Category Archives: Uncategorized

xxx The nine percent rise in UK card fraud over 2015, topped the previous peak set in 2008 after the introduction of chip and PIN. From Rise in online and mobile shopping drives card fraud transactions t… CNP fraud is now almost three-quarters of total card fraud, which is what you’d expect given the useContinue reading “Rise in online and mobile shopping drives card fraud transactions t…”

xxx The PCI Security Standards Council, which comprises the five largest global credit card companies, is expected to green light the way Square captures PIN numbers through smartphones. From Square gets green light to take on banks with ‘PIN on glass’ mobile technology xxx

Well, that was fun. I was invited along to take part in the CSFI roundtable on “’Formal’ digital cash: The currencies of the future?” along with Ben Dyson from the Bank of England and Hugh Halford-Thompson of BTL Group. The event, held at the London Capital Club, was hugely oversubscribed, which I took to beContinue reading “Central banks, cryptocurrencies and complexity”

David L. Yermack, the Albert Fingerhut Professor of Finance and Business Transformation at New York University Stern School of Business, wrote recently that: “Rather than printing greenbacks and circulating bills and notes, why doesn’t the Federal Reserve just put everything on a national blockchain and make all of the money electronic?   This is somethingContinue reading “"The Blockchain Is Going to Revolutionize Central Banking and Monetary Policy" –”

As my old friend Simon Leleiveldt points out… “One big difference between banks and payment institutions is that payment institutions are barred access from the RTGS-system of the ECB. The reasons is that the Settlement Finality Directive does not allow for PIs to become a direct member of designated systems. Even though already 5 yearsContinue reading “Adyen: the new bank is not a bank any more”

20 years ago in June 1997 the Centre for the study of financial innovation published a report called the Internet and financial services. This report was the result of a series of working groups that had been set up to look at retail banking, personal finance, insurance, equity trading, regulation, payments, security and crime atContinue reading “It was 20 years ago today, as they say”

xxx Efforts by some Chinese cities to use facial recognition software to shame jaywalkers have been met with concerns that the practice may violate pedestrians’ privacy. From Privacy concerns as Chinese cities use facial recognition software to shame jaywalkers | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP xxx

xxx The futuristic store collects a shopper’s biometrics—most notably walking gait—as he or she scans the QR code and uses sensors on the shelves to detect removal of items. From Chinese store uses gait biometrics for payment | Planet Biometrics News xxx

xxx Most obviously, in using them to navigate, we become reliant on access to the network to accomplish ordinary goals. From A Sociology of the Smartphone xxx

xxx “The assassination of Caesar is part of the script of the play, which was written 418 years ago by William Shakespeare; the choice to depict the title character as akin to President Trump is part of a long history of productions of the play that have used the text to explore contemporary politics.” (Via.Continue reading “Two Protesters Disrupt ‘Julius Caesar’ in Central Park – The New York Times”