With 2020 drawing to a close, we take a look back at our most popular long reads over the course of the past year. 

What should be taken into account if Artificial Intelligence is to be regulated?

In this article, Juan Murillo, Senior Manager of Data Strategy at BBVA, and Jesús Lozano, Manager of Digital Regulation at BBVA, analyse the potential implications of Artificial Intelligence regulations and share their insights into the considerations that should be taken into account to ensure that regulatory aspects support the proper development of this discipline in the future.

The Three Lines of Defence: Time to Recall the Kraken?

Richard Dupree explored how the Three Lines of Defence model was designed to address control deficiencies by clarifying risk management roles and responsibilities within the financial services industry and is now a requirement for most regulated firms. While the Three Lines of Defence model has been adopted more broadly as a best practice by other industries, the focus of this article is on its applicability and effectiveness as a control governance structure within the financial services industry.

How social impact investing initiatives are leading by example

Richard Peers recalled a conversation with Sarah Gordon, CEO, Impact Investing Institute (III) in this piece, during which they discussed the work of Make My Money Matter, who plan to get the public thinking more carefully about how their pensions are invested, the III's partnership and the challenge of greenwashing in the industry.

ISO 20022 holds key to fintech innovation and competition in years to come

As banks and other financial institutions migrate to ISO 20022 in the years ahead, many of the ongoing conversations of ‘old vs new’, ‘big’ vs ‘small’ and ‘incumbent’ vs ‘innovator’ in financial technology may be built around this new standardisation of language and messaging for payments data. Preparation for and adaption to ISO 20022 has been a 15-year journey. Jamie Crawley speaks to Isabel Schmidt, global head of direct clearing and asset account services at BNY Mellon’s treasury services, James Whittle, director of standards and architecture at Pay.UK and Charles Bunnik, market infrastructures project manager at ABN AMRO for this piece. 

Will there be a world where blockchain and GDPR peacefully co-exist?

While many have claimed that blockchain is a solution in need of a problem, Covid-19 has proved a powerful springboard for a surge in blockchain based platforms, designed with the intention of solving pandemic induced problems. This push for innovation grounded in blockchain technology has brought forward the need for clarification on a number of legal uncertainties in the space. Not least of which being fundamental conflicts between essential characteristics of blockchain technology and how that interacts with certain elements of the GDPR. Paige McNamee analyses Tech London Advocates and The Law Society’s report ‘Blockchain: Legal & Regulatory Guidance’.

What is Celo and could it succeed where Libra won’t?

Before the name change, Jamie Crawley opined on how Celo promised to be a stablecoin to rival Libra. While unlikely to be regarded with the same distrust as Facebook’s much-maligned digital currency, Celo will still have its share of challenges relating to regulation and scale. Crawley asks: should central banks be looking for technology partners to build the rails on which their CBDCs can run and who are they more likely to approach? 

The future of B2B payments

As consumers, our expectations are driven by technology companies, not banks. It's companies like Facebook, Amazon, Snapchat and WhatsApp that set our expectation level, and that's because we now access so much of our life online via connected devices, such as laptops, tablets and mobile phones. If my experience across these applications is real time, with real time feedback loops and status alerts, then that's what I expect. Andrew Smith discusses the future of B2B payments.

There is more to digital payments in Africa than M-Pesa

In 2010, Kenyan payments, money transfer and micro-financing service M-Pesa became the most successful mobile phone based financial service in the developing world, just three years after the launch by network operators Vodafone and Safaricom. Since then, while other developing markets such as the APAC and LATAM regions have dominated headlines, the African continent’s success in digital payments has not been appreciated to a similar extent. Speaking to Ecobank, MFS Africa, Crown Agents Bank, Swift and Transferwise, I highlighted how there is more to digital payments in Africa than M-Pesa.

Request to Pay: What does it mean for instant payments?

The introduction of Request to Pay (R2P) services this year is poised to play a starring role in the broader transformation of the UK and EU’s payments landscape. Reduction of costs, fraud and chargebacks alongside the delivery of better transaction data are the obvious improvements, yet, it is the potential that R2P holds to act as a catalyst for instant payments which is increasingly stealing the limelight. Paige McNamee speaks to Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, EMEA head of payments and receivables, treasury and trade solutions at Citi, Erwin Kulk, head of service development and management, EBA CLEARING and Benjamin Madjar, EMEA head – cash management structuring, Deutsche Bank.

A short guide to the ISO 20022 implementation: 2020 update

As financial institutions recognise the scale of the impending ISO 20022 migration deadline, implementation strategies are being re-calibrated to incorporate risks, challenges and opportunities of the industry-wide transformation. Paige McNamee interviews Erwin Kulk, head of service development and management, EBA CLEARING, Saqib Sheikh, global head of the ISO 20022 Programme at Swift, Paula Roels, head of market infrastructure & industry initiatives at Deutsche Bank and Petia Niederländer, head of retail and corporate operations at Erste Group Bank in this piece. 

Banking-as-a-Service: A disruptive force for good 

Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) comes in many various offerings, something that was not true back in 2014 when I first started talking about BaaS. Fast forward a few years and BaaS is everywhere. Andrew Smith looks at some of the considerations that technical leaders must consider when looking at BaaS solutions, ensuring the business that theywork for can utilise this highly disruptive service in the right way.

How Banks Can Overcome SQL and NoSQL Related Obstacles with Apache Kafka

While getting to grips with open banking regulation, skyrocketing transaction volumes and expanding customer expectations, banks have been rolling out major transformations of data infrastructure and partnering with Silicon Valley’s most innovative tech companies to rebuild the banking business around a central nervous system. I dive deep into Nationwide's collaboration with $4.5 billion-valued Confluent, whose founders open-sourced Apache Kafka while at LinkedIn and are rumoured to be on the route to an IPO.

Bitcoin halving: What does this mean and what will its effect be?

Bitcoin’s 2020 halving took place in May this year. This happens around once every four years and is of much interest to cryptocurrency investors due to the profound effect halving has had on the cryptocurrency in previous occurrences. Jamie Crawley interviews Simon Peters, analyst at eToro, about how this halving differed from its predecessors and the volatile economic environment in which it took place.