02.27.18 Your morning briefing

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:

PSD2’s jobs: The PSD2 “open banking” rules may not only soften Brexit’s negative impact in the U.K., but could actually stimulate the economy. The rules, which require banks to share data with third-party technology developers, could contribute more than $1.2 billion each year to the U.K. economy and generate as many as 17,000 new jobs, reports LondonLovesBusiness, which cited research from the Center for Economics and Business Research. PSD2 is expected to boost payments innovation, and improve banks’ ability to deliver new products, after some initial compliance expense.

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Fintechs worried about bank shortcuts: That compliance expense has some technology pros worried that banks may look to cut corners on PSD2. The European Fintech Alliance has sent a statement to European regulators contending banks may build substandard APIs to make it harder for fintechs to compete. The rules mandate APIs as a replacement for screen scraping, an older method that the technology companies preferred, contending APIs give banks too much power over sharing. The Alliance is concerned about circumstantial exemptions to parts of the API rules, reports Finextra.

OPEN to blockchain payments: Silicon Valley software provider Zensoft is collaborating with the OPEN Platform to power cryptocurrencies for enterprise software projects. OPEN supplies an infrastructure to integrate blockchain technology into software, and includes receipts and an API to build a payments interface. The two companies envision a use case where developers and companies facilitate cryptocurrency payments for the software that Zensoft builds for technology startups, according to a release from Zensoft.

Power overage: While some utilities are complaining that bitcoin mining is draining electrical supplies, Quebec is having the opposite problem. The province produces a surplus of electricity, enough to depress prices, and is encouraging cryptocurrency miners to move to Quebec, reports Engadget. Quebec generates almost all of its electricity from hydro projects and produces up to 240 times less carbon than the average in North America. That makes cryptocurrency mining less expensive, according to officials from Hydro Electric Quebec.

From the Web

Britain’s big banks play catch up with fintech with new apps
Reuters | Mon Feb 26, 2018 – British retail banks are poised to introduce money management apps to compete with those already launched by financial technology start-ups, betting their trusted brands, broad client base and deep pockets will help them make up lost ground. HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland are at various stages of producing cutting-edge apps that will allow customers to pull data from different accounts, even those at rival lenders, on their mobile devices and home computers. They are playing a serious game of catch-up. Numerous fintech firms and digital banks like Monzo and Money Dashboard already offer the kinds of apps the banks are building, winning fans among the young and tech-savvy.

50 percent of adults have not checked their credit since the Equifax breach
CNBC | Mon Feb 26, 2018 – Have you checked your credit score recently? Probably not. Half of U.S. adults in a new survey said they have not looked at their credit report or credit score since a huge data breach last year at credit scoring company Equifax compromised the personal information of at least 145.5 million U.S. consumers. CreditCards.com’s latest study also found that 18 percent of the 1,164 adults surveyed have never checked their credit report or credit score.

Digital banking start-up Revolut breaks even as it prepares global expansion
CNBC | Mon Feb 26, 2018 – British digital banking app Revolut has broken even for the first time, in a rare development for a niche sector that has struggled with profitability. Revolut said Monday that it had broken even for the first time in December, and that its monthly transaction volume surged to $1.5 billion, an increase of over 700 percent in the last 12 months. The start-up has signed up a total of 1.5 million users to its mobile app, up 50 percent from a figure it achieved in November. The firm declined to disclose any figures on revenues or losses, and said it made no sense to do so due to the competitive market it operates in.

More from PaymentsSource

The DIY Amazon Go market keeps growing
AiFi uses artificial intelligence, sensors and cameras to outfit stores with a checkout-free system that can deploy without regard to the differences in store sizes.

Banks need ‘open tech’ to stay relevant in the post-PSD2 world
With even the likes of WhatsApp and Google Chrome looking to integrate payment APIs into their offerings, this space is poised up for a lot of disruption, writes Sanat Rao, chief business officer and global head for Infosys Finacle.

Ingenico uses Google Pay, loyalty to boost U.K. contactless terminals
Ingenico Group will deploy Google Pay Smart Tap at its payment terminals in the U.K., allowing shoppers to transfer loyalty program information, coupons and other offers to their mobile phones when making a contactless payment.

Circle buys Poloniex to form ‘global token market’
The digital payment company Circle has agreed to acquire Poloniex, a token exchange platform, in a deal that would allow a deeper move into cryptocurrency investment.