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IBM took the banking world by storm last month when it revealed its planned acquisition of Promontory Financial Group. Now, it has unveiled IBM Pay, a perhaps unexpected and yet unsurprising addition to the technology giant's Watson Commerce unit.
The private label mobile payment and point of sale system for merchants allows them to integrate loyalty, engagement and payments within their existing app, giving retailers full control of the end-to-end digital container—under their own brand—to compete more effectively with online merchants.
An IBM logo sits on display outside the offices of International Business Machines Corp. in the media city district of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014. The United Arab Emirates' central bank limited mortgage lending and required larger down payments, and the Land Department doubled transaction taxes early last year as policymakers tried to avoid a repeat of a property bubble in 2008 that caused values to slump by about 65 percent. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Watson, IBM's massive artificial intelligence engine, is central to IBM Pay. A video announcement released Monday implies the move is more of a play for loyalty and engagement than convenience, which the consumer-facing Apple, Samsung and Android Pays have been pushing.
IBM touts the offering's insights, tailored offers that can be redeemed with one-click payments, and reduced transaction times and costs through in-app payments.
The labor market was a bigger point of discussion in the Federal Reserve's most recent monetary policy-setting meeting, but officials were divided about the path of future actions.
Regulators from California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York and Texas levied the fine for anti-money-laundering and Bank Secrecy Act violations, which comes as Wise seeks a banking license in the U.S.
U.K. regulators said Monzo didn't properly vet new customers, while Vocalink was dinged for risk management lapses. Also, Paxos launched a dollar-backed coin in the European Union; and more news in the weekly global payments and fintech roundup.
The case has put chief information security officers on notice that they could be personally liable for false statements about security policies and practices.