Royal Bank of Scotland has scrapped its plans to carve out the Williams & Glyn (W&G) subsidiarity – and instead it is likely to be sold to Santander. W&G has a network of 300 branches, 1.4 million retail and 200,000 SME clients – effectively the country’s seventh largest bank. It has been dormant for a […]
Banking is going digital and instantaneous, which is great news for customers. But it is also a great headache for banks, as fraud is going that way too – the money can disappear into fraudsters’ virtual pockets with a blink of an eye, anytime, anywhere. At the same time, the real-time capabilities of new solutions […]
Canada’s major exchange, depository and clearing group – TMX – has unveiled a new initiative that is set to transform the company into “a client-driven solutions provider to the Canadian and global capital markets”. TMX states that “the objective of the initiative is to align, simplify and integrate relevant systems and operations to both lower […]
Since the 2008 financial crisis, the sector has looked to repair reputational damage, lock down compliance in the system and rapidly innovate to serve a new generation. During this period of change, banks must redefine the value they want to provide for their customers. For example, do they want to finance the future dreams a […]
Azimo says it has become the first money transfer operator to enable money transfers worldwide via Facebook Messenger. “Money transfer is now social,” Azimo states. It describes its new functionality as “revolutionary”. It connects senders and receivers through their Facebook friend list, enabling them to exchange details immediately and links them to the Azimo app […]
Canada’s newest stock exchange, Aequitas NEO Exchange, has implemented the hosted version of OneTick platform, supplied by OneMarketData. The new platform underpins the exchange’s data and advanced analytics service, OneTickCloud. OneTickCloud supports global equities and futures tick history, reference data, and adjustment factors, and provides on-demand analytics for creating custom datasets. Karl Ottywill, COO at […]
ING Bank Romania has launched a new mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) service, underpinned by MasterCard and specialist vendor GoSwiff. ING mPOS is aimed at local merchants of all sizes. It enables them to accept card payments through mobile devices, smartphones and tablets, connected to a card reader. It also supports other added-value services, such as consumer […]
Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo and GoSwiff International have teamed up for a new mobile payment acceptance solution for merchants in Indonesia, D-Pay. Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) is the acquiring bank. D-Pay is a financial service that enables merchants to accept mobile payments, allowing their customers to pay using debit/credit cards (Visa, MasterCard and JCB) and […]
Unicredit is selling its e-money processing unit to payments vendor SIA. The unit – part of Unicredit Business Integrated Solutions (UBIS) – processes around 13.5 million payment cards and manages 206,000 POS terminals and 12,000 ATMs in Italy, Germany and Austria. SIA has also got a ten-year outsourcing contract from UBIS for the supply of […]
Specialist vendor Charles River has supplied its flagship Investment Management Solution (IMS) to Bangkok Bank’s subsidiary, Bangkok Capital Asset Management (BCAP). The IMS front-to-middle office system, supplied on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis, has automated BCAP’s investment process, says the vendor, “from portfolio management through trading, compliance, and settlement”. Charles River is also providing its Data […]
Banc Intranets, a US provider of enterprise content management software, has onboarded Frontier Bank for its DirectorsLink web-based board portal. The Texan bank “sought to reduce time and costs associated with its board processes”, according to the vendor. DirectorsLink was chosen at the recommendation of Frontier Bank’s IT security vendor, Solis. The bank is now […]
A new challenger is coming to the burgeoning UK banking market – Copernicus Bank. It is founded and backed by Danela Ventures Partners Limited, a London-based advisory firm set up in 2010 by Aidan Brady and Michael Rossman. Danela Ventures Partners “focuses on financial services innovation”, according to Brady’s LinkedIn profile. It is “currently building […]
Can social media really drive adoption of financial products? Yes, states a Massachusetts-based community bank, Avidia Bank. Kate Cwieka, Avidia’s marketing specialist, shares the bank’s experience in embracing social media and the results. Oh, and practical advice on this “non-traditional” marketing channel. Want to know more on how to apply Hootsuite and Periscope (or find […]
Sid Parashar, SVP of client relations and strategic account management, Firstsource Solutions, asks if traditional banks are now ready to take on the new kids on the block when it comes to customer communications. As the banking industry emerges from one of the most transformative periods in its history, it has been a trying time […]
Passwords are past it, as Barclays plans to launch voice recognition technology for phone banking. From tomorrow (2 August), customers will no longer need to answer a variety of questions to gain access to their accounts on the telephone. Steven Cooper, CEO personal banking and executive director at Barclays, says: “We have been testing it […]
Rupert Scofield, president and CEO of microfinance organisation Finca International, discusses how it brings banking to the developing world and why people should follow America’s lead in the art of philanthropy. “This is your world. My generation had its shot. We thought our problems were daunting but it’s nothing like the stuff you’re dealing with. […]
The Regtech Supplier Performance Report 2016, published by Market Fintech Limited and supported by Banking Technology, estimates that more 189 global financial institutions have deployed a range of new regulatory technology (regtech) solutions from 20+ specialist suppliers in just a couple of years.
BPCE, the second largest banking group in France, has acquired German challenger bank Fidor. Fidor will remain as an independent business and says it will “capitalise on the support” of BPCE to expand and continue the development of its proprietary digital banking technology. Founder and CEO Matthias Kröner will continue as the chief executive of […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Abcul slow on tech modernisation project Exclusive: First credit unions to go live before year-end. New mobile banking for SMEs readies for UK launch Tide will offer a “nimble small business current account”. Top ten retail banking sites […]
UK-based start-up Monizo is planning to launch the “first” banking service targeted solely at freelancers. In an exclusive interview with Banking Technology, CEO and co-founder Samuel O’Connor says the firm caters for the particular needs of freelancers across the UK. He says: “The rules are getting more onerous for freelancers and by the end of […]
Robo-advisors are becoming increasingly commonplace in the UK’s financial sector. Over the last 18 months, high street banks such as Barclays, Lloyds, Santander and RBS have all launched robo-advice platforms, and it’s not only these well-known names that are competing to own the online investment space. Smaller challenger brands like Nutmeg and Wealthfront have also […]
Singapore-based DBS Bank has signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to use its cloud technology. The bank envisages shifting up to 50% of its computer workload to cloud within a two-year period. With this deal, DBS will create a hybrid cloud environment “optimised” for rapid changes of capacity and functionality, which is “complementary” […]
Do you know an outstanding Tech Leader? The Tech Leadership Award, part of our annual Banking Technology Awards, will go to an individual for leading and playing an instrumental role in devising and/or delivering the technology strategy to support the key business objectives of an organisation. The award is open to all industry participants worldwide […]
Russia-based banking tech vendor Diasoft has landed its second deal in Vietnam, with TienPhongBank (TPBank). TPBank will implement Diasoft’s loan origination and debt collection solutions, part of a broader Flextera software suite. Diasoft’s first contract in Vietnam (and the vendor’s first in South East Asia) – signed in 2013 – is with Vietnam International Bank […]
Project Sentinel, a collaborative initiative by a group of banks to mutualise the cost of MiFID II implementation in the OTC front office, has completed the detailed business requirements that meet MiFID II regulatory obligations. The project is now focused on finding the right vendors to deliver the solution. “Once the vendor assessment is complete, […]
UK-based Tide will offer a “nimble small business current account”, with a swift set-up and no monthly fees. It claims to be among the “world’s first” mobile-first banking services for SMEs. Tide’s CEO George Bevis says the company will open its virtual doors for business in autumn this year. Tide is currently in the “private alpha […]
Who is leading the digital way among the US retail banks? We have put together some nifty stats for the top ten online banking sites in the US for the past month (data courtesy of SimilarWeb). We’ll be publishing regular updates on a monthly basis, to track the changes, developments and trends – to bring you a fuller […]
Earlier this year a couple of surveys were released indicating that the real action in digital payments is in China. This shouldn’t be surprising: China’s economy continues to grow (despite doomsayers predicting a coming “crash” for at least a decade) and the Chinese government is investing billions into science and technology. The fruits of this […]
DH Corporation (D+H) has onboarded UK’s Lloyds Banking Group for its white-labelled Bacs payment service. Lloyds “sought to provide new payment services to enhance clients’ payables and receivables processes”, says D+H. To begin with, Lloyds will offer the vendor’s Bacs capabilities to SMEs and mid-market clients, but D+H hopes this will be subsequently scaled up […]
The UK’s challenger bank sector is set to gain another player. Unicredit’s subsidiary, FinecoBank, is coming to the UK this autumn, according to City AM. FinecoBank has been around since the late 1990s and today has over 1.1 million clients in its home market of Italy and €55 billion of assets. Alessandro Foti, CEO and […]
FinTech Group and Rocket Internet have formed a technology partnership, with the first step to launch a digital bank. Based on the banking licence of its subsidiary bank Biw, FinTech Group will provide Rocket Internet the infrastructure such as its own, proprietary core banking system and automated processes. In addition, XCOM, FinTech Group’s technology supplier, […]
London-based advisory firm Alpima has selected SS&C Technologies’ APX and Moxy solutions to underpin its digital advisory business. APX is an integrated, front-to-back office portfolio and client management solution. Moxy is a centralised trade order management system. SS&C says the contract was preceded by a “thorough analysis”. Pierre Mendelsohn, founder and CEO of Alpima, comments […]
Xenomorph, a provider of data management technology to banks, investment managers and insurance companies, has received new funding from HSBC. The firm says the funding has enabled it to “accelerate global go-to-market plans” for its TimeScape EDM+ financial analytics and data management platform. TimeScape EDM+ is designed to manage the complete lifecycle of financial data […]
The Association of British Credit Unions (Abcul) is yet to go live with its new shared core platform for its members, a project it has been working on for over two years. The UK government is behind the Abcul project, as part of the Department of Work and Pensions’ Credit Union Expansion Programme. The overall […]
Who is leading the digital way among the retail banks in India? We have put together some nifty stats for India’s top ten online banking sites for the past month (data courtesy of SimilarWeb). We’ll be publishing regular updates on a monthly basis, to track the changes, developments and trends – to bring you a fuller picture of […]
There was some big news for bank’s risk and finance technology departments last month. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. Notably, this standard introduces a new impairment model, commonly known as the CECL (current […]
EBA Clearing, a provider of payment infrastructure solutions owned by 53 major banks in Europe, has published the specifications for its future pan-European real-time payments solution. The new solution is set to go live in November 2017. It will comply with the SCT Inst Scheme of the European Payments Council (EPC). The document, which can […]
Lebanon-based Blom Bank has signed for Wolters Kluwer’s flagship solution, OneSumX, for operational risk management. The project will be delivered by the vendor’s local partner, Advanced Financial Solutions. OneSumX Operational Risk “automates and simplifies” the process of collecting, storing, analysing, tracking and reporting on information relevant to operational losses, risk and control assessments, says Wolters […]
With digital banking (and particularly mobile) sharply on the rise in the UK – according to the latest figures released by the British Bankers Association – who is leading among the UK retail banks? We have put together some nifty stats for the top ten online banking sites in the UK for the past month (data […]
It has been a couple of weeks of important announcements in the challenger banking space, with some interesting long-term trends emerging in the sector. Two new challenger banks have received their banking licences in the past week. Berlin-based Number26 renamed itself N26 and received its full banking licence from the European Central Bank and German […]
