What are the likely implications of Real Time Rail (RTR)? The Real Time Rail (RTR) is a significant development for Canada’s payment systems, and I think some may be surprised at how real time payments take off once this approach is in place. The UK experience shows, as does Zelle in the US, that there is often a large increase in the usage of a real time payments once the capability is live. This is not only in the early stages, but even in a mature infrastructure, as new use cases come about, along with migration from cash and cheques, and cannibalisation of existing batch payments and those of an RTGS.
February 19th, 2021
The release of the FinCEN files in 2020 is going to leave its mark on the financial services industry and our financial crimes programs for some time to come. The exposé showcased to the world that our current financial system continues to be vulnerable to bad actors that move illicit funds all over the globe.
February 19th, 2021
Real time payments systems and schemes, often based on ISO20022, are proliferating across the globe. Canada is now joining this group of countries, with an ambitious modernisation plan across its payments systems that is beginning gain traction. This movement will bring in real time payments for the mass market, as well as improve clearing and settlement across batch payments and large value real time payments between banks.
February 4th, 2021
We had predicted 2020 to be an absolutely pivotal year for payments, with payment initiatives around the world either in full swing or coming to fruition. Examples include the flurry of new instant payment solutions launching, Request-to-Pay solutions being built atop of them and the industry pivoting toward ISO 20022 in a short period for everything from Swift to Wires to Instant. Where in the past we saw pockets or ripples of change in countries around the world, in 2020 we were seeing change in virtually every bank, in every country. In short, we predicted 2020 to possibly be the most important ever for much of the payments world.
January 28th, 2021
In the world of KYC watchlist screening, everyone talks about false positives. Practitioners bemoan their prevalence, and screening software providers claim their solution uniquely tackles and reduces them. It is meaningless to claim a particular algorithm or method of matching reduces false positives by ‘x’ percent. The output of course depends on many factors.
January 20th, 2021
In the final part of our blog series, we’ll explore fraud threats surrounding opening new accounts and future stimulus packages, and how to fight back. Catch up on part 1 here.
January 19th, 2021
First and foremost, I do not condone fraud. On a side note, this is like saying “with all due respect” before insulting someone. This is not the intention at all; however, we do need to acknowledge the fraudsters who in many cases run their illegal enterprises as a business.
January 19th, 2021
What a year 2020 was. Who would have expected in January 2020 that by March, most countries around the globe would be shut down to varying levels for the rest of the year. For financial crime compliance, as much as possible, the industry had to continue on business as usual. Criminals are still trying to move illicit wealth and we still need to be on the front line to identify and stop them.