Latest Innovation News: Finextra Research

WestPac NZ preps Sony Smartwatch app

The New Zealand arm of Oz bank WestPac is poised to launch an app for the Sony SmartWatch, enabling customers to check their balances from their wrists.

16 October 2013

News/Innovation

Square launches e-mail P2P payments service

Following an invitation-only test, Square has opened up its free e-mail-based person-to-person payments service, Square Cash, to the American public.

16 October 2013

News/Innovation

Capital One closes commemorative bitcoin coin maker's account

A Texas-based firm that makes privately minted medallions claims that Capital One shut down its merchant account after it began making commemorative bitcoin coins.

14 October 2013

News/Innovation

Money2020 stirs up cashless society debate

While much of the chatter at the Money2020 conference in Las Vegas centred on schemes to eliminate hard cash, former Citibanker Jay Bhattacharya took a contrarian approach, brandishing a newspaper clipping from 1972 that confidently forecast the arrival of a cashless society by the end of the 1970s.

11 October 2013

News/Innovation

Dwolla kills support for bitcoin

Payments firm Dwolla is severing its ties with bitcoin exchanges and services, cutting off a major route for moving funds between the virtual currency and its fiat cousins.

11 October 2013

News/Innovation

Level launches money meter app; raises $5m

With $5 million in funding in the bag, US start-up Level has launched a money meter iOS app aimed at millennials bidding to keep track of their finances.

10 October 2013

News/Innovation

Indian central bank sets up mobile banking committee

The Reserve Bank of India has set up a Technical Committee on Mobile Banking to examine the feasibility of introducing encrypted SMS-based funds transfers across all mobile handsets.

10 October 2013

News/Innovation

UK government creates payments watchdog to boost competition

The UK government is setting up a utilities-style payments regulator in a bid to make it easier and cheaper for new entrants to take on the high street banks.

10 October 2013

News/Innovation

Digital currency trading platform Kraken inks EU deal with Fidor Bank

Payward, the US firm behind digital currency exchange Kraken, has set its eyes on the European market through an exclusive partnership with Germany's Fidor Bank.

09 October 2013

News/Innovation

Wired tablet edition showcases in-app payments from MasterCard

The November tablet edition of Wired is to feature new technology from MasterCard which enables readers to purchase items direct from advertising and editorial pages without leaving the app.

08 October 2013

News/Innovation

Live Blog: World Retail Congress

There is no such thing as a 'one size fits all' customer experience, according to MasterCard. At this year's World Retail Congress in Paris, the card payments processing provider hosted a series of events examining innovation, insights and interaction in the retail payments space.

08 October 2013

News/Innovation

Brain scans show the power of positive thinking for achieving savings goals

A ground-breaking neuroscience study commissioned by Standard Life shows that positive and helpful communication about long term saving stimulates dopamine and can in turn encourage the "love hormone" oxytocin, making people feel happier and more likely to engage positively with savings.

08 October 2013

News/Innovation

Bitcoin sets the agenda on day one of Money2020 conference

The topic of Bitcoin was a recurring subject on day one of the Money2020 conference in Las Vegas. However, the FBI's action against alleged Silk Road mastermind, Ross Ulbricht, caused disruption as planned speakers from government organisations and law enforcement found reasons to stay at their desks.

07 October 2013

News/Innovation

EC explores crowdfunding action

The European Commission is pondering the creation of a continent-wide framework for the fast growing crowdfunding market.

03 October 2013

News/Innovation

Bitcoin value bounces back after Silk Road shock

Virtual currency bitcoin has seen its value bounce back after an initial heavy fall in the wake of the FBI's take-down of the Silk Road online marketplace.

03 October 2013

News/Innovation

Russian m-banking start-up raises $2m

Russian mobile banking start-up Rocketbank has raised $2 million in funding from tech-focused venture capital firm Runa Capital.

02 October 2013

News/Innovation

NAB moves Web site to Amazon Cloud

National Australia Bank expects to save millions of dollars a year by moving its public-facing Web site off its own servers and onto the Amazon Web Services cloud.

02 October 2013

News/Innovation

St George Bank builds smartwatch app

Australia's St George Bank has built a smartwatch app prototype as it prepares for a world where customers check their account balance and make payments from their wrists.

01 October 2013

News/Innovation

Brown Brothers Harriman to ditch traditional desktops as workers go mobile

US investment bank Brown Brothers Harriman expects to have abandoned traditional desktop computing within two years as employees move to mobile working, says CIO and partner Christopher Remondi.

01 October 2013

News/Innovation

Money transfer service Azimo scores $1m funding

London-based online money transfer service Azimo has secured more than $1 million in a seed funding round led by e.ventures as it prepares to expand into Europe.

30 September 2013