Financial Services/Finserv


Amazon launches private cloud connection service

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching the PrivateLink private network service to allow Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) developers to provide private endpoints to users, increasing security for enterprises by eliminating the need to expose data to the public internet, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). AWS PrivateLink also connects services across multiple accounts and virtual […]

VMware’s cloud fortunes continue in Q3

VMware continues to expand beyond its traditional role in the virtualisation market into areas such as cloud computing and software-defined data centre offerings, and the company’s bets on these areas are paying off, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). The firm released its third-quarter financial results, beating Wall Street expectations by $0.07 per […]

RBS closes 259 more branches and axes 680 jobs

There is another wave of cuts as the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is closing 259 more branches and axing 680 jobs. This development follows the previous branch closure announcements which resulted in over 500 branches being lost. In June, RBS said 443 jobs are to go from its business loans department. Many of these […]

Case study: Triodos Bank – banking on ethical values

Triodos Bank in the UK stands out from the crowd for its ethical values but can it now kick on with a leap into the current account market? Banking Technology talks to UK MD, Bevis Watts, about this major development and the technology that underpins it.

Lloyds and Bank of Scotland hit by payment processing problems

Customers of Lloyds and Bank of Scotland have reported a host of payment processing problems as UK banks yet again fail to deliver banking services. In the repellent realm of Twitter, some users reported that wages weren’t paid at the end of the month. With the processing system down, bosses couldn’t pay their staff and […]

Amazon brings machine learning to “everyday developers”

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is looking to bring machine learning (ML) to ordinary developers, launching the SageMaker service to simplify building applications, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). ML is too complicated for ordinary developers, AWS CEO Andy Jassy said at a keynote during the AWS re:Invent event. “If you want to enable most […]

Payments round-up: 30 November 2017

We did say there will be no quiet days. Coming straight after yesterday’s (29 November) action, we bring another payments round-up. Features Interac, nanopay, Remitr, ADGM, Nordea, Nets, Facebook and Amazon.

Fintech funding round-up: 30 November 2017

Quickly following on from Tuesday’s (28 November) funding round-up, here are more stories from a cash-drenched world. Features 1QB Information Technologies, FinTecSystems, Betalo, Nordea and Constellation Digital Partners. 1QB Information Technologies (1QBit), a quantum computing firm based in Vancouver, has closed a CA$45 million ($34.9 million) Series B round comprising equity and revenue contracts. This […]

Ephesoft clearly unveils mobile document capture solution

Document capture and analytics solution developer Ephesoft has released version 4.0 of its Transact Mobile SDK, reports David Penn at Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The latest version of the technology takes advantage of innovations in everything from deep learning to mobile architecture to give consumers more accuracy and flexibility when it comes to document capture with […]

Concur launches e-receipt solution for WeChat

Business expense management firm Concur has introduced a new receipt solution, integrated with China’s WeChat platform, that makes it easier for businesses and their employees working in China to track expenses and remain compliant, reports David Penn at Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The technology, Concur e-Fapiao (it means “e-receipt”), gives employers real-time access to an employee’s […]

Lloyds to cut 49 more branches

The UK trade union Unite has revealed that Lloyds has informed staff it will be closing another 49 branches of the Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, resulting in 99 job losses. Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, says: “Having returned to profitability Lloyds needs to stop ignoring its corporate social responsibilities. Just over six months […]

FinReach extends digital reach to Austria and Spain

German digital account exchange provider FinReach has expanded into Austria and Spain – meaning its service is now used by over 500 banks in three countries. In Austria, FinReach has partnered with, amongst others, banking group Raiffeisen Austria, which includes 434 banks and has 1.7 million customers. In terms of the Spanish market, Self Bank, […]

The AI arms race might be a bit more dangerous than you think

In the tech world, an arms race usually a metaphor for two companies battling for supremacy, but McAfee thinks it might be a bit more literal for artificial intelligence (AI) as hackers upskill to make use of the breakthrough, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). As one of its predictions for 2018, security software vendor […]

Amazon closes cloud performance gap with “bare metal instances”

Amazon Web Services (AWS) kicked off its annual re:Invent conference with a new service designed to make its cloud more competitive to enterprise IT in performance and security, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). EC2 Bare Metal Instances gives enterprises the “best of both worlds,” Peter DeSantis, AWS VP of global infrastructure, said, […]

Microsoft and SAP expand HANA and Azure partnership

Microsoft and SAP are expanding their current cloud partnership to include additional support for SAP software running on the Azure public cloud. The two companies also plan to use each other’s applications internally, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). The expanded partnership coincides with Microsoft’s biggest rival for public cloud – Amazon Web […]

Bankers and retailers – will we see roles switch? Or simply morph into a single discipline?

Technology is having a tremendous impact on the way communities shop so changes are more or less expected as we see these shopping mall operators push back on so many dire predictions being made about them. But can they change and yes, could these changes lead to a greater overlap with banking as it exists today? Do we even need differentiation between the two and yes, will they both be able to keep us satisfied when it comes to access to our cash?

VMware and Amazon grow hybrid cloud tie-up

VMware and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are expanding their hybrid cloud partnership to run VMware workloads at “very large scale” on AWS, a VMware executive says. VMware is launching new tools for migrating and scaling production applications to AWS, as well as business continuity and disaster recovery services, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister […]

East vs. East: a comparison of regional fintech trends

With our newest conferences – FinovateAsia and FinovateMiddleEast – back-to-back, we wanted to examine unique trends to those regions, reports Julie Muhn at Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). Each place has its own distinctive culture, and with that comes not only individual financial needs, but also a particular set of regulatory rules. These factors not only create […]

HPE: can new boss bring back the magic?

Meg Whitman was a wartime CEO for Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). Now, she says, the company needs new leadership – Antonio Neri, a technologist who came up through the company ranks, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). In a transition announced last week, Whitman is leaving the CEO position in February, replaced by […]

Wealthtech: a market poised for extended growth

Rapid changes are occurring in the wealth management space and the level of disruption in how advice and capital are managed is only beginning. Wealth management is a monumental industry. The players in the space run the gamut from gigantic hedge funds to individuals who manage their own investments. This changing wealth management landscape is driving a significant uptick in transactions.

Starling makes big European push

UK-based challenger bank Starling is taking the battle to lenders after being granted a contract allowing for a big push into wholesale banking in Europe.

ING has a thing for data analytics

ING Wholesale Banking has set out its plans to increase investments in data analytics and put more resources into Asia and the Americas. It’s very early days as its ambitions and goals offer no real specifics. Stats and timelines are like good service in shops in the UK – i.e. almost nowhere to be seen. […]

UK urged to improve data protection for the digitally naive

Several consumer groups have written to UK Minister for Digital Matt Hancock urging changes to data privacy and protection rules, removing grey areas which allow companies to navigate breaches unscathed, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). Many rules and regulations should be viewed as dated today. This is not necessarily anyone’s fault, but is more […]

Forrester: don’t give up on private clouds, yet

For the past several years, private clouds have taken a backseat to the big public cloud providers, with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform sucking up all the oxygen around the conversation of how to manage enterprise infrastructure, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). Now, however, private clouds are […]

Payments round-up: 22 November 2017

Hot on the heels from Monday’s (20 November) round-up, here are more lively adventures in the paytech space. Featuring Manigo powering up; Volante Technologies and eVision in North Africa; and ACI Worldwide and Payworks getting friendly. Digital money platform Manigo has launched. The firm, which is based in London’s tech hub Level39, says it will […]

Standard Chartered and Axis Bank launch cross-border payments via Ripple

Standard Chartered and Axis Bank have unveiled a real-time cross-border payment service for corporates using Ripple’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) solution. This offering is now commercially available between Standard Chartered (Singapore) and Axis Bank India, and, accessible through Standard Chartered’s corporate digital banking platform, Straight2Bank. Himadri Chatterjee, president, transaction banking, Axis Bank, says by using […]

SumUp teams with BancoEstado for cool mobile card deal in Chile

SMEs in Chile have just won a new ally when it comes to making it easier to accept mobile card payments. The country’s largest national bank, BancoEstado de Chile, has partnered with SumUp to launch a joint venture (JV) that will give Chilean businesses the ability to offer “anytime, anywhere” mobile card acceptance without fees […]

HPE enterprise sales sluggish in Q4

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) saw revenue up 5% year-over-year to $7.8 billion, but it’s having trouble gaining traction with enterprise sales – and its CEO is leaving, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). For the fourth quarter ending 31 October, combined net revenue for HPE was $7.8 billion, including $174 million associated with […]

RBC to open AI lab in Montreal

Borealis AI, a Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Institute for Research, will open an artificial intelligence (AI) lab in Montreal. Borealis AI has partnered with McGill University Professor, Jackie Cheung, as academic advisor for the lab and will work with the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA). The team anticipates opening the doors of the […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 21 November 2017

From major crimes to KYC times. Our latest blockchain and Bitcoin round-up features Tether, Metal, Deutsche Bank and IBM. Digital currency firm Tether is feeling under the weather as it has reported that “funds were improperly removed from the Tether treasury wallet through malicious action by an external attacker”. The amount is a rather large […]

Co-op Money NZ wins credit union legal fight

Co-op Money NZ, the industry body for credit unions and mutual building societies in New Zealand, has won its legal fight to continue providing wholesale banking. The organisation has successfully appealed against the decision of the Registrar of Friendly Societies and Credit Unions. By way of recap, earlier this year, a former Co-op member, Westforce […]

NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank hit by online banking issues

This is becoming a regular fixture in the UK, as yet again British banks are reporting online banking problems. In the latest glitch, customers of NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Ulster Bank have been hampered by the outage. The trio say they are “aware of some issues” with their online banking services. Customers […]

Configo launches cloud environment

Digital sales and engagement firm Configo is taking its technology to the cloud. The company is making its Live Experience Platform – which gives FIs the ability to create customer-centric, personalised digital experiences – available as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, reports David Penn at Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). Until now, Configo’s platform was installed on-premise. The new cloud […]

Google eyes more data centre space in Denmark

Google is eyeing an expansion in Europe, buying land in Denmark where it plans to build a new data centre that could be used to expand the company’s cloud computing footprint, as well as meet new European Union standards related to data privacy, reports Enterprise Cloud News (Banking Technology’s sister publication). Reuters reported that Google’s […]