PFS News

German blockchain strategy aims to head off ‘stablecoin’ currencies

Germany has published a comprehensive blockchain strategy as the country seeks to be “at the forefront of innovation” – but issued a stark warning on private firms’ attempts to issue […]

EC financial crime chief calls for stronger international collaboration

Governments must work more closely together to address financial crime, fostering collaboration between dedicated national units and aligning regulatory frameworks, the European Commission’s leading financial crime official said yesterday. Raluca […]

Australia proposes cashless welfare card expansion

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has signalled that he intends to expand the use of a cashless card for distributing welfare payments, limiting recipients’ ability to choose how they spend […]

UK joins nations delaying payments security rules

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed that the implementation of new rules aimed at boosting the security of payments and reducing fraud will be delayed for 18 months. […]

Irish Data Protection Commission slams Public Services Card

A ‘public services card’ in Ireland designed to help citizens access services, receive welfare payments and crack down on fraud has been heavily criticised by the country’s data protection authority. […]

US Federal Reserve to launch instant payments system ‘FedNow’

The Federal Reserve has announced details of a real-time payment and settlement service called FedNow, designed to support faster payments in the US. Details of the plan – which would […]

Singapore adopts government-wide payments platform

Singapore’s government agencies are to accept and make payments via the global e-payments service PayNow, the government has announced. When the system is up and running, it is expected that […]

EU payments rules look set to take SMEs by surprise

National financial regulators have signalled that they’ll be flexible in policing the implementation of new EU regulations, due to come into force on 14 September, which are designed to tackle […]

World Bank paper scouts payments tech for older people

Text message alerts and increasing the use of digital payroll are two of the policy recommendations made in a new report on how digital financial technologies can help governments worldwide […]

Ghanaian universal QR code set to accelerate e-payments

Ghana has become the latest country to commit to rolling out a universal QR code, as the country’s government seeks to accelerate the take-up of e-payments. The move was announced […]