Europe


London Stock Exchange launches major interest rate derivatives venture

The London Stock Exchange Group is planning to launch a new interest rate derivatives venture called CurveGlobal, which initially aims to offer short term interest rate futures. Backed by several banks including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Société Générale, the new venture is part of the exchange’s long-held ambition to gain traction in the derivatives markets, which have historically been dominated by rivals in continental Europe.

European stock markets plan Shanghai links

Closer links between the Shanghai Stock Exchange and UK and European exchanges may be on the cards. The London and Shanghai exchanges are exploring a scheme to link their markets. At the same time, European exchange group Euronext announced a deal with the Shanghai Stock Exchange to promote its listed members to Chinese investors.

RSRCHXchange launch targets MiFID II research reforms

A new online market for buying and selling financial research has gone live in Europe. Focused on providing buy-side firms with more transparency, the new RSRCHXexchange is based in the cloud and is aimed at helping institutions comply with MiFID II research unbundling requirements.

Fidor UK launch promises social media revolution in retail

Online-only bank Fidor has launched in the UK, promising to change the way retail banking works by letting the customer build the services and products they want to use. The bank is part of a new wave of fresh banks entering the market, many of which focus their efforts online rather than on the high street.

Nationwide revamps branches with new NCR self-service ATMs

UK building society Nationwide has begun a £500 million project to improve its branch network using NCR latest generation of self-service ATMs. The project aims to bring the kind of self-service experience customers can get at supermarkets to the retail bank branch.

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.

The payment services market under the eye of the regulator

The UK payment services market has been under the spotlight in recent months with the introduction of a new Payment Systems Regulator created with the intention, amongst other things, of opening up the industry to new and emerging payment service providers.

Russia’s NSD introduces off-exchange settlement

Russia’s central securities depository NSD has implemented back-to-back settlement technology for off-exchange delivery-versus-payment transactions with securities denominated in Russian rubles. The bank accounts and transactions may be in rubles, US dollar, Euro and Chinese yuan.

Payment Systems Regulator names members of strategy forum

The Payment Systems Regulator, the new economic regulator for UK payment systems, today confirms the line-up of the Payments Strategy Forum it has set up to set the strategy for innovation in payment systems where the industry needs to work together.

Barclays launches cloud contingency payments with AccessPay

Barclays has launched a cloud-based contingency payment service for corporates, which the bank says will help corporates to make payments even if they are unable to use their primary channel, for example during an internet outage. The deal comes as financial institutions and corporates increase their focus on risk mitigation.

BATS Chi-X Europe launches auctions order book

European stock exchange BATS Chi-X Europe has created a new order book for auctions, which it says will help traders to make larger trades. The new book is set to go live on 19 October, and represents an effort to satisfy long-term traders interested in larger order sizes.

ATM cash usage continues to grow in UK

Figures from Link, the UK’s cash machine network, show that the number of ATMs in the UK reached 70,180 in July, passing 70,000 for the first time. ATM figures from July, show that the total amount withdrawn from cash machines in July 2015 was £11.3 billion, up 4% compared with July 2014.

Italy live on T2S (at last)

Target2-Securities, the European Central Bank project to harmonise Europe’s post trade infrastructure, has finally gone live in Italy – three months after Italy’s last-minute decision to drop out of the first wave earlier this summer.

Contactless payments set to boom as limit rises to £30

More than £2.5 billion was spent in the UK using contactless cards in the first half of 2015 and this is likely to increase even more as the upper limit for contactless payments increases from £20 to £30 from today.

Fines – it’s the principle

No one involved in the UK financial services industry could have failed to notice the recent increase in level of fines issued by the UK’s City Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. Mary Stevens, from risk and regulatory technology company Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, analyses what the fines mean for the industry.

LCH. Clearnet expands to Spanish Equities on BATS Chi-X, Turquoise & Traiana

LCH. Clearnet is to begin offering clearing clearing services for Spanish securities executed on BATS Chi-X, Turquoise and Traiana from Monday 7 September 2015, subject to regulatory approval. The new service, which introduces interoperability for the market segment will operate under the existing Title V settlement framework until the revised dates have been published by Iberclear […]

Will PSD2 be the driver for a new era in open banking?

So after the protracted and ongoing rollout of SEPA, along comes further EU regulation in the guise of the second phase of the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) with further challenges to banks impacting the provision of one of the core banking services – namely payments

Cash is here to stay – for the next 300 years anyway

Reports of the death of cash have dominated the 2015 news agenda. A variety of industry developments – from the launch of Apple Pay through to a Danish proposal to end the obligation of retailers to accept cash – work together to imply that paper notes and coins could soon lose relevance. All this is underpinned by apparently irrefutable stats from the Payments Council which reveal that cashless transactions have now overtaken the use of cash in the UK

Cameron backs UK fintech 2020 manifesto

Fintech association Innovate Finance has launched UK Fintech 2020, a manifesto that sets out goals for the UK to be a centre for financial services. These include calls for increased investment in fintech, efforts to attract more fintech firms and the creation of more jobs in the sector.

MasterCard and Samsung prepare Samsung Pay Europe launch

Samsung is set to launch its upcoming payments service Samsung Pay in Europe within months, following a deal with MasterCard which will see Samsung Pay rolled out across the region through MasterCard’s Digital Enablement Service.

Blockchain-based SETL plans to revolutionise payment and settlement

A new venture plans to create a multi-asset, multi-currency institutional payment and settlements infrastructure based on blockchain technology. Called SETL, the venture is backed by Peter Randall, former chief executive at Chi-X, the multilateral trading facility that is now part of BATS, and Anthony Culligan, founder of peer-to-peer bitcoin trading site Roolo.

Plato Partnership enters “exclusive” deal with Turquoise

The Plato Partnership, a consortium of asset managers and broker-dealers working to build a non-profit equities trading utility in Europe, has chosen the London Stock Exchange’s Turquoise subsidiary as its preferred partner, and the two companies announced they are exploring a “commercial collaboration”.

BACS admits disappointment as UK current account switching stalls

More than a million people switched their current account to a rival bank in the year leading up to July 2015, according to new figures published by UK payments system Bacs. The numbers represent only a minimal increase on the year before – undermining hopes that making switching easier would lead to dramatic improvements in the competitiveness of UK retail banks.

Fintech startups head to London for Startupbootcamp 2015 final

Ten financial services startups have been chosen by startup accelerator Startupbootcamp FinTech to participate in its annual London program, which seeks to find the best new companies in financial services and bring them to market. Notable themes among the finalists include Bitcoin and the blockchain, big data, algorithms, cloud computing and social networking.

UK consumers look for speed

Nearly half of UK consumers say that faster payments are a factor in their choice of back account provider, with 45% saying that the offer of faster electronic payments would encourage them to switch their bank account provider.

Silver lining? Consumer confidence in banks improves along with economic recovery

Recent studies suggest that banks in the UK are rebuilding their reputation among consumers and investments in mobile and digital are at least in part responsible –though trust remains fragile and other studies highlight concerns over pricing and transparency. Customer satisfaction across all sectors in the UK has flat-lined over the past six months, but some that regularly attract scrutiny – including banking – have shown signs of improvement,

BNP Paribas becomes CHAPS’ 22nd direct participant

BNP Paribas has become a direct participant in CHAPS, the UK’s same day high-value electronic payment system, the 22nd bank to join in this role. More are expected to join by the end of 2016. As a direct participant, the bank can directly send and receive irrevocable, guaranteed sterling payments with same day finality, rather than through a third-party.

UK consumers can’t get satisfaction from their banks

UK banks rank bottom in a nine-country survey of how well banks match up to customer expectations in terms of rewarding customer loyalty and helping them manage their finance. Overall, the UK banks rank third, behind the US and Germany.

PSR appoints chair of the Payments Strategy Forum

The Payment Systems Regulator, the new economic regulator for UK payment systems, has appointed Ruth Evans as the chair of the Payments Strategy Forum. Evans is currently chair of The Authority for Television on Demand, the independent co-regulator for the editorial content of UK video on demand services.