Sat.Sep 08, 2018 - Fri.Sep 14, 2018

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China, Alibaba Are Big Players On The Blockchain Patent Block

PYMNTS

In tech, innovation is everything. In innovation, intellectual property is, well, almost everything — it can be the hardware, the software, the processes that come from creative endeavor. And patents? Well, consider them a form of competitive advantage. News came recently, when it comes to patents tied to the blockchain landscape, that Thomson Reuters found China, and Alibaba , to have had an outsized showing.

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How to Calculate Allocations Based on Headcount

Planful

Regardless of how you want to allocate expenses or revenue you can get a lot of value from using modeling. Why allocate using Planful Dynamic Planning? Many of our clients at UHY Advisors allocate expenses in order to build a product or project P&L. An additional benefit of using Dynamic Planning for allocations means you don’t have to touch the model if the number of products, projects, departments, accounts, etc. grows.

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Amadeus On Why Travel Payments Need An Upgrade

PYMNTS

Travel companies know that payments innovation is mission-critical when it comes to acquiring and retaining consumers all over the world. It’s a clear fact in the data — 81 percent of travel firms indicated that payments innovation is on the menu for the next three years, according to the PYMNTS/ Amadeus IT Group Travel Payments Study. Bart Tompkins, managing director of Amadeus Payments Business Unit , told Karen Webster in a recent interview that it’s also apparent in his conversations with ai

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Researcher Says British Airways Hack Due To Skimming Malware

PYMNTS

RiskIQ, the security firm, told outlets on Tuesday (Sept. 11) that the data breach at British Airways was due to credit card skimming installed by malware hackers. According to reports , Yonathan Klijnsma, a threat researcher at RiskIQ, told the outlet that the same group of hackers that breached Ticketmaster may be behind the attack at British Airways, in which more than 380,000 credit cards were compromised.

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Live Demo - Supercharge your Month End Close

Automation generally supercharges any process and brings its value to the forefront. See how infusing automation such as ART (our month-end close solution), into your close can get you to the next level of closing. We will share a live demo of SkyStem's solution, ART and share the key elements of month-end close automation. Through ART, we'll take a look at: What month-end close automation entails Which process steps can and should be automated Benefits of achieving process automation, and Why i

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Bitcoin Daily: IBM Embraces Blockchain Registry; Crypto Crash Surpasses Dot-Com Bubble Burst

PYMNTS

This year’s “Great Crypto Crash” appears to be deepening and has hit a major milestone set by the dot-com bubble, Bloomberg reported. Digital currencies have tumbled from a January high by 80 percent, according to the MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index. That level tops the “peak-to-trough decline” in the Nasdaq Composite Index following the dot-com bubble.

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NY Challenges OCC’s FinTech Charter Decision

PYMNTS

To challenge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)’s decision to allow online payment companies and lenders to have national bank charters, the top banking regulator in New York is suing the federal government. In a complaint filed with a federal court, New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) Superintendent Maria Vullo said, “The OCC’s reckless folly should be stopped,” Reuters reported.

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NEW REPORT: In The Middle East And Africa, Digital Payments Face A $1.4T Cash Challenge

PYMNTS

Despite the influx of mobile banking and payment options, plastic card use, and a focus on financial infrastructure, cash remains heavily cemented in the Middle Eastern and African economies. Reliance on cash is particularly ingrained in the unbanked and rural populations of these regions, with consumers still reaching for cash to pay for daily transactions.

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Downtime Worse For SMBs Than Ransomware Ransom: Datto

PYMNTS

Ransomware attacks are often a small business owner’s worst nightmare. Unfortunately, experts don’t believe ransomware attacks will let up anytime soon, with recent research from Datto finding that these attacks cost small businesses $301 million worth of ransomware money in 2016. In a survey of 1,700 managed service providers working with a combined 100,000 small businesses, 99 percent of respondents said ransomware attacks are likely to pick up this year and next.

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A Single Sign-On For Mobile Apps Coming Via US Wireless Carriers

PYMNTS

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon have joined forces to create a new service that could eliminate the need for a login and password for all the apps on your phone. According to a report in Engadget citing the companies, the initiative is being called Project Verify, with the U.S. carriers creating a single sign-on service that would serve as the login credentials for all the apps on a mobile device.

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Mid-Year Review: How to Ignite Employee Potential Through Meaningful Feedback

Mid-year performance reviews aren’t just boxes for HR to check. Paycor’s toolkit empowers leaders to: Identify high-potential team members. Boost engagement with meaningful feedback. Support struggling employees. Nurture top talent to drive results. Learn how to ignite employee potential through meaningful feedback. When you nurture top talent, everybody wins.

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Cross-Border FinTech Collaborations Gain Traction

PYMNTS

In FinTech and FI collaborations , borders fall to bits and bytes. On FinTech collaboration writ large, Singapore and Dubai are working together to encourage strides in digital payments and commerce done by mobile means. The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have signed onto efforts “that provide a framework for cooperation and referrals between the innovation teams of each authority.

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Five At Five: Walmart’s New Latin American eCommerce Play

PYMNTS

Welcome to Five at Five, your late look at the day’s payments and commerce news. Coverage includes a Walmart acquisition and the rise of local brands in China. A new analysis predicts a financial crisis in 2020, a single sign-on for mobile apps is coming and the prospect of tougher tech enforcement increase in the United States. Walmart Buying Cornershop t o Boost Presence i n Latin America.

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Rydoo Integrates T&E Tools Into Uber

PYMNTS

Rydoo, the mobile T&E app resulting from a collaboration between Sodexo, Xpenditure and iAlbatros, is integrating its expense management capabilities with Uber. A press release Monday (Sept. 10) said Rydoo is linking into Uber for Business to streamline corporate travelers’ reimbursement and expense reporting processes. “Rydoo is focused on meeting our customers’ expectations by offering global solutions,” said Rydoo CEO Sébastien Marchon in a statement.

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Will Privacy Worries Change Online Search Habits?

PYMNTS

How do consumers really want to search online ? That’s a question with obvious relevance to payment and commerce operators. Perhaps a better, more specific question is this: Even with Google ’s search engine dominance (a dominance that seems as currently eternal as, say, the power of the British Navy in the late 19 th century), can any challenger make a significant push to gain ground?

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Your Accounting Expertise Will Only Get You So Far: What Really Matters

Speaker: Victor C. Barnes, CPA, MBA

In the climb from contributor to leader, the rules quietly change. If you’re aiming for the summit, the air gets thinner—and what got you here won’t be enough to get you to the top (a concept first popularized by Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There ). What made you successful early in your finance career—technical accuracy, sharp analysis, flawless execution—won’t be what carries you to the next level.

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NEW DATA: Why Bank Customers Prefer Convenience Over Security

PYMNTS

Consumers prefer speed, convenience and ease of use over security — even when it comes to accessing financial services online. As many as 71 percent of financial consumers reported being satisfied with an authentication method if it was easy to use, while 62 percent like authentication methods that are convenient. In comparison, only 45 percent said they would prefer an authentication method due to its tight data security.

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Spend Analytics No Longer Enough For Procurement: Accrualify

PYMNTS

Spend analytics has broken through as an essential part of corporate procurement strategies. Businesses need to know how much money they’ve spent, and on what. Luckily, enterprise digitization is pushing the needle forward for procurement teams, enabling access to data that empowers the type of spend analysis organizations demand. Today, though, CFOs and procurement leaders want to go even deeper.

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Facebook Privacy And Waning Consumer Trust In The ‘Wild West’ Of Intrusive Apps

PYMNTS

Who are you? And who do you want to be — especially before disparate audiences and peer groups? Don’t worry — this is not an intro to a freshman philosophy class (a fair number of philosophy majors make bank with hedge funds and tech , though, so let’s not tease). Rather, those are questions central to the development of digital identities and social authentication, making them important for the broader practice of online payments and eCommerce.

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Businesses Urged Not To Pay Ransom To Cyberattackers

PYMNTS

Small business owners are making a grave mistake if they assume their firms are not a prime target for cyberattackers. Not only are small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) a prime target, but such an attack can be detrimental to a small company without the resources to combat a security threat. Nearly half of the small businesses surveyed by Hiscox last year said they had been targeted by at least one cyberattack, while 44 percent said they were hit by between two and four attacks.

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The Hidden Science Behind Why Finance Teams Resist Change—And How to Fix It

Speaker: Kim Beynon, CPA, CGMA, PMP

The most overlooked, yet most critical, element of transformation is preparing people for change. Automation and AI aren't just technical upgrades, they’re cultural shifts which can challenge identities. That’s why change management isn’t a side project—it’s the foundation. In finance, where precision and process rule, navigating change can feel especially disruptive.

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ECB President Mario Draghi Doesn’t See ‘Concrete Need’ For Digital Euro

PYMNTS

With cash use still popular in Europe, and the technology behind digital money remaining fragile, the European Central Bank (ECB) doesn’t intend to create a digital currency. Even so, the spread of cryptocurrencies have brought the idea of central banks issuing digital money to light, Reuters reported. “The ECB and the Eurosystem currently have no plans to issue a central bank digital currency,” President Mario Draghi wrote in a letter.

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Baidu Eyes International Market For AI, Self-Driving Tech

PYMNTS

As one of the world’s biggest internet companies, Baidu is homing in on autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence (AI). The tech company has a particularly strong presence in its home country of China, where it commands 70 percent of internet searches, CNBC reported. Spurred by its interest in transportation technology, Baidu has inked partnerships with companies like Intel, Microsoft, Ford, BMW and Daimler.

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Can Guitar Center Get Its Groove Back?

PYMNTS

Though much of retail has been buoyed by a rising tide of strengthened sales and renewed consumer confidence, some sellers out there continue to struggle to grab a foothold during changing times. Guitar Center, founded in 1959, is one such business. Sales have fallen off sharply in recent years, which, while a problem on its own, is compounded by the fact that brand finds itself sitting under $1 billion in outstanding debt.

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BofA Links Corporate Cards To Mobile Wallets

PYMNTS

Bank of America is adding mobile wallet functionality to its suite of commercial card products, the bank said Wednesday (Sept. 12). In a press release , Bank of America said its corporate cards are now compatible with mobile wallets including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, citing business travelers’ mobile payment needs as a stop motivation behind the initiative.

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Doing More With Less: The Modern Finance Miracle

Speaker: Mark Gilham, FCCA, CPP

Finance used to be the function that counted, now it's the one that’s counted on. 📊 For accounting firms, controllers, and finance leaders, expectations are rising faster than headcount. Businesses want agile forecasts, granular analysis, seamless reporting, and smart automation—often without added resources while demanding uncompromised accuracy and compliance.

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Payments Authentication Is A Varied And Confusing World

PYMNTS

In some ways, payments authentication can come across as improvisational — every institution seems to use a different method. Call centers , particularly those dealing with financial transactions, have a strong need to be sure that the person on the other end of the line is actually their customer. The fact that most firms know that, and set up measures to properly authenticate those customers, is a good thing, said Chief Commercial Officer Dewald Nolte of Entersekt in a recent conversation wi

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How Cashierless Checkout Can Power Brand Marketing Experiences

PYMNTS

Cashierless stores aren’t just for mega retailers like Amazon to sell prepared food from their kitchens or products from other producers: Beverage brands, among other companies, are getting into the action and choosing this checkout experience for stores that showcase their own products IRL (“in real life”) as a marketing tool. This week, beverage company Dirty Lemon plans to bring such a store to New York City this week – with a little help from mobile technology.

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Amazon Effect Eyes Grocery Aisles In Germany?

PYMNTS

And so the Amazon effect comes to Europe – this time with a purported Amazonian appetite for (grocery) aisles. News came Friday (Sept. 14) that German retailer Metro AG is looking to offload its Real hypermarkets via sale, and the firm, said Reuters , “remains confident” of a transaction. A possible deal for Amazon – one worth $1.2 billion? According to Reuters, bankers remained skeptical of that scenario, and said that private equity firms would be the most likely suitors.

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Amazon Business, PayPal And Good Housekeeping Sizzle While Fraud, Stocks And Cryptos Fizzle

PYMNTS

Sizzle. Amazon’s B2B Biz : Amazon is everywhere — and while retail is the name of the game, B2B is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, Amazon’s B2B is growing faster than retail, as Amazon Business is on track to hit $10 billion in sales this year, just four years after launch — it took the unit only one year to reach $1 billion in sales. Amazon says millions of firms have already signed on to the service.

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Tariffs on the Table: How to Brief the Board and C‑Suite With Confidence

“What should we do about the tariffs?” There’s no straightforward answer — every leader has a different expectation. CFOs want numbers. COOs want action. CEOs want strategy. And supply chain and procurement leaders need to be ready with the right response — fast. That’s why GEP has created a simple three-part framework that will help CPOs and CSCOs brief the board and C-suite with clarity and confidence.