As 2018 draws to a close, here are the top Payments News stories in December and some recaps of the year too. It’s been quite a year and for those of you that have followed this blog i would like to thank you for your support and wish you a Happy and Healthy 2019.

Check out below the top Payment news stories that caught my eye in December 2018:

1. Payments News – Cyber Security

• Pay.UK’s Faster Payments team launches anti-fraud Mule Insights Tactical Solution (MITS) using AML technology from Vocalink
• Amazing – Genius UK fraudster jailed
• Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) enable fingerprint and facial recognition for the CitiDirect BE login

2. Payments News – Mobile Payments

• PPRO Group and Mastercard hook up to roll out its Pay by Bank app to UK merchants
• RBR Report indicates global ATMs installed globally will drop from a peak (3.28 million) in 2017 to 3.23 million by end of 2023

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

• R3 launch Corda Settler, enabling payments originating on the Corda platform to be made through any payment systems – Ripple’s XRP is the first cryptocurrency to be supported
• Porsche and BBVA complete a acquisition loan using blockchain technology
• Blythe Masters steps down as CEO of Digital Asset Holdings

4. Payments News: Banks

• Federal Reserve along with four other regulatory bodies publish joint statement calling for the exploration of innovative solutions to Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) compliance obligations
• Citi talk at the EMEA Media Summit about removing legacy tech with new-tech such as AI, big-tech and the cloud
• HSBC launch “My Investment” – an online (robo) investment advisory service
• BBVA talk about the BigTech and the battle over data

5. Payments News: Fintech

• Mastercard and Microsoft work together to further advance innovations in digital identity
• TD Ameritrade joins forces with Tencent, offering WeChat to US users to check market data and other features
• IBM Services will be the global implementation partner for Vault, a cloud native banking platform provided by Thought Machine
• At Fintech Connect, Finextra cover:
  • The focus on how data is controlled
  • Comments from the DBS Innovation chief Neal Cross
• Revolut get a European Banking Licence
• Vocalink and CCE partner to introduce 24/7 real time payments, bulk payments and cheques in Peru
• Vipps (Norway) and ePassi (Finland) will use the AliPay QR code standard as they implement QR Code payments

6. Payments News: Europe – SEPA, PSD2, Open Banking, GDRP

• Accenture research reveals most large banks in Asia believe Open Banking will be a key strategic initiative in the region enabling  double digit growth
• Nordea launch Instant Reporting API
• European Commission agrees to make Euro cross border payments cheaper across the entire European Union

7. Payments News: SWIFT

• SWIFT initiate SWIFT gpi pre-validation pilot to reduce payment errors with 14 banks, including BBVA
• After 7 years SWIFT CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt will step down at the end of June 2019

8. Payments News: Reports

• State Street – New Routes to Growth  (big tech)
• DTCC – Systemic Risk Barometer – 2019 Risk Forecast
• New York Times – As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants

9. 2018 Round Up

• Chris Skinner’s top blog posts of 2018
• Finextra nicely summarise key events:
  • Top research
  • Top monthly new stories
  • Top video interviews
• CTM File round up their most popular articles of 2018
• For the Guardian, Frankie Boyle review of 2018

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

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