Top fintech stories this week – 23 December 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! The last weekly news round-up of 2016. Happy holidays from everyone at Banking Technology!
Europe
FCA green lights cloud technologies
We are constantly connected to the cloud (iPhone, DropBox, Google Drive just to name a few) and yet, in financial services, the adoption has been tremendously slow. In part, this is due to a lack of guidance from regulators, especially where cloud-based regulation technology is concerned. But finally there is forward progress.
Hungary’s central bank endorses instant payment infrastructure plans
Hungary’s central bank and regulator, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), is bringing a new instant payments system to the country. It will require “state-of-the-art IT and communication solutions in payments”.
Italian banks set up cybersecurity response team, Certfin
The Bank of Italy, the Italian Banking Association and the ABI Lab Consortium have signed an agreement to set up Certfin – “a highly specialised Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for Italy’s financial sector”.
“Game changer” Jargon Bank launches in UK
Jargon Bank has launched in the UK offering “compelling and innovative” products that have left journalists diving for cover… usually to the nearest pubs. In a press release, that ideally shouldn’t have been sent, the hipster-friendly bank decided that wishy-washy and generic statements would somehow garner the respect of fintech publications across the world. Serial […]
Arab Bank Switzerland ditches FIS/Sungard core system for Avaloq BPO
Arab Bank (Switzerland), a private bank in Geneva, has signed a long-term deal with Avaloq for the vendor’s complete business process outsourcing (BPO) services.
Credit card firm MBNA sold to Lloyds for £1.9bn
Credit card firm MBNA is to be taken over by Lloyds. The firm’s current owner, Bank of America, has agreed to sell it for £1.9 billion. The deal is expected to close in H1 2017.
Euroclear and Paxos pilot blockchain gold settlement
Central securities depositary Euroclear and blockchain firm Paxos have completed the first pilot for Euroclear Bankchain, a new blockchain settlement service for London bullion due to go live in 2017. Over 600 OTC test bullion trades were settled on the Euroclear Bankchain platform over the course of the two-week pilot. Angus Scott, director, product strategy […]
Barclaycard breakthrough boosts UK boozer business
Pay @ Pump is a self-service beer pump that you can pay for contactlessly with your phone, enabling punters to get drunk more quickly than ever before, reports Scott Bicheno at Telecoms.com. The innovation was inspired by Barclaycard’s empathy for UK boozers who often have to wait for minutes for their next fix of lovely, […]
Challenger bank: Starling – purple reigns
UK challenger bank Starling talks about finding its niche and how it intends to prosper in an increasingly competitive space – all in preparation for its 2017 launch.
ABN Amro pilots blockchain in commercial real estate
Amsterdam-based ABN Amro Bank has launched a pilot to explore how its blockchain application Torch can be used in real estate transactions to record and exchange information. The bank says real estate transactions involve numerous parties, such as buyers, sellers, tenants, landlords, appraisers, notaries, banks, the Land Registry Office, the Chamber of Commerce and regulators. […]
Bankia Fintech accelerator opens up for fintech start-ups
Bankia Fintech by Innsomnia, the “first” incubator and accelerator in Spain, is calling for start-ups to submit applications. Spanish bank Bankia and Valencia-based fintech firm Innsomnia have teamed up, and are looking for five ideas, start-ups or spin-offs of consolidated companies to develop their activities in almost every area of the fintech industry. Jose Ignacio […]
PSR calls for crusade against payment scams
The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has started a co-ordinated industry-wide effort to tackle payment scams. The regulator today (16 December) published its response to a super-complaint issued by consumer watchdog Which?, about protection for people making authorised “push” payments. In its response the PSR outlines an approach that “will see regulators and industry commit […]
Drooms acquires Swiss fintech firm DealMarket
Drooms, a provider of virtual data rooms, has agreed a deal to acquire DealMarket with effect from 1 January 2017 to boost its service portfolio for the entire asset lifecycle. Zurich-based DealMarket has developed a cloud-based software package for private equity investors, family offices and corporate finance experts, allowing them to manage the deal flow […]
Top fintech stories this week – 16 December 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Will an open banking API kill commercial APIs?
The PSD2 directive will let third parties use the information stored in financial institutions and the only path to achieve this leads through an open API. The API is now being discussed and developed, but it’s not clear when it will be finalised, released and deployed.
SNS Bank selects Ohpen for BPO core processing services
Amsterdam-based banking software vendor Ohpen has signed a long-term outsourcing agreement with Dutch state-owned bank SNS to deliver its business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions to support the investment propositions of ASN Bank, BLG Wonen, RegioBank and SNS. The services, underpinned by Ohpen’s Microsoft.Net-based core banking platform, will start by the end of 2017. Ohpen CCO […]
Lending start-up Taplend launches in UK
Fintech start-up Taplend has launched in the UK offering a combination of peer-to-peer (P2P) and payday lending. Viktor Ihnatiuk, CEO and co-founder of Taplend, says: “This was a very long, hard and interesting year. We made three iterations of the product, tried to enter the US market twice and failed. We didn’t give up, switched […]
AWS data centre launch implies all is not well following Brexit
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new availability zone in London which indicates all is not well in the UK following Brexit, reports Jamie Davies at Telecoms.com. The new data centre creates the 16th availability zone worldwide for the public cloud leader, and is the first available in the UK. To date, customers in the […]
World’s first commercial real estate stock exchange signs for Cinnober’s tech
UK-based International Property Securities Exchange (IPSX) is waiting for approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and has signed for new trading tech from Cinnober. IPSX describes itself as “the world’s first regulated stock exchange dedicated to trading of commercial property securities”. It needs a recognised investment exchange (RIE) licence from FCA to be able […]
ACI Worldwide powers pan-European instant credit transfer scheme
ACI Worldwide has been named by EBA Clearing as one of the “frontrunner service providers” for the pan-European EBA SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme (SCT Inst), due to go live in November 2017. The scheme will enable consumers and businesses to make euro credit transfers in real-time between accounts across an international area that will […]
UniCredit to cut 14,000 jobs
Italy’s largest bank UniCredit plans to raise €13 billion and axe 14,000 jobs over the next two years as it looks to get its finances in order. Along with the job cuts, which amount to about 11% of its workforce, UniCredit will shut down about 25% of its 3,800 branches. It also aims to use […]
Innovate Finance launches new fintech start-up competition, Pitch360
Innovate Finance, a UK-based fintech membership association, has unveiled its first ever start-up competition, Pitch360. Open to applicants from around the world, Pitch360 offers a 360-second (six minute) pitch of a new business and product in front of a live audience of influencers, investors and media professionals as well as access to Innovate Finance’s member […]
Metro Bank moves IT infrastructure to Rackspace cloud
UK-based challenger bank Metro Bank has moved its IT infrastructure to a Rackspace managed cloud solution. Rackspace says this has reduced the bank’s close-of-business processing time by 50% and report production time by two-thirds.
Wyelands Bank in ownership, brand and core banking software overhaul
Wyelands Bank (formerly Tungsten Bank) is relaunching in 2017 with a new core banking system.
Cater Allen Private Bank “continues to work constructively” with Temenos
Cater Allen, a London-based private bank and a subsidiary of Santander, has completed “the discovery phase” of the project with Temenos to overhaul its core banking software.
Swedish Export Credit implements Wolters Kluwer’s OneSumX for IFRS9 reporting
Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK) is implementing Wolters Kluwer’s OneSumX regulatory reporting software for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 9 reporting.
AnaCap to acquire Barclays’ French retail banking & wealth management ops, complete IT overhaul planned
AnaCap Financial Partners, a UK-based private equity firm, is set to acquire Barclays’ French retail banking business, life insurance business, wealth and investment management and brokerage operations.
Banque de France to modernise payments tech with Sopra Banking Software
Banque de France’s banking services department has embarked on a major technology overhaul programme. It will work with a domestic software provider on this project, Sopra Banking Software, which is part of the Sopra Steria group.
Coventry Building Society in technology overhaul, looks for new core banking system
UK-based Coventry Building Society is believed to have embarked on a tech modernisation project and is looking for a new core system.
London Mutual Credit Union live with new core banking and debit card systems
India-based core banking tech provider TCS Financial Solutions has gained its third live site among the UK credit unions for its Bancs core banking system, London Mutual Credit Union.
Private & Commercial Finance Group receives banking licence
Private & Commercial Finance Group (PCFG) has received its banking licence from the UK regulators. It is now authorised with restrictions as a bank and enters into a mobilisation period of up to 12 months.
Digital challenger bank N26 goes pan-European
Germany-based mobile bank N26 is taking its business fully across 17 European countries, including Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland and Slovakia. Until now, some of these locations were in the “soft launch” phase.
P2P lender Folk2Folk gains full FCA authorisation
A UK-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, Folk2Folk, has received full authorisation from Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Metro Bank joins Faster Payments Scheme
UK-based Metro Bank says it has become the first high street bank to join the Faster Payments Scheme (FPS) since its launch.
Bank of Lithuania promises one-week response to fintech licence enquiries
Bank of Lithuania, the country’s central bank and regulator, promises to provide preliminary answers to financial institution licence enquiries within one week, “the fastest turnaround in the EU”.
Alipay partners with major European banks and payment provider
Alipay, one of the world’s largest online and mobile payment platforms, has inked deals with BNP Paribas, Barclays, UniCredit, and SIX Payment Services to drive the European expansion.
LandlordInvest now fully authorised by FCA
LandlordInvest, a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform for buy-to-let and bridging loans, has gained full authorisation from the UK regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Hackers steal $31.4 million from Bank of Russia
Hackers have stolen RUB 2 billion ($31.4 million) from correspondent bank accounts at Bank of Russia, the country’s central bank.
Top fintech stories this week – 2 December 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
