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The bank’s corporate and SME customers can request for DBS’ confirmation to verify their financial positions and balances digitally. The solution replaces manual workflows between customers, auditors and banks, with all documentation received, reviewed and processed digitally

From DBS Rolls Out Digitalised Audit Confirmation Solution for Corporate and SME Customers | Fintech Singapore:

They say that it will take less than 24 hours although to be honest I don’t see why it should take 24 seconds. By comparison, here in Brexit Britain where the white heat of new technology propels us into the oven-ready sunlit uplands etc etc, I had to get one of these confirmations for a client of my advisory business. Here is the simple process I followed at Barclays:

1. Log in to online banking and search (fruitlessly) for a menu option along the lines of “send a confirmation of your status to one of your business customers”.

2. Give up and phone business banking. To be fair, it didn’t take more than a few minutes to get through to someone who couldn’t request such a confirmation but could direct me to the Barclays web site where there is a PDF form to request such a confirmation.

3. Download form and fill it in.

4. Post in to Barclays.

5. I haven’t had a confirmation letter back yet, but when I do I will scan it in and then e-mail it to the customer.

Simple.

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Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) pointed out that as attacks by international hackers are growing more sophisticated, he had agreed with the Ministry of the Interior’s proposal to suspend the launch of the digital cards.

The eID was designed to combine the functions of current identity cards with Citizen Digital Certificates, allowing holders to access government services online, CNA reported. National Health Insurance card and driver’s license information would also be included, while only the cardholders’ name, date, place of birth, marital status, and ID number would be readily available.

From Taiwan suspends digital ID project amid safety concerns | Taiwan News | 2021/01/21:

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The 6AMLD will further expand on the number of crimes that are categorised as money laundering. ‘Aiding and abetting’ now falls under the money laundering bracket and enforces the same criminal punishment as money laundering.

From 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (6AMLD): Biggest Changes | Emerging Payments UK:

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MORRISONS shoppers have complained of issues paying for their shopping at many stores across the country.

Some customers were left unable to pay for their food shop with a card or use contactless payments.

From Morrisons shoppers unable to pay for food with card or contactless due to payment issues:

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Morrisons shoppers unable to pay for food with card or contactless due to payment issues https://buff.ly/2YdvOG4 <- this is why electronic cash infrastructure should be built in parallel with, not on top of, the electronic money infrastructure

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Luis Corrons, a security expert with cyber firm Avast, said the company has seen an uptick in QR code scams since COVID-19 brought the nascent technology back into the spotlight.

From Beware of dodgy QR codes | Information Age | ACS:

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“This stablecoin will allow companies to use smart contracts on Sber’s platform based on the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain. Tokenizing both material goods and fiat money on this platform will allow transactions to be fully automatic,” the Sber press office said.

From Russia’s Sber Bank Files to Launch Its Own Stablecoin | Nasdaq:

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Heathrow says it is ‘impossible’ for passengers to be socially-distanced as travellers returning to the UK blast hour-long queues on another day of chaos after negative Covid test rule was enforced

From Travellers returning to the UK blast long queues at Heathrow on another day of chaos | Daily Mail Online:

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Contactless payments accounted 88.6% of total card payments in 2020 as restrictions on contact-based payments drove people to the payment method

From Nine out of 10 UK card payments in 2020 were contactless:

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Such collaboration among banks has only recently become possible thanks to technology allowing institutions to share algorithms but keep data private.

From Money Mules in Sheep’s Clothing – WSJ.

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Money-mule schemes are also becoming less detectable, because of the diversification of labor in how stolen money is moved through payment systems and banks. Data-privacy rules make it difficult to trace money once it has left one bank for another, and no single financial institution can see an entire end-to-end payment as it flows through the banking network.

What can be done? Financial institutions must use artificial-intelligence and machine-learning technology to analyze publicly available information that their typical screening tools don’t search. This will enable better identity verification and should help banks spot account holders with histories of fraudulent activities.

From Money Mules in Sheep’s Clothing – WSJ.

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