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Welcome to the PaymentsSource Morning Briefing, delivered daily. The information you need to start your day, including top headlines from PaymentsSource and around the Web:
VocaLink's 'digital debit' spreads across the U.K.: As U.K. regulators consider VocaLink's future as a Mastercard subsidiary, the company has been racking up client wins for its mobile technology. It has signed HSBC and first direct, HSBC's online banking subsidiary, to Pay by Bank, VocaLink's account-linked mobile payment service. HSBC joins Barclays, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds as Pay by Bank clients, giving VocaLink the business of most of the country's largest banks. The feature allows users to make 'digital debit' payments through their mobile banking app, with payments coming directly from their bank account. The regulatory hurdles to Mastercard's VocaLink acquisition have been primarily over ATM competition, since VocaLink is the U.K.'s largest supplier of ATM technology. U.K. regulators have given a preliminary approval to Mastercard's proposal to open some of VocaLink's assets to outside competition.
The HSBC Holdings Plc headquarters building stands in the Central district of Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017. HSBC is scheduled to release earnings results on Feb. 21. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
Inexpensive crime: Distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), which are designed to overwhelm web servers with high volumes of activity to create a vulnerability, have been responsible for attacks on payment processing sites as varied as Russian banks to Amex and Dwolla and PayPal and Amazon. For crooks, the cost benefit analysis is also quite attractive. Research from U.K. technology consultant Kaspersky found these attacks can cost as little as $7 per hour, enabling crooks to earn about $18 per hour in "profit." The research firm also reports many common protective measures are not helpful, including firewalls to secure DNS servers. Kaspersky also reports attacks can quickly flood systems with traditional firewalls, and adds the most common DDoS methods are now a common part of most hackers' toolkits.
Touchscreen charity: Charitable fundraisers lose tons of money each year to a form of cart abandonment; it's often too hard for donors to actually execute the transaction. That's led payment technology developers to seek ways to improve processing, generally through the use of contactless card-not-present transactions. This week, Australian bank ANZ and Ingenico announced a collaboration to enable ad displays to accept payments. Consumers can make payments by tapping contactless cards on the screen displaying fundraising content. The two companies demonstrated the technology this week at an industry show, setting up a screen to accept $5 to $30 donations for The Smith Family children's education charity.
Chinese cross-border play gets green lit: The Bank of Lithuania has given a non-restricted Electronic Money Institution License to IBS Lithuania, a European branch of IBS Holdings, a Hong Kong-based financial technology company. Finextra reports the regulatory approval will enable IBS to provide payments across the entire EU, giving a boost to the company's multi-currency settlement service. It has already entered into agreements with several European banks to enable payments and settlement between Europe and China, with businesses able to open accounts by the third quarter of 2017. IBS expects to add other regions in the future. Finextra reports the strategy is aimed at winning a share of the business payments market as the Chinese's "One Belt One Road" strategy to increase trade with the EU takes shape.
Don't force people to use tap and go cards, banks are told Daily Mail • James Salmon Business Correspondent, The Daily Mail MPs have put pressure on the Financial Conduct Authority to close a security loophole which allows criminals to make ‘tap and go’ payments on cards months after they have been cancelled.
Train, trolley and bus tickets go mobile in San Diego County San Diego Union Tribune Have you ever raced for the trolley only to wrestle with the ticket machine while your ride rolls away? Breathe deep. There’s some relief on the way. Starting on Thursday, transit users around San Diego County will be able to use their...
How to Improve Mobile UX with Digital Wallets Business 2 Community • Kaleigh Moore Today, there are more than 2.32 billion smartphone owners around the world. These devices aren’t just for browsing social media, texting, and making calls. They take owners beyond mere communication and act as resources for consumers who are finding and researching products...
Business check payments are 'broke,' and need to be 'fixed' Being pragmatic about what works now isn't a game plan for five years from now. While companies are busy maintaining the status quo, precious moments are slipping away to get ahead of the competition with better technology.
Mastercard buys biometrics firm NuData to boost IoT security Mastercard has added another layer to its security for the evolving Internet of Things (IoT) with the acquisition of NuData, a Vancouver, Canada-based company whose technology analyzes biometric and behavioral patterns.
Merchants ready to give 3-D Secure a second chance As merchants seek out better ways to defend themselves from rampant online fraud, some are pinning their hopes on a recent upgrade to the card brands’ 3-D Secure Authentication technology.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, building on an executive order by President Trump, wants to eliminate the legal framework of "disparate impact" from its implementation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
Acquisition talks fell through in the final hours, according to reports. Also: Visa launched another stablecoin pilot on Visa Direct; the Bank of England seeks input on stablecoin restrictions; and more in this week's global payments roundup.
The Treasury secretary highlighted the impacts the bond market has on affordability and previewed regulatory tweaks the administration is eyeing to keep yields stable and credit flowing.
Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said Wednesday that the central bank will soon issue a request for information on a nascent proposal to offer "skinny" payment accounts to eligible institutions and is aiming to finalize a rule by the fourth quarter of 2026.
