Analysis


Lay-off plans dampen optimism in FS jobs market

The news of major lay-offs to come put a dampener on otherwise good news in the financial sector jobs market in the UK last month. According to the Morgan McKinley London Employment Monitor, October saw an across the board increase in both new job opportunities and new job seekers.

Addressing technology debt in the wake of regulation

Recent years have seen unprecedented changes to the technical infrastructure of financial institutions. Many of these changes have been driven by regulatory mandates drawn up in response to the financial crisis of 2007/8. As the Global Systematically Important Banks battle to comply with the January 2016 deadline of the Basel III Directive BCBS239, it is […]

Study: CMOs Predict Modest Increase in Holiday Sales

Chief marketing officers at 100 U.S. retailers are expecting a 4.2 percent increase in holiday season total store sales this year, which is in line with last year’s 4.1 percent increase, according to a the 10th annual survey from BDO USA, a professional services firm and consultancy.

Viewpoint: Virtual Currency State Roundup

Legislators and regulators are grappling with how to apply existing money transmitter laws to an emerging industry. Read about the challenges and latest developments across the U.S.

Why pending rate rises fuel the need for collateral optimisation

Eight years on from the global financial crisis, and banks continue to face a growing number of challenges. Many have ceased or significantly reduced proprietary trading, with the resulting reduction in both risk and reward. This period has also seen lower risk appetite among many investors and continuing global competition which has put pressure on profit margins,

Breaking News: CFPB’s Cordray Weighs in on RushCard (Oct. 23, 2015)

Despite reassurances from UniRush Chairman and CEO Rick Savard earlier this week that the company is working around the clock to address any remaining cardholder issues arising from its recent technology migration, CFPB Director Richard Cordray today offered his two cents on the matter, saying the bureau will use “all appropriate tools at our disposal to help ensure that consumers obtain the relief that they deserve.”

Why should banks care about ‘tech levels’?

The fact that London’s financial services sector is also a hot spot for technology innovation is not news. In 2014, investment in financial technology firms grew by 136%. Earlier this year, George Osborne identified London’s financial technology sector as a particularly bright spot in the recovering economy – not surprising when you consider the transformational effect that information technology continues to have on the industry

Viewpoint: Selfie Generation Demands Personalization

The selfie boom was born in 2003 with the world’s first front-facing camera, and millennials are the first generation to grow up with technology focused on one’s self, bringing new expectations to the meaning of personalized, digital services.

NRF: Gift Cards (Again) are Most Wanted for the Holidays

The National Retail Federation’s annual holiday survey puts gift cards on top as the most requested holiday gift for the ninth consecutive year. Plus, consumers share plans for their most mobile holiday shopping season yet.

Blockchain: widely discussed but what are the implications?

The fintech revolution is now firmly established, and disruptive technologies are blooming all across the sector. From securities to payments, everyone in the sector is watching to see how the next innovation will affect their business.

Will banks suffer casualties in the battle to own the customer experience?

Technology has infiltrated every facet of our lives, fundamentally changing our behaviour patterns and our expectations of what constitutes a good customer experience. The banking sector has not been immune to these changes; the industry has been forced to drastically transform its business processes and services in order to keep up with customers’ expectations. Today, customer satisfaction is judged not by the smile on the face of a cashier, but on the speed with which one can gain mobile access

Is everybody API?

Competition from financial technology companies and regulatory changes are forcing banks to adopt APIs to provide access to client information, which has many implications across the industry.

It’s not who you know, it’s what you know

Sluggish economic growth in developed nations means attention is still focused on the growth markets of the Brics nations. As intra-regional trade grows, local knowledge is becoming a valued commodity.

From tiny acorns …

From its tentative early steps to open the Swift network to corporations, Swift has been steadily building its corporate membership. Swift membership is increasingly an option for not only large multinationals, but also medium sized companies. Daily News at Sibos looks at the current status of Swift for Corporates.

Retailers Continue to Challenge Interchange Fee Settlement

Target Corp., Amazon.com and a host of other retailers continue to challenge MasterCard, Visa and several large banks over the terms of a $7.25 billion settlement reached in 2013. The settlement was supposed to end the retailers’ claims that the banks and MasterCard and Visa artificially inflated interchange fees. Several of the largest retailers, however, […]

The path to a post-trade utility

Shared utilities could save institutions as much as 40% of their current processing costs, but there are challenges to implementation.

The value of utility

Compliance obligations are increasing for financial institutions. A utility approach to the issue is gaining favour …

Finding the right fit

Trade finance plays an important role in helping to grease the wheels of the global economy. A largely paper-based process, effort is being put into finding ways to automate and improve processes for banks and corporates. 

Building a new risk architecture

It seems that at each Sibos, certainly since the financial crisis of 2008, a regulatory deadline is looming large. This year’s model is the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s (BCBS’) 11 principles for effective risk data aggregation and risk reporting (BCBS 239), with which globally systemically important banks (GSIBs) must comply by 1 January 2016. However, a report on the progress of adoption reveals a lack of preparedness.

Meeting the need for speed

Real-time payments systems and infrastructures are being rolled out globally. What impact will they have on financial institutions? How fast is too fast? Daily News at Sibos asked delegates where the trend is heading …

The instant catalyst

Immediate payments are acting as a catalyst for banks to add value and develop holistic payment solutions. In this extract from World Payments Report 2015, the impact of immediate payments on banks’ offerings is examined

Rearranging risk

Pushing more complex products towards mandatory central clearing may increase the risks to which CCPs and clearing members are exposed. Frances Faulds examines whether CCPs can continue pooling risks in a safe and efficient way

Keeping it real

Global interoperability of real-time payments systems will require harmonisation of market practices and standards.

Chips off the old blockchain

The distributed ledger is one of the hottest topics in financial services. Born out of the crypto-currency bitcoin, the blockchain concept has gone mainstream and the first area to feel the impact is likely to be payments.

ISO 20022: Working in Harmony

Despite celebrating its 10th birthday in 2014 – or perhaps because of it – the number of variations of ISO 20022 being deployed is prompting concerns that it is rapidly becoming less useful as a standard. There is increasing recognition that differences in implementation and market practices could lead to a fragmentation of the standard.

Coming in from the cold

Fostering innovation in financial technology has become a much more collaborative affair: global banking giants are courting small technology start-ups in the hopes of gaining a competitive edge in financial services …

Caught in the crossfire

Cyber attacks cost little to perpetrate, but plenty to prevent. A focus on external and internal factors will help financial institutions to mitigate the threat.

Europe’s unsettling times

T2S, Europe’s harmonised settlement platform, is live. With a series of migration waves scheduled up until full live operation in July 2017, the next few years are likely to be characterised by intense activity as market participants finalise their strategies …

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