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3677 Results from /retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

BLE and NFC: Combine to Succeed

Since the release of the iPhone 5S, conversations surrounding one of its most prominent features the iBeacon, which exploits a new variant of Bluetooth technology which uses considerably lower power, has been making headlines. A myth I’d like to address is that Near Field Communications (NFC) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) can’t work together and t...

/retail

Nick Levy

Nick Levy Partner - Financial Services at IBM Consulting

Customer alert - are banks listening to their customers?

In every customer communication there’s one simple message: “I - the customer - have something to say.” But is anyone listening? It's as simple as ABC. A is for ANYTIME and ANY WAY. Banking customers talk to their banks at any time they need them, not just 9 to 5, and not in ways that banks can always control. Customers expect the freedom to con...

/retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Is now the time to invest in alternative currencies?

I wince every time I hear bitcoin reaching new milestones in value - and I don't think I'm alone. 'Bitcoin hits $300' - I shudder. 'Bitcoin reaches $500 milestone' - I cringe. 'Bitcoin tops $1000' - I could cry. I think of the missed opportunity - my poor foresight. Why didn't I buy 1000 bitcoins when they were $0.50 each? That $500 outlay woul...

/retail Future Finance

Retired Member

Retired Member 

A cashless society - be careful what you wish for

RBS customers suffered a systems meltdown on Monday evening as millions of customers of RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank were left unable to make payments with their credit & debit cards Of course, this is not the first such instance of fundamental technical failures for card systems. In June 2012, a similar technical fault at NatWest meant that m...

/retail

Andrea Donafee

Andrea Donafee Managing Director at Cash Management Solutions

Cash comes to the rescue again as Natwest cards fail

It’s called ‘Cyber Monday’, one of the busiest days shopping days of the year and cards failed. Across the country, parents were left unable to pay for their kids Christmas presents, customers were stranded at petrol stations, shoppers at supermarkets were left embarrassed. Many retailers will have noticed an unanticipated shortfall in sales in th...

/payments /retail

Oleg Popov

Oleg Popov Senior Principal Business Analyst at Temenos UK

A model for the UK banking industry transformation

Banking industry transformation is an articulate demand coming both from the public and the regulators these days. How to approach that and what needs to be done is a matter of intense search and debate. Attached is a white paper on a potential approach to transform the UK banking industry. In fact, not necessarily the UK one only. In case there ...

/regulation /retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Banking on voice biometrics?

Biometric identification isn’t a new phenomenon, just ask the Babylonians. They inked their contracts with a fingerprint. Perhaps the scanning technology wasn’t invented yet but the basic premise was there. Even MI6 and the CIA have tapped into fingerprint identification, face recognition and retina scanning. It all sounds very Hollywood, like a s...

/retail

Elton Cane

Elton Cane Digital product delivery at News Corp Australia

P2P lending in Australia

It's been stop-start, but there are signs of growth. Reading Simon Strong's Finextra blog post about growing overheads as P2P lenders mature and become more regulated, and Dan Barnes' post about the growing involvement of traditional banks, got me thinking about the development of the P2P lending sector in Australia. There has been no shortage of...

/regulation /retail Future Finance

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Peer-to-peer lending - game-changer or business as usual?

Will peer-to-peer lending change the personal loans market beyond recognition? Or will increasing regulation and overheads erode its differentiators? Traditional savings products are not attractive at the moment, with typical interest rates for one-year cash ISAs at less than 2%. At the same time, peer-to-peer lenders such as RateSetter and Zopa s...

/retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

FATCA looms, financial firms struggle with compliance

With implementation just around the corner, most financial services firms would have hoped to now be making their final FATCA preparations. As it stands though, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act seems to have many reaching for the panic button. Layered with complexity and demanding in compliance, FATCA’s rollout next year will be a challenge...

/regulation /retail Financial Services Regulation

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