VocaLink, the payment systems provider, has signed a five-year deal to provide “exclusive” processing for the LINK ATM network. The deal is the UK’s largest ever ATM processing deal and is expected to deliver over 16 billion transactions. Under the five-year contract with LINK Scheme and its 38 members, VocaLink will provide ATM switching and […]
UK-based Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank – which together form CYBG – have launched a new digital banking platform, as CYBG gets ready to become a standalone challenger bank. The new platform is called “B” and CYBG teamed up with proposition design consultancy Market Gravity to design and launch the new service. Debbie Crosbie, COO […]
With the takeover of BSI by rival EFG International, Switzerland will see the creation of the country’s fifth largest private bank. Banking Technology looks at the IT implications, and the winners and losers of the deal. EFG is buying BSI from Brazil’s troubled Grupo BTG Pactual for CHF 1.33 billion ($1.38 billion). In its turn, […]
C Hoare & Co, Britain’s oldest bank (and the fourth oldest in the world), is modernising its front-end operations with Backbase, a specialist provider of omnichannel banking software. London-based C Hoare was founded in 1672 by Sir Richard Hoare and remains family-owned and run today. It focuses on private banking and investment management. It employs around […]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is likely to miss the set deadline to spin off its Williams & Glyn’s (W&G) subsidiary – and the technology issues are to blame. W&G has been dormant for a few decades (RBS absorbed it in the mid-1980s). It was originally set to be revived and re-launched in 2015 by […]
A new mobile banking service in Denmark, Lunar Way, is gearing up for launch as it has secured a local partner, Københavns Andelskasse (Copenhagen Cooperative Bank). Lunar Way is itself not a bank, but is a provider of digital financial services, similar to Simple or Moven. Its model is to partner with established banks (that have […]
Russia-based Sberbank has implemented Wolters Kluwer’s risk management solution, OneSumX, to streamline its treasury operations. OneSumX will enable the bank to perform dynamic simulation, market risk analysis and liquidity risk analysis, says the vendor. There was an extensive system selection, says Wolters Kluwer, with around 30 providers on the long list. Andrey Prudnikov, treasury director […]
UK-based Liontrust Asset Management has gone live on Eze Software Group’s OMS (order management system) and portfolio accounting solutions, implementing a front-to-back office workflow to replace its in-house systems. Eze Software Group says its investment software suite was chosen after a “rigorous and lengthy” selection process involving a number of unnamed vendors. Liontrust, which has […]
UK-based CRM solutions provider Wealth Dynamix has launched WDX ONE, a cloud-based framework for wealth and investment managers. WDX ONE is targeted at small to mid-market firms, and Wealth Dynamix says it cuts implementation costs by over 60%. Groupe Financiere Hottinger (GFH), a London-based portfolio management and financial advisory service, is one of the first […]
UK-based challenger bank Mondo is on a recruitment drive to find senior executives. Mondo, which positions itself as a “mobile first” bank, will be offering a contactless debit card paired with a mobile banking app to its customers. As part of this ambition to end the “tyranny of legacy banks” it is advertising for two […]
Bank of Ireland, one of Ireland’s “big four” banking players, is looking to modernise its legacy software, Banking Technology understands. The bank’s current set-up is outsourced to Accenture, which manages its group technology and change division. The deal was signed in 2014, and around 200 staff transferred to Accenture from Bank of Ireland as a […]
MasterCard is in “exclusive” talks with VocaLink over a £1 billion-acquisition, according to Sky News. Sky News says it has learned that 13 banks, which are shareholders in VocaLink, have “approved a period of exclusivity within which MasterCard can negotiate a takeover of the company”. Out of those banks, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and […]
Lloyds Banking Group is to cut 625 jobs – as it continues another wave of its 9,000 job reductions announced a few years ago. Lloyds says there will be a net reduction of 430 roles once the 195 new jobs it will be creating are taken into account. News of the planned redundancies was greeted […]
Masthaven Finance, a UK-based specialist mortgage lender, has joined the “challenger banks” rush and secured a banking licence. It plans to open for business this summer. The new bank will offer mortgages and savings products to retail customers who struggle to get service from mainstream banks and lenders. These products will include specialist mortgages and […]
Paris-based Sopra Steria has been selected by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to deliver a new digital regulatory market data processing platform in an “exclusive” six-year contract. The new platform will support the FCA’s on-going regulation of firms, as well as encompassing new requirements under the forthcoming Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). […]
UK-based payments firm Moni has gone into receivership. Moni says its business and assets are being marketed for sale; and joint administrators have been appointed. If people have queries or are “owed money”, Moni is directing them to an advisory service. The firm did offer a mobile payment app for iOS and Android – similar […]
Financial institutions are still nervous about APIs and security when the word “open” is discussed, was one theme from the Swift Business Forum London 2016. More than 1,300 delegates were packed into Tobacco Dock, London for the sixth edition of the one-day event. Yesterday morning’s sessions (20 April) were a mixed bag – “blockchain is […]
Denmark-based Nets and JCB have teamed up for Nets to use J/Speedy, JCB’s contactless technology, for Dankort payments with smartphones. Nets will launch Dankort on the mobile in autumn 2016, and JCB is also aiming to accelerate its mobile payment implementation globally using host card emulation (HCE) technology. Jeppe Juul-Andersen, SVP at Nets with the […]
UK-based specialist financing company, Private & Commercial Finance Group (PCFG), has concluded its software selection, Banking Technology understands. The company applied for a banking licence in 2013/14 and was known to be in system selection mode in mid-2014. The selection process was run by consultancy firm Sofgen. Banking Technology understands that it has now finalised […]
Switzerland’s new real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system, SIC (SIX Interbank Clearing), is now live – opening the way for ISO 20022 usage. The new RTGS platform, SIC4, was introduced with the euroSIC system on 16 April 2015. The new SIC system went live on 14 April. With SIC up and running, migration to the new […]
The new partnership between private banking software vendor ERI and tech consultancy firm Capgemini will see the launch of a shared services centre for private banks and wealth managers in Europe. ERI will provide its flagship core banking system, Olympic, whilst Capgemini will bring to the table its expertise in infrastructure and application management services […]
Luxembourg-based Nomura Bank has singed a “large additional licence agreement” with investment software specialist Simcorp, according to the vendor. The bank went to market looking for a new software provider but concluded that staying with Simcorp would be the best option. The two companies have been working together since 2009. Simcorp’s CEO, Klaus Holse, comments […]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is cutting almost 600 jobs in its UK retail bank. British and Irish trade union Unite has reacted to the news. RBS will axe about 200 positions across London and the south east of England, with 400 jobs to go in the Midlands, east and the north of the country, […]
The European Commission (EC) wants to update the fourth Anti-Money Laundering directive so that it also covers virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin. In the UK, the Treasury has followed suit by announcing plans to subject virtual currency exchanges to the same regulations as banks. This isn’t surprising. Gunnar Nordseth, CEO and co-founder of Signicat, muses over the possible […]
The challengers aiming to take on the traditional high street banks are themselves facing an enormous obstacle if they are to disrupt the banking market significantly, observes Zehra Chudry, organiser of the “Challengers versus Legacy Banks” debate at PayExpo Europe 2016. This hurdle is building consumer trust. Not only must they offer powerfully attractive alternatives and improvements, they must also convince consumers […]
Allied Irish Banks (AIB) is set to modernise its payments platform. The bank has recently concluded a system selection to that effect. The new supplier is Dovetail, Banking Technology understands. The new payments hub will support high-value, low-volume payments as well as high-volume, low-value ones. Dovetail’s solution will replace the Global PayPlus (GPP) legacy platform […]
Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB), a European subsidiary of Russia’s Alfa Group, is looking for a new core banking system, Banking Technology understands. The bank is a long-standing user of Misys’ software, including Equation for core processing, Trade Innovation (TI) for trade finance, and Opics for treasury and capital markets. In 2010, Misys announced ATB’s successful […]
There’s no doubt about it, fintech is a force to be reckoned with, and the UK has positioned itself convincingly as the global capital. Speaking at an event only last month, Economic Secretary, Harriett Baldwin, commented on how fintech is “helping normal people in their daily lives” by giving them extra choices when it comes […]
Cardiff-based Principality Building Society is a step closer to selecting a new core processing system, Banking Technology understands. Principality’s current provider is Unisys Financial Services System (UFSS). It is understood that the building society has considered an upgrade of UFSS but decided against it. It is now evaluating offerings from a number of system suppliers. […]
Nick Kerigan, managing director of future payments at Barclaycard, lends his expert view on the changing consumer payment landscape and maps the journey to contactless card payments and beyond. Kerigan leads the team that looks at payment and competitor intelligence, and is responsible for driving innovation across Barclaycard. Last year was a milestone in UK […]
Santander and Kabbage are piloting an online tool to give UK small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) access to same day funding. Announced today (4 April) at Money 20/20 in Copenhagen, SMEs can get access to new working capital of between £500 and £100,000 via an online process. At a media briefing, Sigga Sigurdardottir, chief […]
Virtual account management (VAM) holds great promise for corporates to centralise and reduce bank accounts. Banking Technology‘s payments expert, Heather McKenzie, explains. One of the promises of the single euro payments area (SEPA) was that it would enable more efficient cash management infrastructures for the euro. In a 2014 study, Economic analysis of SEPA, PWC predicted a […]
FIS and Vocalink’s PayPort have become the first to gain accreditation to supply access to Faster Payments through its New Access Model. Both have been awarded the new certificate of technical accreditation “trust mark”, after passing all the required technical tests covering the origination and receipt of payments by a direct participant of Faster Payments. […]
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the Dutch central bank, is looking to develop an internal blockchain prototype called “DNBCoin”. In its recently published annual report for 2015, DNB says this year it will aim to use blockchain to improve its business and mentions DNBCoin as an experiment with its own digital currency. The bank doesn’t go […]
The Nordics have a unique model for domestic payment processing, but some of the upheavals in the system provide a lesson for other countries debating faster, upgraded payments initiatives. Owned by the eight largest banks in Sweden, Bankgirot is the clearing house for domestic payments in Sweden, and provides the banks with payment product and […]
There is a lot of activity going on in the UK’s credit union space, as the participants realise they have no choice but to modernise. So who is doing what? Which technology providers are set to gain and who might be a loser? London Mutual Credit Union and TCS Financial Solutions London Mutual credit union […]
Google is bringing Android Pay to the UK market – with Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, MBNA and Nationwide Building Society the first to support it. This latest move follows Android Pay’s launch in the US in September 2015, and it should be available in the UK “in the […]
Since the introduction of the Faster Payments Service (FPS) the best part of a decade ago the UK has been rather proud of its payments system – industry body Payments UK uses the phrase “world class payments” in its development plans, and successive politicians have trumpeted the country’s prowess in this field, much as their […]
Bank of Cyprus UK has selected Lombard Risk’s new AgileReporter for automated regulatory reporting to replace Hitec Labs’ PolicyHub. The bank says it wanted to “improve” on its existing solution which required a number of supplementary manual processes to deliver its reports. Andrew Michaelides, CFO of Bank of Cyprus UK, says: “As complex regulatory requirements […]
Santander says it has become the “first” bank in the UK to launch voice banking technology. The solution is provided by Nuance Communications. However, last month HSBC announced it was launching voice recognition and touch security services in the UK, which will be available to 15 million banking customers. This project is also being carried […]
