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Irish banks cool on Apple Pay: It's not at the level of Australia's battle between banks and Apple, but Apple Pay is launching in Ireland with less than full support. 9to5Mac reports only two banks, Ulster Bank and KBC, are supporting Apple Pay, which went live in Ireland today. Among the country's other major banks, only AIB has said it's in talks with Apple, and has nothing to announce yet. At this point, there's no sign of the hostility that has accompanied Apple Pay's launch in Australia, where banks are pushing to get Apple to open up the iPhone NFC chip for third-party wallets. Despite the lack of bank support, 9to5Mac reports most of Ireland's major merchants are advertising Apple Pay. Apple Pay is also expected to launch in Italy shortly, according to 9to5Mac.
A sign for the launch of the Apple pay system, from Apple.Inc is seen displayed at the entrance to a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in London, U.K., on Tuesday, July 14, 2015. Apple Inc. is making the U.K. the first market outside the U.S. for its digital-wallet system as the company fights for a place in the electronic-payments industry. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Feds warn on virtual currency: Government officials are getting worried about the security risks behind digital currency. Reuters reports Fed Governor Jerome Powell told an audience at Yale Law School that digital currencies are vulnerable to web attacks, cyber counterfeiting, and other criminal activities. Virtual currency privacy risks have also not been resolved, according to Powell. Security risks have dogged virtual currency for years, making banks reluctant to adopt Bitcoin beyond using the underlying distributed ledger technology. In Powell's case, the concern is central governments issuing their own virtual currency. Powell did not identify specific countries, but China is reportedly building its own virtual currency. The risks tied to virtual currency require a level of monitoring that could dilute its anonymous appeal, according to Powell.
No more outsourcing for Monzo: Digital payment company Monzo is insourcing its card processing after a third-party outage left clients unable to use the service for most of the day on Sunday. The company reports its services were working as of Monday. Monzo used a third-party processor when it started testing about a year ago. The decision "made sense," according to the company. But as it readies to launch a new account service later this year, Monzo will use a direct connection to Mastercard, which it has just completed. "Going forward our strategy is to bring all critical systems in-house and continue to develop our own platform atop modern technology which we control," said Oliver Beattie, head of engineering at Monzo, in the company's statement.
When will physical wallets die?: Traditional non-mobile leather wallets are still around, though at a number of retailers that won't be the case for long. New research from JPMorgan Chase and Forrester found 27% of merchants believe old school wallets will be obsolete in 20 years, while 44% believe cash will be a memory by that time. Those numbers fall in line with consumer expectations, as 40% predict cash will be obsolete in 20 years and 23% believe wallets will be in the dustbin. There's also good news for technology in the short term, as 39% of consumers say they will sign up to use digital wallets in the next year.
Mobiles, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies Can Expand, Or Threaten, Banking Forbes • Contributor, Tom Groenfeldt Banking is contrary to some appearances, a fast-moving business, or at least a target. Chris Skinner's new book, Value Web suggests some ways to improve and offers excellent case studies.
Samsung Pay is Finally Available in India and Here’s How To Get It! Trakin' the india business buzz • Abhishek Joshi Korean electronics manufacturer, Samsung Mobile, was testing its NFC-enabled payment solution, Samsung Pay in India. Today, the company has finally unveiled this payment platform in India for select few Samsung Galaxy Android smartphones.
Banks may get incentives for digital push The Economic Times of India • Dheeraj Tiwari The incentive is aimed at encouraging banks to onboard merchants for the new payments ecosystem and build the requisite infrastructure.
India's digital divide complicates its move away from cash By now most of the world knows of the disruption India's monetary system has undergone as its government discourages paper cash and pushes digital alternatives, stopping short of outright forcing the issue.
CO-OP ATMs will remain in 7-Eleven stores CO-OP Financial Services on Thursday said it reached an agreement with FCTI, Inc., a nationwide ATM network and service provider, that ensures approximately 8,000 ATMs located in 7-Eleven stores nationwide will continue to be a part of the CO-OP ATM network.
Scattered Spider, a cybercrime gang whose targets include banks, has seen five of its members arrested for SIM-swapping and phishing schemes that stole millions.
A federal appeals court granted the government's request to pause a ruling that briefly restored Democratic National Credit Union Administration board members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka, leaving the regulator with a single board member pending appeal.
Erik Porter will succeed Lisa Oliver as president and CEO of the Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod; Gary Hall and Sobani Warner are named co-presidents of Siebert Williams Shank; Faiz Ahmad and Mike Joo will lead Bank of America's global investment banking unit; and more in this week's banking news roundup.
Bank of Glen Burnie, which is seeking to recover from a stretch when its assets declined, hopes that its deal for a residential lender can help boost loan production.
Small practices are still mired in paper. Fiserv has joined banks such as JPMorganChase and Citizens in applying new third party transaction technology to the tricky sector.
