Spain’s Caixa Bank launches mobile-only bank aimed at Millennials
CaixaBank is launching imaginBank, Spain’s first mobile-only bank providing banking services exclusively through mobile apps and social networks.
BankingTech
ICMA pushes for faster progress on European Capital Markets Union
The European Union’s initiative to create a Capital Markets Union in Europe is currently stuck in a quagmire of political debate. That shouldn’t discourage politicians and regulators from taking the necessary steps as soon as possible, according to a new report by the International Capital Markets Association.
Trust, data, and why marketplace lenders are here to stay
New peer-to-peer platforms that match lenders with borrowers are proving to be more efficient than banks at connecting those with money and to those that need money. Known as marketplace lenders, this new industry is still very much in its infancy, currently representing a tiny proportion of total loans compared to bank lending
Nationwide extends network infrastructure with BT
UK building society Nationwide has signed BT to provide the network infrastructure for its digital transformation strategy, as part of a six-year deal between the two firms.
Orange to launch mobile-only bank in 2017
French telecoms firm Orange is to create a new bank called Orange Bank together with French insurer Groupama, in a move the two firms say will help to break open the banking market using mobile phone technology.
India’s Post Bank gets March 2017 green light
India’s Post Bank is to begin processing payments in March 2017, according to the government’s communications minister. The move is part of long-standing plans to use India’s Post Office network to spread financial inclusion in the world’s largest democratic nation.
From training to trendsetting: how institutions reverse the fintech migration
Aspiration doesn’t look like it used to. The face of Eighties ambition was a power dresser, clad in a suit with shoulder pads as they rushed to Wall Street to earn as much as they could, whereas today’s bright young things are more likely to be found sipping lattes at a co-working space in Silicon Valley
Nacha sets out to dispel ISO 20022 myths
US payments body Nacha has set out to dispel myths about the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard with a new white paper published as part of an education programme as the US looks to convert its ACH network to the standard.
US T+2 migration guidance published
An “Implementation Playbook” detailing the timeline, milestones and dependencies involved in migrating the US equities, fixed income and unit trust markets to a two-day settlement cycle has been published by the T+2 Industry Steering Committee.
Blockchain: ushering a new era in fintech
The distributed ledger – the central nervous system of the Bitcoin system – is the most sweeping departure from the long-standing financial bookkeeping practices followed since the codification of the Medici’s double entry accounting system.
Industry backs Linux Foundation open source Hyperledger project
A range of financial services and technology firms are backing efforts by The Linux Foundation to develop “an enterprise grade, open source distributed ledger framework”.
R3 to involve non-banks in distributed ledger plans in 2016
R3, the bank-led consortium developing the use of distributed ledger technology in financial services, has added 12 new banks as it looks at how to extend its activities to work with buy-side and non-bank institutions in the New Year.
CFOs want the corporate payment tools consumers have
Six out of 10 chief financial officers from mid-market and large corporate firms in the UK say they would like to see the same flexible payments technology in their business’ finances as they enjoy in their personal finances, according to a survey by HSBC.
Helping millennials chart today’s financial waters
Millennials – those highly sophisticated, tech-savvy men and women born between 1980 and 2000 – present enormous opportunities for banks and other financial institutions. Yet to be successful, these businesses must understand and meet the needs of a generation that grew up having it all, seeing it all, and being exposed to it all since early childhood – and that is no easy task.
US and Europe set for real-time payments by end of 2017
The US and eurozone countries both look set to have live real-time payment infrastructures by the end of 2017, both using the ISO 20022 for real-time messaging standard.
Legacy systems – still the big barrier to banking innovation
Outdated legacy IT systems are a major stumbling block for traditional UK high street banks as they look to fight back against their often more agile rivals, widely known as ‘challenger banks’, who unhindered by complex, unwieldy IT infrastructures are typically better positioned to innovate.
Swift to launch global payment innovation project
Swift is planning to launch a global payment innovation initiative, which it says will dramatically improve the customer experience in correspondent banking by increasing the speed, transparency and predictability of cross-border payments. The platform is due to launch early next year.
Banking Technology Dec/Jan 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.
Could banks become our 24/7 personal assistants?
Digital technology is on the verge of transforming banking, in a similar way that Spotify has completely changed the music industry and Netflix has revolutionised broadcast entertainment
Cyber-security will drive New Year jobs boom
Employment prospects in the UK finance and banking sector in the New Year are the brightest in the past three years as high profile data breaches, such as those at TalkTalk and Sony, create a surge in demand for cyber-security experts.
Deutsche Börse re-signs for Scila Surveillance sofware
Deutsche Börse has renewed its contract with Stockholm-based independent surveillance technology provider Scila, signing a five-year agreement to continue using its software.
Blockchain Ready?
2015 has been a year of extensive discussion about what role blockchain can play in making processes in the financial services industry more efficient. It has also been a year where both banks and start-ups have been testing whether distributed ledger technology can adequately replace costly legacy systems and improve securities processing, writes Brian Collings. […]
Swift expands Innotribe to emerging markets, adds Industry Challenge
Swift’s Innotribe initiative is to expand its programme to support innovation in emerging fintech ecosystems, including Africa and Latin America. It has also announced a new Industry Challenge programme under which the Innotribe team will work with Swift members to identify business areas that could benefit from collaborative solutions.
PSD II: The Ayers Rock of payments?
Complying with the European Commission’s Payment Services Directive II is like climbing the massive sandstone bulk of Ayers Rock in Australia – you think you’ve reached the top, and then you realise you still have a long way to go, according to speakers at the recent European Payments Regulation conference in London.
Getting to grips with mobile security
The sensors built into mobile devices offer a whole new way of identifying their users though biometric techniques, according to security expert Uri Rivner.
The rise of the blockchains: alternative models emerge
If the global payments industry were to be designed from scratch, nobody would design the system which we have today. Yet distributed ledger technology has the potential to bring about dramatic change– if it can overcome the unanswered questions over to what extent the industry should collaborate or compete and whether there will be one model or many different ones, according to speakers and delegates at the European Payments Regulation conference in London on Wednesday.
Trade repositories fall short warns CPMI-IOSCO study
Just under two-thirds of the world’s top nations in capital markets have now adopted international best practices, according to a new report on financial market infrastructures, but more work is needed on trade repositories.
Banks warned: digitise or die …
Retail banks often claim that customer service is their primary focus, but 75% of banks believe they haven’t concentrated efforts on improving it. Instead, annual reports focus on the financial results. Whether these two stories can become one remains to be seen, according to a new whitepaper by bank technology vendor Misys.
Enhancing global real-time payments: tackling fraud and AML
Quick business successes can be built on the UK’s payment system that will play a key role in encouraging the efforts required to ensure that it achieves the “world class” status the industry is aiming for.
HP Enterprise wins RBS cheque imaging contract
RBS has awarded a contract to Hewlett Packard Enterprise for the implementation of a new image-based cheque clearing service in response to UK regulatory changes that require all cheques to be processed digitally by 2017, under HM Treasury’s Future Clearing Model.
Markit and CLS to provide cross currency swaps settlement
Financial information provider Markit and foreign exchange settlement service CLS have launched a new service for the cross currency swaps market.
No cloud please, we’re bankers
Despite predictions over the last few years that banks were just a heartbeat away from adopting cloud technology, only 1% of banks are actually running core processing in the cloud today, according to a new report by Temenos.
Market infrastructures must work with tech firms to combat cyber-threats
Financial market infrastructures must work with the “broader ecosystem” to improve the resilience of the international financial system in the face of “inevitable” cyber-attacks. The latest guidance document from the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and the International Organization of Securities Commissions – Guidance on cyber resilience for financial market infrastructures – looks to […]
Kynetix kicks off blockchain commodities consortium
Post-trade technology company Kynetix has launched a blockchain consortium, focused on using distributed ledger technology in commodities markets. The move comes as financial institutions increasingly explore ways to integrate the blockchain concept into mainstream financial services.
One in five UK bank accounts hit by cybercrime
One in five UK consumers (21%) have had personal details stolen and their bank accounts used to buy goods and services as a result of a cyber security breach, according to new research from business advisory firm Deloitte.
FIX adopts open access mechanism for trading applications
Non-profit organisation the FIX Trading Community has started posting its projects on developer repository GitHub, as part of a drive to get all of the important resources freely available in one place using a single sign-on. The move was done to encourage wider access and to speed up the development of standards for high-performance trading applications.
Getting fintech on bank CIOs’ radar
It is a well-known fact that banks have two types of technology: Cold War-era IBM mainframes running Cobol-based batch programmes and Evil Genius HFT systems. The mundane truth is that any financial services operation will have a range of hardware and software systems of different vintages and spend a lot of time and money living with the consequences.
Singapore Exchange and EBS Market to build bridge between FX OTC and futures
The Singapore Exchange is to launch FX block futures on ICAP’s FX platform EBS Market, in a deal the two companies say will bridge the FX OTC and futures markets. The move comes as regulators around the world seek to move as much trading activity towards cleared platforms as possible, as part of the ongoing G20 reform agenda.
Distributed ledger adoption in securities will split front-to-back
Either the distributed ledger is the greatest revolution in financial services for a generation, or it will make little difference to anything, according to the strongly divided opinions expressed by speakers at the Mondo Visione Exchange Forum in London last week.
BT adds Volante messaging tools to Radianz cloud
Financial network BT Radianz has added Volante Technologies’ tools to the BT Radianz Cloud, in a move the two firms say will improve the reliability of clearing, settlement and payment transaction processing while cutting costs.
