Analysis


Funds Transfer Pricing: confronting a mosaic of risk

The need for financial institutions to accurately gauge their exposure to myriad sources of risk has seldom, if ever, been greater. The credit crisis toward the end of the last decade must have made that clear, and if bankers managed to avoid getting the message back then, the point has been driven home ever since by regulators around the world

Paybefore CEO Says Goodbye

Seven and a half years ago, I wrote my first communication as the CEO of Paybefore, and now I’m writing my last. I’ve made the very difficult (but exciting) decision to retire from Paybefore.

Planning the digital transformation journey

For the new banks now is the chance to disrupt the banking industry. No legacy systems or existing processes or old thinking – they can jump straight to the new. Except, of course, those new banks that are being spun out of existing banks, where that infrastructure, IT and operations are supported by the current systems of the existing bank …

Derivatives exchanges slam regulators over open clearing

Regulators should not define how markets are structured when it comes to innovation and open access to clearing. Instead, it should be left up to the market to define how services are provided, according to speakers at the IDX FIA Europe conference in Europe this week.

7 Signs You Should Invest In Business Process Automation for financial services

Financial services has come under huge pressure in recent years particularly since the financial crisis. Competition, silo’d business units, efficiency in operation, compliance are just a few key issues being raised. With efficiency and competitiveness hand-in-hand and customer service as a bi-product of this, business process management (BPM), has shown just how this solution has driven cost efficiencies and overall resource efficiencies down.

Destined to fail: bank IT procurement for vendors

The increasing dependence of financial services on technology provides huge opportunity for IT vendors, but it also increases the supplier risk that these firms will carry, so it would be reasonable to expect the procurement process to become more rigorous.
What does this mean for vendors trying to sell into banks and other financial services businesses?

EU Payment Services Directive 2: counting the costs and benefits

EU lawmakers reached a political consensus last week on a proposal for a new EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2). This follows several months of negotiations between European Parliament, the Commission and the Council of Ministers and marks a significant step in regulatory development within the payments market

Blog: The Mobile Device: Solution or Form Factor?

For the first time since the financial crisis, banks are investing in digital strategies. That’s a step in the right direction, but how banks incorporate mobile into those strategies, ultimately, will determine their success.

Digital commerce has to get its payment priorities right

The ability to browse limitless shops and purchase goods and services from almost anywhere in the world has revolutionised commerce. Yet this revolution is unfinished because no matter what the choice, no matter what the shopping experience, the critical moment of entering personal and payment details can be so complex and lead to the customer abandoning the sale

Take the Banking Platforms Quiz and win an iPad

In the digital age, banks must adapt to new processes and customer expectations quickly. Yet many banks still operate legacy batch systems and have not yet transformed their ITO infrastructure. In association with SAP, Banking Technology is conducting a survey of the number of different systems banks have, and how long it takes for various transactions to occur.

Innovators’ Spotlight: Mozido

If you’re tracking the hottest topics in payments, watch Mozido. Over the past several months, the Austin, Texas-based mobile wallet provider has been investing, hiring and expanding in sync with the most important industry trends.

CBEST will help UK financial institutions lead in IT security

Banks will always be targeted by criminals and cyber attacks have become their most vulnerable attack surface. It isn’t simply about technology. It extends through people and process, and reaches from the central infrastructure all the way out to end users conducting online banking or financial transactions on laptops, tablets or smart phones. Because banks and financial firms have very large and sophisticated systems, this means that end-to-end security is notoriously difficult

CFPB Updates Consumer Complaint Manual (May 26, 2015)

The CFPB this month updated its Company Portal Manual, which explains in detail the process when consumer complaints are submitted to the bureau as well as the procedures companies must follow if they wish to respond to a complaint.

Things ain’t what they used to be

According to Cisco there are 15.5 billion devices connected to the internet, ranging from routers to telemetry devices, power grid controllers, smartphones and perhaps the odd toaster. Other than in retail situations this so-called Internet of Things does not immediately seem to have much to do with the financial services industry. John Bates thinks otherwise, and sets out why in his recent book Thingalytics.

Compliance and digital innovation needn’t be mutually exclusive

Regulatory compliance might be a fact of life for every financial institution, but it can be very challenging when competitive pressures come in to play. Software-based services are often now the primary means of contact between a company and its customers; IT is no longer a back-office support function

Mobile banking: what consumers really want

The growth of mobile money has been a steep upward curve and looks set to continue – Juniper Research predicts that there will be one billion mobile banking users worldwide by the end of 2017, up from 590 million in 2013. A recent Forrester report predicted that purchases on mobile devices would double by 2018, as even more people become comfortable buying online and retailers create more user-friendly mobile experiences

Banking at a digital crossroads

The Banking industry is at a digital crossroad as it faces both a wave of technology companies poised to disaggregate every facet of the business and a changing consumer that is increasingly demanding that banks products match the state-of-the-art digital services they are receiving from other industries

Five common pitfalls of financial crime prevention

Financial services organisations can, and do, prevent many criminal acts through adequate controls, proper supervisory procedures, and sophisticated detection and incident management technology. However, there are a handful of shortcomings that derail the best preventive measures and result in negative news headlines and increased regulatory scrutiny for individual employees and entire institutions alike

Mobile banking users to double by 2020

On the background of a recent study revealing that UK mobile banking users are set to double to 32.5 million by 2020, banks need to tailor their customer experience models heavily towards mobile devices, with the fundamental focus on creating a “mobile-first” strategy, if not the more radical “mobile-only” strategy

The road towards a better bank

The financial sector is a slow mover in innovation, however no single industry is leading the way in the Digital Identities economy. Banking is one sector that can take advantage of Digital Identities to better develop customer experience given the nature of the engagement and relationship between Banks and their customers. Banks fulfil a very […]

EU Lawmakers Reach Informal PSD2 Agreement (May 7, 2015)

European lawmakers, following years of discussion, believe improved competition, more innovation and enhanced consumer protections in cross-border payments will be the result of an informal agreement on a revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) reached this week.

Data integrity and post-crisis regulatory reform

The integrity of data in capital markets – be it, for example, price data, trade facts, collateral balances, or other key business information – has long been a fundamental concern of technologists and business stakeholders. But how do we define integrity?