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I had the honour to chair one of my favourite fintech entrepreneurs, Mike Laven of CurrencyCloud, at this years MoneyConf in Madrid. President Trump: Replace The Dollar With Gold As The Global Currency To Make America Great Again From President Trump: Replace The Dollar With Gold As The Global Currency To Make America Great Again xxx   xxx Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s leader [called] for every member of the United Nations to adopt the “acmetal”. From  Time for the Borat | Consult Hyperion xxx  

xxx The OBWG's proposals envisaged open APIs being used in a broader context than the payments market which PSD2 standards will apply to, as well as the limited scope of the CMA's project on business and consumer current accounts. From Initiatives on open APIs in banking must be joined up, says expert xxx

As you may remember, in the UK, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) asked the Payment Strategy Forum (PSF) to come up with a strategy to increase competition and innovation. This strategy, published in November last year, has a number of different threads to it, but one is that of particular interest to us is the call for new guidelines on “identity verification, authentication and risk assessment”. The Forum said: "We expect that the guideline would include requirements for improved identity assurance in a number of these areas: account opening, re-authentication of long-standing account holders, setting up payment mandates, confirming payer and payee when initiating payments, mutual authentication (e.g. bank identifying itself to customer), and incorporating identity assurance into existing risk assessment processes." From 'Payments architecture' set for major modernisation in the UK Now these are all quite different requirements, so it’s very intellectually in...

xxx The second payment services directive (PSD2) is designed to boost competition in the name of “open banking” by forcing banks to allow third parties, such as innovative financial technology companies, to access the data of customers who authorise it… But fintech bosses said the fine print of PSD2 was being written in a way that gave too much power to banks.  From Subscribe to read - Linkis.com xxx

xxx One of the key goals for DLT platforms is to eventually get “cash on-ledger” issued by one or more central bank.  From Layer 2 and settlement | Great Wall of Numbers xxx

xxx [Bank of Canada] argues that “well designed and managed private digital currencies could circulate widely but only with appropriate government regulation to ensure their safety, soundness, and uniformity”. From Private digital currencies need regulation to flourish - Bank of Ca... xxx

xxx The Bank of England has made "big improvements" in its ability to forecast the UK economy, the Bank's chief economist has told MPs. Andy Haldane… acknowledged that “sizeable” economic forecasting errors had been made in the past, especially at the time of the 2008 financial crisis. From Bank of England 'has improved' its economic forecasting - BBC News xxx

xxx “The problem with the internet is that everyone is allowed to hide and no one knows who you are. I think if we can see everybody, if you put your reputation behind everything, and that will fix things like fake news. That will stop you from putting out false information.” From Revel co-founder’s new startup aims to build a web of authentic identities | TechCrunch xxx

xxx Both clients and escorts can write and read reviews about their experience. The app also tracks location and requires credit card details. "Because we pre-authorise clients' credit cards, which is basically we guarantee the amount of the booking," Mr Coppa said. "And then require as part of the appointment process the escort to sight the clients ID — we don't keep those details — [which] provides far more security than they would currently have. From Sex workers app Rendevu wants to make it easier, safer to connect escorts with clients - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) xxx

snippet The significant advantages of digitization, with respect to customer experience, revenue, and cost, have become increasingly compelling. The momentum to adopt the new technologies and operating models needed to capture these benefits continues to build. The risk function, which has seen significant growth in costs over the past decade, should be no exception. [From Digital risk: Transforming risk management for the 2020s | McKinsey & Company ] snippet

snippet But if governments rely too heavily on the market forces associated with reputation, business fraud can become sufficiently common and sufficiently costly to threaten public confidence in capitalist institutions. [From Edward Balleisen on the long history of fraud in America ] snippet

snippet Almost all deceptive firms seek to look and sound like successful enterprises, taking advantage of the tendency of consumers and investors to rely on such rules of thumb. [From Edward Balleisen on the long history of fraud in America ] snippet

Edward Balleisen describes different kinds of fraud this way: One important distinction involves the targets of intentional economic deceit. Sometimes individual consumers defraud businesses, as when they lie on applications for credit or life insurance. Sometimes taxpayers defraud governments, by hiding income. Sometimes employees defraud employers, by misappropriating funds, which sociologists call “occupational fraud.” I focus mostly on deceit committed by firms against their counterparties (other businesses, consumers, investors, the government), or “organizational fraud.” [From  Edward Balleisen on the long history of fraud in America ] snippet

snippet We’ve also gained some other important insights that will be relevant to the business case for this type of DLT application: Most cost savings appear unlikely to come in the core system itself, but rather more likely through reducing bank reconciliation efforts. The initial design is quite collateral intensive while the current system is already highly efficient. There's the potential for more savings if other applications could be built on top of a core cash payment distributed ledger system (eg financial asset clearing and settlement, trade finance). In an actual production system, trade-offs will need to be resolved between how widely data and transactions are verified by members of the system, and how widely information is shared. While DLT may aim to reduce concentration of risk, a substantial amount of centralization would still be required (eg permissioning of nodes and setting of operational standards) if applied to wholesale payments systems. [From Project Jasp...

snippet In an actual production system, trade-offs will need to be resolved between how widely data and transactions are verified by members of the system, and how widely information is shared. [From Project Jasper: Lessons From Bank of Canada's First Blockchain Project ] snippet

xxx A police worker who seduced a detention officer to find the identity of a witness in her boyfriend's murder trial has been jailed. Lydia Lauro, 33, got a job at Hammersmith Police Station after her boyfriend was jailed for his part in a shooting. From Woman jailed over plot to expose key witness in murder trial - BBC News Broadly speaking, having the police hire someone whose partner has just gone to jail for a gangland murder suggests that screening processes might need to be improved in the future, but that’s not my main point.

xxx The average customer interacts with his or her bank at least twice a day for payments-related matters, such as buying a financial product, checking on a payment, or paying a bill. These interactions represent more than 80 percent of customer interactions with banks, making payments a superb platform, or beachhead, for cross-selling other financial services. From The digital battle that banks must win | McKinsey & Company xxx xxx The consultancy estimates that the new new breed of payment initiation service providers will erode 33% of online debit card transaction volumes and 10% of online credit card transaction volumes resulting in a total market share of 16% of online retail payment volume by 2020. From  Banks set to lose 43% of retail payments revenue under PSD2 xxx

I am beginning to sound like a broken record (note to younger readers: I mean of the vinyl kind) on this one, I feel moved to point out once again that IS_A_PERSON may turn out to be the most valuable credential in the very near future. If this is true, then Consult Hyperion should seek out a market that needs such a credentials right now and work out a way for our clients to provide services to this market as a scale business, right? My candidate? Internet dating. Why aren’t banks, mobile operators, card schemes etc helping this market? The online dating industry generates around $2 billion in yearly returns in the United States only, with over 15 percent of US adults reporting utilizing online dating services and/or mobile dating apps. From  CoinReport Ex-hedge fund manager to launch blockchain-based dating, matchmaking platform - CoinReport It’s a mass-market mainstream business that would be even bigger if it wasn’t rife with fraud (and, as you will recall from the Ashley Madi...

xxx Police say data recorded by a man's cardiac pacemaker helped lead to his indictment on charges of aggravated arson and insurance fraud in a fire at his Ohio home. From Police: Ohio man's cardiac pacemaker data leads to charges xxx

snippet Cannings Free Range Butchers in Melbourne, decided to go cashless so butchers do not have to handle coins and notes often riddled with pathogens like E. coli, shigella or staphylococcus bacteria. [From  Rise of card-only shops and lower interchange fees drive cashless economy | afr.com ] snippet

snippet Personally I do 100 per cent of my shopping on my card, and it shows you all the money I've spent [From Rise of card-only shops and lower interchange fees drive cashless economy | afr.com ] snippet

snippet today 3.5 million Norwegians use it not just for banking but a range of other services. In 2015 BankID was used 430 million times, a number that has increased year by year as more services are made available. It is a two-factor-solution, with a key fob-style token  –  or an optional mobile app  –  and a BankID password. Customers can use their BankID to lease a car, rent an apartment or enroll for college. [From Norway adding mobile digital identity function to its BankID program - SecureIDNews ] snippet

xxx The UK's largest nine banks have been given a year to develop and adopt an Open Banking API interface for customer data sharing From CMA issues final order on Open Banking xxx

xxx One of my favorite moments from Star Trek is in ST IV: The Voyage Home, when Kirk and the gang are stranded in 1980s San Francisco. They try to board a Muni bus and are promptly turned away. Spock: What does it mean, “exact change”? Kirk: They’re still using money. We need to find some. Not only is money a foreign concept to the crew, it’s so foreign they didn’t even remember it was used in the Twentieth Century. From Why Star Trek’s Future Without Money Is Bogus — Brain Knows Better xxx

There’s a lot of pressure on me to be in two places at once these days, so I was happy to see Google file and trivial and obvious “patent” on how to help busy executives achieve this using new (well, pretty old, actually) technology by gluing a wireless web cam to a drone. Google is hoping to patent a small videoconferencing “telepresence” drone for collaborating with colleagues from remote locations, according to an application that was made public today. The drone is designed to fly indoors and move from room to room. From Pocket: Working from home? Google wants to create a drone to go to meetings for you. Not only is this more trivial than it appears at first glance, it already exists in essence. Here, for example, is photographic proof of me annoying Tony Moretta, the CEO of Digital Jersey, in precisely this fashion by sending a meeting bot (an iPad glued to a Segway, basically) to talk to him while I sat comfortably with my iPhone in a distant location (well, the room next do...

xxx Mobile ID, a digital authentication system that is implemented into the user’s mobile SIM card, is ready to be used throughout Europe, according to Hubert Pujol of the French national cybersecurity authority ANSSI. From Is the EU ready to implement Mobile ID system? xxx

Published in The Futurist Magazine in September 2012 as part of a compilation of pieces envisioning life in 2100, this article asks if we will still have money in 2100, and speculates on what form it may take if we do It is quite likely that we will still have money in 2100, but it may not be issued by governments any longer. [From  Publications - The European Futures Observatory ] snippet  

xxx More consumers became victims of identity fraud last year than at any point in more than a decade despite new security protections implemented by the credit-card industry From Credit-Card Fraud Keeps Rising, Despite New Security Chips—Study - WSJ xxx

The Roman historian Tacitus (55-117CE) wrote in his history “Germany and its Tribes” that the barbarian inhabitants of that land had traditionally exchanged weapons, slaves, cattle, women and such like to settle up between themselves but that the Romans had introduced them to money.

xxx The online dating industry generates around $2 billion in yearly returns in the United States only, with over 15 percent of US adults reporting utilizing online dating services and/or mobile dating apps. Statistics reveal that close to 40 percent of couples run into each other through common friends in spite of the rise of online dating. From CoinReport Ex-hedge fund manager to launch blockchain-based dating, matchmaking platform - CoinReport xxx