Payment news stories in October were dominated by the usual suspects, but in particular a number of fintech and blockchain related initiatives. This was in part driven by Ripple and SWIFT both of which held their flagship conferences, as did AFP and the Money20/20 all of which trigger numerous announcements and initiatives to ensure maximum press coverage. Check out the following top Payments News stories for October 2017:

1. Payments News – Cyber Security

• European Association for Secure Transactions (EAST) reveals an increase in ATM black box attacks in the first half of 2017
• TrustWave issue a SpiderLabs Advanced Threat Report that details a major cyberattack targeting banks mainly located in post-Soviet states
• A former Westpac security exec launches ScramCard linking all cards to a single card which generates a 1-time PIN
• Mastercard and The Clearing House team up to deliver a tokenisation solution
• Bank of America partners with Intel to introduce biometric authentication for online banking

2. Payments News – Mobile Payments

• Reserve Bank of India to implement rules enabling the interoperability of e-wallet providers such as Paytm, MobiKwik and FreeCharge
• Venmo can be used virtually everywhere that Paypal is accepted in the US
• Paypal report an impressive set of third quarter 2017 results
• Everything you wanted to know about the Google Payment Request API
• New York subway will go contactless by 2019
• Visa report the key findings from their Digital Payments Study across Europe

3. Payments News: Blockchain / Digital / Crypto-currencies

• MAS and ABS announces development of software prototypes of 3 different models for decentralised inter-bank payment and settlements with liquidity savings mechanism
• BNP Paribas and TCS partner to deliver Corporate Event Connect
• IBM announces a new blockchain based cross border payments solution
• BNP Paribas and EY complete a pilot using a private blockchain to handle internal Treasury operations
• 7 European banks (Deutsche Bank, HSBC, KBC, Natixis, Rabobank, Societe Generale and UniCredit) together with IBM develop Digitial Trade Chain platform which is launched into we.trade, and are joined by Santander
• JP Morgan together with Royal Bank of Canada and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited to launch an interbank payments network powered by Quorum 
• Mastercard offers up a Blockchain API for banks and merhants
• R3 with 22 banks build a real time cross border payments systems on the Corda distributed ledger technology platform

4. Payments News: Banks

• Deutsche Bank puts Autobahn source code out in the public domain
• HSBC links up with fintech firm Bud as it prepares for Open Banking
• JP Morgan unveils Finn – a all-mobile bank!
• HSBC experience technical problems with their online banking services, leaving customers unable to access the mobile app and online portal
• According to the FT, UBS chief has had “regulatory and political clarifications“  that make a London Brexit exodus unlikely

5. Payments News: Fintech

• Mastercard launches first innovation hub in Pune, India
• RippleNet, Ripple’s blockchain network, grows to over 100 financial institutions
• RippleNet Accelerator Program will offer a rebate for early adopter financial institutions that process and promote commercial payments via RippleNet
• Data from London and Partners reveals London as a leading global fintech hub
• Mastercard (again) showcase the future with a augmented reality shopping trip
• Uber drives into the credit card world
• Capital One speak with Finextra and reveal what they learnt about the Capital One chatbot, Eno
• UK to implement image-based cheque clearing system

6. Payments News: SWIFT

• Hackers attack Taiwan’s Far Eastern International Bank (FEIB) and use the SWIFT network to perform the transfers according to BAE Systems
• SWIFT is optimistic about blockchain and through the gpi initiative, its ability to improve real-time Nostro reconciliation
• Sibos – Tim Berners Lee talks about W3C’s payment initiative using standardised APIs
• Sibos – Blockchain – reality or utopia?
• Sibos – SWIFT CEO – Cyberthreats becoming “manageable nuisance“
• Sibos – API or the Highway

7. Payments News: Reports

• The Bank of England’s FinTech Accelerator: what have we done and what have we learned? – speech by Andrew Hauser
• Finextra Report - Tackling The Regulatory Challenge: Leveraging CLM And Regtech To Improve Efficiency And Customer Experience
• KPMG – The Pulse of Fintech – Q2 2017
• FCA Report - Regulatory sandbox lessons learned report
• McKinsey Report - Remaking the bank for an ecosystem world
• Gartner -  2018 CIO Agenda Survey

That’s it folks! Let me know below if I missed anything important…

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