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Payments industry fights back against the cyber threat

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The uncertainty and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has presented cyber criminals with a wealth of opportunities to attack.

Since March 2020, cyber crime has rocketed with 74% of banks experiencing a rise in cyber attacks and three out of four financial institutions worrying about the historic rise in criminal activity and what will happen going forward.

Payments 20 (P20), the leading voice of the global payments industry, with the support of Chatsworth Communications, has taken a proactive, educational approach by developing reports and frameworks to enable financial institutions of all sizes across the world defend themselves against this growing global threat.

It has collaborated with organisations including American Express, Elavon, Hogan Lovells, J.P. Morgan Chase, the UK National Cyber Security Centre and New York State Department of Financial Services, to create a new report entitled ‘20 Best Practice Recommendations for Improved Cyber Security Protection’. Aimed at non-cyber professionals, the report emphasizes the urgency of implementing more efficient and comprehensive cyber security frameworks.  P20 also produced a report on the ‘Best Practice Approaches for Combating Payee Scams’, calling on the industry to work together to combat payee scams.

Chatsworth worked closely with P20 to build awareness of the cyber recommendations within the reports and to promote P20’s Global Payments Conference. Our strategy was to build awareness through media coverage in relevant finance and payments trade, and engage directly with our audience via eye-catching posts on both sponsored and organic posts on LinkedIn

We secured coverage in top trades such as The Banker, Treasury Management International and The Fintech Times, while generating over 1000 engagements and a significant increase in followers on LinkedIn.

Ultimately, the Global Payments Conference was a roaring success so kudos to the excellent P20 leadership who delivered a phenomenal event.

Chatsworth was the first communications agency to focus on fintech. We’ve been building fintech reputations for 20 years, steering start-ups through launch, growth and onto corporate action, and protecting and enhancing established infrastructures. Looking for intelligent, informed and connected fintech PR which delivers results and value? Get in touch and let us help build your reputation and tell your story.

Mastercard partners with enterprise blockchain firm R3

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Payments giant Mastercard is to develop a blockchain-powered cross-border payments platform in partnership with enterprise-focused blockchain firm R3.

In an announcement on Wednesday, Mastercard said the two firms have inked a deal to “develop and pilot” the payments solution. It will initially be aimed at connecting faster payments schemes and banks backed by Mastercard’s clearing and settlement network.

The platform will be built on Corda Enterprise, the commercial version of the platform, as opposed to the open-source Corda Network, R3 told CoinDesk.

The partnership is planned to merge R3’s expertise at developing blockchain solutions with Mastercard’s existing payment systems and network. Ultimately, the firms hope the new platform will help tackle industry issues such as costly payments processing, liquidity management and a paucity of standardization and connectivity between banks and domestic clearing systems.

MasterCard and R3

R3 CEO David E. Rutter said:

“All institutions – large or small – rely on the ability to send and receive payments, but all too often the technology they rely upon is cumbersome and expensive. Cross-border payments can be a particular pain point. Corda was designed specifically for enterprise use cases such as this, and we look forward supporting Mastercard in bringing blockchain-enabled payments businesses across the globe.”

Citing its July acquisition of international payments firm Transfast as a boost to its network, Mastercard said the deal to utilize Corda Enterprise will further expand its capabilities in the payments arena.

The news of the partnership also comes just days after Mastercard joined the Marco Polo trade finance blockchain network founded by R3 and TradeIX.

Peter Klein, executive vice president of new payment platforms at Mastercard, said in the announcement:

“Developing a new and better cross-border B2B payments solution by improving worldwide connectivity in the account-to-account space is central to Mastercard’s ambition. Our goal is to deliver global payment infrastructure choice and connectivity as demonstrated through our recent strategic acquisitions and partnerships, including our relationship with R3.”

Chatsworth was the first communications agency to focus on fintech. We’ve been building fintech reputations for 20 years, steering start-ups through launch, growth and onto corporate action, and protecting and enhancing established infrastructures.

Looking for intelligent, informed and connected fintech PR which delivers results and value?

Get in touch and let us help build your reputation and tell your story

Carillion collapse shines spotlight on late payments issue

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The collapse of construction giant Carillion has focused media and government attention on the global issue of payment terms after it was discovered the group paid subcontractors with a 120-day delay. These delayed payments meant many suppliers had to resort to expensive bank finance to stay in business while others are now facing bankruptcy.

Recognising the importance of ending the culture of late payment, two FTSE 100 chairmen have joined the advisory board of Previse, a UK based company which uses artificial intelligence to solve slow payments for the entire supply chain.

Chairman of supermarket chain J Sainsbury, David Tyler and chairman of property group British Land, John Gildersleeve have joined the company as investors and advisers.

Previse’s AI technology is designed to enable large firms to pay suppliers on the day they receive an invoice. The London-based firm’s technology calculates a buyer’s likelihood of paying an invoice, before deciding which invoices will be paid, so small suppliers can be paid instantly.

David Tyler said: “The length of time it can take for suppliers to be paid hurts not only them, but the large companies buying their products and services as well.” He believes that Previse will bring benefits to the entire supply chain and that the company has a bright future ahead of it.

Mr Gildersleeve, who is also deputy chairman of telecoms company TalkTalk, told the Financial Times that Previse could tackle an issue that has, “infected British business forever.”

Lengthy payment terms and the prevalence of slow payments by large buyers, which affects three in five SME suppliers, cause 50,000 UK SMEs to close each year. Previse’s artificial intelligence technology allows even very small suppliers to receive payment the day they issue their invoice by instantly identifying if an invoice is correct and allowing a funder to pay the supplier immediately based on this information.

“I am proud to be able to welcome our new board members who represent incredible senior experience across such a wide range of industries with significant supply chains.” Said Paul Christensen, CEO of Previse. “I think this shows the deep understanding across industry that slow payments are a real problem, and confidence in our approach to tackling the problem.”

Chatsworth was the first communications agency to focus on fintech. We’ve been building fintech reputations for 20 years, steering start-ups through launch, growth and onto corporate action, and protecting and enhancing established infrastructures.

Looking for intelligent, informed and connected fintech PR which delivers results and value?

Get in touch and let us help build your reputation and tell your story

SWIFT and CSD community advance blockchain for post-trade

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SWIFT and seven central securities depositories (CSDs) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together to demonstrate how distributed ledger technology could be implemented in post-trade scenarios, such as corporate actions processing, including voting and proxy-voting.  The group will investigate the types of new products that can be built using it, and how existing standards such as ISO 20022 can support it.

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Caja de Valores, Depósito Central de Valores, Nasdaq Market Technology AB, National Settlement Depository, SIX Securities Services and Strate Ltd are among the CSDs participating in the DLT project with SWIFT. Additional CSDs are expected to join in the coming weeks.

“To ensure interoperability and smooth migration, it is crucial that new technologies support existing common standards such as ISO 20022,” says Stephen Lindsay, Head of Standards at SWIFT. ““ISO 20022 is a messaging standard but also defines terminology across asset classes and corporate actions. An agreement on using the same set of definitions and concepts is important, as they will be independent of the technology or data format.”

Chatsworth was the first communications agency to focus on fintech. We’ve been building fintech reputations for 20 years, steering start-ups through launch, growth and onto corporate action, and protecting and enhancing established infrastructures.

Looking for intelligent, informed and connected fintech PR which delivers results and value?

Get in touch and let us help build your reputation and tell your story

SWIFT and Chatsworth leading the debate at SIBOS, 2017

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The Chatsworth team is proud to be supporting SWIFT at SIBOS, the world’s premier financial services conference, exhibition and networking event. What started out as a banking operations seminar in 1978, has grown into the premier business forum for the global financial community to debate and collaborate in the areas of payments, securities, cash management and trade.

Organised by SWIFT for the financial industry, Sibos has brought financial leaders together, over four decades, to network, collaborate and make sense of changes in the industry, helping to build an understanding of the forces affecting the financial community. 

 SWIFT is all about connectivity. The organisation remains the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services, providing a platform for messaging, standards for communicating and products and services to facilitate access and integration; identification, analysis and regulatory compliance.

 The organisation connects more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT’s international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure.

 The Chatsworth team will be in attendance throughout the event in Toronto, where the team will be working to support SWIFT in highlighting the challenges facing the financial eco-system and how their connectivity and experience can help. Chatsworth’s CEO will also be moderating some of the panel debates.

Get in touch

Email: swift@chatsworthcommunications.com   

Twitter: @chatsworthcomms

We look forward to seeing you there. 

Compliance stream at Sibos will explore rapidly changing geopolitical and financial crime environment

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Experts and regulators to address the new normal in sanctions, counter-terrorist financing, anti-money laundering, fraud, and cyber security

Sibos introduces a stellar line-up throughout the Compliance stream at this four-day event in Toronto. Multiple sessions will address the profound impact of the shifting geopolitical, financial crime, and cybersecurity environment. Panel debates and deep-dive sessions will cover topics such as the future of financial intelligence sharing; counter terrorist financing in the ‘lone wolf’ era; the potential of artificial intelligence to improve sanctions and AML compliance; and the fraud and cyber-crime ‘new normal’.

An ‘in conversation’ panel with Wolfsberg Group members will unveil the coming year’s priorities and trends. A Latin America-focused panel will provide an overview of the region’s banking compliance challenges.

Notable speakers participating in this year’s Compliance Forum include:

  • Jennifer Calvery, Global Head of Financial Crime Threat Mitigation, HSBC
  • James Freis, Chief Compliance Officer, Clearstream Banking
  • William Fox, Managing Director Global Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  • Neil Isford, General Manager, Watson Financial Services Solutions, IBM
  • David Lewis, Executive Secretary, FATF
  • Jerry Perrullo, Chief Information Officer, ICE
  • Denise Reilly, Wolfsberg member, Global Head of Anti-Money Laundering, Citi

Must-attend sessions include:

Counter-terrorist financing- are we really stopping the bad guys – 17 October at 9:30

Panelists will explore how can banks – and governments – adapt to stay one step ahead of the bad guys, what is working and what needs to work better, and whether stringent regulations are pushing legitimate actors outside of the financial system without actually preventing acts of violence.

Fraud and cyber high alert: The new normal? – 18 October at 9:30

As high-profile security breaches continue to reverberate, this panel discussion of experts from a range of industries will discuss the benefits gained from collaboration, the landscape of payment risks, and the skills that must be developed and recruited to protect institutions and the industry.
“In conversation” with Wolfsberg – Pressing priorities and trends 18 October at 15:30

A lively discussion with Wolfsberg representatives will discuss the industry’s latest challenges, trends, and the coming year’s priorities.

Read more about the Compliance stream on Sibos.com.

The Sibos streams enable attendees to build their Sibos agenda around the topics of interest to them.

Other Sibos Streams and Tracks include:

Banking

Technology

Securities

Standards Forum

Artificial Intelligence

About Sibos

Sibos is an annual conference, exhibition and networking event organised by SWIFT for the global financial industry. Next month, some 7,000 decision makers and topic experts from financial institutions, market infrastructures, multinational corporations, and technology partners gather in one place to do business and collectively shape the future of payments, securities, cash management and trade.

When: Monday 16 October – Thursday 19 October 2017

Where: Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC)

Website: www.sibos.com

Contact: JoAnn Healy | Press@Sibos.com | +1 212 455 1802

Get your complimentary Sibos Press Pass today

Accredited journalists are welcome to attend Sibos free of charge. To obtain your complimentary press pass for Sibos 2017 Toronto, contact: Registration@Sibos.com.

Don’t miss your chance to be right in the middle of the news at the premier financial services event of the year.

Follow us on Twitter: @Sibos #Sibos

Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/Sibos

The Clearing House and SWIFT move closer to instant payments in the US

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US banks will have option to connect to The Clearing House’s real-time payments system via SWIFT gateway

A major evolution is underway in the US payment infrastructure. Many participants in the world’s largest financial market are keenly awaiting the development of a new clearing and settlement system from The Clearing House (TCH) to support domestic instant payments in the US.

Once complete, the service will allow consumers and businesses to send and receive payments in real-time, and directly from their accounts at financial institutions. It will also include data and non-payment messages that financial institutions can use to build digital commerce solutions.

As instant payments become more ubiquitous in the US, the world’s largest payment messaging system, SWIFT, announced it will provide US institutions with a gateway to The Clearing House’s real-time payments (RTP) platform.

SWIFT’s solution for the U.S. market will provide banks with the opportunity to leverage a single platform, Alliance Messaging Hub (AMH). This will provide an interface for managing the requirements of sending and receiving domestic instant payment transactions for both SWIFT high-value payments and low-value TCH real-time payments on behalf of customers.

AMH is an orchestration layer that includes a gateway to the TCH RTP network, as well as other gateways and API’s which allow financial institutions to connect to other non-SWIFT networks. Financial institutions can leverage AMH to support instant payments, simplifying adoption to our customers.

As reported by International Business Times, on the significance of the gateway, Ignacio Blanco, SWIFT’s director of strategic relationships said:

“SWIFT is working together with communities worldwide to support the global shift towards real-time payments, and we are pleased to be at the forefront as the U.S. market evolves. The Clearing House is making great strides in accelerating the speed of transactions, and we are committed to playing our part in helping the financial community to operate as efficiently as possible.”

Steve Ledford, SVP Product and Strategy at The Clearing House, also explained why TCH selected SWIFT as a partner:

“Given its reach and expertise in payments, SWIFT is a great collaborator as we bring a wide-scale real-time payments system to the U.S. market. Achieving our vision of broad adoption of real-time payments will only be possible when the majority of U.S. institutions are able to participate, and SWIFT will be instrumental in helping us meet this goal.”

The solution will be commercially available by early 2018. But as IBT notes, SWIFT’s global instant payments strategy is burgeoning, and the US announcement builds on SWIFT’s earlier success in Australia and in Europe.

In 2015, SWIFT was awarded the contract to deliver the messaging infrastructure to underpin Australia’s new payments platform, NPPA, which is expected to go live later in 2017.

Earlier this year, SWIFT announced the launch of an instant payments messaging solution, first for the European market, and elsewhere. It will allow instant payments to be made over the SWIFT network and provide customers with a single gateway to connect seamlessly to multiple instant payments systems.

It will offer connectivity to the Eurosystem’s TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) and will support the delivery of the future Eurosystem single gateway to TIPS, TARGET2 (T2) and TARGET2 for Securities (T2S) platforms.

With new technologies and start-up companies emerging in recent years and seeking to transform the wholesale and retail payment infrastructure, it seems one of the original pioneers is taking promising steps once again to re-design the global payment infrastructure once again.

 

Chatsworth was the first communications agency to focus on fintech. We’ve been building fintech reputations for 20 years, steering start-ups through launch, growth and onto corporate action, and protecting and enhancing established infrastructures.

Looking for intelligent, informed and connected fintech PR which delivers results and value?

Get in touch and let us help build your reputation and tell your story

Bank of England to boost fintech by opening up RTGS

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The Bank of England (BoE) announced a framework to open up its interbank payment system to fintech firms.

The UK interbank payments landscape is currently dominated by CHAPS, a same-day sterling settlement service used to transfer large amounts between businesses, as well as for property purchases.

CHAPS’s central position in the market, processing 92% of interbank payments, however, represents a degree of risk to financial stability. In 2014, the system was suspended for several hours due to technical problems. This resulted in payments being held up and caused delays for house buyers as payments were not processed on time.

Newer fintech companies and challenger banks are also concerned that they will be at a disadvantage when working with the company, as it is owned by the UK’s four biggest banks.

In response to these concerns, the Bank of England last year announced a plan to widen access to its real time gross settlement (RTGS) payment service, the system which enables large sterling transfers on a real-time basis. This will allow non-banks to bypass systems like CHAPS and access a range of payment services directly from the BoE.

This week, the Bank took the next step with the release of a detailed technical framework for how the new system will operate.

Under the plans, a payment service provider (PSP) will be given access to the RTGS system) if it can demonstrate appropriate anti-money laundering checks and can keep customers money safe.

The Bank hopes this new approach will relieve some of the financial stability pressures from CHAPS, while giving smaller PSPs more confidence in their payment service relationships.

The move is a further boost to the growing retail fintech sector. Combined with the European Union’s second payment services directive (PSD II) next year, it will help to put these companies on a more even footing with their bigger competitors and open up competition in retail banking services.

With greater access to customer data through PSD II, and the ability to transfer large payments in real time, fintechs will now be able to compete far more effectively with their larger rivals.

The effect could be to push greater innovation from both banks and fintech companies. This can only be a good thing for end users.

SWIFT’s blockchain PoC could transform international payments

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SWIFT has just added 22 new members to its Global Payments Innovation (GPI) project.

Banks have, for some time, been looking at a way to monitor their intraday payments, global positions, and liquidity exposures more effectively. This is in line with rules set out by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), which require banks to take into account metrics such as currencies and intraday exposures at correspondent banks.

Currently, a lack of intraday reporting coverage means banks have no way of monitoring the position of their Nostro accounts in real-time throughout the day.

If this vitally important sector is to be revitalised, finding a solution to monitoring payments in real-time, which can give banks more control and more confidence in managing their correspondent and corporate banking relationships, is vital.

There has been significant progress made on this front from one of the utilities at the center of the international financial system. SWIFT, the global provider of secure financial messaging and compliance services, has just added 22 new members to its Global Payments Innovation (GPI) project.

This could help transform the nature of international payments as we know it.

SWIFT launched a proof of concept (PoC) for its blockchain initiative earlier this year with six partner banks, as part of the SWIFT GPI, to provide the first system enabling real time monitoring of Nostro accounts.

There is growing momentum behind the project. Last week, a further 22 banks, including Lloyds in the UK, JPMorgan Chase in the US, Standard Bank in South Africa and Westpac Banking Corporation in Australia, all joined the PoC.

There is a lot of enthusiasm and anticipation about the outcome of the PoC. If banks could manage their Nostro account liquidity in real-time, it would allow them to accurately gauge how much money is required in each account at any given point. This would enable them to free up significant funds for other investments and reduce the cost of correspondent banking.

This PoC is a key example of the way in which industry leaders across the financial markets have been bringing the industry together to collaborate on projects using new technologies to tackle industry wide problems.

Although there are other companies launching similar initiatives, SWIFT benefits from its long-standing position of trust and neutrality at the heart of the financial sector. As a result, it is able to bring together banks, technology providers (such as Hyperledger which developed the blockchain technology for this PoC) and other industry stakeholders to find innovative and meaningful ways of introducing potentially transformative technologies.

“The proof of concept is about the accounts banks hold between themselves,” says Wim Raymaekers, Global Head of Banking Market at SWIFT. “Banks are exchanging information today; what we want to see with blockchain is those status information reports being exchanged, as banks don’t always know the levels of their Nostro accounts on a per transaction basis. Most often, banks get that information at the end of the day but they also want to know how much money is in their accounts in real-time.”

The results of this initial PoC are due to be announced at Sibos later in Toronto in October. We look forward to seeing them with great interest.

 

Russian institutions flock to join R3 consortium

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Payment processor QIWI becomes the first Russian company to join the consortium’s global network.

R3, the global blockchain consortium behind the development and application of distributed ledger technology in financial markets, has expanded its membership with the addition of its first Russian member.

QiWi’s online payment system is one of the most widely used payment systems in Russia. It is used to make online purchases and pay for loans, mobile bills, and even home utilities, and offers terminals where users can make payments as they would on their mobile device.

QIWI is a payment services provider and the first Russian institution to collaborate with R3. It has long recognized the benefits of blockchain technology; earlier in July, the firm expressed interest in joining the blockchain consortium created by the Central Bank of Russia.

“Our goal with R3 is to explore this emerging technology space as we shape the future of payments and transactions throughout collaborative research with other members of the consortium,” says Sergey Solonin, QIWI’s chief executive officer. “We believe that blockchain projects that we are currently working on can be applied on one of the R3 platforms and have great potential to be favorably perceived by regulated financial institutions.”

The firm joins over 60 leading financial institutions, who collaborate in R3’s lab environment, R3’s Lab and Research Centre.

David Rutter, CEO of R3, said “The addition of QIWI is a further milestone for R3 … as we expand our network of consortium members and continue to develop truly global applications for this groundbreaking technology.”

Reporting from the SWIFT Business Forum 2016

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Over 1,300 fintech professionals arrived at Tobacco Dock in East London yesterday morning for SWIFT’s annual Business Forum London conference, which has become the must-attend yearly event for this rapidly growing industry.

After a quick coffee in the sunlight-filled atrium of the impressive nineteenth Century tobacco warehouse, the day’s proceedings kicked off with a panel debate based around the event’s theme for 2016: building the future. SWIFT’s CEO, Gottfried Leibbrandt took to the stage along with Digital Asset Holdings’ Blythe Masters, RBS’s Director of Payments Marion King and Andrew Hauser, Executive Director of Banking, Payments and Financial Resilience at the Bank of England.

The themes that emerged in this session set the tone for the day, with one of the reoccurring debates focusing around how banks and other incumbent service providers could co-exist with fintech startups seeking to ‘disrupt’ and innovate in areas such as payments. SWIFT’s inspired agenda ensured that almost every panel debate featured representatives from both sides of the fence, and it was fascinating to see the level of collaboration between some of the giants of the banking world and young, agile startups, with both sides bringing their inherent unique strengths to the table.

Of course the most popular theme of the day was blockchain, with seemingly every panel discussing how distributed ledger technology could be used to revolutionise their particular areas of the industry, and the R3 initiative being singled out as leading the charge in light of its launch of the Corda platform, which Barclays had tested in front of a live audience just a few days earlier.

There was a distinct air of excitement and positivity in all the conversations we had and overheard at the event yesterday, and we left with a sense that, even though we are only four months in, 2016 could usher in some of the most significant developments the fintech space has seen for a very long time.