Canada

Momentum is continuing unabated for blockchain projects and initial coin offerings as the potential for blockchain continues to be realized.

It would appear that momentum is continuing unabated for blockchain projects and ICOs (initial coin offerings), as the potential for blockchain continues to be realized.

Erminia Johannson's promotion is part of an effort by BMO Financial to generate more revenue from its U.S. operations.

R&D capabilities at Interac got a boost last month when Interac Corp. was created by merging Interac Association and Acxys Corp. It brought together a payments network handling nearly 5.7 billion debit transactions annually with a company specializing in payments development, management and consultation.

VersaBank, a Canadian lender led by a tech-savvy CEO with a penchant for planes and classic motorcycles, is building a virtual safety deposit box for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

Some of the most important work in payments happens before the transaction, when retailers have to make sure their devices can handle the new technologies and card types that are about to get thrust upon them.

Interac's e-transfer system has jumped in usage, and has become a gateway for myriad other services including a collaboration with MoneyGram.

The risk to Canada's financial system from tapped-out borrowers is merely shifting — this time to a market where there's no oversight from the country's national bank regulator and new stress-test rules don't apply.

The risks of fraud, along with the current reputation of such currencies as often being used for money laundering and other criminal activities, has caused worry in the market, writes John Verver, and advisor to ACL.

Royal Bank of Canada showed it can defy expectations even while being more selective in lending.

Virtual assistants at banks in Israel, Canada and Hong Kong are getting smarter thanks to artificial intelligence.

BMO Financial group will invest $2 million into a new artificial intelligence lab in Montreal designed to help startups make the transition from science projects to high-growth companies.

Canada's payments modernization initiative is using a distributed ledger to expedite processing across a nationwide network, providing scale that could open the technology to wider use elsewhere if successful.

American Express Canada is launching a digital payment solution that replaces plastic cards with virtual account numbers.

The Canadian payment system is evolving into something almost completely different, an evolution that's birthing new ideas to handle authentication.

Canadian consumers using Samsung Pay can now make Interac debit payments through their mobile devices using a tokenization service from Interac and digital security provider Rambus Inc.

Mogo Finance Technology Inc. rose most in eight months after saying it added blockchain capabilities to its mobile banking platform.

London is battling other cities, which are trying to use the political uncertainty of the U.K.'s exit from the European Union to lure payment startups and other financial technology companies.

Fintrax provides multi-currency digital payment processing for international shoppers, and will add Planet Payment's base of clients in nearly two dozen countries.

The U.S. and Canada are far behind Europe and Asia in contactless adoption in general. A handful of mass transit agencies are stirring hopes about NFC fare payments, but even these cities are taking a cautious approach to open-loop payments.