Banking


Banking Technology and FemTechGlobal looking for inspiring women in fintech

Do you know any special women in technology who have made a huge contribution to fintech? Then we want to know! Banking Technology and FemTechGlobal, a global diversity and inclusion organisation, are again on the look-out for all amazing women who deserve the Woman In Technology (W.I.T.) Award, part of Banking Technology’s 2017 annual Awards show. […]

Emirates NBD raises profile with FaceBanking launch

Emirates NBD has launched FaceBanking, a “first-to-market service” offering video and live chat with advisors on its revamped online banking platform and mobile banking app. The new 24×7 service lets its customers connect with a personal banking advisor for queries and transactions by clicking a button on the online banking platform, “thus effectively bringing in […]

New Indian SME digital bank Open readies for launch

India’s SME-focused digital challenger bank Open is getting ready for its mid-August launch with a round of seed funding. Open calls itself “Asia’s first SME neo-banking start-up” and is using the same business model as Tide in the UK and Finnish start-up Holvi (recently acquired by BBVA). With its launch date in sight, the bank […]

The Monday mindset: 24 July 2017

Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, Claire Calmejane, director of innovation at Lloyds Banking Group, presents “Digital Zero to Hero: Myth Debunking”. (This is part of a series […]

Fintech earnings round-up: 24 July 2017

It’s been a busy time for second- and fiscal third-quarter earnings reports. Features Bank of America, Amex, Blackhawk Network and Visa. Banking Technology’s sister publication Paybefore reports. Bank of America (BofA) has beaten analyst expectations with earnings per share of 46 cents on revenue of $22.829 billion for the second quarter ended 30 June 2017. […]

The end of IBIS3G core banking system?

Berner Kantonalbank (Banque Cantonale de Berne or BEKB/BCBE), one of the last users of the IBIS3G core banking system, is pondering the system’s future as the contract with system provider is terminated.

Investment firm Permira buys into Klarna’s banking ambitions

Investment firm Permira will acquire a 10% equity stake in Swedish payments and banking firm Klarna. As part of the deal, Permira will buy shares from existing shareholders General Atlantic, DST Global and Niklas Adalberth, upon receipt of approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen). Once the transfer is complete, General Atlantic and DST […]

Temenos powers on with revenue rise

Banking software vendor Temenos is retaining momentum with software licensing revenues rising yet again. In its Q2 2017 results, it reported total software licensing revenues of 22% year-on-year. For the previous quarter, these figures stood at a respectable 19%. The Q1 results were notable as Temenos CEO David Arnott (answering a question from an analyst) […]

Lessons from the GDPR compliance journey of a large financial services organisation

In preparation for GDPR compliance, a global financial services organisation embarked on a journey to assess its core information processing environments with the objective of identifying opportunities to strengthen its privacy data protection programs. This article focuses on the technology challenges, approach, and lessons learned for the centralised testing environment.

Bank of England opens up RTGS service to fintech competition

The Bank of England (BoE) is opening up access to settlement accounts in its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system with the goal to promote fintech innovation and competition. The bank says it’s extending access to non-bank payment service providers (PSPs), offering direct access to the UK’s sterling payment systems. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), […]

Nesta names 20 fintechs fired up for £5m SME innovation fund

UK-based innovation foundation Nesta has revealed the 20 fintech firms who will participate in its Open Up Challenge as it looks for services, apps and tools for SMEs – with a £5 million prize fund on offer. As reported in March, Nesta launched its challenge – open to entries from anywhere in the world that […]

M-Wallet Roundup: Apple Pay, ANZ, CaixaBank, Starling, Samsung

It’s been a busy week for mobile wallet partnerships. Several companies announced deals to offer mobile wallets to their customers in the U.K., Australia and Europe. Challenger bank Starling says it’s the first in the U.K. to offer in-app provisioning.

Fintech funding round-up: 18 July 2017

You’ve come to the right section for cash injection. Today’s fintech funding round-up features Contego, Privitar, Form3 and Barclays. Maven Capital Partners, a UK private equity house, has led the £3.5 million investment in Contego Fraud Solutions to support its growth plans. Maven is putting in £1.8 million, NVM Private Equity is investing £1.5 million, […]

BNP Paribas fined $246m for FX misdemeanours

BNP Paribas has been hit with a $246 million fine by the US Federal Reserve System relating to past misconduct in its foreign exchange (FX) business. The Paris-based bank says it will pay the fine and has settled Federal Reserve allegations that it failed to keep its FX traders from using electronic chatrooms to manipulate […]

More human than human: banking’s AI future is all in the voice

Aditya Challa of IMImobile takes a look at some current and future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for customer experience in the financial and banking sector, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome. Beyond the current race to build chatbots, he predicts that voice-driven AI services will ultimately become the main […]

Jenius digital bank gets clever with Finastra

Jenius digital bank, part of Indonesia’s Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN), has chosen Finastra’s (formerly Misys) FusionBanking Essence Digital platform. Peterjan van Nieuwenhuizen, head of digital banking at BTPN, says it has “built a system that enables our customers to complete basic banking processes without going to the branch”; and with an “expanding middle class […]

Behavioural black magic

In 1957 the US market researcher James Vicary claimed he could get moviegoers to “drink Coca-Cola” and “eat popcorn” by flashing messages onscreen for such a short time that viewers were unaware they had seen them. The term “subliminal advertising” was coined to describe this unnerving practice and it was subsequently banned in many countries.

Commerzbank preps for major job losses

As part of its massive job cutting spree, Commerzbank has agreed an outline reconciliation of interests and social plan with the employee representative committees in Germany. As reported last year, Commerzbank firmed up plans to lay off nearly 5,000 people. According to a letter by German labour union Verdi, the majority of these job cuts […]

Top fintech stories this week – 14 July 2017

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Aktia Bank finally live with Temenos T24 core banking system “Some system repairs will be carried out during the following weeks.” HSBC and Barclays pilot banking without borders Testing use of a citizen’s national digital identity. ANZ, Westpac […]

Altice puts squeeze on Orange with bank move

In a copycat move that will come as a blow to Orange, rival Altice plans to launch its own online bank by early 2019 in the countries in its network footprint, according to a report from Reuters that cites a source close to the matter. Light Reading (Banking Technology’s sister publication) reports that the launch of […]

Falcon Private Bank flies into blockchain asset management nest

Falcon is the “first” Swiss private bank to provide blockchain asset management solutions for its clients through a new co-operation with crypto financial broker Bitcoin Suisse. The bank’s clients can exchange and hold Bitcoins via Falcon using their cash holdings. Additionally, a Bitcoin ATM has been installed in the lobby of the bank’s headquarters in […]

Fintech Funding Roundup: Revolut, Curve, Pixoneye, Gridspace

And the money keeps rolling in for fintech. U.K. challenger bank Revolut announced a $66 million investment it will use to introduce new features and expand globally, starting with Asia and North America. Meanwhile, Santander InnoVentures, the bank’s fintech venture capital fund, has added U.K.-based Pixoneye and Curve and U.S.-based Gridspace to its portfolio.

FitPay and Mastercard take prepaid to wearables and IoT

FitPay Inc, a US-based provider of payment, credential management and authentication platform services, is planning to offer prepaid capabilities on wearable and other devices connected to its FitPay Payment Platform.

Bold statement three: statements from around the bleeding edge of innovation

Hello all and apologies it’s taken a little while to get to the third instalment of the series about “pet peeve statements”. For those who are new, I am talking about those bold, declaratory statements that puff up the chest and make people feel awfully progressive and far sighted – and as I have said before, all sound and fury, signifying stormy waters ahead!

Finicity and JP Morgan Chase pair for data share

Data aggregation provider Finicity has signed an agreement with JP Morgan Chase to let the bank’s customers choose data to share with apps. The companies will use a direct API to allow Chase customers to share information with the apps and services that Finicity supports. According to the firms, this tokenised access will eliminate the […]

Finxact unleashes Open Core API for sandbox playtime

Core banking software provider Finxact has made its Open Core API available through its sandbox for fun times in innovation. The firm says its API is transparent and granular, enabling banks to have full access to their customer data. Finxact adds that it is the first core banking provider to join the Open API Initiative. […]

Santander and Tradeshift partner for supply chain finance

Santander is partnering with business commerce platform Tradeshift, for a digital capital solution, the first of which will be supply chain finance (SCF). As reported last year, Tradeshift got an investment from Santander InnoVentures. At that time, Mariano Belinky, managing partner at Santander InnoVentures, said the company “is at the forefront of tackling a very […]