Latest long reads: Finextra Research

How to pronounce ISO 20022 - and other important migration details

We’ve reached out to the experts to compile answers to the most asked questions across the topic of ISO 20022, in an attempt to help firms and the industry-at-large build on their awareness of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. 2020 was originally earmarked as the year for banks to plough ahead with their ISO 20022 migration, with the...

05 August 2020 /payments

Expectation, standardisation and automation: Seizing the initiative in real-time payments

Jamie Crawley

Expectation, standardisation and automation: Seizing the initiative in real-time payments

Real-time payments are likely to not only expedite the movement of money, but also heighten the expectations of consumers and corporates. Financial institutions need to address other aspects of the payments system to ensure that instant payments are supported by improved user experience throughout the cycle. The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to have...

31 July 2020 /payments

How will a new working environment change the way companies value cybersecurity?

Retired Member

How will a new working environment change the way companies value cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is in place to protect our computer systems and networks from theft or damage to their hardware, software or electronic data. Due to technology evolving and companies becoming more reliant on technology, cybersecurity is becoming more important to businesses. Cybersecurity is extremely complex, both in terms of politics and technolog...

23 July 2020 /security

Apples and oranges: What makes Pay.UK and EBA Clearing’s R2P models so different?

Paige McNamee

Apples and oranges: What makes Pay.UK and EBA Clearing’s R2P models so different?

Is there more than one way to skin a cat? A peek under the hood of Pay.UK’s and EBA Clearing’s respective Request-to-Pay models shows that indeed there is. Request to Pay has widely been touted as the missing piece of the instant payment puzzle. At its core, Request to Pay is the idea of pushing transaction details from a payee to a payer’s device ...

10 July 2020 /payments

There is more to digital payments in Africa than M-Pesa

Madhvi Sonia Head of Content at Finextra

There is more to digital payments in Africa than M-Pesa

In 2010, Kenyan payments, money transfer and micro-financing service M-Pesa became the most successful mobile phone based financial service in the developing world, just three years after the launch by network operators Vodafone and Safaricom. Since then, while other developing markets such as the APAC and LATAM regions have dominated headlines, t...

25 June 2020 /payments

The Three Lines of Defence: Time to Recall the Kraken?

Richard Dupree CEO and Founder at Riskliance

The Three Lines of Defence: Time to Recall the Kraken?

In the 1981 movie Clash of the Titans (and again in the 2010 remake of the same name), the Greek mythical deity Zeus, calls for the release of the Kraken on an out-of-control human population. One that has relinquished all personal accountability and has put self above others. In the movie, the Kraken was a horrible beast whose unleashing was a us...

23 June 2020 /security

Briefcase babies: How financial apps are helping kids learn about much more than money

Paige McNamee

Briefcase babies: How financial apps are helping kids learn about much more than money

Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, give a child a user-friendly-savings-encouraging-card-app-account-overseen-by-parents and they will bank well for life. Equipping children and young adults with the tools and education to develop skills in their formative years means they will be positioned to reap the benefits of financial literacy once ...

10 June 2020 /retail

What is Celo and could it succeed where Libra won’t?

Jamie Crawley

What is Celo and could it succeed where Libra won’t?

Celo promises to be a stablecoin to rival Libra. While unlikely to be regarded with the same distrust as Facebook’s much-maligned digital currency, Celo will still have its share of challenges relating to regulation and scale. The announcement that Facebook was leading the development of a digital currency in June 2019 was met with fierce pushback ...

25 May 2020 /crypto

Bitcoin halving: What does this mean and what will its effect be?

Jamie Crawley

Bitcoin halving: What does this mean and what will its effect be?

Bitcoin’s 2020 halving took place today. This happens around once every four years and is of much interest to cryptocurrency investors due to the profound effect halving has had on the cryptocurrency in previous occurrences. Halving refers to the number of coins that miners receive for adding new transactions to the blockchain being cut in half. Th...

12 May 2020 /crypto

How will Covid-19 re-write the demise of LIBOR?

Paige McNamee

How will Covid-19 re-write the demise of LIBOR?

It’s difficult to encapsulate in a succinct, let alone enchanting way, the leading role that LIBOR plays across the global economy. The economic protagonist of sorts touches on approximately $400 trillion of contracts and lending products across the world, and the arrival of Covid-19 has made the challenge of disentangling associations with the ra...

07 May 2020 /regulation

What are the cybersecurity risks in an interconnected world?

Jamie Crawley

What are the cybersecurity risks in an interconnected world?

Financial services companies have historically been amongst the best performing when it comes to matters of cybersecurity, given the importance attached to protecting and managing clients’ sensitive data. However, developments and innovations in the industry mean cyber challenges are consistently changing and financial institutions must stay ahead...

07 May 2020 /security

Jamie Crawley

The pros and cons of CBDCs

Multiple central banks are looking closely at developing digital currencies to address the threat posed by projects such as Libra. There are many benefits to be found in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), likely to be magnified amidst the Coronavirus pandemic as more and more transactions are carried out electronically and cash usage continu...

27 April 2020 /crypto

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