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Last week it was confirmed that Goldman Sachs and Santander had decided not to participate in R3's latest funding round and had left the consortium, with Morgan Stanley and National Australian Bank also reportedly quitting the group.

Now, it looks as though R3 is struggling to raise its target of $150 million from remaining members, according to Reuters.

R3 initially offered the chance to invest to its founding 42 banks, planning to later open the equity round to its other 30 members and external companies, according to a source quoted by Reuters. Of R3's original members, only 36 have made pledges of interest, together worth around $59 million, said the source. Other than the 4 banks already named, those that have decided not to participate apparently include JPMorgan and Macquarie, though neither is rumored to be terminating their membership in the group. 

The unwillingness to invest suggests that some members are not yet convinced R3's Corda will win the battle for market dominance. The consortium is working on a blockchain-based platform, called Corda, which R3 envisions will become the industry standard on top of which financial firms will build their own blockchain products.

However, the fact that R3's members are dragging their feet in investing suggests they don't yet have confidence that R3 will achieve its aims — which could be due to the limited number of projects for which Corda has so far been used. It seems likely that financial firms will be reluctant to invest too heavily in any one blockchain solution until they can see tangible examples of how it will benefit their business. 

Blockchain technology, which is best known for powering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is gaining steam among finance firms because of its potential to streamline processes and increase efficiency. The technology could cut costs by up to $20 billion annually by 2022, according to Santander.

That's because blockchain, which operates as a distributed ledger, has the ability to allow multiple parties to transfer and store sensitive information in a space that’s secure, permanent, anonymous, and easily accessible. That could simplify paper-heavy, expensive, or logistically complicated financial systems, like remittances and cross-border transfer, shareholder management and ownership exchange, and securities trading, to name a few. And outside of finance, governments and the music industry are investigating the technology’s potential to simplify record-keeping.

As a result, venture capital firms and financial institutions alike are pouring investment into finding, developing, and testing blockchain use cases. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, have begun researching the technology in-house, or have helped fund startups with products rooted in blockchain. 

Jaime Toplin, research associate for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on blockchain technology that explains how blockchain works, why it has the potential to provide a watershed moment for the financial industry, and the different ways it could be put into practice in the coming years.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Spending on capital markets applications of blockchain is expected to grow at a 52% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2019, according to Aite Group, to reach $400 million that year.
• Banks and major financial institutions are working both collaboratively and independently to develop blockchain tech. Over 50 major financial institutions are involved with collaborative blockchain startups, like R3 CEV or Chain. And many are investing in the technology on their own as well.
• Putting blockchain to use for real-world transactions is likely not that far off. If working groups' tests are successful, firms could be using it to transact real value as early as the end of this year and we could see widespread industry application within the next few years. 

In full, the report:

• Examines the funding increases that are pouring into blockchain
• Assesses why blockchain is becoming so popular and what factors are driving up increased research and development
• Explains in full how blockchain technology work and what assets make it valuable and vulnerable
• Identifies pain points in the financial industry and profiles how various firms are using blockchain to solve them
• Demonstrates the challenges to mainstream adoption and their potential solutions

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of blockchain technology.

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This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

American Express will be the first major credit card issuer to raise its late payment fees under the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s updated allowable limit, according to the Wall Street Journal.

At the start of 2017, Amex will begin charging a fee of up to $38 to customers with more than one late payment in a six month period. That's $1 more than what was previously charged by the card issuer, but could give the firm a solid revenue boost. 

Late fees could prove to be very lucrative in the current card market.

• As credit card usage increases, it's likely the number of delinquent accounts will also grow. Credit card accounts and usage are close to pre-recession numbers once again, according to Forbes. That's leading to a big rise in usage — US credit card debt is on track to hit $1 trillion this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. That could help explain the rise in delinquent accounts — since 2013, the percentage of accounts at least 90 days delinquent six months after origination has increased, according to Forbes. 
• Late fees could be a vital revenue source. Nearly one in five active credit-card accounts incur a late fee, according to CFPB data used by the Wall Street Journal. This is significant, considering credit card companies were able to collect roughly $10.8 billion in fees during 2015 from these late payments. 

And for Amex, that revenue could be critical as the issuer grapples with the loss of Costco.Based on 2015 numbers, if Amex is able to capture just 1% of the late fee market, that's roughly $100 million in revenue — a figure that could grow as the market expands following the updated allowable limit. Although this revenue could boost any card network, it could be particularly beneficial to Amex in light of the firm's sale of its Costco cobrand portfolio to Citigroup earlier this year.

Costco had 11.6 million cardholders and accounted for 8% of the firm's $1 trillion global billed business in 2015. As the firm realizes the impact of the Costco sale, it is looking for additional sources of revenue. Finding a way to capitalize on growing card spend and delinquencies could be one such way among a variety of strategies.

The CFPB's new guidelines could have a significant effect on the payments ecosystem, which has grown in the last several years to include merchants, issuers, acquirers, processors, and more.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.

Join the conversation about this story »

[…]

The post Bitcoin Accepted! Services Giant Ernst & Young Switzerland Will Allow Payments in 2017 appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

While momentum for bitcoin as a consumer payment method has waned, Bitcoin Black Friday is still attracting attention from merchants its fifth year on. The event, a bitcoin version of the usually aggressive, post-Thanksgiving shopping spree, started in 2012 as what its founder Jon Holmquist calls "a half-baked idea". But that impromptu first year has blossomed […]

Source

Hackers have broken into a high-end European bank and are blackmailing its customers.

Customers of Valartis, a Chinese-owned Liechenstein bank, are being told by unknown blackmailers they must pay 10% of their life savings or face having account details sent to finance authorities and the media, German-language newspaper Bild reports.

On Tuesday, the bank said that it did not know of any money losses, and that account statement was not obtained.

"The attacker did not obtain details of the account statement or asset data," Chief Financial Officer Fong Chi Wah said in the statement. "Possible affected customers have already been informed by the bank."

The attacker obtained unauthorized access to the bank's e-banking system and obtained information on payment orders, parent company Citychamp said.

A majority of the Liechtenstein bank was sold by Swiss-listed Valartis Group earlier this year to Citychamp Watch & Jewellery Group Ltd, a Hong Kong-based holding company chaired by Hon Kwok Lung. Valartis Bank Liechtenstein is located in the tiny Alpine principality sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland.

Trade in Citychamp's Hong Kong-listed shares slumped as much as 12 percent in thin trade on Tuesday morning after being suspended on Monday.

Unknown hackers found their way into the Liechtenstein bank's system and obtained customer account information, including that of many Germans — with politicians, actors, and high net worth individuals among Valartis Liechtenstein's customers.

The hackers are reportedly demanding 10 percent of the account balances, to be paid in bitcoin — an internet currency favoured by criminals because of its anonymity — before December 7.

According to The Register, the unidentified attackers allege that releasing the information will reveal evidence of tax evasion.

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This weekend, San Francisco’s Municipal Railway was savaged by hackers demanding over $70,000 in bitcoins, leaving the metro system unable to collect fares. But the hack may be much more devastating for the transit agency, according to a list of servers allegedly compromised by the hackers and obtained by Gizmodo.

Read more...