Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

VocaLink completes Sepa direct debit pilots with three European banks

VocaLink has completed pilot testing of Sepa direct debit exchanges between corporate customers and three European banks, ABN Amro, Bawag and Royal Bank of Scotland

11 February 2009

News/Sepa

Western Union positions for PSD with EU123.1 million Fexco money transfer buy out

Western Union is to acquire the money transfer business of European agent Fexco for a net cash payment of $159.5 million.

10 February 2009

News/Sepa

Accuity to acquire payments data specialist CB.Net

Reference data specialist Accuity is to acquire its smaller payments data rival CB.Net for an undisclosed sum.

30 January 2009

News/Sepa

Visa Europe says close to EC deal on interchange fees

Visa Europe's CEO Peter Ayliffe says he expects to reach an agreement with the European Commission (EC) over interchange fees charged for cross-border card transactions by the end of the year.

20 January 2009

News/Sepa

WestLB and First Data launch pan-European card venture

German bank WestLB and US payment processing outfit First Data are teaming up to launch a new business dedicated to providing card acceptance services to retailers across Europe.

14 January 2009

News/Sepa

NatWest launches mobile remittance for Polish expats in the UK

NatWest, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group, has become the first UK bank to launch a mobile phone based international money transfer service for UK customers. The service is initially being launched for the bank's Polish Welcome Account customers via a partnership with PKO Bank Polski. But the bank says it will look to extend the service to other countries.

22 December 2008

News/Sepa

Caja Madrid overhauls financial messaging with Sun Microsystems

Spanish savings bank Caja Madrid is overhauling its financial messaging strategy with Sun Microsystems' suite for Swift.

17 December 2008

News/Sepa

Clear2Pay raises EUR6m in internal funding round

Belgium-based provider of payments technology to banks Clear2Pay has announced a capital increase of EUR6 million by its current investors: AGF, IRIS Capital, Big Bang Ventures, GIMV, Trust Capital and management.

16 December 2008

News/Sepa

Sentenial to invest in recruitment as payments business kicks off

Irish payments technology specialist Sentenial has announced a EUR15 million investment plan and recruitment campaign to create 70 new jobs.

05 December 2008

News/Sepa

European Central Bank calls for 'urgent' action on Sepa

The European Central Bank has called for an overhaul of governance and management of the European Payments Council in its latest report on impediments to the creation of a Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa).

24 November 2008

News/Sepa

Atos Origin confirms interest in SIA-SSB acquisition

Atos Origin CEO Philippe Germond has confirmed on an earnings call that the firm is on the short list of bidders for Italian electronic payments group SIA-SSB.

31 October 2008

News/Sepa

EC clamps down on cross-border direct debit charges

The European Commission (EC) says it is proposing an extension of existing regulations to ensure that cross-border direct debit payments made in euros cost the same as domestic transactions.

15 October 2008

News/Sepa

E-Gold brings in KPMG to beef up AML programme

Digital cash transfer outfit E-Gold has retained KPMG to help improve its anti-money laundering (AML) programme following a criminal case that saw directors plead guilty to charges relating to money laundering and the operation of an illegal funds transfer business.

03 October 2008

News/Sepa

Sibos: Auf wiedersehen Vienna, nei hau Hong Kong

As the Sibos conference and exhibition in Vienna draws to a close, we look back on a turbulent week.

19 September 2008

News/Sepa

Microsoft treasury pushes on with ISO20022 project as banks slow progress

The migration of Microsoft's treasury onto the XML-based ISO20022 messaging standard is likely to be a multi-year, ongoing initiative, according to a treasury manager at the software giant.

18 September 2008

News/Sepa

Equens partners ICBPI and Isabel on European e-invoicing pilot

European payments processor Equens and Italy's ICBPI Group are teaming up to establish a multi-party cross-border electronic invoicing network and have recruited Belgian service provider Isabel as the first pilot participant.

16 September 2008

News/Sepa

VocaLink launches Sepa direct debit pilot with Austrian bank

Austrian bank Bawag PSK has signed up with payments vendor VocaLink for a pilot scheme to help its business-to-business direct debit payments become Sepa-compliant.

15 September 2008

News/Sepa

HSBC to woo clients with BIC and Iban conversion kit

HSBC is partnering with Petra Financial to offer its clients automated BIC and Iban directory and validation tools for Sepa-compliant cross-border payments.

15 September 2008

News/Sepa

EBA Clearing prepares for Sepa volumes upswing with night-time settlement cycle

EBA Clearing is to offer night-time settlement of Sepa payments across the ECB's Target2 payments network from the end of the year.

15 September 2008

News/Sepa

IT complexity biggest obstacle to corporate transaction banking - Finextra survey

A survey by Finextra Research and Misys reveals that 45% of banks say their ability to provide a joined up service to corporates is average or worse. But to counter this, more and more banks are consolidating lines of business into a transaction banking group, and investing more in new products delivered online.

15 September 2008