Is the R3 consortium going to wave goodbye to $53 million in research and abandon blockchain? In a presentation on its Corda platform, R3 says it doesn’t need “block chain”. (No space is usually used, but I don’t want to be too much of a grammar Nazi.) Credit for this spot must go to Twitter […]
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 […]
Let’s put the fun in funding by keeping it mercifully brief. A round-up of key events. Featuring Tala, Nymbus and Monzo. US micro-loan start-up Tala (formerly InVenture), led by founder and CEO Shivani Siroya, has raised $30 million in Series B funding. The money will support its expansion plans in South Asia and Latin America. […]
Eurobank, Greece’s third largest bank, has selected Brightstarr’s Unily hub as its digital workplace solution for that famous fintech trinity of innovation, communication and collaboration. Sotiris Sirmakezis, group chief digital and technology officer, says: “Unily’s combination of experience design and Microsoft expertise will help ensure Eurobank provides a great user experience that will ultimately improve […]
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 […]
UK challenger bank Starling is to host its first hackathon, opening up its API to outside developers. According to Starling, the hackathon makes it the first UK licenced bank to launch a public API in keeping with the ambitions of the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the open banking initiative. Megan Caywood, chief platform […]
Technology may rule the world, but human connection is still king.
On 16 January 2017, the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) released for public consultation its Economic and Financial Statistics (EFS) Form Review. Notably, this consultation package represents a major overhaul of many of the financial and statistical returns currently prepared by the Australian authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) as well as introducing a new set of returns to be submitted. We examine what’s at stake.
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 […]
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 […]
Infosys is fighting back over allegations made by an anonymous whistleblower that its $200 million acquisition of Israeli firm Panaya was a big old mess. The whistleblower says in an email that Infosys’ acquisition price in February 2015 was over the odds, as the company had been valued at $162 million by Israel Growth Partners. […]
A number of banks in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have signed up to use Swift’s Know Your Customer (KYC) Registry, a centralised repository that maintains a standardised set of information about correspondent banks, funds distributors and custodians required for due diligence processes. In both deals, Swift worked with its business partner in the Central Asia region, […]
A fintech journalist has reached the pinnacle of his career after being given a glossy brochure at the conference “Blockchain and Brexit – tenuously linked over four days”. Jaded hack and scarecrow impersonator Eugene Egmont, reporter at Flabbergasted by Fintech, approached a firm’s stand at the event with good intentions – a quick and lively […]
Switzerland’s Valiant Bank has selected the Backbase Omnichannel Banking Platform for its banking systems upgrade. The platform will help the bank drive “customer engagement” and “increase manageability across its different channels”. Matthias Häfner, head of digital banking at Valiant, says it chose Backbase “due to its expertise in providing a single omnichannel platform, which will […]
Nasdaq and Borse Dubai have signed a new infrastructure agreement for Dubai’s stock exchanges, Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and Nasdaq Dubai, to improve post-trade practices. Under the agreement with Borse Dubai, the parent company of DFM, Nasdaq will deliver a new INET-powered, multi-asset trading technology engine (Nasdaq matching engine), a cash equities clearing module (Nasdaq […]
Accenture will acquire German digital agency SinnerSchrader to boost its Accenture Interactive services in the country. Also, the company plans to launch ten new innovation hubs in the US in the next three years. Accenture has agreed to purchase a 62% majority of SinnerSchrader shares from co-founder and CEO Matthias Schrader, CFO Thomas Dyckhoff, and […]
Banking software vendor Temenos has reported total software licensing growth of 21% and earnings growth of 20% in its full year 2016 results. The vendor is in a vivacious mood, saying it saw growth across all geographies, with Europe and Asia “particularly strong”. Non-IFRS total software licensing revenues in FY 16 were $256.2 million. Total […]
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 […]
Pakistan’s Bank of Khyber (BOK) has chosen Autosoft Dynamics’ Islamic treasury management system, Adams, and its RTGS STP utility (real-time gross settlement system straight-through processing), AutoRTGS. The government-owned bank will use Adams (automatic deal, money market and securities trading system) for conventional and Islamic treasuries, while AutoRTGS will be used for processing fund transfers between […]
Boston Firefighters Credit Union has outsourced its core processing to Connecticut Online Computer Centre (COCC).
There is pressure for CEOs to decide how distributed ledger technology (DLT) fits into their business strategy. Regulators also recognise that blockchain could advance their own processes. So what is all the excitement about? Blockchain is an exciting innovation but the technology has flaws…
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Kevin, Traity’s new chatbot, provides micro-insurance for P2P transactions online. Created in collaboration with Australia’s financial services conglomerate, Suncorp, Kevin protects buyers on online marketplaces such as Gumtree, Facebook and Craigslist.
Erste Group Bank has opted for Asset Control’s AC Plus financial data management platform to support its PRIIPs and MiFID II regulatory requirements.
Chase is planning to launch a new self-service mortgage platform for its 43 million digital users, and will allow customers to digitally track their application – from start to finish.
Nordea Liv, a life insurance arm of Nordea, has worked with Norwegian fintech start-up Spiff to create a new app that will motivate customers to save money to reach goals.
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 […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
The mobile payment market is getting more congested every day. For banks, it’s the most frequent touchpoint – one that can help (re) establish everyday relevance and drive engagement. How can banks develop their strategy and prioritise the capabilities that will help them remain valuable to their customers?
Fintech start-up Bankjoy has signed three credit unions for its digital banking software: CommunityWide Federal Credit Union in Indiana; Advantage Plus Federal Credit Union in Idaho, and One Detroit Credit Union in Illinois.
California-based Kaiperm Diablo Federal Credit Union has selected Nymbus’ SmartCore core banking system as part of its technology revamp. Leslie Chan, chairman, board of directors, Kaiperm Diablo FCU, says: “Only Nymbus was positioned to deliver the technology innovation with the speed, agility and urgency we required.” SmartCore is supplied on a hosted basis, and will […]
Amazon is rumoured to be pondering the acquisition of Capital One. Banking Technology contacted both parties for a comment but received no response.
Major global transaction banks are now live with Swift’s global payments innovation (gpi) initiative.
With mobile money technology widely available, and so many citizens having access to a mobile phone, how many are actually banking in this way? What are the benefits available to them when using mobile money? And what does the future hold for this fintech innovation?
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 […]
Bank of Cyprus has selected Dovetail’s payment solution to support Swift, Target2, SEPA credit transfer and direct debits. The project is part of the bank’s ongoing digital transformation programme. Dr Andreas Stylianou, manager organisation and change, Bank of Cyprus, says: ‘Payments are the life blood of our business. We needed a modern, proven payments solution […]
Berlin-based SolarisBank has raised €26.3 million in its series A funding round as it targets European expansion, according to a “confidential source that’s close with the company”. The official press release is expected in the next two weeks, where Solaris will announce its new partners, as well as the products available for these partner companies. […]
Australia-based banking software and services vendor Rubik Financial is to be taken over by Temenos. The deal is valued at $50 million.
