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Payments

The African bank crisis and remittances

I’m on holiday in Africa to get away from it all, but just to show that banking is a global business, there’s an ongoing banking crisis relating to Africa. I’ve been tracking the issue – that Barclays  is in the process of closing the accounts of a number of Authorised Payments Institutions, in the light…

That rocky rollercoaster called #Bitcoin

I keep thinking I should stop blogging about Bitcoin, as I’ve written so much about it already: Is Bitcoin the future of money … or are we smoking dope?  (October 2011) Bitcoin: immersive or subversive? (January 2012) You should take Bitcoin seriously (September 2012) A new currency payment system is about to explode (February 2013) The latest stats on…

Bitcoin amazon

That rocky rollercoaster called #Bitcoin

I keep thinking I should stop blogging about Bitcoin, as I’ve written so much about it already: Is Bitcoin the future of money … or are we smoking dope?  (October 2011) Bitcoin: immersive or subversive? (January 2012) You should take Bitcoin seriously (September 2012) A new currency payment system is about to explode (February 2013) The latest stats on…

Bitcoin amazon

The mobile hotspace just got hotter

We all know the story of Square, or we should by now, but times are getting interesting for them. Not only challenged by PayPal, whose recent launch of PayPal Here brings proximity payments to the world, they are also being challenged by suppliers like NCR, who are also getting in on the act with dongles…

Zinc

The mobile hotspace just got hotter

We all know the story of Square, or we should by now, but times are getting interesting for them. Not only challenged by PayPal, whose recent launch of PayPal Here brings proximity payments to the world, they are also being challenged by suppliers like NCR, who are also getting in on the act with dongles…

Zinc

12,000 European consumers say mobile social banking is the key

I got a copy of a fascinating survey by ING yesterday on mobile social banking.   The survey asked 12,000 people in 12 countries in Europe about banking in the digital age, and here’s their summary of the main conclusions: 1. More than a third – or 37% – of consumers already use mobile banking. The Netherlands is the most…

ING survey1

Remittances: a massive market snubbed by the banks

I recently joined my friends at Anthemis – the guys investing in Fidor, Simple and Moven – for a chat. They gave me a nice leaflet on the trends in remittances which I thought worth sharing with y’all, as it’s a great read with many useful charts and stats. The first chart shows the growth…

Remittances markets

How important is real-time?

This is a question that comes up more and more, and there’s an easy answer: it’s very important; and a harder answer: it’s not always important; and this is a key discussion in the context of immediate payments, something that is getting talked about more and more. In fact, my friends over at Glenbrook covered…

KIR Poland

Four out of five corporates are not ready for SEPA end-dates

For the fifth year, the Financial Services Club ran a survey of payments professionals worldwide to see how successfully regulations and technologies are changing the European payments landscape, sponsored by CGI and EBA CLEARING.            The survey ran during the spring of 2013, and was completed by 422 participants across over…

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