Natwest launches UK’s first biometric fingerprint credit card October 7, 2019 Natwest has become the first UK bank to launch a biometric credit card that allows contactless payments using a fingerprint for verification. The cards have entered into circulation today as part of a three-month trial with 150 customers. It comes after a successful trial of biometric debit cards. Read more: Natwest customers wrestle with IT [...]
Blockchain and the future of digital and crypto currencies November 9, 2020 With the advances in online banking, contactless payments, and the recent concerns related to using physical currency in the days of COVID-19, fewer and fewer people carry cash. And with China leading the way to launch a central bank for digital currencies, this trend is not just set to continue, but to accelerate. Many in [...]
Coronavirus: Digital is at the heart of SME recovery May 9, 2020 Gary Turner is co-founder of Xero Behind the sobering statistics around businesses in financial distress, thousands of SMEs are making radical changes to their working models through digitisation. Businesses that have been traditional at the core are now discovering that digital processes offer far greater scalability and resilience, and as a result of Covid-19 I [...]
Crypto AM Reshines the Spotlight on Wirex Lazarichev & Pavel Mateev September 28, 2020 Wirex, the leading payments platform bridging the gap between the traditional and digital economies, has come on leaps and bounds since Crypto AM last shined the light on us in 2018. Since its inception in 2014, our CEO and co-founders, Pavel Matveev and Dmitry Lazarichev, have always had the goal of making digital money more [...]
Put sharing at the heart of the post-Covid economy June 5, 2020 As we begin to emerge from lockdown, it’s not hard to see the damage that Covid-19 has done to small businesses on the high-street. What’s perhaps less obvious is the impact it has had on digital SMEs, particularly those that make up Britain’s vibrant sharing economy. At the beginning of 2020, an Ipsos Mori poll [...]
Treasury mulls new laws to delay end of cash February 23, 2020 The Treasury is drawing up plans to protect the availability of cash amid concerns over declining access to dispensers for older people and those from rural communities. Officials are understood to be in detailed discussions about how to combat the decline of cash ahead of the Budget next month, with one possible option the introduction [...]
Crypto AM shines its Spotlight on Tap July 14, 2020 tap, the world’s first truly unified crypto banking app launched to the public on the 24 February 2020 and is the only company regulated in Europe currently operating a prepaid MasterCard. Regulated to trade and store customers’ digital assets by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, tap is in essence, bridging the gap between traditional and [...]
Global stocks set to rise sharply on Fed’s bond-buying pledge March 24, 2020 Global stocks rose overnight despite fears US President Donald Trump’s administration’s economic stimulus package faces further delays. Asian stocks surged in Tuesday trading that saw Japan’s Nikkei leap seven per cent higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jump 4.6 per cent. That came despite the Senate again blocking Trump’s near $2 trillion (£1.7 trillion) [...]
The accelerating adoption of emerging technology May 26, 2020 During this time of Covid-19 virus lockdown, many people and industries are in a state of stasis with the hope that coming out of lockdown will recover everything quickly. Many commentators and economic advisors worry about the future, as the impact on jobs and companies could be damaging for many years to come. The emerging [...]
Coronavirus: When are supermarket opening times for NHS and pensioners? April 17, 2020 As the UK heads into lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak, supermarkets have enforced tighter restrictions and changed opening hours. Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday ordered all “non-essential” shops to close, leaving supermarkets one of the few stores to remain open. In recent weeks supermarkets have struggled to keep shelves replenished as consumers embarked on [...]