Maintain Vs. Invest: What the Digital Era Ushers in for Banks

Taking place this week in Brussels, the European Credit Research Institute (ECRI) will host a high-level debate on how policymakers can build on the process of digitalisation of banks to raise competitiveness in light of increased competition from fintech start-ups and tech giants.

The EBA’s Regulatory Technical Standards Provide the “How” to PSD2’s “What”

February 2017 saw the release of the long-awaited draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) for strong customer authentication (SCA) from the European Banking Authority (EBA). The RTS defines the technical framework for the implementation of PSD2 with primary focus on SCA, and common and secure connection (CSC). In short, we could say that PSD2 covers the “what” aspect of the regulation whereas the RTS defines the “how” this is to be done.

Regulating the Payments Ecosystem Transformation

New banks, new payments players, new choice. The competition is heating up in payments, with both incumbents and those new to the scene, vying to emerge victorious.

How Digitalized Banking Will Force Collaboration And Other Key Highlights From Sibos

Returning from Sibos in Geneva, I am in a reflective mood on the main take-aways from this year’s event, key updates about the state of the payments industry—and what to expect in 2017.

Three hot-button topics from Money20/20

From Sluggish to Supercharged: Changing the World with Real-Time Payments

This week saw leading voices in the payments and fintech community gather in Amsterdam for EBAday. Real-time payments was definitely one of the big buzzwords of the event. 

Payments Innovation: Beware of Fancy Apps; It’s Time to Invest in Plumbing

2014 was the year when the Britain (and much of the rest of the world) fell in love with mobile payments. Hardly a day went by without a story about a new payment service or another cool new payments app. ApplePay was announced to the world with much fanfare and the London transport system went contactless.

Payments Innovation at Groupe Auchan, One of the World's Largest Retailers

France-based Groupe Auchan is the world’s eleventh largest food retailer, with more than 3,000 stores, spanning 15 countries across Europe and Asia. The retail giant is embarking on a major payments initiative that will not only benefit the organization, but its hundreds of thousands of customers as well—a new SEPA-compliant European card payments platform, the first of its kind in Europe. 

The Disruption Opportunity

“… the real story behind disruptive innovation is not one of destruction, but of its opposite: in every industry changed by disruption, the net effect has been total market growth.”

What Bricks and Mortar Banking Can Learn from Mobile

Today innovation in banking has almost become a byword for what the next big use of mobile technology will be in helping people and businesses bank more easily and more flexibly.