FinTech


The brave new world of mobile banking

The digital era is changing your bank rapidly. Is your mobile testing & assurance practice ready? P Venkatesh, director of the product division, and Srivatsan TT, vice president of the solutions group, at Maveric Systems discuss the issues

ESMA puts IT on the regulatory agenda for credit ratings agencies

The European Securities and Markets Authority has set out a series of tough new proposals for how credit rating agencies should be regulated. The proposals have reignited debate over the agencies, which have been controversial for their alleged role in the financial crisis.

The mobile movement driving multi-channel banking

Despite the significant challenges faced by the UK’s banking sector over the last decade, there has been a dramatic evolution in the customer experience following the introduction of online, telephone and mobile banking. While the branch remains an important channel, especially for older customers, mobile technology is rapidly redefining how customers interact with their banks.

FCA issues considerations on the procurement of off-the-shelf technology solutions

The Financial Conduct Authority has recently issued a series of “considerations” for firms that are thinking about using third-party technology banking solutions. The considerations do not seek to tell firms how to structure their IT procurements but rather provide a useful framework for firms to demonstrate that their IT services are effective, resilient and secure.

Getting ready for mobile payments

With the penetration of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets constantly growing, attention is increasingly turning to mobile marketing, mobile commerce and mobile payments. It is still the case, however, that these trends are largely played out in specialised media, and do not influence the actual behaviour of consumers. This is especially true for mobile payments, with consumers very sceptical about this concept

The rise of the Asian superbroker

As the global banks grapple with tides of regulation, fines, and a myriad of other post-crisis issues, local Asian institutions are tooling up and stepping in to fill the gaps.

Brazil overhauls derivatives market

Brazil’s BM&F Bovespa exchange has begun a major new project to bring all of its four clearing houses onto a single technology platform. Billed as the “world’s largest clearing project”, the Brazilian derivatives market – one of the world’s largest – has been moved first.

BBVA names Next Bank Europe startup finalists

Spanish bank BBVA has named the 20 finalists for the European leg of its financial services startup challenge, BBVA Open Talent, which will feed into the Next Bank Europe conference in Barcelona next month.

LME overhauls network architecture

The London Metal Exchange is working with Colt to launch a new dedicated network interconnecting all its systems including the LME Clear clearing service.

Entering the Banking Technology Awards – guidelines from the editor

Entries for the Banking Technology Awards 2014 have been open for a while now, but as we move into the last few weeks, this is always a time when we are flooded with questions about the process. By way of response, here are some guidelines based on my experience chairing the judging panel over the past 11 years.

Next Bank Europe plots disruptive ‘hackathon’ in Barcelona

Spanish start-up support organisation Finnovista is hosting a ‘hackathon’ in Barcelona next month which it says will bring together programmers, designers and business people to develop new software for retail banking, capital markets, payments and big data.

US mobile payment firm LoopPay wins Visa funding

Mobile payments provider LoopPay has secured funding from global payments firm Visa as it pioneers a technology that capitalises on the installed base of magnetic stripe-reader point-of-sale systems rather than NFC, which is the current favourite in mobile payment circles.

SIA and Swish launch m-commerce push

Italian financial infrastructure company SIA has inked a deal with mobile commerce provider Swish Payments to support mobile payments in Africa and Europe. The two firms claim the deal will help to bring more efficient forms of payment to both regions.

Standard Chartered launches Philippine mobile wallet

Standard Chartered has launched a mobile wallet in the Philippines through a partnership with Globe Telecom, in a deal that will tap into demand for mobile money in one of the world’s strongest remittances markets.

Facing up to the Financial Transaction Tax

A European financial transaction tax on equities and derivatives trades could be damaging for European liquidity levels and the City of London, but it also looks set to impose serious operational challenges for banks, brokers and their buy-side clients following the failure of a UK appeal to the European Court of Justice earlier this year.

White paper: How do you influence fintech buyers?

Too many vendors are marketing “blind”. What’s missing is quantitative data on how decision makers at financial institutions identify and select technology vendors. Understanding buyers’ influences is critical in helping develop marketing and communications programmes that ultimately help vendors to sell. B2B technology PR consultancy CCgroup partnered with MRops to interview senior decision makers from […]

HCE and NFC: threat or opportunity?

Mobile NFC services continued to expand in 2013 but the big question is, will this be amplified or disrupted by the introduction of host-based card emulation (HCE) into mainstream operating systems?

Back-office legacy still holding back banks

Setting up a bank in the UK is costly, time-consuming, heavily regulated and not easy. As a result, the dynamic, start-up culture that drives innovation in many other sectors is less prevalent within banking and financial services.

MiFID II headache intensifies as ESMA deadline draws near

MiFID II could cause serious problems for banks, brokers and other market participants in the run up to the January 2017 implementation, according to executives attending a meeting chaired by the European Securities Markets Authority in Paris earlier this week.

Mobile banking to overtake online within five years

Analyst firm Juniper Research reckons more people will be using mobile apps for banking than web-based options by 2019, as the 800 million people who used their phones for banking more than doubles to 1.75 billion in five years.

EU sets date for MiFID II as transparency debate intensifies

The EU has set a date for the introduction of MiFID II, the long-awaited legislation from the European Commission which was recently approved by the European Parliament. The decision follows years of consultation and negotiation, but serious reservations remain about how transparency will be applied to non-equity markets.

CLS: Supreme Court ruling removes threat to financial infrastructure

In a landmark ruling, the US Supreme Court has ruled that the intermediated settlement of financial exchanges is an abstract idea and therefore not patent-eligible. David Puth, chief executive of CLS, which won the case in question. discusses the implications of the ruling.

Ullink plans NYFIX revival following purchase from ICE

French trading solutions and connectivity specialist Ullink has agreed to acquire NYFIX and Metabit from ICE Group, as part of a deal the international company says will give it brand recognition in the US and new opportunities in Asia.