Bank regulator IT examiners need more training - report
July 3, 2015 - American banking regulators are sending staffers with "little or no" tech training to carry out IT examinations at smaller institutions, according to a report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).
FFIEC releases cybersecurity assessment tool
July 2, 2015 - The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), on behalf of its members, today released a Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (Assessment) to help institutions identify their risks and assess their cybersecurity preparedness.
US banks pump $16.6bn into digital transformation
July 1, 2015 - American retail banks will spend $16.6 billion on "digital transformation initiatives" this year, according to research from IDC Financial Insights.
Singapore pledges S$225m to fintech
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director Ravi Menon revealed the investment (around US$167 million) in the Financial Sector Technology & Innovation (FSTI) scheme during a speech.
The money will be used to help convince banks to set up their R&D and innovation labs on the island. Metlife and UBS are among those that have already applied for funds.
But the FSTI will also be used to back major institution and industry level projects such as a decentralised record-keeping system based on blockchain technology to prevent duplicate invoicing in trade finance; a cyber risk test-bed; and a natural catastrophe data analytics exchange.
Menon says that technological advances such as mobile payments, biometrics, the blockchain, cloud computing, big data and learning machines are revolutionising financial services, and that a smart nation must embrace and harness this innovation.
In addition to financial backing through FSTI, MAS says that it is trying to support a fintech ecosystem, facilitating cooperation, and also build technology skills among the country's workforce.
PCI SSC updates point-to-point encryption standard
July 1, 2015 - Today the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) published an important update to one of its eight security standards, simplifying the development and use of Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) solutions that make payment card data unreadable and less valuable to criminals if stolen in a breach.
EBA Clearing publishes blueprint for pan-European instant payment infrastructure
July 1, 2015 - EBA Clearing has published a blueprint document spelling out high-level business requirements for a pan-European instant payment infrastructure solution.
SEC commissioner calls for Reg SCI scope to be widened
June 26, 2015 - An SEC commissioner has called on the regulator to massively expand the scope of recently introduced rules designed to strengthen the US market's technology infrastructure and protect it from cyber attacks.
Fico records spike in cross-border debit fraud
June 25, 2015 - The percentage of fraudulent transactions occurring outside the UK in 2014 on UK debit cards rose 25 percent in a massive sample of cards studied by analytic software firm FICO.
