Ummah Finance to become first UK-based mobile Islamic bank
Ummah Finance aims to be “the first UK born Islamic bank solely set up and operating from London”, with a fully digital proposition.
Europe
Savings get real with Starling Bank and Moneybox
UK challenger bank Starling has teamed up with Moneybox to give its customers access to a suite of saving and investing tools. Starling says it is the first digital challenger to join the list of banks supported by the Moneybox app for its “round ups” feature. The service will be available to Starling customers at […]
UK regulators call for PSD2 feedback
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) are calling for input on their approach to applying the second EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2). PSD2 is required to be in place in the UK by 13 January 2018, and the nation’s HM Treasury will transpose PSD2 into UK legislation in the Payment […]
Deputy editor replaced by robot
Banking Technology’s deputy editor, Antony Peyton, has been replaced by an artificial intelligence (AI) powered robot – paving the way for scintillating journalism free from acidic remarks and unfettered bouts of sarcasm. With the relentless rise of AI and robots, it was only a matter of time before a journalist would be thrown on the […]
Quash the queue with WoraPay’s Masterpass coup
We all love food and drink, and mobile service WoraPay has got in-sync and integrated Masterpass, the digital payment service from Mastercard. WoraPay’s service allows customers to buy food and drink, and pay in advance with their mobile. This means customers can order their morning coffee or tea (or whisky if you have a crappy […]
Aegon is Ohpen to savings and investment tech overhaul
Financial services provider Aegon is partnering with core banking engine provider Ohpen to develop a new platform for its Dutch services. The platform will be used for the administration and distribution of its savings, pension and investment products. The firms say they are merging their domain knowledge within pensions and technology. Aegon will plug into […]
Fintech boosts UK economy by £6.6bn
Oh UK fintech firms, you pretty things. The industry brings £6.6 billion to the nation’s economy, employs 61,000 people, and was showered with praise at the UK government’s inaugural International Fintech Conference in London. At yesterday’s event (12 April), Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, like any smart politician, latched himself like a limpet onto […]
Fintech outside London – part 1
There is no smoke without fire. The “big smoke”, as London is colloquially known, has been creating a fire of innovation in the financial technology space for years, but there are other UK fintech centres in the Southwest; Cardiff; Manchester/Leeds; and Edinburgh/Glasgow that create their own heat.
TSB turns to First Data for bank portfolio services
First Data has been appointed by Sabis, the IT arm of Spanish banking group Sabadell, to provide processing and acquiring services across its subsidiary TSB. First Data will migrate TSB’s credit and debit card portfolio onto its FirstVision platform. Additionally, First Data will power TSB’s digital payments and provide merchant acquiring services for money and […]
FIS sheds Ambit Private Banking core software business
FIS has sold its Swiss core banking software business, Ambit Private Banking, which it inherited with the acquisition of Sungard, to New Access Banking Software.
Central Bank of Iceland chooses SIA for payments overhaul
The Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) has chosen Italian firm SIA to implement and support a new real-time gross settlement system (RTGS) and new instant payment platform. These technology infrastructures developed by SIA, are planned to go live in 2018, and will replace CBI’s current mainframe-based real-time solutions for high and low-value payment systems, which […]
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 11 April 2017
Make the most of your limited time with this brief blockchain and Bitcoin round-up. Featuring Commercial Bank of Qatar, Russia, Waves Platform, and a farmer. The Commercial Bank of Qatar has completed an initial pilot phase using the “first ever” blockchain network to process international transfers in partnership with ABank in Turkey, National Bank of […]
Visa unveils European payments innovation initiative
Visa has expanded its Everywhere Initiative innovation programme into Europe as it looks for the “next big thing” in payments. Entrants in Visa’s first-ever European Everywhere Initiative can win up to €50,000 to support a development programme with Visa, or through business partnership with Visa’s clients, and potentially have access to Visa APIs, mentors and […]
UK’s Financial Conduct Authority calls for blockchain feedback
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is calling for feedback on the potential for future development of distributed ledger technology (DLT) / blockchain in the markets it regulates. It says it is “particularly interested to explore where the balance of risk and opportunities may lie” for DLT and wants to boost innovation that advances it […]
UK challenger Redwood gets banking licence
Redwood Bank, a new UK-based SME challenger, has secured a banking licence following approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). As Banking Technology reported in October last year, Acorn Financial Partners (AFP) submitted a banking licence application. Now that it has authorisation, AFP is called Redwood Bank. Redwood says it […]
Bank of England implicated in Libor rigging by secret recording
A secret recording that implicates the Bank of England (BoE) in Libor rigging has been uncovered by the current affairs programme, BBC Panorama. Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) is used by banks to set prices of financial products. Last year, several ex-Barclays workers were found guilty of manipulating the Libor interest rate between 2005 and […]
Woes for Wonga with data breach
UK-based payday loan company Wonga says there may have been illegal and unauthorised access to the personal data of some of its 270,000 customers. In a statement, the firm says information stolen may have included one or more of the following: name, e-mail address, home address, phone number, the last four digits of a card […]
VEB awards core banking system contract to Diasoft
Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs – VEB – a state-owned development bank in Russia, has selected a new core banking system. The contract was awarded to Diasoft, one of Russia’s biggest core banking software providers.
Naqoda unveils “new, fast and flexible” core banking system
Fintech vendor Naqoda has launched its new development, Naqoda Core Banking Platform, which is “set to compete with new start-ups and legacy vendors alike”.
Banks spellbound by innovation? Lessons learnt from digitalisation
Dr Andreas Dombret, member of the executive board of Deutsche Bundesbank, ponders why fintech innovation is such a hot topic now, of all times, what exactly innovation in banking means, and whether banks are even capable of being innovative.
UniCredit and SIA bring Alipay to Italy
The agreement between Alipay and UniCredit has now entered the operational stage. Technological infrastructure for this has been provided by SIA.
Deutsche Bank launches new mobile payment app
Deutsche Bank has launched a new mobile payment app for Android devices.
OP Financial Group enlists Token to develop new payment solutions
OP Financial Group has partnered with Token, a Silicon Valley-based crypto-payment software provider. Token says the agreement will enable the Finnish bank “to innovate in the European open banking market and generate new revenue streams via future payment solutions”.
UK and India strengthen fintech ties
A team of British politicians and fintech business leaders are in India as they seek to strengthen trade and investment between the two nations. At the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, held today (4 April) in Delhi, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, and the Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley, discussed […]
BNP Paribas to buy 95% stake in French digital bank Compte-Nickel
BNP Paribas is buying a 95% stake in Financière des Paiements Électroniques (FPE), which provides the digital-only bank Compte-Nickel. BNP Paribas wants to tap into Compte-Nickel’s growth – citing its 540,000 accounts opened over the past three years and that a new account is being opened in France every 30 seconds. Compte-Nickel also offers real-time […]
SIX teams with DTCC to issue legal entity identifiers in Switzerland
SIX Securities Services, which runs the central securities depository (CSD) for Switzerland, is partnering with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) to offer legal entity identifiers (LEIs) for Swiss entities. According to SIX, LEIs were devised to provide insight into corporate entities with the aim of reducing cross-platform risk exposure. By providing LEIs together, […]
Visa brings more action to Amazon transactions
Visa says it has become the first card network to give its UK commercial account holders a comprehensive view of their Amazon Business purchases. The new transaction data, available to Barclaycard, Citi, HSBC, and Lloyds Bank account holders, provides line-item details on all purchases for Amazon Business customers and integrates with reconciliation tools. Kevin Jenkins, […]
Lloyds standing small with new micro-branches
Not only is Lloyds cutting branches across the UK, it is now making them smaller in size. With the well-known rise in digital banking, the bank has plans to introduce micro-branches. This means no counters, and two members of staff with mobile tablets to help customers who dare walk into a branch. A spokesperson for […]
Attic Lab teams with Polybius for blockchain-powered bank
Ukrainian start-up Attic Lab has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Polybius Foundation to provide the blockchain backbone for a new digital bank. As Banking Technology reported in September last year, Attic Lab unveiled its open source blockchain platform and has been gaining some traction with banks in Europe. It will implement SmartMoney, a […]
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 3 April 2017
Another day, another cryptocurrency. A concise round-up of blockchain and Bitcoin events. Features Japan, Lykke, ChronoBank and London’s Imperial College Business School. It’s the land of the rising sums, as Bitcoin is now a legal payment method in Japan. As a result, Bitcoin trades rose today – at 11am (UK time) it was up 2.8% […]
Consorsbank turns to FinLeap for digital account exchange
Consorsbank, part of BNP Paribas Germany, has implemented fintech incubator FinLeap’s digital account exchange service, FinReach. Bank users who want to move accounts to Consorsbank can do so in “a matter of minutes” and it is all done completely online. Customers will be shown all the credit transferees – and can choose who is to […]
Mortgage Gym muscles into UK market with robo-adviser launch
The “world’s first, regulated mortgage robo-adviser” Mortgage Gym will be launched in the UK in the coming months – offering online applications in 15 minutes. The service is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is free and combines robo- and live-broker advice. Mortgage Gym says its network allows brokers to acquire customers independently, […]
Accenture acquires digital ID firm Arismore
Accenture Security has completed its acquisition of Arismore, a privately held company in France that specialises in security services including identity and access management. The acquisition was first announced in December last year, and Accenture will take on 270 people from Arismore. Kelly Bissell, managing director of Accenture Security, says the deal “immediately amplifies our […]
UK’s Financial Conduct Authority gets persistent on credit card debt
Credit card firms have come in for a kicking as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed new rules to help customers who are in persistent debt. This move follows the FCA’s study of the UK credit card market, which found “significant concerns” about the scale, extent and nature of problem credit card debt. […]
Don’t get miffed, get MiFID II authorisation
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its near final rules on the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II and encourages firms to submit applications for authorisation. These rules include changes to the trading of financial instruments – such as issues affecting trading venues, transparency of trading and algorithmic and high frequency trading. […]
Financial fraud fools UK out of £769m
Impersonation and deceptive double-dealing play their mischievous part in creating massive amounts of financial fraud in the UK. According to figures from Financial Fraud Action UK (FFA UK), losses across payment cards, remote banking and cheques totalled £768.8 million in 2016, an increase of 2% on the previous year. Katy Worobec, director of FFA UK, […]
Top fintech stories this week – 31 March 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
AlgoMe brings Tinder touch to asset management talent hunt
AlgoMe, a London-based start-up offering career development and job placements in asset management, has launched its beta phase. The firm says it’s “rather like a dating app in that you get to determine if the match is right for you before your data is shared”. The web and mobile-based membership community is led by CEO […]
Payments innovation reigns in Spain with CaixaBank hub
CaixaBank, Global Payments, Visa, Samsung and BNP Paribas’ subsidiary Arval have joined forces to set up Spain’s “first” payment innovation hub. The objective behind the hub is to “present society with the best possible user experiences in purchases and commerce, both online and offline”. The centre, which will be located in Barcelona, will specialise in […]
CASS plays Casanova to CMA’s current account commitments
The UK’s Current Account Switch Service (CASS) says it meets one of the commitments set out in response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) final report into retail banking. As Banking Technology reported in January, the CMA accepted undertakings from the Bacs payment scheme, which owns and manages CASS, that commit it to delivering […]
