A universal digital identity for the UK: Myth or soon-to-be reality? Regardless of how much friction has been removed from the user experience of financial services, ID verification has remained a sticking point in the UK. In Britain, there is still no universally accepted way for users to prove their identity online. Whilst in the EU,... Continue Reading →
Cash Tracker Cash has been in steady decline in recent years as many people have turned to different ways of paying. Back in 2006, cash accounted for 62% of payments. It’s predicted that by 2031 this will be down to just 6%. But that’s still billions of payments, and the people who rely on cash... Continue Reading →
In July, the UK Government announced an independent review on the future of retail payments. The review seeks input on the most important retail payment journeys, such as user experience, security and cost; how they compare to other countries, and feedback on the current initiatives which are shaping retail payments today. The review will make recommendations to... Continue Reading →
Basikon and Numeral Enable Financial Institutions to Launch New Lending Products Faster Basikon, the SaaS credit and leasing management system, and Numeral, the leading bank orchestration platform, today announce a strategic partnership to empower fintechs and financial institutions to launch new lending products with unprecedented time-to-market. To build new lending experiences and launch new products,... Continue Reading →
Simple, reliable and stress-free* The subject of this special anniversary podcast shares its special day with: The Mayflower setting sail for America in 1620. The introduction of First Class stamps by the Royal Mail in 1968. The UK government suspending Britain’s membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992. All of these events happened... Continue Reading →
Merchants need to up their chargeback game to reduce revenue loss Chargebacks are a pain point for merchants which can sap revenue, cause reputational damage and in extreme cases lead to the loss of processing privilege. Yet their existence underpins consumers’ confidence in using their cards, providing recourse against fraud and unscrupulous sellers. Since the... Continue Reading →
In this eighth round up of retail payments in 2023, for the 12 months to the end of July 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 have... Continue Reading →
Seigniorage : The last roll of the dice for cash In issue 516 of Payments:Unpacked we featured former Bank of England economist Andy Haldane who called out a "stealth tax scandal" at the heart of central bank digital currency (CBDC) design choices. Andy argued the decision by central banks not to pay interest on citizen CBDC holdings reinforces a... Continue Reading →
When the world waits with bated breath When the world waits with bated breath for the election of a new pope all eyes are fixed on a tiny chimney perched on the roof of the Sistine Chapel - everyone wondering whether they will see white smoke confirming that a new pope has been chosen or black smoke... Continue Reading →
My first financial goal Although I’d never been to Cheshunt and I didn’t know what a Building Society actually did my teenage self dutifully visited the counters of the Cheshunt Building Society 1 each Saturday to handover a small portion of my weekly newspaper round earnings. In return for handing over a couple of pound notes to... Continue Reading →
Cashless, cash user or somewhere in between - ten facts that you should know Cash has been in steady decline in recent years as many people have turned to different ways of paying. Back in 2006, cash accounted for 62% of payments. It’s predicted that by 2031 this will be down to just 6%. But... Continue Reading →
1.2 million switches in past 12 months In the latest Current Account Switch Service (CASS) dashboard, published by Pay.UK, we find out how many of us transferred our bank account in Q2 2023 and who the switching winners and losers were in Q4 2022. Spoiler alert: The latest Current Account Switch Service data reveals a 50% increase in switches... Continue Reading →
39 plays and 154 sonnets - I can't stop writing - Shakespeare? No a 1988 Barclays advert for the new Connect Card. https://youtu.be/5oYaVtQxxQo
The cheque you don't have to write featuring 1980's Eastenders actor Elaine Jordan - a 1988 advert from Barclays. https://youtu.be/mdudsJfUB00
We all know it is is difficult to get Carbon Neutral and do our part for the environment so its a privilege to share an exciting initiative from our friend Michael Boevink. Unlocking the value of reforestation and reducing carbon emissions New innovative technology NFT combined with investment in land gives everyone the opportunity to... Continue Reading →
Tuum and Numeral Empower Financial Institutions to Rapidly Expand Across Europe with a Streamlined Payment Infrastructure Tuum, a leading next generation core banking provider, and Numeral, a leading bank orchestration platform, today announce a strategic partnership to empower financial institutions and fintechs to efficiently launch and expand across Europe and the UK, leveraging a robust... Continue Reading →
UK Residents cards in issue Source: UK Finance Card transactions by UK cardholders both in the UK and overseas: There were 2.1 billion debit card transactions in April, 5.1 per cent more than in April 2022. The total spend of £66 billion was 2.1 per cent higher than April 2022. There were 326.4 million credit... Continue Reading →
Want to avoid project delays? “In delay there lies no plenty.” William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night Project procrastination can affect us all Procrastination is the act of waiting until the last minute to do those tasks that have a relatively high priority and typically require more effort than others. Adrian Neumeyer at Tactical Project Manager argues... Continue Reading →
A 'Big Bang' in the City During my five decades in payments, it is not surprising to have experienced a number of significant payment related events that happened in London’s ‘Square Mile’ - you may have already watched my ‘City Payments Trip’ video or my recollections of walking to work on the 26 April 1993. My time in... Continue Reading →
Payment Security: Why Anti-Virus And Firewalls Are Essential In this guest blog Peter Cornforth of Answer Pay introduces Answer Pay's Request to Pay proposition as a payment firewall to complement Confirmation of Payee's (CoP) anti virus protection. To bolster the security framework, Answer Pay’s Request to Pay proposition introduces the Payment Firewall as a vital... Continue Reading →
ATM value and volume figures for June 2023. Daily LINK ATM transaction volumes: The following graph depicts the daily withdrawal value for June across the last four years. For the most part of the timescale shown by the graph the value withdrawn has tracked in line with last year - with withdrawal values receiving a... Continue Reading →
New Payments Architecture (NPA) Prospectus Pay.UK have published a new prospectus to highlight the substantial benefits that they anticipate the New Payments Architecture (NPA) platform can bring. With input from specialists across the programme, the brochure offers a detailed overview that covers: payment file submission options describes new “flavours” of Faster Payments outlines fraud prevention initiatives... Continue Reading →
The NPA and future of instant payments Join Andrew Hewitt, Director of Payment and Data Solutions at FIS and Anjana Haines, Editorial Director at The Payments Association as they discuss the New Payments Architecture (NPA) and specifically instant payments, the future potential and risks, as well as Andrew’s own learnings from early account-to-account initiatives. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7kS7siVkExApw0PUeStN4X?si=rtYtYeTyTKSj7EFr4jFDSQ The NPA... Continue Reading →
9 things you should know about the PSR’s latest work In this edition we cover nine things you should know about the Payment Systems Regulator’s (PSR) latest work. You’ll find all the detail over on the PSR’s website but if you are short of time here’s a quick summary of what the PSR have been upto recently….. #1: Fighting APP... Continue Reading →
POV: Combating APP Fraud: A Paradigm Shift in Security A POV from Peter Cornforth, Answer Pay. Overview The Payment Systems Regulator has introduced new policies to combat the £500M annual fraud problem, resulting in the need for banks and payment providers to re-evaluate their security approaches. Failure to adapt will result in increased costs or... Continue Reading →
POV: Likely unintended consequences of new policies to reduce APP fraud scams A POV from Tony Craddock, Director General of The Payments Association. The Payments Association are calling on the UK government for recognition of the critical role that the payments industry plays in determining technology investment in the UK, and for regulation that avoids... Continue Reading →
Walking to work on the 26 April 1993 My walk to work on the 26 April 1993 was like no other - the historic Square Mile had been attacked! A walk from Liverpool Street to Fenchurch Street this week brought back some very memories from early in my career. A career in London’s Square Mile... Continue Reading →
In this sixth round up of retail payments in 2023, for the 12 months to the end of May 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 have... Continue Reading →
Five benefits of open banking for accounting companies In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, accountants are acutely aware of the need to embrace technological advancements and digitalisation to remain competitive. A fact supported by a recent Sage study, revealed that 82% of accountants claimed their clients demanding a broader service offering. Since its inception in... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/1vFGlQ4vcbg 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 2022, criminals stole a total of £1.2billion through authorised and... Continue Reading →
Driving change: Leveraging tech to becoming more sustainable Sustainability has become a hot topic in recent years as people become more aware of the impact human consumption inflicts on the planet. As a result, sustainability is becoming an increasingly important issue in the payments industry, with many companies taking steps to reduce their environmental impact... Continue Reading →
Making it easy to issue and pay bills - when you want, how you want. Request to Pay (RtP) is a messaging ecosystem that provides the necessary interconnecting communications required to make secure payment requests possible. It allows billers to initiate a payment request, and enables customers to choose when and how they pay. RTP can... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 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 →
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 →
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 →
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, 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’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 →
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 →
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 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 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 →
