Top news stories of 2014

January

UK banks sign up to Zapp mobile payments

Five major UK financial services firms have committed to rolling out mobile payments technology from Zapp, enabling customers to make in-store and online purchases from within their banking apps.

February

Visa and MasterCard to cut ties binding banks and telcos via Host Card Emulation

Visa and MasterCard have announced support for Host Card Emulation, a cloud-based mechanism for hosting NFC applications outside the Secure Element that effectively removes the need for bank reliance on telcos in implementing mobile payments.

March

Putin vows to build Russian rival to Visa and MasterCard

President Vladimir Putin says Russia will set up its own payments system after MasterCard and Visa cut off services to several of the country's banks in response to US sanctions.

April

Apple expected to announce support for NFC and mobile payments

Anticipation is mounting that Apple is finally about to join Google in adopting NFC for payments on its mobile devices and up-coming smartwatch.

May

Finextra Future Money provokes strong views on fintech innovation

Fraud is good, Pingit is rubbish and Swift will be dead within three years. There was no shortage of controversial and provocative views at a lively Finextra Future Money conference this week at Canary Wharf's Level39.

June

Are you ready for the banking app store?

Within the next two years, 25% of the top 50 global banks will have launched a banking app store to improve app discovery, user experience and collaboration, says Gartner.

July

Why Google Bank won't happen

Google won't launch a traditional bank because of the associated costs and regulation, but these hurdles won't stop the firm from redefining the future of financial services, according to a new Forrester report.

August

Wall Street banks turn to messaging startup as Bloomberg alternative

A group of Wall Street banks, led by Goldman Sachs, are on the verge of buying a stake in instant messaging firm Perzo as they prepare to break free of their reliance on Bloomberg.

September

Surprise! Apple makes payments play

After weeks of rumour, hype and speculation, Apple has made its long-awaited entry into the payments business with a compelling mix of NFC technology, tokenisation, biometrics and must-have mobile form factors, including the new iPhone 6 and forthcoming Apple Watch.

October

RBA warns Australian banks not to backtrack on payments modernisation

The Reserve Bank of Australia has warned that it will be "duty bound" to use its regulatory powers should the nation's banks fail to deliver on promises to modernise the country's payments infrastructure.

November

Banks accused of failing to report true scale of cybercrime

Treasury Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie is to question banks over allegations that they may be under-reporting instances of bank fraud because they don't want to frighten people.

December

Payments modernisation seen as top priority for banking industry

More than two-thirds of banks plan to modernise their payments systems to accommodate demand for mobile and immediate payments and head off competition from disruptive competitors, according to data from Ovum.

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Videos

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Blogs

Africa, ApplePay and the iPhone 6: Resistance is futile

Why Square Wallet failed, and why Coin card is next...

20 Dollar Smartphone - what does it mean for mobile banking?

Card present goes Ecommerce

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