Orange and Visa Europe have launched a new mobile wallet service called Orange cash in the French cities of Caen and Strasbourg, making Orange the first mobile network operator in France to offer mobile contactless payments to its customers.
European exchange group Euronext is planning to begin trading active open-end funds on its Paris market following a legislative decree in France allowing the funds to be traded on exchanges or MTFs.
A week before the final reporting deadline for the European Commission’s EMIR regulation, tech firms are making a last push to get OTC trade reporting up and running.
Switzerland’s SIX Financial Information has begun delivering FATCA tax information to the US Inland Revenue Service, ahead of the controversial extraterritorial tax’s reporting deadline in July.
Transaction cost analysis has become a staple feature of equities trading since 2007’s watershed piece of European legislation MiFID. But that’s just the beginning of a journey that is increasingly coming to transform the way FX and fixed income asset classes are traded, according to Michael Sparkes, director of analytical products and research at broker ITG.
SIX Payment Services has apologised after a technical glitch caused a number of debit card transactions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein to be accidentally booked twice on 22-23 January. Following the disaster, SIX managed to reverse 99.93% of the double bookings, with the remainder due to be reversed individually in the coming days. On average SIX […]
Hong Kong-based carrier services firm PCCW Global has banded together with 16 other high profile international network operators, including China Unicom, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat and Ooredoo, to construct a high capacity submarine cable system between Asia, Africa and Europe.
Post-trade services company Traiana plans to connect to four trade repositories in preparation for the European Commission’s EMIR legislation, which requires trade reporting and clearing of OTC derivatives.
While many large organisations have already planned and delivered their SEPA compliance, smaller and mid-sized firms have woefully underprepared for the deadline. Banks and payment organisations need to be prepared for a certain amount of confusion and resistance from UK customers who may not understand the reasons for the change, and may be reluctant to put the necessary changes into effect.
The European Central Bank has released statistics that it says show that migration to the Single Euro Payments Area “gathered pace strongly” in December and urged market participants not to relax in their migration efforts. Earlier this month the European Commission announced a six-month extension past the 1 February deadline by which time all payments […]
Tuesday’s landmark deal between the European Parliament, Council and Commission on MiFID II will hurt long-term investors and may paint the regulator into a corner, according to Juan Pablo Urrutia, European general council at broker ITG.
Reforms to the way derivatives trade in the US and Europe are causing a conflict between consumer desire for bespoke solutions and regulatory attempts at standardisation – and the self-inflicted panic as the deadline approaches indicates the cost may be too high, according to a panel of senior capital markets representatives speaking at an event organised by the Futures and Options Association in London on Tuesday.
Switzerland’s Zürcher Kantonalbank has installed a performance monitoring system from latency management specialist firm Corvil to monitor the performance of its market making and FX business, including market data quality, transaction analysis and FX order flow.
Financial messaging cooperative Swift is looking to capitalise on the impending trade reporting deadline for EMIR, the European Commission’s new rulebook for derivatives, which comes into effect next month.
The London Stock Exchange has introduced a set of changes for its international order book, including a shift to T+2 settlement, a reduction in tick sizes and changed opening hours, ahead of upcoming EU regulations designed to harmonise settlement across Europe.
The EC proposes that banks and payment services providers will not be penalised for continuing to process legacy payments during a six-month “transition period” after the February deadline for SEPA migration.
Belgium’s Record Bank has introduced a new mobile banking platform that it says will help customers better manage their money in real time. The features of the new mobile banking service include SEPA payment abilities and the ability for customers to check the status, transaction history and details of their own account. Established in 2001, […]
Dutch bank ABN Amro has become a member of German derivatives exchange Eurex’s OTC Clear service, which clears interest rate swaps, as part of the bank’s compliance with EMIR.
The European Central Bank is to create a Euro Retail Payments Board to replace the Single Euro Payments Area Council and “help foster the development of an integrated, innovative and competitive market for retail payments in euro in the European Union”.
The impact of the Single Euro Payments Area will result in a new marketplace where bigger banks will be forced into stronger competition and smaller banks forced to cultivate their ‘local bank’ credentials.
IntercontinentalExchange has revealed further details of its plans for Liffe, following its acquisition of NYSE Euronext in November.
Germany’s Commerzbank has just signed up to Regis-TR, the European trade repository owned by German CSD Clearstream and Spanish CSD Iberclear, as part of the bank’s drive to ready itself for the EMIR legislation on OTC derivatives reporting.
Italian CSD Monte Titoli will connect to T2S via Colt and SIA, rather than via Swift, as the two companies vie for business ahead of the June 2015 go live date.
European equities clearing houses EMCF and EuroCCP have completed their merger transaction and chosen a new name for the merged company, following the final approval by Dutch central bank De Nederlandsche to the group’s shareholder organisations the DTCC and BATS Chi-X Europe.
As Europe’s post-trade infrastructure is subjected to increasing levels of regulation, CSDs will be forced to change their business models to stay alive, custodians will be forced to seek alliances to find economies of scale, and brokers will have to outsource parts of their mid and back office processes to stay in the game, according to analyst firm Celent.
Euroclear UK and Ireland is planning to shorten its settlement cycle to T+2 from October next year, bringing its operations into line with clearing in Germany and Russia, which already operate T+2.
European equity market Turquoise has reported a drastic increase in dark trading volumes following the relaunch of its ‘dark’ pool Uncross service. Banking Technology spoke to Robert Barnes, new chief executive at Turquoise, to find out why.
Fintech vendor Volante Technologies has launched its T2S Accelerator, which is designed to help financial services firms to prepare for the T2S settlement platform.
Regulators should consider carefully the implications of their actions, and not be too hasty to censure or restrict trading activity on dark pools, according to a report released by analyst firm Celent this week. The findings have been supported by senior financial services executives at Fidessa, who have called for investor choice to be maintained.
Finland’s Aktia Bank has begun staff training on a new Temenos T24 core banking system that it plans to start implementing next year with an expected go-live date in 2015
Credit Agricole CIB has signed an outsourcing deal with Genpact, in which the technology firm will help the bank by providing its IT development and maintenance, production support, infrastructure management and user support in the US.
BATS Chi-X Europe has begun its pan-European listings business with the start of trading in two exchange-traded funds. The firm’s strategy is to focus on ETFs, where it believes it has found an opportunity to cut away at costs.
Market participants need to be sure they understand how their collateral is being handled. They also need to make sure they are ready for EMIR, according to financial executives at the Mondo Visione Exchange Forum this week.
Bulgaria’s DSK Bank has launched a mobile savings application called DSK Gameo, which is designed to encourage customers to save by making banking more fun, while helping the bank better understand its user-base.
Global funds network Calastone has signed up Austrian private bank Semper Constantia to take up its order routing services.
The European Commission has rejected a request from the European Securities and Markets Authority to delay the reporting of exchange traded derivatives, with the effect that all derivatives trades will have to be reported to registered trade repositories from 12 February next year.
French operator group Orange has formed a strategic partnership with payment provider Visa to accelerate awareness and everyday usage of contactless payment technology in France. The operator has also launched a mobile prepayment solution called Orange Cash in the country.
Data specialists Volante have launched their SEPA Accelerator, a tool designed to help companies comply with the upcoming Single Euro Payments Area, which takes effect on 1 February 2014.
Andrea Galeazzi, director of network services at Italian payments and technology infrastructure company SIA, has taken up a new role as chairman at Italian telecoms firm Emmecom. The move is part of SIA’s acquisition of the smaller firm, which took place in July and forms a key part of its European expansion plans.
Pan-European clearing houses EMCF and EuroCCP have received approval from the UK consumer authority the Office of Fair Trading to go ahead with their planned merger, announced in July.
