How is insurtech going to keep up with the pace of fintech?
In an interview with Lisa Moyle, portfolio director of InsurTech Rising, we dive into the importance of partnerships and investments with insurtechs.
Innovation
Banking Technology April 2017 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.
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 31 March 2017
Boiled down and brief. The best bits of blockchain and Bitcoin in one round-up. Features Waves Platform, Ripple and Synaps Loans. Fresh from its ZrCoin commodities deal success, the blockchain Waves Platform is launching its decentralised exchange (DEX) and leased proof-of-stake on the Bitcoin network mainnet. DEX can be accessed via a full node or […]
Bold statement one: statements around the bleeding edges of innovation
This is a series of posts on a subject that plays on my mind a little – the application of disruption, and innovation, when it is related through the filter of our use of language, and our desire to seem advanced.
Mastercard buys NuData Security for IoT spree
Mastercard will acquire Vancouver-based biometrics firm NuData Security as it looks to make something out of the internet of things (IoT). NuData provides online and mobile anti-fraud solutions using session and biometric indicators. Mastercard will integrate NuData to its suite of fraud management and security products. Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk and security for […]
How crude! IBM oils up for blockchain threesome
Natixis, IBM and physical commodities trading group Trafigura have launched the first blockchain solution in commodity trade finance for US crude oil transactions. The distributed ledger platform, built on the Linux Foundation open source Hyperledger Fabric, allows “major steps” in a crude oil transaction to be digitised on the blockchain, ensuring that famous trinity of […]
BBVA joins Hyperledger blockchain project
BBVA has become an official member of the Linux Foundation’s open-source collaborative blockchain project Hyperledger. The bank joins American Express, the Bank of England, SAP, Wells Fargo and Thomson Reuters. BBVA is already a member of R3, which is also participating in Hyperledger, and of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, which supports the creation of blockchain […]
ClauseMatch right match for Barclays compliance
Barclays has chosen smart document management provider ClauseMatch for handling policies and standards in one place with a new online editor. London-based ClauseMatch, a 2014 graduate of the inaugural Barclays accelerator programme, will provide its editor to the bank. This tool turns a “fragmented workflow” of Word documents, PDFs and e-mails and replaces them with […]
Responsibility isn’t about rules
What can banks learn from the fintech community when it comes to fostering a culture of innovation against a backdrop of regulation?
Citi Digital Money Symposium: financial inclusion – it’s not just CSR
It’s good to do good but it’s even better to do good and make a profit was my takeaway from a lively discussion around financial inclusion at the recent Citi Digital Money Symposium held in London.
Tradeshift’s AI Ada aids commerce
Supply chain finance firm Tradeshift has unveiled Ada – an artificial intelligence (AI) layer on its commerce platform. Ada will learn from user interactions, “improve business processes”, and offer contextual information. It is available to third-party developers and interacts with users platform-wide as a conversational interface. Christian Lanng, CEO and co-founder of Tradeshift, says Ada […]
Raiffeisen Bank Romania in digital tech revamp with Backbase
Raiffeisen Bank Romania, a subsidiary of Austria’s Raiffeisen Group, is modernising its channels delivery with Backbase.
Samsung makes your wedding ring a payments plaything
Samsung, Smartlink and Ingenico have unveiled their “contactless companion platform” (CCP) to let people pay for things using anything they’re wearing — such as a watch or a wedding ring. It has been built with a dual interface smart card chip for multiple applications and form factors. Users tap the wearable on an NFC card […]
Accenture, IBM and Microsoft fuel blockchain market growth
The global blockchain market will experience massive growth during the next five years – powered by the activities of “key vendors” Accenture, IBM and Microsoft. According to Research and Markets’ report, “Global Blockchain Technology Market 2017-2021”, the market will increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 55.59%. One trend in the market is […]
Citi Digital Money Symposium: learning to swim during a tsunami
At yesterday’s Citi Digital Money Symposium, the question of a strategic response to fintech and the broader innovation challenge was posed to speakers from a number of large incumbent firms in the financial services sector.
Top fintech stories this week – 24 March 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
EdgeVerve calls for fintech’s magnificent seven
EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys, has launched Finacle FinTech Connect and the chance for firms to integrate their solutions into Finacle’s banking suite. Companies are invited to register for a partnership evaluation process and stand a chance to present at its event Infosys Confluence 2017 in May in San Francisco; along with joint […]
Nesta calls for SME innovation with £5m prize fund
UK-based innovation foundation Nesta has launched its “Open Up Challenge” as it looks for services, apps and tools for SMEs. The competition is now open for entries. A £5 million prize fund is on offer and it is looking for 20 entries from anywhere in the world that will use open banking APIs – “newly […]
Diamonds and blockchain are forever for SAP Ariba
SAP Ariba has unveiled its plans to use blockchain across its cloud-based applications and business network for trading goods and services. Among the first applications that SAP Ariba sees potential in involves the tracking and tracing of goods. SAP Ariba will join forces with Everledger, a London-based fintech firm. The latter captures the defining characteristics […]
Why we need diversity before AI takes over
We hear a lot about how artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to displace jobs, especially those held by women in tech, but should we also worry about a future overrun with sexist, racist machines?
Mutual distributed ledger: at the speed of need
Professor Michael Mainelli, executive chairman of Z/Yen Group, and Vinay Gupta, founder of venture capital firm hexayurt.capital, discuss mutual distributed ledger economics.
Samsung moves on Siri with Bixby AI
Watch out Siri and Alexa, Samsung has unveiled its own artificial intelligence (AI) solution called Bixby. This will be a new interface on Samsung’s devices – with the imminent Galaxy S8 getting it first – and when an application becomes Bixby-enabled, it will be able to support “almost every task” that the application is capable […]
Survey: how regtech savvy are you?
Banking Technology and BearingPoint are conducting a brief survey to find out the industry view on regtech and its implications for all parties involved.
Be Guess’s young, sexy, and adventurous guest
Are you young, sexy, and adventurous? No, me neither. It’s OK. Grab a hot chocolate, put your slippers and glasses on… and read on. Guess Watches has released watches (well, yeah) powered by Android Wear, Google’s smartwatch platform, to their Guess Connect wearable tech timepiece category, available late 2017. The global fashion powerhouse says, with […]
IBM Cloud launches enterprise-ready blockchain for Hyperledger Fabric
IBM has unveiled its new release of IBM Blockchain, the “first” enterprise-ready blockchain service based on the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric version 1.0. The service enables developers to build and host production blockchain networks on the IBM Cloud, and is underpinned by the IBM server LinuxONE. This development follows on from late last year when […]
The Monday mindset: 20 March 2017
Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, Banking Technology deputy editor Antony Peyton doesn’t offer up one view, but the views of many. While Twitter in general may often […]
IBM Cloud launches new developer tools for financial services
IBM has unveiled its IBM Cloud for Financial Services for creating finserv apps. Users will get access to APIs, data and content to build and monetise cognitive-enabled apps for fintech firms, banks, wealth management firms and insurance companies. Initially available in beta, developers will also have the ability to build in customer insights, regulatory compliance […]
IBM Cloud comes to China
Wanda Internet Technology and IBM have signed an agreement for the former to enter the public cloud business in China. This will be done via a new firm – Wanda Cloud Company – built on the IBM Cloud Platform.
Women in fintech: why do we need them and how do we recruit them?
Over the holiday period I saw my 17-year-old niece Katie reading an article in an engineering magazine about the lack of women in that industry. She is considering becoming an engineer.
Case study: Credit Suisse and SmartStream – fees and expense management
How a vendor’s acquisition of a big bank’s platform has led to the development of a utility. Credit Suisse talks about its fees and expense management transformation journey.
Top fintech stories this week – 17 March 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Inter-American Development Bank launches Finconecta ecosystem
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Florida-based fintech firm Above & Beyond (A&B) have unveiled “Finconecta”, a ten-month programme which integrates fintechs and financial institutions (FI) in an interconnected ecosystem. The technology platform behind it is called “Forward”, which was built by A&B, and is described as an app store-styled marketplace that allows firms to expose […]
Under Renewed Fire, the OCC Moves Forward with its Fintech Charter Plan
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is moving forward with its plan to enable fintech companies to become special purpose national banks (SPNBs), releasing a licensing manual draft supplement which provides guidance on how the OCC “will apply the licensing standards and requirements in its existing regulations and policies to fintech companies applying for [SPNB] charters“ and another document that summarizes public comments about the plan to allow SPNBs for fintech companies. The special purpose charter has no shortage of critics, but perhaps the most vocal—New York State—has turned up the dial on its opposition.
Consumers Are Open to Payment Innovation, But First Improve Existing Tools
Retail transactions promise to become more vocal and mobile in 2017, according to a new U.K. survey report. Even so, the mainstreaming of chat bots and other new tools appears a while off, given the relatively low level of awareness enjoyed by those innovative technologies.
BBVA launches fintech challenge for start-ups
BBVA has launched the ninth edition of its “Open Talent” fintech competition – and is looking for start-ups from across the globe. The Spanish bank says this year its programme has grown from one competition to five. It will be hosting three focused world-wide competitions, more than a dozen country-specific opportunities, two specialist challenges for […]
Bank Yahav live with TCS Bancs core banking platform: “the world’s most complex IT project”
Israel-based Bank Yahav has gone live with a new core banking platform, Bancs, supplied by TCS Financial Solutions. The “pure Java-based” solution is provided on a hosted basis.
Alexander Graham Bell’s influence on tech innovations in today’s financial services
“Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” These were the first words ever spoken over a telephone line and said by the man fondly described as the father of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, who would have turned 170 on 3 March this year.
The Monday mindset: 13 March 2017
Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week we welcome the views of our editor, Tanya Andreasyan, as she gives us the lowdown on going digital.
Top fintech stories this week – 10 March 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
New global fintech group for standardisation launches
The International Standards Organisation (ISO) Financial Services Committee (TC/68) has unveiled its new global committee, the Fintech Technical Advisory Group (TAG), to act as a sounding board for data and technology standards. The group’s goal is to establish a “proactive dialogue” with financial institutions, their regulators, and supply chain and fintech firm. TAG’s objectives are […]
