BankingTech


Euronext to acquire FastMatch for FX sake

Pan-European exchange Euronext will acquire about 90% of FastMatch for $153 million as part of its expansion plans in the $5.1 trillion daily foreign exchange (FX) market. FastMatch’s management will retain about 10% interest, with minority rights. Closing is subject to regulatory and anti-trust approvals, and is expected to occur in Q3 2017. Stéphane Boujnah, […]

Swift unveils “first ever” cross-border payments tracker

Corporate treasurers have a moment to treasure as Swift has unveiled its new cross-border payments “Tracker” for real-time tracing. Swift says Tracker is the “cornerstone” of its global payments innovation (gpi) initiative – which went live in February – with the aim to deliver greater speed, transparency and end to end tracking. Tracker provides a […]

Saxo Bank releases new developer portal for open banking

Denmark’s Saxo Bank has released its new developer portal as it looks to strengthen its involvement in open banking. The portal provides technical documentation, reference guides, sample code and interactive tools. With the release, Saxo has made its trading infrastructure available to third-party developers, fintechs, vendors and partners, enabling them to connect to its trading […]

Will robotic process automation herald a new digital era in regulatory compliance in banks?

Exploring how the robotic process automation (RPA) powered digital workforce looks to disrupt the manual effort intensive regulatory compliance landscape in BFS, what edge it has over its human counterpart, the roadmap towards RPA driven compliance, challenges in this digitisation journey and success mantras, and innovations that are underway towards building intelligent RPA to replicate human decision-making.

Double Swiss bliss for Finnova banking software

Switzerland-based Finnova’s service partner InCore Bank has migrated private banks Arner Bank and Bank von Roll to its private banking hub. The hub now has 16 financial institutions, making it Switzerland’s “largest multi-tenant tower” based on Finnova Banking Software. InCore is a transaction bank which operates within the Swiss and Liechtenstein markets, and offers business […]

R3 rival Enterprise Ethereum Alliance expands in size

The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) has seen a surge of interest in its plans to drive Ethereum blockchain technology best practices with the arrival of 86 new members. New faces include Broadridge, DTCC, Deloitte, Infosys, ​MUFG, National Bank of Canada, Rabobank and Samsung SDS. As Banking Technology reported in March, Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Intel, […]

Xinja drops ninja mode to reveal new mobile-only bank

Australia-based Xinja has emerged from the shadows to unveil its plans for a mobile-only digital bank. Xinja has raised in excess of AU$2 million ($1.5 million) in its first-round funding to launch a pre-paid debit card as a precursor to establishing Australia’s first fully digital, independent “neobank” built for mobile. The bank will have no […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 19 May 2017

It was only two days ago since the last blockchain and Bitcoin round-up, but here’s more news to keep you in the loop. Features Ripple, BitGo, Abu Dhabi Global Market, R3 and Corion. Ripple has enjoyed a good start to the year with ten more financial institutions recently jumping onboard its blockchain network; and deals […]

Twins win in HSBC voice tricking sting

HSBC has been left red-faced after a BBC reporter and his non-identical twin tricked its voice ID authentication service. The BBC says its “Click” (a weekly TV show) reporter Dan Simmons created an HSBC account and signed up to the bank’s service. HSBC states that the system is secure because each person’s voice is “unique”. […]

Trio triumph in Innotribe’s African start-up challenge

Innotribe, Swift’s innovation arm, has revealed the three winners of its third 2017 Startup Challenge for Africa in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Each start-up receives a €10,000 cash prize and will share their insights about innovation in Africa at Sibos in Toronto. The trio are: IroFit Technologies – offers small businesses processing for in-store mobile/card payments […]

Mobile money could make Africa the new boss

Samsung Pay has officially launched in the UK, continuing the evolution of the digital economy, but does this technology have the potential to disrupt the global pecking order?

Knowledge economy in financial services: from curator to conductor

Once upon a time, not so long ago, companies tried to generate new business by sending marketing messages to prospective clients by post. Direct or “junk” mail – sending a leaflet or letter to anyone for whom the firm had a job title, street address or postcode – was pretty unsophisticated, often derided as a “scattergun” approach.

Equifax forms new alliance to develop open banking products

Equifax, credit information provider Castlight and Oakbrook Finance, the owners of consumer loan brand Likely Loans, have teamed up to develop new products for the 2018 open banking initiative. Under open banking, Equifax says bank transaction data will play a crucial role in lending decisions. Lenders will have access to real-time and historic account and […]

Crosstown Civic Credit Union in digital banking tech revamp

Crosstown Civic Credit Union, a 31,000-member institution in Winnipeg, Canada, is modernising its digital banking delivery channels with Central 1 Credit Union. Crosstown Civic CU is implementing Central 1’s MemberDirect platform, provided on a hosted basis.

Sweet sixteen keen on CCRManager’s trade finance platform

Sixteen financial institutions (FIs) are onboard for CCRManager’s new electronic platform, developed for the distribution of trade finance, supply chain finance and working capital assets. Bank of China, DBS Bank, ICICI Bank, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and UniCredit have signed up as members of the platform to support their trade risk distribution businesses. In addition, […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 17 May 2017

The world moves fast, so you need a fast read. A round-up of key events in the blockchain and Bitcoin arena. Featuring Coinsilium Group, SatoshiPay, Aragon, ShapeShift and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Blockchain accelerator Coinsilium Group reveals that SatoshiPay, a “nano-payments” company in which Coinsilium has a 12.08% equity interest, has added PayPal as a new […]

SAP fires up Leonardo platform for digital innovation

SAP has made a raft of announcements (and promises) at its annual Sapphire conference in Orlando, Florida. Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, says the company continues to be committed to its “empathy” strategy unveiled last year and the time is now for “the urgency of action”. The vendor has unveiled its new SAP Leonardo platform […]

SIX and Credit Suisse play same game with ATM software launch

SIX and Credit Suisse have unveiled ATMfutura – a cash dispenser which displays the same user interface and guidance on all ATMs in Switzerland. SIX and its partners were commissioned by Swiss banks to develop the centralised multivendor software and it is planned to function on all bank ATMs in the alpine nation from 2018. […]

Virgin Money walks away from Co-op Bank takeover talks

Virgin Money has withdrawn from a potential takeover of the UK’s Co-op Bank as the struggling lender prioritises talks with a group of hedge funds about a financial restructuring, according to Sky News. As Banking Technology reported in February, the Co-op Bank was put up for sale – with the minority investor Co-op Group saying […]

First National Bank of Pandora opens up to tech revamp with Fiserv

Ohio-based First National Bank of Pandora has selected Fiserv’s Premier core account processing platform for a front-to-back office technology overhaul. The bank has also chosen Retail Online and Business Online from Fiserv for consumer and business online banking, Mobiliti for mobile banking, CheckFree RXP for electronic bill payment, and Web Hosting and Design Services. Todd […]

Westpac takes first steps in cloud core system plan

Australian bank Westpac has gone live with the first stages of its tech overhaul in Australia to move its core processes from its own premises and into the cloud. According to the Australian Financial Review, it “has already moved two core banking processes to the cloud since the end of March, and intends to have […]

White paper: value of commercial cards for banks and their clients

This free white paper provides a structured framework for measuring performance of commercial card programmes across multiple industry sectors, suggests a range of norms for card penetration and usage, and describes the key data points for measurement. It also describes the actions that card issuers could take to maximise value from the programmes they have running: retaining business that is already fruitful, and nurturing business which could be more abundantly fruitful.

Fintech outside London – part 2

We look at UK fintech firms working outside of the London “bubble”, examining where they are based and why; their history; target markets; clients; tech specialisations, concerns and future plans.

Tandem Bank cuts staff numbers as funding slumbers

UK challenger bank Tandem is axing 30 jobs after its £29 million in funding fell through earlier this year. A source has told Business Insider that Tandem has “reduced its staffing levels from around 110 to close to 80. The headcount reduction includes both redundancies and contractors who have not been renewed”. As Banking Technology […]

Moneycorp buys Commonwealth Foreign Exchange for US boost

Moneycorp in the UK has signed an agreement to acquire US-based payments firm Commonwealth Foreign Exchange (Commonwealth FX). The acquisition, subject to regulatory licensing approvals, will allow Moneycorp to “extend the geographical reach of its payments platform”. Nick Haslehurst, chief financial and operating officer at Moneycorp, says it sees “huge potential in the US among […]

Ten start-ups power up for FIS fintech accelerator

FIS and the Arkansas-based entrepreneur support organisation Venture Center have revealed the ten start-ups for their 2017 VC Fintech Accelerator, now in its second year. The 2017 programme received 295 applications from across the US and 39 other countries. The selected companies (all American, bar one) will participate in a 12-week programme designed to accelerate […]

Temenos sunsets Trinovus core banking software business

As Temenos is now setting its sights on US banks and FIs with assets over $1 billion, smaller community banks using Trinovus’ Trinisys core system need to find new providers. Trinisys will be sunsetted in June next year.