Banking


When the ground is moving, banks need to shift to a smarter platform

The tectonic plates of the banking sector are shifting faster than ever. High street banks are under stress from the massive competitive threats generated by their leaner, technology-driven fintech rivals and challenger banks. These fintech companies are finding success simply by being more efficient or by taking advantage of emerging and highly effective technologies such […]

Faster Payments faces history with RBS blockchain test

The UK’s existing Faster Payments scheme could be consigned to the slow lane as researchers at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) claim to have demonstrated blockchain supporting a new banking industry clearing system. In a ten-page technical paper, “Proving Ethereum for the clearing use case”, RBS’s innovation engineering team says it has created a clearing […]

Nordic payments firm Nets to IPO

Nordic payments firm Nets has successfully IPO-ed on Nasdaq Copenhagen Exchange the tune of DKK 30 billion ($4.5 billion).

HSBC goes hipster in London fintech hub hunt

Overly manicured beard. Check. Clothes that betray blatant narcissism. Check. Holier than thou attitude. Check. Welcome to the world of hipsters as HSBC is looking for office space in trendy tech-focused London neighbourhoods. According to Bloomberg, the bank is seeking to “bolster its fintech capabilities” and has hired real estate broker CBRE Group to find […]

AIB looks to modernise digital banking tech

Allied Irish Banks (AIB) is believed to be in the market for new digital banking software. Banking Technology understands a number of vendors have done their demos for the bank, Infosys with its Finacle digital banking platform among them.

Top fintech stories this week – 23 September 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Harrods Bank in search of new core banking system EXCLUSIVE. The FIS Profile project is dead. Long live a new project! Deutsche Bank GTB builds new payments platform EXCLUSIVE. Dovetail to deliver? Misys unveils Platform-as-a-Service strategy Opens up […]

Sibos 2016: entertainment guide

Sibos 2016 will be held in Geneva on 26-29 September. What to do in the city, where to eat and drink, and, importantly, how to get to and from the airport and around Geneva – Banking Technology has it all summed up for you. Useful links, contact details and to-the-point reviews. See you there! A conventional city […]

Deutsche Bank GTB builds new payments platform

Deutsche Bank says it is building a new “state of the art” payments platform for its global transaction banking (GTB) business. It will be rolled out across the bank’s operations worldwide, supporting trade finance, securities and cash management businesses. The software is supplied by a specialist payments provider – Banking Technology understands this is Dovetail. […]

Harrods Bank in search of new core banking system

The FIS Profile core banking project is dead. Long live a new core banking project! UK-based Harrods Bank is back to market to find a new core banking solution, Banking Technology understands. It is understood to be in talks with a broad number of tech suppliers, including Temenos and Misys (the incumbent provider). The bank […]

Finn.ai and ATB Financial first for Facebook Messenger banking chatbot

Canadian start-up Finn.ai (formerly Payso) has teamed with ATB Financial for the “first ever banking chatbot” on Facebook Messenger. In an interview with Betakit, Finn.ai co-founder and COO Natalie Cartwright says it has been in talks with ATB since Q1 2016, and “after initial work had already begun on design and integration, the organisations are […]

Does the bank branch still matter?

The number of branches operated by major banking groups in the UK has halved over the last 20 years. In fact, Britain’s banks closed more than 600 branches across the UK between April 2015 and April 2016. This is hardly surprising as more and more people move online, often mobile-first, to complete most of their […]

Technology is galloping ahead. Time for IT to play catch up.

The technology era has come with its new aesthetic, economic models and philosophy about the meaning of value. It is not going away. And the people who thought economics was theirs to define and aesthetic and values were “hobbies” have a lot of catching up to do. That catching up is your hottest technology trend of 2017.

South Africa’s big four banks spend IT big

The big four retail and commercial banks in South Africa – Standard Bank, Absa/Barclays Africa, FirstRand and Nedbank – have been upping their games in information technology (IT) expenditure.

IBM Power8 infrastructure to support US real-time payments system

The Clearing House (TCH), the driving force behind the real-time payments modernisation in the US, has opted for IBM’s hardware. IBM’s Power8 based system infrastructure – running Linux and AIX operating systems – was selected as the hosting platform.

Top ten mobile banking apps in India – August 2016

What were the most popular mobile banking apps (on Android) in India in August 2016? We reveal the stats for the top ten apps in India, ranked taking into account two engagement metrics – current installs and active app users.

Community Savings Bank Association joins UK challenger bank ranks

A new challenger has joined the UK’s banking market, Community Savings Bank Association (CSBA). The association is working with an established bank, Airdrie Savings Bank, to set up a UK-wide network of independent, customer-owned, regional banks. These banks will support local communities and businesses.

New banking platform for MFIs in Nepal

34 microfinance entities in Nepal have joined forces to set up a fintech company – Nepal Finsoft – to build and maintain a shared core banking platform.

New cash and liquidity management system at Bank Mendes Gans

A Dutch international cash management services specialist, Bank Mendes Gans (BMG), is implementing a new cash and liquidity management system, SmartStream’s Corona. It will go live in Q4 2016, managing BMG’s 500,000 transactions per month.

Top ten mobile banking apps in the US – August 2016

What were the most popular mobile banking apps (on Android) in the US in August 2016? We reveal the stats for the top ten apps in the US, ranked taking into account two engagement metrics – current installs and active app users.

Standard Chartered and SuperCharger seeking start-ups for fintech accelerator

Standard Chartered and SuperCharger are inviting applications from start-ups for its SuperCharger Fintech Accelerator 2.0. For the second year running, SuperCharger says it offers access to market entry resources, mentors, technology advice from industry experts and joint venture opportunities. The selection panel is looking for start-ups for supply chain and trade finance, wealth management, distributed […]

Commerzbank processes first live BPO between Germany and China

Commerzbank has processed its first transaction settled by a bank payment obligation (BPO) between Germany and China. The BPO covers the export of chemicals between Commerzbank’s customer (the buyer), Trigon Chemie in Germany. The seller is an unnamed customer of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Beijing. Trade business between the two was previously […]

Deutsche Bank has an Axel Springer in its step for start-ups

Deutsche Bank is partnering with start-up accelerator Axel Springer Plug and Play to select, develop and finance up-and-coming firms from sectors such as banking and insurance. Deutsche Bank will be an exclusive Axel Springer Plug and Play partner – the latter a joint venture between the media company Axel Springer and California-based Plug and Play […]

Six more in the mix for Ripple’s payments network

Standard Chartered, National Australia Bank, Mizuho Financial Group, BMO Financial Group, Siam Commercial Bank and Shanghai Huarui Bank are the latest banks to join Ripple’s blockchain-powered network for cross-border payments. “2016 has proven to be the year where the most forward-thinking financial institutions are actually using blockchain technologies for payments and settlement rather than as […]

Unicredit to launch smartphone-only bank in Italy

UniCredit will launch “Buddybank”, a bank project exclusively designed for smartphones, in early 2017 in Italy. Buddybank will offer current accounts, credit/debit cards and “contextual” and instant personal loans, as well as a 24/7 concierge service, accessible via chat and phone, that “can help with everyday tasks such as restaurant reservations, taxi booking and travel […]

Six start-ups speed up on Barclays NY accelerator programme

Six start-ups have signed contracts with Barclays after using its New York accelerator programme to showcase their innovations. After thirteen weeks of product development, mentoring and networking, the demo day in New York marked the culmination of the second class of the Barclays Accelerator. In total. ten teams were selected from a pool of nearly […]

Top ten mobile banking apps in the UK – August 2016

What were the most popular mobile banking apps (on Android) in the UK in August 2016? We reveal the stats for the top ten apps in the UK, ranked taking into account two engagement metrics – current installs and active app users.

Artificial intelligence set to transform regulatory compliance

Most people have heard of the headline-making achievements in artificial intelligence (AI); systems winning quiz shows and beating world champions in chess. These are the poster children of the discipline but there is a quieter revolution taking in shape in other areas, including regulatory compliance in financial services. Writing for Banking Technology, Mike MacDonagh, London-based […]

PSD2: 5,000 banks, 15 months and lots of work to do

In a mere 15 months, approximately 5,000 financial institutions across Europe will be required to provide open access to customer, transaction and payment information via APIs. “This is a massive amount of work,” said James Whittle, director of industry policy for Payments UK, the representative body for the country’s payments industry, speaking at the EBAday […]

Opening up may be good for you: making PSD II access to accounts work in practice

A new open ecosystem – where banks can enable third parties to develop mobile banking apps and cash management solutions for them – has many advantages over the previous closed world, where everybody tried to do everything themselves. The key to successful “opening up” is to provide a standard interface, such as a smart phone to a bank account, that is accessible to third parties whilst retaining the necessary control.

M&A round-up: 15 September 2016

Welcome to the world of mergers and acquisitions – and our mission to provide a quick round-up. Ant Financial, Alibaba’s payments arm, has bought Missouri-based EyeVerify, a biometric security technology company. The big deal here is that its tech is used by Wells Fargo – and regional banks and credit unions in the US. Also, […]

Desert Schools FCU tech modernisation on track

Desert Schools Federal Credit Union is modernising its digital channels with specialist vendor Alkami Technology. Alkami’s flagship digital platform, ORB, will support the credit union’s 22,000 online banking users.

UBS goes for AI face off

UBS is testing out artificial intelligence (AI) to see if it can assist clients in how best to invest their money – just by looking at their facial expressions. UBS chief investment officer Mark Haefele says the Swiss bank is running several pilot programmes – with one tool able to interpret clients’ facial expressions while […]

Driving traffic to online banking sites: top keywords

Online search is a vital source of traffic generating around 14% of traffic to global banking sites, according to digital market intelligence agency SimilarWeb. So what are the most searched keywords in the global online banking industry and who is winning this important traffic?