Capital One UK is inviting fintech start-ups to join its newly launched Capital One Growth Labs – “an accelerator programme for early-stage start-up and high-growth companies”. The initiative is supported by technology investor L Marks. The aim, states Chris Owen, programme leader, is to discover and partner with the new fintech talent and “and unlock the truly […]
Russia’s banking giant, Sberbank, has unveiled a new digital product, Sberbank Messenger – a communication platform for users to interact with friends and colleagues as well as with services providers, shops and businesses. It can be a person-to-person communication or by using artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The solution will be in beta testing later this […]
Art Gillis, a seasoned banking technology consultant (working in the computer industry since 1958 – and listed as a top 25 tech consultant by the American Banker) and author, pulls no punches in this opinion piece. Digital technology evangelists, read it at your peril. The past 50 years I have known only three bank CEOs who […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Perception brings to market new core platform UK credit unions, lenders and start-up banks take note. ING adds some zing to start-up ring It’s working with 45 start-ups on banking innovation. Punjab National Bank to modernise enterprise data […]
Many will be surprised by where the biggest transformations in fintech actually come from in the next few years. A true disruption probably won’t stem from a tech start-up that gets hot and rides the wave to a new normal in banking. No, it’ll actually be those old card-issuing behemoths, Visa and MasterCard, which will […]
Telefónica Germany, in association with Fidor Bank, will be launching its mobile banking offering, “O2 Banking”, in Germany in late summer 2016. Matthias Kröner, CEO of Fidor Bank, says the collaboration offers “the best of two digital worlds”. Namely, banking services via a mobile app and additional services from an O2 mobile contract. Fidor says […]
The fear of missing out (FOMO) forever clashes with the fear of failure (FOF) when it comes to innovating in banks. Lee Cameron, CEO of Monitise, explores the FOMO versus FOF conflict and how to resolve it. FOMO is commonly cited as being characteristic of the Instagram-driven millennial generation, but how does this relate to […]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is powering its new Open Experience centre with Red Hat technologies, including the Red Hat Mobile Application Platform and OpenShift Enterprise, Red Hat’s web-scale container application platform. Open Experience was launched by RBS in February at its HQ in Edinburgh (UK) to pursue “innovative new technologies for the bank and […]
IBM and SK Holdings C&C, a South Korean IT services company, are planning to bring IBM’s Watson cognitive technology language services to South Korean banking. The alliance, which includes training Watson to understand Korean, is designed to “dramatically accelerate” the adoption of cognitive computing throughout the region, giving South Korea-based developers a set of localised […]
Dutch bank ING has revealed it’s working with 45 fintech start-ups on banking innovation, such as money management, payments, lending and mobile on-boarding. Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group, says of the 45 fintech firms, these include seven start-ups working on their proof-of-concept through the ING Fintech Village initiative in Belgium, and four through the […]
San-Francisco based RocketSpace, with the support of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), plans to open a campus in London, designed specifically for “high-growth” tech start-ups. The campus, located near Angel tube station, will initially hold up to 1,500 members at its opening in early 2017. Duncan Logan, RocketSpace’s founder and CEO, says: “Creating a physical […]
With news on blockchain and bitcoin appearing thick and fast, here’s a round-up of key events to save you time. The Swift Institute has published new research on the practical application of blockchain (or mutual distributed ledger) in securities markets. The paper, “The Impact and Potential of Blockchain on the Securities Transaction Lifecycle”, is based […]
Deloitte UK’s blockchain team has launched a “smart identity” prototype at the Consensus blockchain conference in New York. The solution will allow users to create a universal digital identity powered by blockchain. It is at the proof of concept stage and Deloitte wants to work with other businesses (in all sectors) to develop it further. […]
Barclays Africa is piloting a chatbot within the coming few weeks, making it the “first bank” to do so in Africa. The chatbots will use artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate “intelligent conversation” through written or spoken text. Yasaman Hadjibashi, chief data officer at Barclays Africa, says the chatbot is a way to be “more relevant” […]
Deutsche Börse has opened its fintech hub in Frankfurt to promote Germany’s start-up and investment culture. This launch is part of the Hessian State Government’s fintech initiative, and Carsten Kengeter, CEO of Deutsche Börse, first presented the details and facilities back in February. Kengeter says Deutsche Börse wants to give start-ups in the financial sector […]
IBM has launched a new framework for “securely” operating blockchain networks, as well as new services on the IBM Cloud that are designed to meet existing regulatory and security requirements. Working with teams of security experts, cryptographers, hardware experts and researchers, IBM says it has created new cloud services for “tamper-resistant, trusted” blockchain networks. Jerry […]
Tech consultancy firm Capgemini has launched its Intelligent Test Automation Platform for financial services, promising quality assurance savings of up to 30%. The platform uses frameworks and robotic agents, and Capgemini says it speeds up the release of new products and services by providing “much shorter test cycles and better collaboration between development and test […]
Swiss software start-up LzLabs is collaborating with Cobol-IT to deliver the world’s “first” software-defined mainframe, designed to move legacy mainframe applications and data to open Linux server and cloud platforms. Cobol-IT will act as an integrated software provider for the solution as it is implemented for LzLabs’ customers across the world. Announced at CeBIT 2016, […]
A search for fintech now returns nearly ten million results – astounding, when you consider the first searches were recorded in 2005. But how many of those results focus on, or indeed are sourced from fintech innovators in the truest sense of the word, asks Philippe Gelis, CEO and co-founder Kantox. The reality is that fintech is […]
Infosys Finacle and software firm Onegini are partnering to integrate Onegini’s mobile security platform with Finacle banking solutions. Using this solution, Infosys says banks can offer customers an option to select “advanced” authentication methods, including fingerprint, facial, eye and voice recognition as well as multi-factor authentication for “added security” as they transact on devices. The […]
Swedbank has gone live with Nuance Nina, a virtual assistant that delivers a human-like, conversational customer service. The system, provided by US-based Nuance Communications, sits on the Swedbank website and the bank’s customers can type their questions to the virtual assistant. Swedbank customer service agents are also using the system to source information for customers. […]
Financial institutions are still nervous about APIs and security when the word “open” is discussed, was one theme from the Swift Business Forum London 2016. More than 1,300 delegates were packed into Tobacco Dock, London for the sixth edition of the one-day event. Yesterday morning’s sessions (20 April) were a mixed bag – “blockchain is […]
Blockchain is a revolution in reconciliation but not in payments, is one of the messages coming out of the Swift Business Forum London 2016. For the sixth edition of the show, more than 1,300 delegates were rammed and jammed into Tobacco Dock, London. This morning’s (20 April) sessions were dominated by warm-up speeches that praised […]
ISO 20022 Registration Management Group, the senior global registration body, has approved the ISO 20022 message guidelines – they have now been published. The new guidelines were developed by the ISO Real-Time Payments Group (RTPG) and facilitated by Payments UK, the representative of the country’s payments industry. Payments UK describes this development as “an important […]
Distributed ledger specialist Digital Asset Holdings has acquired a small Swiss start-up, Elevence Digital Finance. Elevence’s niche is a modelling language for determining rights and obligations in blockchain collaboration agreements. Its takeover provides Digital Asset with a new, verifiable way for parties involved in a transaction to independently prove updates to a distributed ledger while […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Money 20/20 Europe: Biometric identity, SMEs and final day’s sessions round-up Key highlights, what went well and what could be improved. Money 20/20 Europe: KYC/ID, commerce disruption and femtech round-up Valid points raised, key issues discussed. A must […]
Here’s a round-up of yesterday’s (6 April) panel discussions and today’s (7 April) sessions at Money 20/20 in Copenhagen. In “Biometric identity and its applications in financial services and payments”, on 6 April, it was a case of the panel moderator questioning the audience as the first step. When asked if they had biometric authentication […]
The financial services ecosystem is experiencing dramatic change, driven on the one hand by disruptive fintech models that are causing disintermediation of the financial incumbents, and on the other hand by rapid advances in technology that are disrupting the ancient, creaking core banking platforms. Fintechs, prepare for a wave of M&A, says FirstCapital’s CEO, Jason Purcell, as […]
Santander and Kabbage are piloting an online tool to give UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) access to same day funding. Announced today (4 April) at Money 20/20 in Copenhagen, SMEs can get access to new working capital of between £500 and £100,000 via an online process. At a media briefing, Sigga Sigurdardottir, chief […]
One of the most talked about issues in retail banking today is the emergence of the new entrant, or “challenger”, bank. “New” banks are being spun off from existing institutions and more than twenty organisations having applied for, or received, a banking licence over the past twelve months or so. Banking is becoming an ever […]
When you think of the new era in banking — let’s call it “Banking 2.0” — what do you see? Is there something revolutionary such as totally virtual branches or no paper money at all? It’s hard to tell how Banking 2.0 will exactly look like, especially with virtual reality (VR) sets going mainstream, but […]
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and Digital Asset Holdings have teamed up to develop and test a distributed ledger (blockchain) solution for repurchase agreement (repo) clearing. Blockchain will be used to manage the clearing and settlement of US treasury, agency, and agency mortgage-backed repo transactions. Mike Bodson, president and CEO of DTCC, says: […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Samsung Pay launches in China Big market, big appeal. FIS and Vocalink first to supply access to Faster Payments A number of banks are also lined up to connect directly this year. UK credit unions busy with tech […]
Santander says it has become the “first” bank in the UK to launch voice banking technology. The solution is provided by Nuance Communications. However, last month HSBC announced it was launching voice recognition and touch security services in the UK, which will be available to 15 million banking customers. This project is also being carried […]
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, but the blockchain protocol behind it can be used for a variety of non-currency purposes. People are using the blockchain to develop everything from ride-sharing services to voting applications to cloud storage. This nifty infographics sums up how the blockchain protocol works and how it’s being used. Source: Who is hosting this?
Traditional banking has taken quite a beating in recent years as more and more customers prefer to handle their banking needs digitally rather than be bogged down by paperwork or wait in lines at a physical bank. In a bid to meet developing customer expectations, many banks have begun offering web-related services such as e-deposits, […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Deutsche Börse and LSE to merge Two hearts beat as one. D+H Corporation joins US real-time payments rush Catches up with rivals FIS and Jack Henry. Deutsche Bank and Bank of China partner for cash management Becomes first […]
Berlin-based fintech incubator FinLeap and SolarisBank have created the “first” global banking platform, called Solaris – a Banking as a Platform (BaaP) service. FinLeap says it brought the team of entrepreneurs together, provided seed funding and support during the development phase for SolarisBank. Jan Beckers, chairman of FinLeap and chairman of the supervisory board at […]
Swiss software start-up LzLabs has unveiled the world’s “first” software defined mainframe, designed to move legacy mainframe applications and data to open Linux server and cloud platforms. Announced at CeBIT 2016, LzLabs says it is still undergoing clinical trials with ten companies, but it will be offered to customers both for use within their own […]
Microsoft has chosen Capitalise to join its latest accelerator, the fifth cohort of its 16-week programme for “high growth” technology companies. Capitalise officially launched at Finovate last month and is the “first” online marketplace using behavioural analytics to match lenders with SMEs seeking finance. The start-up says it features more than 50 institutional lenders, enabling […]
