobile payment with their digital wallet, Nets uses HCE and tokenisation to ensure that the transaction is handled securely. The payment credentials stored in the mobile device are replaced at the point of transmission with a unique randomly generated identifier, or token, ensuring the information exchanged between phone and terminal doesn’t contain sensitive data.

Instead, the token is sent via the terminal to Nets, which centrally exchanges it with the correct account information (PAN-number) and debits the corresponding account, similarly to when it is processing a conventional card payment. This model mimics the current tap-and-go payment that consumers experience today with their contactless cards.

Tokenisation is quickly becoming the new industry standard and is currently the most widely used model to facilitate secure mobilepayments globally by international mobile payment providers. Samsung Pay and Android Pay additionally use HCE to allow for secure storing of payment information. HCE and tokenisation together provide the technology platform used to support the domestic schemein Denmark, Dankort, which will be available on the mobile this autumn.

“We look forward to announcing more customer implementations in the coming months,” adds Hoffmeyer.

dv01, the analytics platform that brings transparency to lending markets, announced the debut of its portfolio management software for marketplace loans. To date, institutional investors have used dv01's cloud-hosted web application to gain real-time insight into $23.5 billionworth of marketplace loans.

Founded in 2015 by Perry Rahbar, dv01 has raised $7.5 million of seed funding from Quantum Strategic Partners Ltd., Leucadia National Corporation, and Pivot Investment Partners. The company has applied the funding toward expanding its engineering team and launching its portfolio management software. It will now focus on its securitization offering and scaling its solution to expand into the $12 trillion consumer and mortgage lending markets.

"Our mission is to bring a higher degree of transparency to lending markets," said Perry Rahbar, CEO, dv01. "We take data out of archaic databases and transform it into something flexible and dynamic. As an impartial party, we deliver an unbiased view that benefits all market participants: borrowers, lenders, and investors."

dv01's current technology aggregates performance data from lenders including Lending Club, Prosper, Marlette Funding, and CommonBond. By normalizing data across lenders, dv01 simplifies comparison and analysis, enabling institutional investors to study individual loan performance and quickly detect issues within portfolios.

"dv01's analytics platform brings needed transparency to a rapidly evolving market," said Brian McGrath, Managing Director at Jefferies, a subsidiary of Leucadia National Corporation. "We look forward to using dv01's offerings to inform future analysis and investment."

"We're excited to support a company that is building technology to modernize the capital markets," said Dinkar Jetley, co-founder of Pivot Investment Partners. "dv01 offers a reporting and analytics platform that streamlines workflows for institutional investors, making analysis of loan level data faster and more accurate than previously possible."

Discover is introducing a new option for merchants to streamline the checkout process for all chip cards leveraging Discover, Diners Club International and PULSE Networks. Discover Quick Chip will reduce the time a chip card needs to remain in the point-of-sale terminal, making the checkout process more convenient for merchants and cardholders. Discover Quick Chip provides merchants and acquirers with an additional option when processing chip card payments.

Discover Quick Chip will reduce terminal certification requirements and be compatible with the technical standards offered by other payment networks, so merchants can seamlessly offer cardholders a faster checkout experience across all chip cards they accept.

“Discover is providing this new option in order to offer merchants and cardholders a streamlined checkout experience,” said Ellie Smith, head of the Chip Center of Excellence at Discover. “This initiative further expands and complements Discover’s wide range of existing programs that support chip deployment.”

Discover Quick Chip is another example of Discover’s long-running commitment to support merchants and acquirers in the U.S. EMV migration. The current programs range from focusing on industry education and training to streamlined certification initiatives, including access to multiple approved certification service providers, acquirer self-certification and dedicated support for Value Added Resellers.

Merchants that want to upgrade their terminals to include Discover Quick Chip should contact their acquirer, payment processor, or point-of-sale provider.

• 23.06.2016 -- 10:30 am

Lev Lesokhin, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Analytics at CAST, discusses the need for the UK Financial sector to modernise and improve its software performance.