Cybercrime has become the second most commonly reported economic crime affecting the financial services industry, professional services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) concluded in a global economic crime survey on 26 March. The report was published days before the European Commission (EC) announced the creation of a European Cybercrime Centre. / read more

The Canadian Government has published the results of its review into its payments system. The final Report, 'Moving Canada into the Digital Age', was released on 23 March and provides recommendations for an overhaul of the Canadian payments system, following an 18-month review. / read more

The European Commission (EC) has extended its investigation into 'Project Oscar', a proposed joint venture between the UK's four largest mobile operators, T-Mobile, Orange, O2 and Vodafone, which aims to establish a European-wide mobile payments platform. / read more

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While data protection regulations and privacy laws are still busy catching up with the technologies of yesterday, Big Data is growing at lightning speed on a daily basis. How can companies deal with the data protection and handling challenges brought about by Big Data in order to truly benefit from the opportunities it has to offer? Firstly, one must truly grasp what Big Data is. In an attempt to do just that Frances Chen spoke to Jeff Jonas, Chief Scientist at IBM Entity Analytics, to obtain his perspective on the definition of Big Data. / read more

The European Commission published on 11 January its long-awaited Green Paper on how the European Union should overcome difficulties in creating an integrated market for card, internet and mobile payments. Although many within the European financial services industry welcomed the document, and the Commission's push for an integrated market, Zilvinas Bareisis and Gareth Lodge, Senior Analysts at Celent, wonder if the Green Paper is a missed opportunity and examine what was, and was not, in the Green Paper. / read more

Mobile internet is changing the way we shop and ultimately how retailers and financial service providers do business. The opportunity to forge ahead as the mobile commerce, mobile payments and mobile banking arena takes off is here. Thomas F. Dapp, an e- and m-payment systems analyst at Deutsche Bank Research, discusses the recent trends and increasing uptake of mobile internet services and the risks and benefits involved in offering mobile services both for retailers and financial services providers who want to get ahead in this rapidly evolving digital market. / read more

London is set to become the international trading hub for China's currency, following announcements by the UK Treasury early this year that will significantly impact the international payments landscape and potentially strengthen the UK's relationship with one of the world's largest economies. Natalie Shears, Head of Legal Verticals at Western Union Business Solutions, which recently acquired Travelex Global Business Payments, looks at the liberalisation of the Chinese renminbi and how UK businesses and law firms can capitalise on developments. / read more

As the payments industry is rapidly changing in the United States, with new business models being introduced and the use of new technologies on the rise, the legal environment in which participants have to operate is also subject to change. Clifford S. Stanford, Partner at Alston & Bird, LLP, provides a summary of some of the key regulatory aspects in the United States. / read more

Online financial trading in Israel is not regulated by any law, which puts customers at risk of trading with unregulated and unsupervised operators. As the number of online financial services has grown significantly over the last few years, calls for regulation have been growing and in 2010 a law was approved by the Israeli Parliament. Although the legislation has not come into force yet, Dotan Baruch, Partner at Barnea & Co, discusses the proposed regulations. / read more

As mobile payment products become more diverse and the market size increases, different regulatory regimes apply to different types of mobile payments. Industry players have to consider regulations at both the European and the local level to ensure full compliance, and some EU countries may choose to apply more stringent rules than others. Nathalie Moreno, a Partner at Speechly Bircham, looks at the main European legal framework, regulatory issues and contractual matters in relation to mobile payments. / read more