1.30.19 Your morning briefing

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

Taking license
Digital payment company Revolut's quickly added financial products and markets over the past couple of years, and it's taking steps to make its international move even faster.

The fintech is forming a global license team that will work in markets such as the U.K., U.S. and dozens of other markets, connecting with regulators to obtain licensing for transfers, payments and other financial services.

It's hiring people with experience in obtaining licenses in specific markets, as well as having a technical background. Roles include capital, liquidity, and license project managers for trading, banking and e-money.

Bridge to open banking
Compliance with PSD2's open banking rules is expected to be tricky, leading a group of large companies to form a platform that allows banks, digital payment companies and fintechs to test connections.

Temenos, Cisco and Deloitte Luxembourg are among the members of Fin5Lab, which will set standards to evaluate products and services with the goal of skipping some procurement steps, reports Finextra.

By simplifying connections between banks and fintechs, Temenos hopes to cut into integration times that can be as high as 18 months. Fin5Lab will be a sandbox that will connect to Temenos' core banking system, Cisco's servers technology and Deloitte's due diligence checks.

UAE's cross-border market heats up
The UAE and Saudi Arabian central banks plan a joint digital currency that's designed to streamline remittances and find other uses for distributed ledgers.

Called, Aber, the currency will debut at a limited number of banks in the two countries, which will determine technical obstacles and benefits, reports Khaleejtimes, a local news service.

The UAE has become an active market for fintechs looking to test new cross-border and remittance payment technology.

R3's advance
R3 recently signed deals with ING and Ripple to broaden its Corda blockchain, and is getting another boost from a new collaboration in Japan.

R3 and SBI Holdings have formed a joint venture to deploy Corda throughout Japan and other eastern Asian markets. SBI will own 60 percent of the venture with R3 controlling other 40 percent.

SBI has also partnered with Ripple and more than 60 Japanese banks to support real-time settlement for cash transfers.

From the Web

Square's new debit card 'kills several birds with one stone'
Yahoo Finance | Tue January 29, 2019 - Earlier this month, Square kicked off 2019 by launching Square Card. It’s a B2B play: a free MasterCard debit card that lets Square merchants make purchases with money from their Square accounts.

Data Breaches Dent Singapore’s Image as a Tech Innovator
The New York Times | Tue January 29, 2019 - Last year, a cyberattack on Singapore’s public health system compromised data from 1.5 million people. And on Monday, the Health Ministry said that medical records for 14,200 H.I.V.-positive people in the city-state had been obtained by an American whose Singaporean partner worked at the ministry.

Yahoo data breach payout blocked by judge
BBC | Tue January 29, 2019 - A judge has rejected Yahoo's attempt to draw a line under a series of breaches it experienced between 2013 and 2016. The firm had proposed a payout to lawyers acting on behalf of affected US and Israeli users.

More from PaymentsSource

6 of Apple's biggest security issues
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