AmBank in mobile banking “quantum leap” with Backbase
AmBank will be launching “a new phase of mobile banking very soon”, according to the bank’s new group CEO, Dato’ Sulaiman Mohd Tahir. The solution is provided by Backbase.
BankingTech
Metro Bank, SETL and Deloitte explore blockchain for consumer payments
SETL, Deloitte and Metro Bank say they have completed “a series of firsts”. SETL provided a contactless smartcard for digitised payments (based on blockchain), Deloitte applied its Smart Identity blockchain ID system, and Metro Bank hosted a connected client account.
Shedding light on shadow banking reporting
We take a look at the new EU reporting requirements for managing exposure to shadow banking. There are plenty of challenges ahead, not least for the systems that will need to be updated to ensure that firms are able to adequately cope with the new guidelines.
Blacklisted
Our new series of thrillers – produced and directed by CustomerXPs and Banking Technology – narrate the tales of the fight between the forces of good (the Clari5 analytics and anti-fraud software) and the forces of evil. Based on real events and guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat!
Shinhan Bank and Streami to launch Bitcoin remittance service
South Korea’s Shinhan Bank is launching a Bitcoin remittance service between Korea and China, with Hong Kong as an intermediary. The service will be available in December.
Lakshmi, India’s first banking robot, unveiled by City Union Bank
City Union Bank (CUB) has become the first bank in India to introduce a robot to deal with customer queries. Called Lakshmi, the robot is based on the IBM Watson artificial intelligence (AI) engine.
Copenhagen Fintech opens doors
Copenhagen Fintech, a collaborative venture between the Danish Bankers Association, Financial Services Union Denmark, and the City of Copenhagen, has officially opened for business.
Five large banks in Russia suffer major DDoS attack
Five Russian banks, including Sberbank and Alfa-Bank, have been hit by a major cyberattack, according to the country’s central bank and regulator, Bank of Russia.
Citi unveils Citi Pay; launches global API developer portal
US banking giant Citi is launching its own branded mobile wallet – Citi Pay – to take on rivals such as Android Pay, Samsung Pay and PayPal.
31 banks and credit unions in Australia to get Apple Pay
Cuscal, a major payments provider to Australia’s credit unions and smaller banks, has signed a deal with Apple to bring Apple Pay to its customers. The service will be available to nearly four million Australians that bank with 31 entities (which work with Cuscal).
A boringly good guide to cryptocurrencies
Here is a boringly good guide to cryptocurrencies, courtesy of MBNA. It is not boring at all really!
More branches and jobs to go at Lloyds Banking Group
UK-based Lloyds Banking Group is getting rid of further 49 branches and 665 jobs. The bank will offer services via mobile vans to the communities affected by the branch closures.
Top fintech stories this week – 11 November 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
R3 and ten member banks develop KYC service proof-of-concept
The R3 consortium and ten of its member banks have developed a proof-of-concept (PoC) for a know your customer (KYC) registry “that addresses the challenges associated with satisfying KYC requirements and allows identities to be managed by their owners”.
Fintech start-ups in Europe to get up to €1.6bn in funding from EIF
The European Commission (EC) has pledged up to €400 million to the European Investment Fund’s (EIF) new fund-of-funds – for the money to be spent on start-ups in Europe, including in the fintech space. The EC will also look for three times more investment from institutional investors to make up to €1.6 billion available.
Mizuho Bank Nederland live with new risk and reg reporting system, OneSumX
Wolters Kluwer has implemented its flagship OneSumX solution at Mizuho Bank’s subsidiary in the Netherlands. The solution supports risk calculations and multi-country regulatory reporting.
Hey, Siri! Send some money via PayPal
PayPal is bringing its users “an early holiday present” – the integration of Siri into PayPal.
Nordea fully automates processing of Swift MT798 messaging
Nordea has announced it now can handle the Swift MT798 messaging in a fully automated manner. MT798 facilitates corporate-to-bank (C2B) and bank-to-corporate (B2C) communication for the processing of documentary credits and guarantees.
Citi and Deutsche Bank join open-standard bond network, Neptune
Citi and Deutsche Bank have joined Neptune Networks, an open-standard network for bond pre-trade real-time AXE indications. The have also taken stakes in the venture and joined its board.
Artificial intelligence is fact, not fantasy!
Parth Desai, CEO and founder of Pelican, discusses why artificial intelligence (AI) is already fact not a fantasy, but cautions that we need to be realistic about what can really be achieved on the journey to true AI adoption in transaction banking and payments.
Tesco Bank resumes full service, refunds £2.5m to 9,000 customers
Tesco Bank has refunded £2.5 million to 9,000 customers who had money stolen from their accounts by fraudsters over the weekend. It has also resumed “normal services” following the temporary suspension of online transactions from current accounts .
Cinnober sets up real-time clearing subsidiary, looks for CEO
Swedish trading technology specialist Cinnober is spinning off its real-time clearing business into a separate subsidiary. Cinnober currently provides this service – known as “client clearing” – to large international banks and is keen to grow the business.
Mobile-only bank Pepper gears up for launch in Israel
Israel’s Bank Leumi is gearing up for the launch of its new digital banking subsidiary, Pepper. It is expected to open its virtual doors for business before the end of 2016. The tech is provided by Temenos.
Intesa Sanpaolo sends PIN codes to customers via digital channels
Italy’s largest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, is working with Gemalto to deliver PIN codes to customers via SMS, web and mobile banking app. Gemalto describes the project as “the world’s first comprehensive e-PIN notification service”.
UK cheque clearing firm iPSL to downsize locations and staff
Intelligent Processing Solutions (iPSL), a UK-based cheque clearing firm owned by Unisys, plans to close down seven of its nine locations in 2018. This puts 600 jobs at risk, according to trade union Unite.
Redmayne-Bentley selects Vermilion for private client reporting
Redmayne-Bentley, a private client investment management firm in the UK, is implementing new client reporting software, supplied by specialist vendor Vermilion Software.
Ffrees, Wirecard, GPS and Bottomline Technologies team up for U Account
UK-based banking services challenger Ffrees Fiamily Finance has launched a new “digital agency banking solution” – U Account. The account is supported by Wirecard, Global Processing Services (GPS) and payments software vendor Bottomline Technologies.
New fintech firm, Soldo, comes to UK and Italy
Soldo, a London-based fintech start-up, is launching its flagship multi-user spending account. Soldo is not a bank, but a prepaid MasterCard. It holds an e-money licence from the UK’s regulator, FCA.
FCA to hold regtech themed TechSprint
The UK’s regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will focus on “unlocking regulatory reporting” in its second TechSprint event. Over 100 developers and 30 organisations are expected to participate and “experts from the Bank of England will be observing”, says the FCA.
Tesco Bank suspends online transactions due to cyberattack
UK-based Tesco Bank has revealed that 20,000 of its customers had up to £2,000 stolen from their accounts in a cyberattack. As a result, all online transactions have been frozen for 24 hours until the situation is bank “under full control”, according to Benny Higgins, Tesco Bank’s CEO.
ABN Amro selects MarkLogic for trade store
Amsterdam-based ABN Amro Bank has chosen MarkLogic Corporation’s database for its trade store – and to integrate trade data across asset-classes and several trading systems. It will provide a consolidated view of data to provide a “single source of truth” for reporting purposes as well as providing alerts when behaviour is outside normal parameters. Jaap […]
Sparebank 1 extends contract with core banking and payments software provider Evry
Sparebank 1, an alliance of 16 Norwegian savings banks, has extended the contract with incumbent software supplier Evry. The agreement represents total contract value of NOK 3 billion ($364 million) over a six-year period.
SEB and Ripple to build real-time payments system on blockchain
SEB has teamed up with blockchain specialist Ripple to enable SEB customers to make real-time transfers between SEB accounts in Stockholm and New York. This is “the first step” of a larger blockchain-based payments project.
Law firm Addleshaw Goddard launches £500,000 mentoring programme for UK fintechs
Law firm Addleshaw Goddard (AG) is launching the AG Elevate programme – worth up to £500,000 – to support the UK fintech firms. The application process will open on 17th November 2016 – more established firms as well as start-ups are welcome to take part, AG says.
Wipro launches open banking API platform
Wipro has unveiled its Open Banking API Platform as its “expects a large number of banks and financial institutions to adopt open banking initiatives to conform with evolving banking regulations, meet customers’ digital expectations, and stay ahead in an increasingly competitive fintech industry”.
Banks and digital advertising: who’s spending what and where?
Where do major US banks and FIs place their digital adverts and how much they spend on these? We look at the digital marketing habits of Citigroup, Capital One and Chase (data courtesy of Pathmatics).
SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator in Hong Kong unveils finalists
Eight start-ups and scale-ups in wealth management, regtech, artificial intelligence (AI), payments, big data, blockchain and cybersecurity are to take part in SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator 2.0.
Byte Academy partners with Standard Chartered and tech heavyweights for fintech campus in Singapore
Byte Academy has unveiled its first international campus with programmes in fintech, data science and Python full-stack development. The new campus is based in Singapore, supported by Standard Chartered Bank, IBM, Thomson Reuters, Microsoft and the Insead business school.
Mahesh Bank searches for new core banking system
India-based A.P. Mahesh Co-operative Urban Bank is looking to upgrade or replace its legacy core software technology provided by domestic vendor Infrasoft Technologies.
Kbank and IBM team up for blockchain in Thailand
Kasikornbank (Kbank), one of the largest banks in Thailand, is exploring blockchain with IBM, “to save costs and speed up transactions”, the two companies say. The services will be launched in H1 2017, to certify the letters of guarantee (LCs).
