Banking Technology July/August 2016 issue out now
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
Financial Services/Finserv
Lloyds goes mentor with start-up match-ups
Lloyds Banking Group has launched a new mentoring scheme giving fintech start-ups access to its workforce’s expertise. The support offered includes refining concepts to strengthening business models within a flexible timeframe determined between the mentor and the start-up. The mentors will come from all areas of Lloyds and will be matched with start-ups according to […]
HSBC dodges US money laundering charges
HSBC has escaped charges of money laundering by US officials due to fears by the Department of Justice (DOJ) it might create a “global financial disaster”. A US Congressional report shows that UK officials, including Chancellor George Osborne, used their clout to warn the US it could lead to market unrest. According to the BBC, […]
On the UK’s Speaking Clock turning 80 and financial services
Britain’s Speaking Clock, which will celebrate its 80th birthday on Sunday, July 24, was a real fascination for me as a child. Who was this person on the other end of the phone who was always available, any time of day, who could tell me the time down to the exact second? Did they ever […]
Standard Chartered to invest $3bn in strengthening ops; not threatened by fintech firms
Standard Chartered says it plans to invest $3 billion in strengthening it technology, retail and private banking and wealth management operations. As part of this, $30 million will be invested over the next three years in Scope International, the bank’s global shared services centre in Malaysia. Scope International’s CEO Matthew Norris says that the subsidiary […]
Nordea’s new chief digital officer calls on fintechs to get in touch
Ewan MacLeod is heading to Nordea as co-head of its newly created “Group Digital” unit and is on the lookout for fintech companies, services and ideas to introduce to Nordea. MacLeod will be one of two chief digital officers at the Nordic banking group. The other one is Poul Raaholt, previously head of group IT […]
Top fintech stories this week – 8 July 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Brexit: keep calm and carry on We assemble a panel of fintech and law specialists to discuss – with cool heads – the challenges and opportunities. Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up A round-up of key developments to save you […]
Becoming a challenger bank – a worthwhile challenge?
Advanced Payment Solutions (APS) has secured a credit licence from the UK’s regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). And whilst APS is not a bank, it competes with them. So is going through the pains for getting a banking licence really worth it, asks Rich Wagner, CEO and founder APS. We regularly see news of challenger finance […]
ING and KBC team up for mobile payments in Belgium
ING and Belgian bank KBC have joined forces to launch a new, integrated mobile payments and loyalty platform in Belgium. This will combine ING’s payment app Payconiq with loyalty platforms Qustomer and KBC’s CityLife. Rik Vandenberghe, CEO ING Belgium, says the customer feedback it received about Payconiq and Qustomer “strengthens our conviction that as a […]
Torstone’s Inferno backs BNP Paribas in Fed Reserve deal
BNP Paribas Securities Services has become a direct securities participant to the US Federal Reserve through FedLine, its online financial services information and payment service. The company, a subsidiary of the BNP Paribas group, says this completes its direct connectivity to the US market on all securities instruments. BNP uses Torstone Technology’s post-trade securities and […]
Third bank onboard for Raisin’s European deposit marketplace
Berlin-based Raisin has gained a third partner bank on its pan-European deposit marketplace website, Euram Bank in Austria. The latest partnership follows on from deals with Poland-based Alior Bank and J&T Banka in the Czech Republic. Dr. Tamaz Geordgaze, CEO and founder of Raisin, says the level of Euram’s equity has remained at an “excellent” […]
Three ex-Barclays staff convicted in Libor rigging trial
Three ex-Barclays workers have been found guilty of manipulating the Libor interest rate between 2005 and 2007. Jay Merchant was convicted unanimously at Southwark Crown Court in London of rigging the key financial rate. Jonathan Mathew and Alex Pabon were found guilty by majority verdict after a ten-week trial. They will be sentenced on Thursday […]
JP Morgan launches In-Residence start-up programme
JP Morgan has launched In-Residence, a new programme for fintech start-ups to use its facilities, systems and expertise. The company says it is inviting start-ups to sit “side by side” with its businesses to develop innovations that could “revolutionise” the sector. Sanoke Viswanathan, chief administrative officer of JP Morgan’s Corporate & Investment Bank, says this […]
Standard Chartered revamps wealth management ops with Temenos
Temenos has landed a major deal with Standard Chartered, to modernise the bank’s wealth management software across 30+ countries. The bank signed for Temenos’ WealthSuite, front-to-back office, which incorporates the vendor’s T24 system; Insight BI for analytics; Temenos Connect for channels; and the TripleA portfolio management software that stems from Odyssey Financial Technologies, a wealth […]
Nordea launches new digital group
Nordea has set up a new “Group Digital” unit to drive its digital banking agenda forward. The unit will start to operate on 1 September and will be co-headed by Poul Raaholt, previously head of group IT at Nordea, and Ewan MacLeod, previously responsible for the retail digital transformation programme at Royal Bank of Scotland. […]
Overbond launches “first” end-to-end platform for primary bond origination
Toronto-based Overbond, a bond issuance market provider, has launched an end-to-end platform and support framework for primary bond origination – the “first” fully-integrated platform to connect bond market issuers, dealers, and fixed-income investors. The digital platform provides transparency, price discovery and investor diversification for all counterparties in the primary bond market, the firm says. “We […]
Wells Fargo to launch real-time P2P payments in US
Wells Fargo will launch real-time person-to-person (P2P) transactions in the US – for more than 17 million mobile customers. Beginning 1 August, the service will allow Wells Fargo’s customers to send funds in real-time at “no cost” to any customer of a bank that participates in the real-time service, which operates on Early Warning’s clearXchange […]
Brexit and financial services: the only certainty is uncertainty
By a slender majority of 51.9% to 48.1% the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union. The move will have ramifications for banking and financial services internationally as the country renegotiates its relationship with the EU and could topple London’s standing as a leading global financial centre. Nothing will change immediately, but in […]
Deutsche Bank gets go-ahead for 3,000 job cuts; invests €750m in digital projects
Deutsche Bank has got the green light from its work council to cut 3,000 full-time jobs. The cuts mainly impact retail and commercial business lines, with separate talks to be held regarding job cuts across other divisions. This development is part of Deutsche Bank’s major initiative to turn its fortunes around, announced last autumn. 9,000 […]
MoneyConf 2016: Domestic could be majestic for start-ups
Start-ups should first be focused on domestic markets over global ambitions, was one of the messages amidst the hurly-burly of Madrid-based MoneyConf 2016. More than 1,800 people were on hand for the two-day event held at the pleasant venue of La Nave. Part one of our review of the show was on wealth management, while […]
MoneyConf 2016: Feelings defeat trust in biometrics battle
Customer feedback on biometrics is based on how they feel, rather than trust; was one of the messages from MoneyConf 2016 in Madrid. At the stylish venue, La Nave, more than 1,800 people attended the two-day event. Part one of our review of the show looked at wealth management. In the nicely titled “No shoes, […]
Commerzbank launches peer-to-peer lending platform for SMEs, Main Funders
Commerzbank says it’s the first major bank in Germany to develop this type of digital financing marketplace. Main Funders is aimed at SMEs. Main Funders enables clients of Commerzbank’s Mittelstandsbank (MSB) business division (which caters for SMEs) to present concrete investment projects to potential investors and secure financing. The financing volumes are between €200,000 and […]
Seven major financial institutions in blockchain project for European SMEs
The participants are BNP Paribas Securities Services, Caisse des Dépôts, Euroclear, Euronext, S2iEM, Société Générale and Paris Europlace. They have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to study and develop a post-trade blockchain infrastructure for SMEs in Europe. The agreement is open to other interested parties. The aim is “to improve SME’s access to capital […]
More technology jobs to be cut at RBS
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will cut about 900 tech jobs in the UK, according to a Reuters report. At the end of last year, RBS’s domestic workforce stood at 64,000 people. Since March this year, the bank has cut at least 2,700 jobs in the UK, mainly across its branch network. The latest job […]
ING deploys ThetaRay’s analytics solution for fraud detection in SME lending
Israel-based specialist vendor ThetaRay has implemented its Advanced Analytics Solution at ING Netherlands for fraud detection. The vendor says that combining its tech with ING’s standing risk engine will enable the bank to detect new instances of SME lending fraud hidden within massive amounts of transactional and organisational data – in real-time and with industry-low false […]
Top fintech stories this week – 17 June 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! UniCredit and Open Bank Project launch fintech start-up competition Top prize is €50,000 and a contract to work with UniCredit. BBA to merge with three trade associations to create major industry body British Bankers Association (BBA), Council of […]
Wells Fargo invests in Alpha Payments Cloud
Alpha Payments Cloud, a provider of the AlphaHub Payments-as-a-Service platform, has received investment from Wells Fargo. Through its Startup Accelerator programme, for the next six months Wells Fargo will collaborate with Alpha Payments Cloud on its global payments network technologies for merchants. The company says its valuation now stands at $100 million. Wells Fargo’s Startup […]
Standard Chartered explores blockchain viability
Standard Chartered has compiled a report questioning whether blockchain could disrupt the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Target2Securities (T2S) project. T2S aims to standardise European cross-border trade settlement by integrating securities and cash accounts onto a single IT platform. Not only blockchain could play a material role in this project, some analysts suggest, but it could […]
Humans will have to go as Bank of America gears up to go digital
Bank of America is shrinking its consumer banking division by 8,000 people as it prepares to go digital. The bank has already considerably reduced the staffing numbers: from 100,000 in 2009 to 68,400 in Q1 2016. Thong Nguyen, Bank of America’s president of retail banking and co-head of consumer banking, expects the numbers to go […]
UniCredit and Open Bank Project launch fintech start-up competition
UniCredit and Open Bank Project, an open source API and app store for banks, invite fintech developers and start-ups to take part in its Appathon competition. The 2016 Appathon is driven by the Open Bank Project API, developed by the Berlin-based Tesobe Ltd/Open Bank Project. Ten companies will be selected to demo their products in […]
Top fintech stories this week – 10 June 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Goldman Sachs to underpin new digital bank with Infosys tech It’ll be the e-Finacle digital banking platform, Banking Technology understands. Infographics: The Euro 2016 guide to e-commerce In the spirit of that football tournament that starts today, we’ve got an e-commerce […]
American Express and HSBC part of $75m investment in Tradeshift
Business network Tradeshift says new and existing investors have joined its $75 million series D funding, including HSBC and American Express Ventures. Other investors comprise venture capital firm Data Collective (DCVC), Notion Capital, CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, managed by CreditEase, and Pavilion Capital, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings. Matt Ocko, co-managing partner and co-founder of […]
Four UK banks sign up for VocaLink’s Zapp app
Four of the UK’s biggest high street banks have signed up to launch Zapp’s “Pay by Bank app” mobile payment service. Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Halifax and Lloyds Bank are working with Zapp, VocaLink’s payments innovation team, to deliver the service. David Yates, CEO VocaLink, says the gang of four join a “growing number of […]
Goldman Sachs to underpin new digital bank with Infosys tech
Goldman Sachs has recently launched a new digital bank, GS Bank. It accepts deposits from consumers and institutional clients, starting from just $1. Goldman Sachs is understood to be working with Infosys and its EdgeVerve division on this project, with the vendor’s e-Finacle platform as the underlying tech for GS Bank. Infosys’ spokesperson provided a […]
Cater Allen Private Bank in major tech overhaul with Temenos
Cater Allen, a London-based private bank and a subsidiary of Santander, is undergoing a major technology overhaul. The bank is going to implement a new core banking system, Temenos’ T24, Banking Technology understands. It is now looking to recruit T24 specialists and project managers to help it with system customisation and implementation, and migration from […]
Infographics: FATCA and CRS – how ready are you?
As we enter a new era in global tax reporting with increasing regulations around tax transparency, Banking Technology and Thomson Reuters have gathered industry views from across the globe to piece together a full picture on the financial market’s readiness for the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and continued approach to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance […]
Ex-Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins sets up new fintech start-up
Former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins has set up a fintech firm called 10X Future Technologies. Jenkins, who was sacked by Barclays in summer 2015 for failing to transform the bank quickly enough, has appointed himself as the sole director of 10X Future Technologies. He has refused to comment on what he plans to do with […]
Standard Chartered unveils mobile and online banking in Africa
Standard Chartered is bringing its mobile and online banking platform to eight countries in Africa. After the roll-out to Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the first half of 2016, the bank will launch fingerprint recognition technology in these markets later in the year. Karen Fawcett, Standard Chartered’s CEO for retail […]
Santander UK pilots blockchain app for payments
Santander says it is the “first” UK bank to introduce blockchain for international payments through a new app. It is currently being rolled out as a staff pilot, with the intention to expand the technology “at a later date”. Sigga Sigurdardottir, head of customer and innovation at Santander, says: “The need for finance has evolved […]
UK start-up Ormsby Street launches in Germany with Deutsche Bank
UK start-up Ormsby Street has launched its credit-checking tool CreditHQ in Germany, as part of a new partnership with Deutsche Bank. CreditHQ allows a small business to check the financial health and credit status of any customer or partner and will be available to small business customers of Deutsche Bank. Its German launch is the […]
