Banking Technology November 2016 issue out now
Banking Technology November 2016
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
A note from our Editor, Tanya Andreasyan:
How many industry consortia does an industry need? How much time, resource, effort and investment can a bank/financial institution dedicate to take part in each? Yes, I am talking about the blockchain consortia that have been springing up around the world.
So we’ve got R3 – the largest and arguably the most high-profile of the lot. R3 has over 70 members now, many top-tier banks among them. Just imagine trying to navigate the politics, the egos and the self-serving interests within an organisation of this size…
Can R3 survive long-term and deliver on its promises? There seem to be some unhappy voices already – click here to read SEB’s concerns (SEB is a founding member of R3 and has around ten people allocated to it full-time).
An interesting observation was recently made by Rod Drury, CEO and founder of cloud accountancy software firm Xero: “I think the nature of the world at the moment – surveillance culture and tribalism – means it’s very unlikely that a distributed view of the money supply is ever going to happen.”
And: “When it comes to money – centralised vs. decentralised – centralised normally wins because it’s so important to maintain the control of the entire system.”
Then there is also Hyperledger, a Linux Foundation led initiative. It is getting a lot of attention too, with big names like Sberbank, ABN Amro, ANZ, Wells Fargo and Swift on its member list.
In Japan we’ve got a consortium with a catchy title of “The Japan Bank Consortium to Centrally Provide Domestic and Cross-Border Payments”. It was set up earlier this year by Ripple and SBI Holdings and has recently opened its blockchain doors, with 42 member banks.
In the US, there is a get-together of credit unions – CULedger – a collaborative effort among Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and other industry players.
And now we also have the latest industry consortium launched by Nimbrix in the UK, in partnership with KPMG and Microsoft. The trio is also launching a buy-side platform based on the distributed ledger technology (aka blockchain), delivered in the Microsoft Azure cloud. The offering will hit the market early next year.
Nimbrix told us on Twitter that it is different from the rest. “We have a considerably higher midichlorian that any other potentials.” May the force be with you, Nimbrix.
Perhaps what we need now is a blockchain consortia consortium…
The November 2016 edition of Banking Technology features:
Payments commentary
Cheques – the dinosaurs in slow decline.
Innovation spotlight: virtual data rooms
Drooms NXG expels tons of paper and hefty lawyers bills.
Spotlight: R3
Trouble in the blockchain consortium paradise?
The advent of APIs
Saviour for mid-tier banks.
Gotta catch ‘em all!
Banks can learn a thing or two from Pokémon Go.
Analysis: real-time liquidity management
No longer a choice for banks but a must.
Cognitive banking
It’s the future of banking.
Analysis: T2S
Clearing and settlement – a moving target (but we are nearly there).
Case study: KeyBank
Treasurers embracing mobile banking… finally.
And not to forget the Regulars of course:
Appointments – the movers and the shakers.
Comment – outspoken and opinionated. Let’s all get together? Not likely – mobile payments are still a far, far away dream!
Industry events – mark your calendars!
Out of office – curiosities, frustrations and mishaps of the fintech world.
