5.03.18 Your morning briefing

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:

CBA discloses breach from two years ago
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has acknowledged a breach of close to 20 million savings and card accounts that it originally discovered in 2016.

The Australian reports the bank initially found magnetic data storage tapes had not been securely disposed of. These tapes include names and addresses, but not more sensitive information such as PINs or passwords.

The bank hired KPMG to investigate the breach, and determined there was not a high level of danger of theft or payment fraud.

The bank did not alert the public until after a Buzzfeed report on the incident this week. Australian regulators have since contacted the bank for more information about its actions.

Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Mobile May day
One of the sales pitches for faster payments is it enables constant mobile and electronic commerce by offering speedier and more regular processing than traditional overnight batch updates. But a bank holiday apparently has gotten in the way of that for an Irish bank.

Ulster Bank has blamed a European bank holiday on May 1 for an interruption in mobile payments processing, reports local publication Extra.ie. The disruption resulted in an undetermined number of mobile payments not showing up in accounts.

The bank said the payments would show up in the accounts a day later than normal.

Open banking's catbird seat
Technology companies expect to make major business from the European data sharing regulation PSD2, which mandates improvements in data sharing between banks and third parties that offer payments and other financial services.

One of these companies, open banking platform provider Token, has gotten a direct nod from regulators. The Financial Conduct Authority has authorized Token to support account information services and payments initiation under the terms of the new regulation.

Token uses an API to allow banks, merchants and other companies to connect to any bank in the EU for account information requests.

Standard's Ripple
Standard Chartered is expanding its use of Ripple for cross-border payments to more countries beyond its India-Singapore corridor, which went live in November.

Finextra reports the bank will add five more corridors in the coming year, as part of an effort to speed processing for B2B payments that use the Standard Chartered corporate supply chain.

Ripple initially gained traction supporting cryptocurrency payments, and its ability to streamline cross-border payments has won support from banks globally over the past two years.

From the Web

Square says it sold $34 million of bitcoin in first quarter
CNBC | Wed May 2, 2018 - Payments processing company Square said it sold a total of $34.1 million in bitcoin in the first quarter. However, the company spent $33.9 million to buy bitcoin to allow people to trade it through its Cash mobile payments app.

Singapore Fintech Festival takes Asean focus in third run
The Business Times | Wed May 2, 2018 - The Singapore Fintech Festival will focus on fintech developments and opportunities in Asean in its third run this year, said organisers from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday. The annual festival - to be held from Nov 12 to 16 this year - comes as Singapore holds the chairmanship of Asean.

How Is Mastercard Growing So Fast?
The Motley Fool | Wed May 2, 2018 - Mastercard has done an amazing job lately in making the most of the huge opportunities in the global payments industry. Even though its primary rival remains larger, Mastercard has been taking big strides toward closing the gap.

More from PaymentsSource

With lots of tech choices, transit systems can't cling to old school ticketing
Transport players are faced with several opportunities to meet both the rising expectations of end-users and tap in to new revenue streams. The time to innovate is undoubtedly now, writes Myung-Hwa Calais, transport market director at FIME.

How Barclaycard profits from Uber's app-based business model
Barclaycard is one of the top five cobranded card issuers in the U.S., but because the bank has no branch network it must use unconventional marketing approaches — and unique technological innovations — to win customers.

Mastercard's CEO champions the standards that pressure PayPal
Mastercard's CEO sang the praises of a single "button" for online purchases, a stance that puts heat on online payment leader PayPal without the whiff of a direct attack.

Bill.com revs up expansion plan by adding two senior leaders
Bill.com, which facilitates digital payments to and from businesses, is adding two executives in newly created roles to help fuel its growth.