ATM value and volume figures for May 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graph depicts the daily withdrawal value for May across the last four years. The amount of cash taken from ATMs during May 2023 received a boost from cost of living payments and the lead up to bank holidays. Thus, apart... Continue Reading →
In terms of the coins in your pocket, it’s useless
Has the penny had its day? In terms of the coins in your pocket, it's useless. National Consumer Council 1983 talking about the half penny coin Like many of us over a number of years I had accumulated a bag full of Euro denominated coins so last week I took the opportunity of repatriating my... Continue Reading →
SurePay announces One European IBAN-Name Check
SurePay announces One European IBAN-Name Check UK Banks can benefit from this European IBAN-Name Check to protect their customers for SEPA payments and will need to become compliant with the upcoming European Instant Payment regulation London/Utrecht 6 June 2023 - SurePay, the largest vendor of Confirmation of Payee, serving 40 UK Banks and Building Societies, is... Continue Reading →
How can the travel industry leverage open banking to overcome challenges
Travel is one of the world’s biggest and crucial service industries in modern times. Statista predicts the sector will be worth US$1,015.60 billion by 2027, while 74% of total revenue will be generated through online sales. The introduction of open banking in 2018 changed the face of many industries and has impacted consumers around the globe. Similarly, it... Continue Reading →
The what, why, how and when of the JROC report
At the end of May 2023 the financial regulators in the UK laid out their plans for the future of open banking. The Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC), co-chaired by the FCA and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), say the measures will bring "opportunities for new products and services, allowing consumers and businesses to share data and make payments in more... Continue Reading →
Payments Tracker
In this fifth round up of retail payments in 2023, for the 12 months to the end of April 2023, we continue to see double digit growth in the volume and value of Faster payments and double digit decline in paper clearing. The growth in volume and value for the UK's bulk clearing scheme are... Continue Reading →
SurePay expands UK team with Sinitta Singh, to take on expected PSR Group 2 inflow
SurePay, the leading provider of Confirmation of Payee solutions, is excited to announce the appointment of Sinitta Singh as its new Business Development Manager for the UK. As the mandated implementation of PSR Group 1 & 2 draws near, the addition of Sinitta to the team will help ensure a smooth onboarding process for more... Continue Reading →
Taranis Capital announces its Advisory Board
Taranis Capital’s Advisory Board will comprise internationally recognised leaders from banking, fintech, capital markets, and technology. The formation of the Advisory Board marks another significant milestone for Taranis following its launch at the beginning of May 2023. Taranis Capital, An ethical, fintech-focused investment fund envisaged by its founding members, who each bring knowledge and experience suited... Continue Reading →
Using The Best Confirmation of Payee Algorithm Is The Only Way For PSPs To Avoid Immense Losses Due To APP Fraud Liability
With the new regulatory plans, the role and financial responsibility of Payment Service Providers (PSPs) will change. It will become increasingly important that PSPs use a Confirmation of Payee tool with the very best and most reliable algorithm. As PSPs will be liable for fraud losses, this is the only way to prevent immense financial... Continue Reading →
Big data sharing: Navigating the regulation minefield
Should payment firms be limited in how they reuse data or are the laws based on GDPR sufficient? There are a multitude of benefits for payment firms that can successfully leverage big data analytics and open banking tools. Insights into transaction patterns, understanding customer needs and combating money laundering are just some of the advantages... Continue Reading →
ATM Tracker
ATM value and volume figures for April 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graphs depict the daily withdrawal value for April across the last four years and together show the pattern across the whole month. The impact of the first lockdown can be seen in the withdrawal values for 2020 falling from the... Continue Reading →
Lerex Technology is thrilled to announce Mike Chambers has joined as an Advisor
As an advisor, Mike Chambers will provide value guidance and counsel to Lerex Technology's leadership team, as the company continues to expand, develop and grow. Mike is an industry professional with a history of accomplishments, and we are certain with him onboard, Lerex will be on the right track for continued growth and success as... Continue Reading →
Current Account Switch Service reaches 9 million switches milestone
The latest Current Account Switch Service Dashboard reveals that between January and March 2023 341075 switches took place, a figure that is over 70% higher than the same period last year. In this latest dashboard, we find out how many of us transferred our bank account in Q1 2023 and who the switching winners and... Continue Reading →
Payments Tracker
In this fourth round up of retail payments in 2023, for the 12 months to the end of March 2023, we continue to see double digit growth in the volume and value of Faster payments and double digit decline in paper clearing. The growth in volume for the UK's bulk clearing scheme and the UK's... Continue Reading →
Card Payment Tracker
UK Residents cards in issue Source: UK Finance Card transactions by UK cardholders both in the UK and overseas: There were 2 billion debit card transactions in January, 13.4 per cent more than in January 2022. The total spend of £64.7 billion was 12.1 per cent higher than January 2022. There were 321.3 million credit... Continue Reading →
New Payment Architecture’s moment of decision
NPA’s moment of decision Moment of decision: (Noun) A climactic, decisive or critical moment in an event or period. Issue 469 of Payments:Unpacked provided a summary of the PSR’s 2023/24 Annual Plan and Budget: The what, why and how of the PSR. A key element of the PSR’s latest work programme is the proposed New... Continue Reading →
The what, why and how of the PSR
The what, why and how of the PSR The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has published their plan and budget for 2023/24 - at sixty pages the document provides a useful indication of the regulators intended focus for the coming 12 months. https://youtu.be/Msm0AuE_1EA There is, of course, no substitute to reading the full annual plan document so here’s... Continue Reading →
Choosing the open banking strategy that fits your bank’s needs is now easier
As technology evolves and is more present in our lives, consumers are beginning to ask why banking services cannot be as intuitive as managing their music playlists. Higher consumer expectations combined with the currently fast-changing environment brought by open banking make banks jump into new innovative waters. In the past, banks’ open banking strategies have... Continue Reading →
Unlocking the power of open banking payments
We live in a world where the financial industry is rapidly changing. A new generation of players is challenging traditional banks, the financial technology landscape is quickly evolving, and alternative payment methods are emerging. In many of these changes, open banking has played a key role. Since its advent five years ago, open banking –... Continue Reading →
Take Five to Stop Fraud Week Update: SurePay Launches Online Portal for UK Banks and PSPs to Perform Confirmation of Payee Checks
SurePay, the leading provider of payment verification solutions, has announced the launch of an online portal that enables UK banks and payment service providers (PSPs) to perform Confirmation of Payee checks. This innovative solution can be offered alongside SurePay's existing Confirmation of Payee solution, which helps banks protect their customers against fraud, and ensures compliance... Continue Reading →
Simple, reliable and stress-free switching
Nine million switches The UK’s Current Account Switch Service (CASS) will always be special to me, responsibility for the launch and guardian of the service for the first five years of its operation is an experience that I will always cherish. After almost 9 million switches since the service was launched in 2013 it is... Continue Reading →
ATM Tracker
ATM value and volume figures for March 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graphs depict the daily withdrawal value for March across the last four years and together show the pattern across the whole month. The impact of the first lockdown can be seen in the withdrawal values for 2020 falling from the... Continue Reading →
Consumer Duty: Are customers at the heart of your business? It’s your duty to prove it (and fast)
Consumer Duty: Are customers at the heart of your business? It’s your duty to prove it (and fast) https://open.spotify.com/episode/1prjgp7NQ3ijxP4cxu6hpf?si=xVnRU6AUQHeSpsQ4ycGCKA Teresa Connors from Payment Matters shares her thoughts on Consumer Duty… We’re at an inflexion point, as firms are becoming aware / coming out of denial / realising it’s not just a compliance thing and tackling the enormity of... Continue Reading →
One-in-five inconvenienced by inability to pay in cash
New research published today by LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, shows nearly half (45%) of people have been somewhere that has not accepted, or has discouraged the use of cash over the past eight weeks and one in five (20%) said this was fairly or very inconvenient. As more retailers and councils... Continue Reading →
Open banking: A bespoke solution for responsible iGaming
Open banking: A bespoke solution for responsible iGaming iGaming – a sector which covers any form of online wagering, despite being a relatively young industry, has snowballed over almost 20 years of existence. A study conducted by Statista reported that in 2021, the global online gambling and betting industry was valued at US$ 61.5 billion and is expected... Continue Reading →
Payments Tracker
In this third round up of retail payments in 2023, for the 12 months to the end of February 2023, we continue to see double digit growth in the volume and value of Faster payments and double digit decline in paper clearing. The growth in volume and value for the UK's bulk clearing scheme and... Continue Reading →
Doors wide open for Open Banking in the Middle East
Doors wide open for Open Banking in the Middle East Over the past few years, Open Banking – a technology that gives consumers and businesses the legal right, for the first time, to access their payment accounts via third party providers (TPPs), has become a global phenomenon, with studies estimating that the Open Banking market... Continue Reading →
It was all because of ice cream!
Since its launch over half a century ago, Bacs Direct Debit has certainly become an embedded, hassle free, frictionless and pre-eminent way of making recurring payments. However, the UK’s pre-eminent recurring payment solution is facing its greatest challenge. Will Direct Debits compete, coexist, complement or converge with Request to Pay and Variable Recurring Payments? As the new recurring payment kids on the block... Continue Reading →
Out with the old, in with the new
Paym: I hardly knew you Paym is (and from tomorrow (7 March 2023) was) a mobile payment system operated by Pay.UK and offered by the majority of the UK’s banks and building societies. Recipients are identified by their mobile phone number rather than their bank sort code and account number. At the end of 2022 the service was... Continue Reading →
ATM Tracker
ATM value and volume figures for February 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graph depicts the daily withdrawal value across the last four years showing the latter half of the month. The amount of cash taken from ATMs in recent weeks remains below the pre-pandemic 2020 levels and ahead of Lockdown impacted 2021... Continue Reading →
Allica Bank Embraces SurePay’s Confirmation of Payee Solution to Protect Customers Against Fraud and Misdirection
London/Utrecht 7 March 2023 - SurePay, the European leading Confirmation of Payee provider, has today announced that UK fintech Allica Bank has implemented its UK Confirmation of Payee solution to protect consumers against fraud and misdirected online payments. CoP is designed to help customers avoid sending payments to the wrong account through fraud or human error... Continue Reading →
Five things businesses need to know about the UK’s New Payments Architecture
Five things businesses need to know about the UK’s New Payments Architecture The Payments Podcast by Bottomline https://soundcloud.com/thepaymentspodcast/5-things-businesses-need-to-know-about-the-uks-new-payment-architecture-npa?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing In this podcast I joined Bottomline’s Richard Ransom to discuss what changes corporates can expect from the planned New Payments Archtecture (NPA) and consider how it might impact their business. We also explored what the NPA means for Bacs,... Continue Reading →
Payments Tracker
In this second round up of retail payments in 2023, for the 12 months to the end of January 2023, we continue to see double digit growth in the volume and value of Faster payments and double digit decline in paper clearing. The growth in volumes for the UK's bulk clearing scheme and the UK's... Continue Reading →
Tanners and bobs, ha’pennies and threepenny bits
The day Britain went Decimal Prior to 1971, there were 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. There were guineas, half crowns, threepenny bits, sixpences and florins. This old system of currency, known as pounds, shillings and pence or lsd, dated back to Roman times when a pound of silver was... Continue Reading →
A2A payments, the NPA and all that with Lee McNabb of NatWest
https://youtu.be/c9k6NbL6xec Lee McNabb from NatWest joins us for our latest Payments:Unpacked video podcast. In this episode Lee unpacks: - The current state of play of A2A payments and explores what expectations we should place on the future expansion of this new payment mechanism. - Why the New Payments Architecture (NPA) is important to the future... Continue Reading →
Mobile operators aren’t to blame for payment fraud
Opinion: Mobile operators aren’t to blame for payment fraud In this option piece Peter Cornforth from Answer Pay offers a point of view that mobile operators aren’t to blame for payment fraud….. It’s all about trust Let me start by saying that I believe the answer to Authorised Push Payment Fraud is Request to Pay. Your most vital asset... Continue Reading →
I (nearly) got scammed – this is Rowenna’s story
This is Rowenna’s story about how she (nearly) got scammed Rowenna is sharing her story about how she (nearly) got scammed in the hope that it might help others and to assuage her “total embarrassment by doing something positive”. UK Finance report that in the first half of 2022, criminals stole a total of £609.8... Continue Reading →
ATM Tracker
ATM value and volume figures for January 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graph depicts the daily withdrawal value across the last four years. The amount of cash taken from ATMs in recent weeks has been remarkably similar to the equivalent day in 2022. Source: LINK Daily withdrawal values had continued to be... Continue Reading →
Payments Tracker
In this first round up of retail payments in 2023, which covers the 12 months to December 2022, double digit growth in Faster payments and double digit decline in paper clearing continues with a steady state for the UK's bulk clearing scheme and growth in the volume and value of the UK's real time gross... Continue Reading →
Pay By Link with Nick Davey
Pay By Link In this short clip from a recent Payments:Unpacked podcast Nick Davey from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) offers his view on the use of "pay by link". https://youtu.be/Go7RDTPiJ24 Listen to all Nick had to say here: https://youtu.be/LS4VVwIzGeo
Card Tracker
Source: UK Finance The UK Finance Update for October 2022 reports: Card transactions by UK cardholders both in the UK and overseas: There were 2.2 billion debit card transactions in October, 12.4 per cent more than in October 2021. The total spend of £66.6 billion was 9.1 per cent higher than October 2021. There were... Continue Reading →
Everyday banking BankingHUB
https://youtu.be/33-0Pl_q-zQ Everyday banking BankingHUB Access to banking and cash can be a challenge in an increasingly digital world. BankingHUB has teamed up up with the UK's major banks to provide a place where individuals and businesses can do their everyday banking locally and speak with a representative from their bank face to face. Here's what... Continue Reading →
Current Account Switch Service sees highest number of switches in Q4 2022 since launch
As the UK's financial climate continued to shift, the latest Current Account Switch Service Dashboard reveals that between October and December 2022 376,107 switches took place; the highest quarterly figure on record. In this latest dashboard, we find out how many of us transferred our bank account in Q4 2022 and who the switching winners... Continue Reading →
Ask the Payment Systems Regulator – a Q&A podcast with Nick Davey
Ask the Payment Systems Regulator - a Q&A podcast with Nick Davey Nick Davey from the Payment Systems Regulator joins us for our latest Payments:Unpacked video podcast. In this podcast Nick answers questions that have been asked by readers of the Payments:Unpacked newsletter and Mike’s Linked In connections. https://youtu.be/LS4VVwIzGeo Hear Nick’s answers to: What are the biggest near-term challenges for... Continue Reading →
ATM Tracker
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 15 January 2023. Key observations for the week ending 15 January 2023: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 39% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions increased by 7% when compared to the previous week. The volume of ATM... Continue Reading →
Seven things you should know about LINK
Who are LINK? LINK is the UK's cash machine (ATM) network and the busiest ATM transaction switch in the world. Effectively every cash machine in the UK is connected to LINK, and LINK is the only way banks and building societies can offer their customers access to cash across the whole of the UK. All the... Continue Reading →
It pays to get started now
Payments made personal, easy and more secure SurePay's Confirmation of Payee (CoP) service is an innovative, real-time name checking solution that gives UK payers greater assurance that their payments are going to the intended recipient. By confirming the payee’s name matches with the name on the intended recipient’s bank account, CoP helps avoid mis-directed payments... Continue Reading →
Payment value or volume what’s more important?
What's more important in a payment system - volume or value? A central banker might argue value but as a former custodian of the UK's systemically important retail payment schemes I'd argue volume any day! In this video we explore the digital growth and analogue decline of the UK's Bacs, Faster Payments and cheque payment... Continue Reading →
ATM Tracker
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 08 January 2023. Key observations for the week ending 08 January 2023: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 43% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions increased by 14% when compared to the previous week. The volume of ATM... Continue Reading →
ATM Tracker
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 01 January 2023. Key observations for the week ending 01 January 2023: The volume of ATM Transactions decreased by 50% when compared to the final week before the first COVID lockdown. The volume of ATM transactions decreased by 35% when compared to the previous week in December 2022. The... Continue Reading →