News


Half of retail banks say branches to disappear within five years

Almost 50% of retail banks worldwide believe the rise of digital will bring an end to branch-based banking, according to a study by Temenos. “Retail Banking: In Tech We Trust”, the third annual study of retail banks produced in association with the Economist Intelligence Unit, reveals that banks perceive the threat from tech companies operating […]

Deutsche Börse sells ISE to Nasdaq

Nasdaq has bought International Securities Exchange (ISE), operator of three US equity options exchanges, and ISE’s holding company US Exchange Holdings, from Deutsche Börse for $1.1 billion. The agreement excludes ownership interest in Bats Global Market and in Digital Asset Holdings, which will continue to be owned by Deutsche Börse. Carsten Kengeter, CEO of Deutsche […]

Fiserv fine tunes Unified Wealth Platform

Fiserv has added new advisor portfolio management and trading technology to its Unified Wealth Platform. The single platform is used for portfolio management, trading, accounting and reporting for managed accounts. The company says over 5,000 advisors and users supporting rep as portfolio manager (RPM) or rep as advisor (RPA) programmes have migrated to the “enhanced” […]

Mizuho Bank and Fujitsu boost blockchain security

Mizuho Bank, Fujitsu and Fujitsu Laboratories have jointly conducted a three-month operational trial using blockchain, which makes it “practically impossible” to tamper with transaction histories. The trio says this shortens the processing time for cross-border securities transactions, from the current three days to same-day settlement. For the trial, they built a system that “almost instantly” […]

ExxonMobil launches Speedpass+ mobile payment app with Apple Pay

ExxonMobil is now the “first major” fuel retailer to accept mobile payments at the pump, including Apple Pay, throughout the majority of its US network. The app enables customers to authorise a pump for payment via the cloud. Customers have the option to select Apple Pay as a default form of payment from within the […]

Big US banks to fight for instant payments market

Some of the major US banks are planning to tap into the instant payments market via their digital network, according to Reuters. Banks including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and US Bancorp will use their jointly-owned network, clearXchange, to let their customers transfer money. “What we are doing now is delivering payments […]

Square comes around to Australia

US-based Square’s payment processing and hardware is now available in Australia. Operating internationally since 2012, Australia marks the fourth market for Square, joining the United States, Canada and Japan. Square says its chip card reader is the “smallest” payment card reader on the Australian market. Sellers can accept card payments via Visa, MasterCard and American […]

Viewpoint: What’s the Best Route to Market in Europe?

Europe is the largest single market in the world and an attractive proposition for most payments businesses looking to expand, but you do need to look at the different options available and determine the best route to market for your own firm.

Amex Patent Seeks to Improve Reward Redemption

American Express could be exploring a way to enable its cardholders to pay with loyalty points on e-commerce sites or mobile wallets, according to a recently released patent application.

Refresh continues at Lombard Risk: new product, brand and website launched

A long-standing regulatory reporting software vendor, Lombard Risk, is undergoing a shake-up, with new identity, website and product offering unveiled. This follows on from the recent management overhaul, including the arrival of new CEO, Alastair Brown (he moved from RBS) and new global head of product, Tina Wilkinson (she moved from FIS/Sungard), and the resignation […]

Equiniti acquires Risk Factor and KYCnet

Equiniti Group has completed the purchase of Risk Factor and KYCnet. The acquisitions are part of Equiniti’s strategy of buying specialist technology platforms to provide regulation driven services for its clients. Last year it bought Transglobal Payment Solutions, while back in 2012 it acquired investment system supplier Peterevans. It also purchased a UK-based lending software […]

Standard Chartered brings “Bank on an iPad” to new markets

Standard Chartered has launched its “Bank on an iPad” sales and service tool in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Called Retail Workbench, it is a digital tablet-based sales-and-service tool that “brings the bank” to clients. It is integrated with the bank’s back-end infrastructure, and will allow sales staff to open an account for a […]

Tuxedo launches world’s first “live load” payments platform

UK payments provider Tuxedo has launched a “live load” payments technology platform, which removes the need to prepay. The vendor says it is the world’s first. The platform is based upon a single, partner-issued Visa or MasterCard, which is linked to customers’ existing payment sources via Tuxedo’s own platform. The platform is PCIDSS (Payment Card […]

Finnish SME banking specialist, Holvi, acquired by BBVA

BBVA has acquired Finnish online-only payments and banking services provider Holvi, as it seeks to expand its portfolio of digital businesses. Holvi will continue to be run as a standalone business, and Spain-based BBVA says there will be a “two-way flow of knowledge, ideas and support” between both parties. Teppo Paavola, chief development officer and […]

US to move to shorter T+2 settlement cycle by September 2017

Make a note, 5th September 2017 has been unveiled as the industry target for the US to move from a T+3 to a T+2 settlement cycle. The decision on this has been reached by the US T+2 Industry Steering Committee (T+2 ISC), organised by The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and co-chaired by the […]

Ulster Bank and KPMG launch start-up hub in Northern Ireland

Ulster Bank and KPMG have launched the “world’s largest free business accelerator” for entrepreneurs – Entrepreneurial Spark – in Belfast in Northern Ireland. The new hub, or “Hatchery”, can host up to 80 businesses and early stage entrepreneurs. Also involved in the launch were Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest (all three are part […]

Harvest Doubles Down on Call for Change at Green Dot

Harvest Capital Strategies has escalated its criticism of Green Dot Corp. and reiterated its call for the ouster of Green Dot CEO Steve Streit. In a letter sent to Green Dot’s board of directors last week, Harvest blasted what it called Green Dot’s failure to respond adequately a previous letter Harvest sent the company in January, in which the hedge fund manager outlined concerns with Green Dot’s performance and called for the removal of Streit and other two board members.

Fed: Small Banks Not Feeling the Hurt from Debit Interchange Limits

Despite some claims from the banking industry that small banks may be at a competitive disadvantage in a post-Durbin Amendment interchange environment, a new Philadelphia Fed report suggests that banks with less than $10 billion in assets have not suffered from the Durbin Amendment, which capped debit card interchange for larger financial institutions.

suretap Wallet Discontinues Prepaid Card, Keeps Loyalty

Canada’s first mobile wallet suretap has announced its discontinuing its prepaid MasterCard program effective at the end of April. What’s staying is the wallet’s capability of loading credit and gift cards for payment and a loyalty program, which enables consumers to integrate more than 20 loyalty programs with the wallet.

NCR brings first bill payment kiosk to Taiwan

NCR Corporation (NCR) has customised the first ever financial kiosk solution in Taiwan for E.Sun Bank. Called E.Sun iPayment Kiosk, it includes bill payment, statement printing and notes exchange. The bank also selected NCR Aptra Connections software to run on the kiosk and purchased NCR SelfServ ATMs to provide personalised ATM transactions. The E.Sun iPayment […]

Infographics: the state of fintech industry as we know it

Who, what, where, when of the fintech industry today – this excellent infographics pulls together plenty of useful data, from top specialists, unicorns and start-ups to geographies and M&As.   Created by Savvy Beaver and Call Levels.

MasterCard mulls VocaLink acquisition

MasterCard could be buying the UK’s payments infrastructure, VocaLink, in a £1-billion acquisition, according to Sky News. Following the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) telling banks last month that they should sell their stake in VocaLink to “help increase innovation and competition”, MasterCard is reportedly in talk with those banks. According to David Bannister, financial services […]

AnaCap buys more NPLs in Italy; plans digital bank in the UK

AnaCap Financial Partners, a private equity firm based in the UK, has acquired non-performing loans (NPLs) of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and GE Capital Real Estate in Italy. It is also understood to be crystallising a strategy to launch a new digital bank in the UK. The acquisitive PE firm has gained over €2 […]

Lloyds launches digital analytics innovation team

Lloyds Banking Group has created an in-house digital analytics team in the UK. This was in “partnership” with ASI (Advanced Skills Institute) and Google. However, the Lloyds’ team does not include any staff from Google. The bank tested Google’s big data platform technologies and analytics on non-personal behavioural data using a “secure” Lloyds account on […]

Swift India goes live

Swift India Domestic Services (Swift India) has gone live as the nation seeks to improve its digital economy. Swift India is a joint venture created by Swift, the global banking co-operative, and nine partner banks to “address domestic market needs” of the Indian financial services industry. After receiving formal approval from the Reserve Bank of […]

Dwolla docked dollars for its data security

US payments start-up Dwolla has been fined $100,000 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for its data security. Data security issues included: “Use appropriate measures to identify reasonably foreseeable security risks; ensure that employees who have access to or handle consumer information received adequate training and guidance about security risks; use encryption technologies to […]

Top fintech stories this week – 4 March 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! D+H Corporation bullish on payments software business Do you hear it? That’s the sound of optimistic noises. ICE pours cold water on Deutsche Börse and LSE merger bid ICE ICE maybe, ICE ICE maybe. Out of Africa for […]

Jyske Bank live with new reporting system from Vermilion Software

Vermilion Software, a UK-based supplier of client reporting and communications software, has completed a project at Jyske Bank in Denmark. Jyske Bank, which holds the third largest market share in Denmark and specialises in private banking, embarked on the IT revamp last summer. On the way out was the in-house built system. Jacob Jensen, head […]

Family Bank deploys new bancassurance system, JMR Infotech’s Avenir

Kenya-based Family Bank is implementing a new insurance platform, based on JMR Infotech’s Avenir offering. Avenir – an integrated bancassurance portal – will support Family Bank’s fresh entry into the insurance business. Just a couple of months back, the bank unveiled a new subsidiary, Family Bank Insurance Agency, to target “the lucrative but highly under-served […]

Google pilots “Hands Free” payment app

Google has built a pilot app, allowing payments in stores “completely hands-free”. The app, wait for it, is called Hands Free. Pali Bhat, senior director, product management at Google, says in a blog post: “Imagine if you could rush through a drive-thru without reaching for your wallet, or pick up a hot dog at the […]

R3 ends “first of its kind” blockchain trial with 40 banks

New York-based R3 CEV has finished its trial of five distinct blockchain technologies in parallel in the “first test of its kind”. The trial represented the trading of fixed income assets between 40 of the world’s “largest” banks across the blockchains, using cloud technology providers within R3’s Global Collaborative Lab. The banks, including Barclays, Deutsche […]

Nasdaq to support ASX in post-trade technology overhaul

Nasdaq will replace Australian Securities Exchange’s (ASX) existing equities and equity options clearing technology platforms. ASX says it wants to consolidate its number of post-trade platforms and this latest deal forms a “significant element” of its tech revamp programme outlined in February 2015. Tim Thurman, CIO at ASX, says: “While we have announced that ASX […]

Baymarkets takes over SIX x-clear’s Clara clearing solution

Sweden’s Baymarkets has taken over the support, maintenance and development of SIX x-clear’s Clara clearing system. Baymarkets says the addition of Clara to its product set will “complement” its integrated Edge platform, and creates a complete end-to-end solution. The Swedish company adds that the current team, who were developing and maintaining Clara to date, will […]

Bottomline launches Direct FPS Service for payments

Bottomline Technologies has launched a new payments gateway solution, Direct FPS Service. The company says the service aims to help challenger banks gain access to the UK payments market, as well as enable any organisation wishing to make “quick” payments to their customers or suppliers. It works under the New Access Model, designed to allow […]