Technology

Governments around the world have joined the battle against money laundering – passing laws that put an end to anonymous banking services and under-the-table money transfers and payments that enable crime and finance terror.

SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is the grease that keeps the wheels of the worldwide economy moving. Some 25 million messages – most of them money transfers – pass through the SWIFT system daily.

Millennials are changing banks from the inside out, causing them to reduce their dependence on the product-centric, transactional model that has been the standby of banking business for decades. Instead, banks are having to creatively cultivate one of their main advantages, their large customer bases, to develop adapted digital models that promote the bank’s role as advisor throughout their customers’ financial lifecycles.

In the recent massive ransomware attack, which threatened institutions, businesses, and organizations in 99 countries, unless victims paid the required ransom, hackers didn’t discriminate; they successfully targeted hospitals, Telco’s, government offices, and thousands of businesses with WannaCry, the breed of malware that they used to propagate the attack.

Incumbent banks face the prospect of operating in a more competitive environment with the introduction of the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) in January 2018. EU regulators want to increase competition, improve customer service, and promote the development of online and mobile payment systems.

This year marks 50 years since the introduction of the first ATM, which was put into use by Barclays in its Enfield branch in north London on 27th June 1967. Technology has come a long way since this early version of the self-service systems we use today but one thing hasn’t changed – the need for robust security solutions is critical for ATMs around the world.

China is investing heavily in financial technology while the rest of the world is lagging behind, propelling the country to the forefront as the global leader in the fintech revolution. A favorable regulatory environment and a welcoming, underbanked domestic population are a few of the factors contributing to this eastward fintech migration.

The digital transformation of society as a whole has changed the expectations of customer services within the financial services sector. As a result, retail banking operations face testing times as the industry goes through significant and rapid modernisation.

A decade ago, if someone told you that when they emptied their fridge, the fridge automatically sent a shopping list to the supermarket, would you believe them? Over the last few years, technology innovations have allowed businesses and brands to change how we shop and interact with them.

In any battle, being adequately armed is crucial to winning. Banks, faced with an onslaught from fraudsters intent on breaking into customer accounts, have no choice but to stay one step ahead with the latest in innovative fraud-protection financial technology; this is essential not only to keep losses down but to retain customer trust.