A startling 46% of American adults would be unable to come up with $400 to meet an unexpected expense without borrowing or selling something. We are so used to thinking about financial exclusion in terms of the un- or under-served that we are overlooking the financial vulnerability of nearly half the US adult population.
Accounting and consulting firm Arthur Andersen, the folks who audited Enron, is back with 26 offices in 16 countries on five continents. In case you had forgotten; back in 2002, the company voluntarily surrendered its licences to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the US after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the […]
Kenya-based banking tech provider and integrator NLS Banking Solutions has won the bid to supply an integration platform to Madison Finance Company (Mfinance) in Zambia.
UBS Wealth Management has launched its new digital platform, SmartWealth, to tap into “a new audience” in the UK. The banks says it’s the first of its kind in the country.
Financial consultancy firm DeVere Group has taken advantage of Lithuania’s ambitions to attract fintech firms and set up a new office in the capital Vilnius. The Bank of Lithuania, the country’s central bank and regulator, recently issued an electronic money institution licence which made it possible for DeVere to establish its new subsidiary DeVere E-Money. […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Nordea has released the first version of its open banking portal targeted towards external developers, as it gets ready for the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) requirements. Currently the site has “limited functionality” but unspecified pilot activities will be conducted through the portal during 2017, in advance of a full launch in Q1 2018. Jarkko Turunen, […]
California-based InvestCloud has opened its first fintech accelerator and incubator, the InvestCloud Innovation Centre, at its Pacific Design Centre headquarters in Los Angeles. The new 10,747-foot centre gives banks, wealth managers and other financial services firms “residences” to accelerate the development of new apps through access to InvestCloud’s full technology platform, in collaboration with a […]
Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Intel, JP Morgan and Microsoft are some of the big names behind the launch of a new blockchain alliance. Called the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), it plans to drive Ethereum blockchain technology best practices – “focusing on security, privacy, scalability and interoperability”. This development creates another rival for the R3 blockchain […]
Switzerland-based Crypto Valley Association has launched as the nation looks to boost its blockchain and cryptographic ecosystem. Headquartered in the Swiss canton of Zug, Crypto Valley is an independent, government-supported association which aims to foster the development of digital technologies in Switzerland and internationally. The association will support start-ups and established enterprises through policy recommendations, […]
UK-based regtech and risk management vendor Lombard Risk has extended its “global strategic partnership” with Société Générale. The bank will roll out Lombard Risk’s collateral management system, Colline.
USAA, a provider of banking and insurance services to the US military personnel and their families, has granted intellectual property (IP) rights to Persistent Systems for the development of its banking tech. Through this agreement, India-based Persistent will look and attempt to extend USAA’s technologies to identify and verify members. Persistent says it will focus […]
Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) has launched an application programming interface (API) solution for payment initiation, payment status and account balance inquiries through its connectivity platform CitiConnect. As Banking Technology reported late last year, Citi unveiled a new global API developer portal, which it claimed to be the most comprehensive to date in the […]
Nordea Cash Management and Nordea Markets have launched AutoFX, an automated FX handling tool. Nordea says it is the first bank in the Nordics to offer this type of solution. AutoFX was developed in collaboration with a “large Nordic customer in the media industry”, in an effort to help modern treasury functions automate their daily […]
Bank of Baroda, a public sector bank in India, has launched a fellowship programme to support fintech, rural, agricultural and financial inclusion start-ups.
There’s a newcomer on the U.K. challenger bank scene, but it’s not wooing consumers. As a bank for banks, other FIs and fintech companies, ClearBank will offer customers access to U.K. payment systems and core banking technology to support current account capabilities.
IBM’s MobileFirst for iOS apps will be used by Santander as the bank looks to revamp its digital banking services and help its employees work better. The custom-built, native apps made for iOS will be rolled out across more than 11,000 iOS devices, and will be used by Santander’s commercial network employees, including those supporting […]
HSBC’s online banking went down for several hours today (27 February) – with its business customers particularly affected. The bank tweeted about the issues earlier today. We're experiencing some issues with our online services, we're working to resolve this. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. — HSBC UK (@HSBC_UK) February 27, 2017 Customers trying to access […]
Digitalisation plays a key role in the fight against payment fraud. Yet Commerzbank’s cybercrime specialists in cash services show that even in this technologically advanced environment, security threats persist. Companies must take steps to ensure that human beings – as well as computers – are protected against crime.
The Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) poor financial results have led to its CEO calling for more cost reductions and a faster digital transformation. The bank reported an operating loss before tax of £4.08 billion for 2016 and an attributable loss of £6.95 billion, which included litigation and conduct costs of £5.86 billion, restructuring costs […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! IBM and Northern Trust debut blockchain for private equity Uses the Hyperledger Fabric. Visa opens new innovation centre in London It’s the latest and largest one. Digital gets a spurt with Natwest and RBS experts Every branch gets […]
Bank of America has chosen the person-to-person (P2P) Zelle service within its mobile banking app as part of its digital drive. Zelle will let clients send, receive and request money, allowing them to use the existing contacts on their mobile device to transfer money to (or request money from) “almost anyone within minutes, regardless of […]
New challenger Community Savings Bank Association (CSBA) has chosen TCS Financial Services’ Bancs core banking system on the cloud for its member banks across the UK. Last year, Banking Technology was the first publication to report on CSBA joining the British banking market. The association, which is registered as a co-operative society plans to set […]
To raise awareness about online and mobile banking and help customers use digital platforms, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) say they aim to deploy a “TechXpert” at every branch in England, Scotland, and Wales. NatWest is part of the RBS group, and at 1,000 NatWest and 2,000 RBS branches, these experts will help […]
Mahindra Comviva has launched Payplus Aadhaar Pay, a merchant payment acceptance solution, as it targets the rural areas of India. The Aadhaar infrastructure, created by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), onboards customers and provide them with online services. UIDAI collects the biometric and demographic data of residents, stores them in a centralised database, […]
ING and Société Générale have used blockchain to carry out a live oil trade between parties with Mercuria, the global commodity trading group. The platform, called “Easy Trading Connect”, is designed for paperless trading and aims to digitalise and standardise commodity transactions in order to “increase speed and efficiencies” in the trade process. The prototype […]
Plum, an artificial intelligence (AI) powered Facebook chatbot, has teamed with peer-to-peer investing platform RateSetter to encourage the UK to save more. Plum says its algorithm understands spending patterns, identifies income and bills and creates a unique profile for each one of its users. It calculates a small amount of money to save or invest […]
IBM and financial services firm Northern Trust have launched the “first commercial deployment” of blockchain for the private equity market. The blockchain is based on the Hyperledger Fabric and is available for use for managing the administration of a private equity fund managed by Unigestion, a Switzerland-based asset manager with $20 billion in assets under […]
TSB has chosen Iress’ mortgage sales and originations (MSO) solution – with the first deployment due to be rolled out to TSB’s intermediary channel in the summer. Branch, telephony and digital will follow in a phased rollout at unspecified times. Ian Ramsden, mortgages director, TSB, says Iress is a “natural fit to support our technology […]
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 we welcome the views of Richard Stevenson, CEO, Red Box Recorders, on the future of banking. Real-time converge, capture and analyse! This […]
Standard Chartered China is partnering with Tencent Financial Technology Group (Tencent FiT) to launch a new e-commerce solution for corporates. The deal makes Standard Chartered the “first global bank to offer a one-stop online collection solution with WeChat Pay” and combines its cash management offering with the online payment gateway. The bank says it can […]
IBM has unveiled a large ecosystem initiative as it opens the doors of its new $200 million global headquarters for its Watson Internet of Things (IoT) business in Munich, Germany. BNP Paribas, Capgemini and Tech Mahindra are some of the firms who will place development teams at the IBM centre. Harriet Green, general manager, IBM […]
NatWest (part of the RBS group) is set to launch a new digital platform to allow small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) to quickly obtain unsecured loans of up to £150,000. Called Esme Loans, it is in trial mode and the bank will offer fast decisions on lending applications “potentially within an hour”. There will […]
The new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has been unveiled in the UK – and will work with the Bank of England (BoE) to produce advice for the financial sector for managing cybersecurity effectively. The NCSC is based in London and part of the intelligence agency GCHQ (government communications headquarters). Ciaran Martin, formerly director general […]
You can read about fintech accelerators quickly with our latest round-up. Featuring RBS, BNP Paribas, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the info on how to apply. Scotland has got its “first” fintech accelerator with the launch set for May. The new hub will be based in Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) Entrepreneurial Spark business centre […]
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has set up a new Data Analytics Group (DAG) with effect from 15 March 2017 as it looks to improve the financial sector and digital economy. DAG will use data analytics for insights, “enhance the supervision” of financial institutions, make regulatory compliance better for financial institutions, and improve work […]
2017 looks set to be the year in which a number of different jurisdictions vie to become the natural home of the financial technology sector. To help ensure that London remains fintech-friendly, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has created the “regulatory sandbox”.
Santander has become the first bank in the UK to allow customers to make payments using their voice. As Banking Technology reported in March 2016, Santander said it was the “first” bank in the UK to launch voice banking technology. Phase one enabled customers to talk to their Santander SmartBank app and ask about their […]
Fintech zeitgeist! Welcome to our new series of brief reports. 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 we welcome the views of our editor Tanya Andreasyan. Dear PR, we know you […]
Bob Wigley, the former chairman of the collapsed Yellow Pages, will be the chair of a new financial services trade association, which will bring together six member organisations across the UK. It hasn’t got a name yet, but the new moniker and brand “will be decided in due course” and launched in the summer. The […]
