Latest Fintech News

NatWest is turning to behaviour-aware biometrics security to comply with tighter European Union payment regulations.

Next year, the EU’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) comes into force, which includes the requirement that certain transactions go through additional authentication checks.

SCA, part of the PSD2 regulation, is an extra layer of security designed to prevent fraud and validate that an individual using a card is the actual cardholder.

A card reader for small businesses made from recycled ocean plastic has been unveiled by financial technology firm iZettle. The PayPal-owned company has launched the Ocean Reader, which it says is 75% made from old fishing nets and ropes collected from the North and Baltic Seas. iZettle said the project has already seen the firm remove more than a tonne of plastic from the ocean and is part of a wider plan to provide products made from sustainable materials.

Millennials are falling victim to scams involving handing money to fraudsters more than any other age group, according to Lloyds Bank.

New data shows that victims aged 18 to 34 are losing £2,630 on average to the fraud, which typically involve scammers impersonating banking staff, the police or HM Revenues and Customs.

The ICO has signed a joint statement with other data protection authorities calling for more information about how Facebook will use financial data The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has raised privacy concerns over Facebook’s new digital currency, Libra. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has signed a statement alongside counterparts from the US, Canada, Australia and the… Read More

Monzo claims no one outside the challenger bank had access to PINs Monzo has advised almost half a million customers to change their PIN after the British online-only bank discovered it was storing their codes as plain text in log files. The bank said that the PINs were stored in a log file accessible to… Read More

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairman Damian Collins fears Libra could be open to fraud, according to a report A probe into Facebook’s digital currency plans is being considered by MPs, it has been reported. Concerns have been raised over the social network’s intentions to start a cryptocurrency called Libra, which will be run… Read More

Splitting a bill could soon become a lot less difficult Credit card company Mastercard has showcased technologies such as augmented reality as part of its work on the future of shopping and payments. The tech and commerce firm unveiled a number of prototype technologies at a showcase in Belfast, including software which allows shoppers to… Read More

Some 35 percent of financial services customers would prefer a fast response from a chatbot to waiting for a human, Pinsent Masons and Innovate Finance said More than a third of financial services customers would prefer an instant response from a chatbot to waiting to speak to a human, a survey suggests. Some 35 percent… Read More

The tipping point at which mobile banking is expected to overtake branches is predicted to happen in 2021, data experts Caci said Mobile banking is set to overtake high street bank branches by 2021 in terms of popularity, according to projections. Data experts Caci said growing numbers of people owning a smartphone is partly behind… Read More

Libra currency has already received millions in investment from names such as Mastercard, Uber and Spotify Facebook is to launch a smartphone-based cryptocurrency next year – backed by the likes of Mastercard, Visa and PayPal. The currency is known as Libra, which the social network says it has “no special role” in governing and will… Read More

Despite growing scrutiny over the strength of its economy, the UK remains a safe bet for venture capital  A new report from trade organisation Tech Nation shows the UK is outperforming other European countries in terms of tech investment. Fintechs are the standout performers, attracting £4.5bn of funds between 2015 and 2018 – establishing the… Read More

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and Xiaomi also awarded licenses by Hong Kong’s financial regulator The race to disrupt Hong Kong’s traditional banking sector is heating up with four new major companies winning licenses to create virtual banks in the city. The latest players to be granted licenses are Tencent Holdings Ltd., Ant Financial,… Read More