It may not be an entry in too many people’s diaries, but this year represents a golden milestone for Direct Debit, as one of the most familiar payment methods in the UK turns 50. Pay.UK, the operator of the UK's Direct Debit scheme are marking the 50th year of operation in the UK - read... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 13 December 2020. Key observations for week ending 13 December: Last week ATM transactions increased by just 0.1 million (when compared to the previous week). Last week's ATM transactions were 17.4 million less than the equivalent week in 2019. Weekly ATM use has reduced by 36% (compared to equivalent... Continue Reading →
I don’t have a bank account, because I don’t know my mother’s maiden name.Paula Poundstone October current account switches (supported by the full switch guarantee) reach 65,810 - 4th highest month for 2020. Source: Pay.UK Latest quarterly Northey Point tracker: CASS Tracker.
Implementing ISO20022: Why are standards so important? Anne Pieckielon writes: I recently told a friend that I was working on an ISO20022 study. Knowing my desire for action he expressed great surprise since payments standards “move with all the alacrity of an arthritic glacier”. Whilst climate change has dramatically increased the retreat of glaciers the... Continue Reading →
Jonathan Jensen, Commercial Director Identity at GBG Plc and a member of the EPA’s Project Financial Crime, has written a guide: 'Digital Identity – update on the UK market', with information on the current state of the digital identity market, highlighting recent industry activity and developments. Among the highlights: HMG response to digital identity Call for... Continue Reading →
The latest UK’s cash habits (week ending 6 December): ATM transactions increased by 2.7 million (when compared to the previous week). ATM transactions were 18.6 million less than the equivalent week in 2019. Weekly ATM use has reduced by 38% (compared to equivalent week in 2019). The final weekend of the lockdown clearly took its toll on cash usage with the... Continue Reading →
In a recent Forbes article Dave Birch asks where has all the money gone? The use of cash is going down but the amount of cash out there is going up. Where is it all?In the UK, a committee of MPs has said that the Bank of England should be trying to track down £50bn... Continue Reading →
Like the rain that falls from the sky the COVID pandemic has not impacted everyone equally. This statement is especially true when it comes to the impact COVID has had on the needs of financially vulnerable customers. Last week Pay.UK, the operator of the UK’s Current Account Switching Service, held a webinar that centred on whether... Continue Reading →
Not one of the big five banks has troubled the top of the Which? Money 2020 table for current account satisfaction, which sees digital-only challenger Starling Bank take the crown. Source: Which? Money Read more: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/12/starling-and-monzo-eclipse-high-street-giants-in-which-current-account-survey/ In the Which? survey you'll find: the 24 best / worst current account providers (based on the survey results)... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 6 December 2020. Key observations for week ending 6 December: Last week ATM transactions increased by 2.7 million (when compared to the previous week). Last week's ATM transactions were 18.6 million less than the equivalent week in 2019. Weekly ATM use has reduced by 38% (compared to equivalent week... Continue Reading →
Like the rain that falls from the sky the COVID pandemic has not impacted everyone equally. This statement is especially true when it comes to the impact COVID has had on the needs of financially vulnerable customers. Last week Pay.UK, the operator of the UK's Current Account Switching Service, held a webinar that centred on... Continue Reading →
This article was written for Northey Point by Jonathan Gilmour (Partner at Travers Smith) along with Natalie Lewis (Senior Counsel) and Vanessa Kalijnikoff Battaglia (Senior Counsel) and originally featured in our Payments, Payments, Payments newsletter - read, subscribe and share. There is no doubt that innovation and technological development in the payments space is a hot topic. It is a topic... Continue Reading →
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has today announced the appointment of Dr Ruth Wandhöfer as Chair of the PSR Panel from 1 December 2020. Ruth succeeds Stephen Locke, Independent Adviser. The Panel performs an important role in our accountability framework ensuring that the views and needs of businesses which provide payments and the people and... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 29 November 2020. Key observations for week ending 29 November: Last week ATM transactions increased by 1.2million (when compared to the previous week). Last week's ATM transactions were 22million less than the equivalent week in 2019. Weekly ATM use has reduced by 44% (compared to equivalent week in 2019).... Continue Reading →
Developments in digital finance could transform how consumers and businesses make payments and raise finance. “This could help revitalise the UK economy”, says the Bank of England's Andy Haldane. Source: Bank of England Speech Read Andy Haldane's full speech: Seizing the opportunities from digital finance.
This week's "Payments, Payments, Payments" newsletter's Longer Read explored the purpose, role and activities of the payments regulator - The Payment Systems Regulator The call for a regulator to oversee the payment systems industry began with a series of reviews, starting with the Cruikshank Report in 2000. This was followed by a number of subsequent... Continue Reading →
Three times as many SMEs have been satisfied than dissatisfied with the COVID-19 support available from their bank or building society. Today (24 November 2020) Pay.UK published research on the impact of COVID-19 on SME business banking - the research was conducted by YouGov research and was commissioned by the Current Account Switch Service. Four... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 22 November 2020. Key observations for week ending 22 November: Week ending 22 November saw a new low in weekly ATM transactions at 26.7m (a reduction of just 0.1m) - the lowest weekly volume of ATM transactions since early summer. Weekly ATM use has reduced by 43% (compared to... Continue Reading →
Join us for an afternoon of entertainment and a week’s networking at the virtual Emerging Payments Awards on the 26th of November. It’s free to attend for anyone in the payments industry and all registrants are entered into a prize draw to win one of 100 £50 reward vouchers, courtesy of our partner Banking Circle. Organised by... Continue Reading →
Pay.UK have published the number of Current Account Switches that took place in October. The number of switches has recovered from the Lockdown 1.0 levels but remain significantly less than February or March this year. More: Northey Point’s Current Account Switching tracker.
Getting to grips with the UK’s retail payments landscape can seem a complex and daunting task. The Payments, Payments, Payments newsletter from Mike Chambers at Northey Point explores a wide range of the UK’s payment news including: Open Banking, Request to Pay, Direct Debit, Confirmation of Payee, Bacs, CHAPS, Faster Payments, LINK, cash, cards and cheques and... Continue Reading →
In this November round up of retail payments, we see how the first national lockdown followed by an increasing level of local lockdowns continued to impact the volume and value and of payments processed in the UK. Note: All data is publicly sourced and is the latest available: Pay.UK October 2020, Link November 2020 and... Continue Reading →
Grab a coffee and read Dave Birch’s latest Forbes article - PayPal’s Bitcoin Strategy Is Not About Bitcoin Given that the people who are great supporters of Bitcoin often talk about its key characteristic being that it is person-to-person, uncensorable value transfer you do have to wonder who will be using the new PayPal service that will allow them to pay... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 15 November 2020. Key observations for week ending 15 November: Week ending 15 November saw a new low in weekly ATM transactions at 26.8m - the lowest weekly volume of ATM transactions since early summer. The value of ATM transactions on Saturday 14 November was down by 46% (compared... Continue Reading →
The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) has launched a consultation on variable recurring payments rules. The organisation, which was established in 2016 by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to implement the infrastructure and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) necessary for the roll out of Open Banking. The consultation, which launches today, marks the next step in the... Continue Reading →
Confirmation of Payee: Why it’s as important for your bank as it is for you. Catch the latest Payments Podcast from Bottomline where Olivia Armstrong unpacks the latest developments within the Confirmation of Payee name checking service. Does your bank have confirmation of payee in place? Whether it’s a small tick, or a logo, the fact your... Continue Reading →
Request to Pay is a new, flexible way for bills to be settled between people, organisations and businesses. What is Request to Pay (RtP)? RtP is a messaging service that has been created to complement existing payments infrastructure and gives billers the ability to request payment for a bill rather than simply sending an invoice.... Continue Reading →
Lloyds Banking Group selects Eazy Collect to deliver specialist Direct Debit solutions The Access Group has today (12 November 2020) announced it has been appointed by Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) to offer enhanced Direct Debit services to their customer base through Eazy Collect, acquired in 2019 by Access to enhance its payment processing capabilities. With... Continue Reading →
Manifesto Growth Architects believe those who succeed in the New Economics of Banking... 🙋🏼♂️ Know the role they want to play for their customers, and put this at the heart of everything they do. 📰 Go beyond transactions and drive engagement, learning from sectors such as media. 📊 Build data and technology capabilities to support... Continue Reading →
On this day (12 November) in 1984 the BBC reported that the English pound note was to disappear after more than 150 years. News of the familiar green £1 note's withdrawal had just been announced by the then Chancellor, Nigel Lawson, when he made his autumn statement in parliament. Mr Lawson said the note -... Continue Reading →
Mastercard's Vocalink has won the contract to build the clearing and settlement infrastructure for Canada's new real-time payments system. The decision comes more than 18 months after Payments Canada first picked Italian provider SIA over Vocalink and CGI for the contract. The three rivals had made a 2017 shortlist of bidders to help develop the... Continue Reading →
As we settle into Lockdown 2.0 with people barely recovered from Lockdown 1.0, it’s likely that more people will need to stay at home with suspected Coronavirus symptoms, whilst waiting for test results or having been notified by the government’s test and trace system. All this is only sustainable if people can keep up with... Continue Reading →
The first wave of Covid-19 shocked and galvanised us. An unprecedented situation for all, amidst the challenges to fundraising, health, finances, and freedom of movement it presented, it also inspired incredible levels of community action and giving of all kinds. In this second period of lockdown not for profits will need to work harder and... Continue Reading →
Citi's Tony McLaughlin talks to John Jackson from The Bank of England about its Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) program.
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 8 November 2020. Key observations for week ending 8 November: Sunday's (1 November) 'dash for cash continued on Monday (2 November) which was the busiest Monday for ATMs since March with £238m dispensed. The 'dash' tailed off after a couple of days and week ending 8 November saw the... Continue Reading →
Navigating the UK's retail payments landscape can be a complex and daunting task - save time and effort with Northey Point's payment trackers. Keep upto speed with four trackers from Mike Chambers at Northey Point. ATM Tracker ATM Tracker: Monthly volumes and values Payments Tracker Payments Tracker: Providing a monthly round up of volumes and values... Continue Reading →
Huawei’s new smartphone comes with digital yuan wallet In Digital Fiat 1 we covered a digital Yuan giveaway - today we return to the topic of a Chinese Central Bank Digital Currency and consider a potential world first - a CBDC wallet pre-loaded on a smartphone. Huawei’s latest range of smartphones will allow its users to store, send... Continue Reading →
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn." is the entirety of what has been described as a six-word story, making it an extreme example of what is called flash fiction or sudden fiction. Although it is often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, the link to him is unsubstantiated and similar stories predate him. Last week subscribers of my Payments, Payments, Payments... Continue Reading →
It does not mean that the pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued. Almost 50 years ago (November 1967) the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, was facing a crisis and was defending his decision to devalue the pound saying it will tackle the "root cause" of Britain's economic... Continue Reading →
Weekly ATM value and volume figures 1 November 2020. Key observations for week ending 1 November: Sunday saw a 'dash for cash' equating to an 18% increase to £174m in the value of cash taken from LINK ATMs when compared to the previous Sunday. Monday was the busiest Monday for ATMs since March with £238m... Continue Reading →
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn." is the entirety of what has been described as a six-word story, making it an extreme example of what is called flash fiction or sudden fiction. Although it is often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, the link to him is unsubstantiated and similar stories predate him. How would you explain “digital... Continue Reading →
After the announcement of a second lockdown in England on Sunday (1st November) saw a dash for cash with an 18% increase to £174m in the value of cash taken from LINK ATMs when compared to the previous Sunday. Monthly LINK ATM transaction volumes for October were 138million: Source: LINK Volumes have been static over... Continue Reading →
The Reserve Bank of Australia is collaborating with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual and ConsenSys Software on a project to explore the potential use and implications of a wholesale form of central bank digital currency (CBDC) using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The project will involve the development of a proof-of-concept (POC) for the issuance of a tokenised form of CBDC that can be used... Continue Reading →
Christine Lagarde invites public comments on eurozone CBDC Christine Lagarde, former Managing Director of the IMF and current President of the European Central Bank, has invited public commentary on a potential eurozone central bank digital currency (CBDC): We are still in the review and considerations stage, but we’ve just launched a public consultation so that... Continue Reading →
Current account switches steadily rose in Q3 as bank incentive offers returned A couple of days ago (29 October 2020) Pay.UK published the Q3 2020 Current Account Switching Service (CASS) dashboard - click below to check out Northey Points 'winners and losers' blog. https://northeypoint.com/2020/10/29/current-account-switching-winners-and-losers/ Monthly Account Switching Stats Pay.UK report that total 136,575 switches took... Continue Reading →
The Q3 2020 Current Account Switching Service (CASS) dashboard has been published today (29 October 2020). In this latest dashboard we find out how many of us transferred our bank account in Q3 2020 and who the switching winners and losers were during the COVID lockdown in Q2 2020. The number of switches during 2020:... Continue Reading →
Over the past few days we have looked at the latest CBDC developments in Japan, China, Canada, Australia and the EU but what is happening in the UK? A couple of days ago the Bank of England’s finch director, Tom Mutton, provided an insight into the UK Central Banks current thinking on CBDC’s. In his speech Tom... Continue Reading →
Digital Fiat explores Central Bank Digital Currencies in manageable chunks. These manageable chunks are normally a one or two minute piece - this time we feature a recent Citibank webinar (it’s an hour well invested). Central Bank Digital Currencies – How Will the Future Unfold Central banks are actively investigating the potential to issue digital... Continue Reading →
Explore Central Bank Digital Currencies in manageable chunks with the Digital Fiat newsletter from Northey Point. A daily two minute read on a Central Bank Digital Currency / Digital Fiat development or innovation. Read, subscribe and share:
