Asia


HSBC India halves branch network

HSBC India is closing 24 branches across the country due to the rise in digital banking. Following a “strategic review” of its retail banking and wealth management business in India, it says it will move from 50 branches across 29 cities to 26 branches across 14 cities. HSBC India says: “This change reflects changes in […]

VPBank revamps omnichannel banking with SAP; plans new digital bank

Vietnam’s mid-tier banking player, Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank), has implemented a new digital solution, SAP’s Omnichannel Digital Platform. Omnichannel Digital Platform stems from the Sybase 360 product that came SAP’s way with the acquisition of Sybase in 2010. The new solution was deployed in one year at VPBank, with online and mobile components for retail […]

Philippines credit union groups sign for Temenos’ software

Two Philippines-based credit union networks, National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and Philippine Federation of Credit Cooperatives (PFCCO) will build a common banking and payments platform based on Temenos’ software. The new platform will underpin the service known as the ACCU Payment Platform (APP). ACCU stands for “Asian Confederation of Credit Unions” – both NATCCO and […]

IDBI Capital goes live with new trading platform, TCS Bancs

IDBI Capital, a subsidiary of India-based IDBI Bank, has gone live on a new securities trading and processing system, Bancs. The system is supplied by TCS Financial Solutions. Bancs supports online brokerage operations at IDBI Capital. It provides front-to-back office functionality and replaced IDBI Capital’s multiple trading and trade processing platforms. According to TCS, IDBI […]

Vietnam’s TienPhongBank stops attempted fraud through Swift system

Vietnam’s TienPhongBank (TPBank) says it has stopped an attempted wire fraud that involved the use of “fraudulent” Swift messages. The bank said in a statement late on Sunday (15 May), in response to inquiries from Reuters, that in Q4 2015 it “identified suspicious requests through fraudulent” Swift messages to transfer more than €1 million in […]

BPCE implements new core banking system in Vietnam, Sopra Banking Amplitude

Vietnam-based subsidiary of France’s major financial group, BPCE, is implementing a new core banking system, Sopra Banking Amplitude. The new solution will cover front-to-back office operations of the bank, including digital banking functionality. The system is supplied by Sopra Banking Software. The project follows the reorganisation of BPCE’s operations in Vietnam, with the business moved […]

Swift quick to dismiss Bangladesh’s allegations over cyber fraud scandal

Swift has rejected the allegations made by Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials to Reuters about the cyber fraud scandal in February. A few months ago, hackers stole more than $100 million from the country’s foreign currency reserves. In the ensuing furore, the head of Bangladesh’s central bank, Atiur Rahman, resigned; […]

IDBI Bank in major tech upgrade and business process re-engineering

IDBI Bank (formerly Industrial Development Bank of India), a state-owned bank in India, is going through a major core banking platform refresh. The bank is currently running on an old version of Infosys’ Finacle, version 7.x. Furthermore, the system was deployed in separate installations for domestic operations (retail and corporate), commercial lending (corporate finance), Dubai […]

DTCC teams with Korea Exchange for trade repository solution

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and the Korea Exchange (KRX), the securities exchange operator in South Korea, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to co-operate with each other on a trade repository solution in South Korea. Under this deal, both organisations will explore linking DTCC’s global trade repository (GTR) solution directly to […]

IBM Watson to bring cognitive computing to South Korean banking

IBM and SK Holdings C&C, a South Korean IT services company, are planning to bring IBM’s Watson cognitive technology language services to South Korean banking. The alliance, which includes training Watson to understand Korean, is designed to “dramatically accelerate” the adoption of cognitive computing throughout the region, giving South Korea-based developers a set of localised […]

Indian Bank in search of new BPM and middleware systems

Chennai-based Indian Bank has issued expressions of interest (EOI) for a new business process management (BPM) system and new middleware. The EOI for middleware closed on 5th May, whilst the closing date for BPM submissions is 14th May 2016. The bank will then proceed to the request for proposal (RFP) stages for both solutions. Indian […]

Punjab National Bank to modernise enterprise data warehouse

Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of India’s “big four” banking groups, is looking to renovate its data management set-up. It issued an RFP “to revamp existing functionality” either by enhancing its current enterprise data warehouse (EDW) or to deploy a new one. The RFP was issued late last year, for an end-to-end solution for EDW […]

Tokai Tokyo Securities goes live with Fidessa’s trading platform

Tokai Tokyo Securities (Asia) has gone live in Hong Kong with Fidessa’s trading platform as a fully outsourced service. Nishida Tadahiko, director and president of Tokai Tokyo Securities (Asia), says: “We have been using the Fidessa system for years in Japan [where the parent company, Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, is located], with full confidence in […]

Nucleus Software’s net profit and revenue fall in FY 2016

Nucleus Software’s net profit after tax decreased in the financial year (FY 2016), from INR 647 million ($9.7 million) in the previous year to INR 325 million ($4.8 million). For the period ending 31 March 2016, revenue dipped from INR 3.48 billion ($52.2 million) compared to INR 3.53 billion ($53.03 million) in FY 2015. Vishnu […]

Citigroup to launch voice recognition tech in Asia

Citigroup is planning to launch voice recognition technology to its retail customers, as part of its drive to digital banking. It says it will be the first bank in Asia to do this and is targeting one million Asian users in a year, according to Anand Selvakesari, Citi’s Asia Pacific head of consumer banking. Singapore […]

Intellect still losing money in FY 2015-16, but revenue rises

Intellect Design Arena is still not making a profit and has reported a loss before tax of INR 258.9 million ($3.9 million) for the full year (FY) 2015-16. This is an improvement on last year, when it reported a loss before tax of INR 812.3 million ($12.2 million) for the period ending 31 March 2015. […]

Sanasa Development Bank implements new loan origination system

Sanasa Development Bank in Sri Lanka is automating its front-office lending software. The bank is going to implement a new end-to-end platform for loan origination, mobile loan origination and collections. The bank issued a request for proposal (RFP) at the end of last year to find the new system and the supplier. The bidding process […]

Federal Bank in treasury management software overhaul, looks to replace Intellect

Federal Bank in India is looking to replace its legacy treasury system, supplied by Intellect Design Arena. It issued a request for proposal (RFP) for procurement and migration of treasury management. The bank currently runs its treasury operations from its Mumbai office, and is active in domestic, FX and derivative sectors. Since 2009, these have […]

Bank of Punjab automates Islamic treasury; implements new RTGS system

Pakistan-based Bank of Punjab (BOP) has extended its partnership with local software vendor Autosoft Dynamics. Autosoft will implement its new real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system, AutoRTGS, at the bank and will also extend the coverage of the Adams treasury system to support Islamic banking. BOP is already a user of Adams for conventional banking operations. […]

ABA Bank looks for new digital banking platform

Cambodia-based ABA Bank is looking for a new omnichannel banking solution and has issued a request for proposal (RFP). Interested parties should be able to offer “an integrated, multichannel platform” that supports internet and mobile banking for retail and corporate business lines. Current set-up At present, ABA Bank has two separate portals for corporate and […]

Paytm partners with Wipro for new payments bank

India-based Paytm has teamed with IT services integrator Wipro for its new payments bank, as it gets ready for an August launch. Wipro will be implementing the new core banking system, and Banking Technology understands that Infosys, Oracle FSS and TCS Financial Solutions were in the running to provide their core banking solutions to Paytm. […]

Turkey launches new card payment system, TROY

Turkey has introduced its own card payment system, called TROY, and the nation is setting its sights on becoming a cashless society by 2023. Speaking at the launch, Dr Soner Canko, general manager of the Interbank Card Center (BKM) in Turkey, said: “Many countries around the world, from Canada and Italy to South Korea and […]

Japan Exchange Group chooses Cinnober for risk monitoring

Japan Exchange Group (JPX), a financial services corporation, has selected Cinnober for risk monitoring. This will include the entire Japanese market of equities, bonds, futures, options, credit default swap (CDS) and interest rate swap (IRS). This latest deal follows JPX recently building a real-time clearing solution for its listed derivatives market with the help of […]

Kbank in $142m-a-year digital banking drive

Kasikornbank (Kbank), one of the largest banks in Thailand, says it is to spend THB 5 billion ($142 million) per year in a digital banking transformation project. Kbank, the country’s fourth-largest lender by assets (THB 2.5 trillion/$71 billion), says it has the largest share of the digital banking market with 38%. It is now looking […]

Kyrgyzstan’s national bank invites bids for system implementation

The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan is inviting bids for the implementation of a new informational-analytical system (IAS). The submission deadline is 17 June 2016 and the bank says it has received a credit/grant from the International Development Association toward the cost of the financial sector development project. The project is conducted under the auspices of […]

TCS’s revenues and net profits increase in FY 2016

Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) full year (FY) 2016 revenues and net profit rose – boosted by growth in its banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) operations. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS, says its core portfolio “performed strongly in a seasonally weak 4th quarter driven by strong volumes led by growth in BFSI, retail and […]

Reserve Bank of India to fund urban cooperative banks’ tech upgrades

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank and regulator, has set up a scheme to provide financial assistance to urban cooperative banks (UCBs) for the implementation of core banking solutions. In its First Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement-2016-17, the RBI will offer assistance and technology support through the Institute for Development and Research […]

Infosys FY 2016 revenue and profits rise

Financial systems vendor Infosys has revealed its revenue for the full year (FY) 2016 of $9.5 billion, an increase of 9.1% in US dollar terms; and 13.3% in constant currency terms. Q4 revenue was $2.4 billion – a rise of 1.6% quarter on quarter in US dollar terms, or 1.9% in constant currency terms. For […]

FSS to provide UPI solutions for six Indian banks

India-based payments firm Financial Software and Systems (FSS) will provide Unified Payment Interface (UPI) solutions for six unnamed Indian banks. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) recently launched UPI, which offers instant, online bank payments. The move is seen as a major change to the Indian financial sector. FSS says UPI enables the banks […]

Bank of Ceylon upgrades front-to-back office systems with Fiserv

Bank of Ceylon, the largest bank in Sri Lanka, has continued its long-term relationship with Fiserv, and upgraded to the recent versions of Signature (retail core banking) and Teller (a front-end teller system). The bank has also chosen Fiserv’s Communicator to provide integration between Signature and third-party solutions. Luxaman Perera, head of IT, Bank of […]

BPC’s SmartVista powers Afghanistan’s national payment system

BPC Banking Technologies has teamed with Da Afghanistan Bank to launch a SmartVista-powered national payment system in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Payments Systems (APS), a consortium of financial institutions funded by Da Afghanistan Bank (the nation’s central bank) through the World Bank, aims to develop the retail banking market in the troubled nation by providing electronic and […]

NIB Bank “first” to upgrade to latest Temenos T24 core banking system

Pakistan-based NIB Bank is the first to upgrade to the latest release of Temenos’ T24 core banking system – making a big leap from R7 to R15. National Data Consultants (NDC), Temenos’ regional partner and integrator, worked on the project. Ammara Masood, president and CEO at NDC, says the bank is the “first client” to […]

Soneri Bank selects Temenos’ T24 core banking system

Pakistan-based Soneri Bank has chosen Temenos’ T24 core banking system to replace FIS Allprofits. National Data Consultants (NDC), Temenos’ regional partner and integrator, will deliver the project. Soneri Bank president and CEO Mohammad Aftab Manzoor, says: “With this technological transformation and our mission to provide innovative and efficient financial solutions, we aim to uplift our […]

Infrasoft’s core banking system scores with Indian co-operatives

Tamil Nadu State Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks (Tancubfed) has selected Infrasoft Technologies’ core banking system, OmniEnterprise. Tancubfed will implement OmniEnterprise and other e-banking services in 128 co-operative banks in Tamil Nadu, a southeast Indian state. Rajesh Mirjankar, new CEO and MD of Infrasoft, says OmniEnterprise will support the entire business operations of the bank […]

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 […]

Yes Bank teams with Ultracash Technologies for sound-based payments

India-based Yes Bank is partnering with Ultracash Technologies to launch payments processing through sound waves. The bank, the fifth largest in the Indian private sector, says the collaboration will let Ultracash issue Yes Bank-sponsored mobile wallets and use its Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) payments platform for the processing of instant proximity transactions. Ritesh Pai, senior […]

ICICI Bank launches mobile banking app competition with Visa

India’s ICICI Bank has launched an ‘ICICI Appathon’ as it looks for innovations in mobile banking apps. The bank wants participants in India to create new APIs in five different categories – retail banking, corporate banking, treasury, ‘ICICI Group’ (such as insurance and securities), and ‘Partner APIs’. The latter comprises Visa and National Payments Corporation […]

India’s Post Bank gets March 2017 green light

India’s Post Bank is to begin processing payments in March 2017, according to the government’s communications minister. The move is part of long-standing plans to use India’s Post Office network to spread financial inclusion in the world’s largest democratic nation.

Turkey listings advance LSE’s derivatives ambitions

The London Stock Exchange says that the launch of Turkish derivatives on its derivatives market represents part of the long-cherished goal of growing its derivatives business around the world. It also represents the exchange’s ‘open access’ policy.