IBS Journal February 2016


Paytm trialling soundwave technology for in-store payments


Indian payments firm Paytm is looking into the use of ultrasonic soundwaves for making payments in stores. Paytm is planning on adding a ‘sound


pay’ addition to its mobile app, which will allow customers to transmit data via soundwaves to confirm credentials and make a transaction with a compatible merchant. The companion app used by the store


in question would check the information received against the customer’s account to ensure it has sufficient funds before confirming the payment. The technology is currently being


piloted. Soundwave payments have been tri-


alled previously by Alipay in China. Alipay’s parent company, ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, owns a 40% stake in Paytm. The mobile wallet company has been


boosted by a number of investments from Alibaba totalling around $680 million.


Payment bank plans Paytm secured a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India last year and is launching a project that will see it create a payments bank, slated to be opening its doors in summer. The name of the banking venture will


be released in February, with an initial 20 branches based around the firm’s head- quarters of Noida, near New Delhi. Paytm has also hinted at the creation of 200 smaller store-based branches and the employment of around 1,000 staff. The payments bank, however, won’t be


able to offer credit cards or lend money like a traditional bank, and customers can only keep INR 100,000 ($1,515) in their accounts. In addition, the approval from the RBI is for an 18-month ‘provisional period’. Founder Vijay Sharma has said that


he plans to turn Paytm into a full-fledged financial services group offering multiple solutions to customers.


Alex Hamilton


Authentication with a ‘selfie’ at Banco Nacional de Costa Rica


Spain-based fintech firm, FacePhi Biometría, has won a tender to implement its facial recognition software for client authentication at Costa Rica’s largest bank, Banco Nacional. FacePhi’s solution will enable the


bank’s clients ‘to access their accounts and check their balances quickly and in a secure way’, says the vendor. I.e. via a ‘selfie’. The first phase – set for completion in Q2 2016 – will see the software rolled out across mobile channels. Online banking will follow in the second phase.


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FacePhi: fact file FacePhi was set up in 2006 and is based in Alicante. It is a public company listed on the MAB (Spanish Alternative Investment Market). Its customers in the financial services space include:


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Banco del Pacífico and Banco Guayaquil in Ecuador The banks are using the vendor’s facial recognition technology to authenticate their mobile banking customers.


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Bank Association of Peru (Asbanc) Asbanc has distributed the tech- nology to its 16 member banks. The one-year deal (renewable on a yearly basis) was signed in December 2014. The agreement, worth $600,000, in- cludes usage rights, the maintenance services, support and updates.


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Grupo Mutual in Costa Rica Grupo Mutual became the country’s first financial institution to install the FacePhi system. The project, focused on the group’s 250,000 mobile clients, was carried out in 2014. Tanya Andreasyan


Picking a wealth management system? IBS launches IBS Chat


In brief


Illinois-based Baxter Credit Union (BCU) has chosen Alkami Technology’s ORB platform to enhance its digital banking offerings. The ORB platform will aid BCU in


the creation of a digital user interface that works across multiple channels, devices and functionalities. It will inte- grate with BCU’s existing Episys core banking system, provided by Symitar, a division of Jack Henry Associates. ‘We recognised a need to invest


in a modern digital banking plat- form,’ says Scott Schmidt, director of digital services at BCU. ‘We decided we would build our own [based on Alkami’s ORB], tailored to our mem- bers’ needs and expectations’. A confusion between disparate


systems, adds Schmidt, was mak- ing it difficult for BCU’s frontline staff to assist customers with their digi- tal banking issues. 20% of support calls to the credit union are related to issues with digital services. BCU, the fourth-largest largest


credit union in Illinois, provides com- mercial and community banking to 200,000 members in all 50 states of America, as well as Puerto Rico. Members comprise those work- ing and living in the Chicago area as well as ‘prestigious companies’ from around the country. It suffered an ignominious write-


off in 2014 when prospective client Brewin Dolphin cancelled a £32 million roll-out of Figaro. Brewin Dolphin, one of the largest


private client investment managers in the UK, released a statement describing ‘a number of issues with the functionality and robustness of the software’. Figaro is a well-established back


office solution for wealth managers in the UK, with around 60 users. These include Vestra Wealth and Arbuthnot Latham.


Alex Hamilton


IBS Intelligence has launched its IBS Chat Forum, a global platform to bring industry participants together on everything related to banking and financial services technology. Log on to www.ibsintelligence.com/ibschat and connect with peers across the globe now!


digital round-up


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