FinTech


ABN Amro teams with First Data for payments

Dutch state-owned bank, ABN Amro, is partnering with US-based First Data for payments and will offer services through its joint venture European Merchant Services (EMS). EMS has been processing credit card and debit card payments for businesses for over 25 years, and ABN Amro says entrepreneurs and small business owners will be able to add […]

Client lifecycle management solutions: build or buy?

Mark Bands, head of product & regulatory intelligence, iMeta Technologies: When speaking with prospective financial institution customers of our client lifecycle management (CLM) platform I am surprised at how often an “in-house” build solution has either already been chosen or is being seriously considered as an option. Surprised, that is, that firms’ in-house technology functions are confident […]

Digitising risk data architecture reporting

Can applying semantics make BCBS 239 reporting consistent and comparable across all regulatory bodies? Rupert Brown explores the options when best practice isn’t good enough… Regulatory vagaries and the punitive fines make these tense times for bank risk officers. On the one hand, regulators are asking for a whole lot of architectural work to be […]

D+H Corporation bullish on payments software business

North American software provider, D+H Corporation, has made optimistic noises over its Global Transaction Banking Solution (GTBS) unit in its latest financial results. The vendor claims to have “won a majority of payment hub RFPs” as well as “surpassed the Fundtech [now GTBS] backlog record” in generating revenue from the existing projects. Gerrard Schmid, CEO […]

Fintech 2.0: creating new opportunities through strategic alliance

Banks and fintechs should collaborate rather than compete, leveraging their respective strengths to revolutionise the B2B payments space and create sustainable business models in today’s digital era. As the next stages of digital structural change continue to transform financial services, the focus of technological developments will shift. Most recent developments in business models have been […]

The state of compliance for financial services

Financial institutions need to determine how to comply with the least disruption and cost in the short time frames provided. Image courtesy of Datameer. Click on picture to enlarge or use zoom feature within browser. Or you can read the PDF here.

A whistle-stop tour of the regulatory calendar

As financial institutions across the board gear up for 2016, the year ahead poses some notably regulatory challenges. Not least among these is the impending Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) from the European Commission; there will also be further progress on MiFID II. On 3 July this year, an event will take place which will mark […]

Mizuho and Cognizant join forces for blockchain-backed record-keeping

Mizuho Financial Group and Cognizant have teamed up to develop a blockchain solution for the “secure” record-keeping of documents among Mizuho Financial Group companies around the world. The agreement is the beginning of Mizuho’s programme to use blockchain for building new work processes for transactions and digital interactions. This engagement will initially focus on New […]

Crealogix’s Elaxy to roll out consulting platform for Bankhaus August Lenz

Crealogix’s subsidiary Elaxy Financial Software & Solutions will roll out a hybrid consulting platform at Bankhaus August Lenz in Germany. The solution, developed in nine months, is ready for MiFID II (markets in financial instruments directive) and PRIIP (packaged retail and insurance-based investment products) regulations. It is also integrated into the bank’s online banking system […]

Nymbus teams with Geezeo for personal finance push

US core banking software vendor Nymbus has teamed up with Geezeo, a white-label personal finance management (PFM) provider for banks and credit unions. Nymbus launched last year with a flurry of Star Wars-inspired quotes. It is looking to work with financial institutions (FIs) and compete with banking behemoths and the neo banks. The vendor sees […]

PayPal plans Latin America growth with América Móvil alliance

PayPal is teaming up with Mexican telecommunications giant América Móvil as it looks to expand in Latin America. The alliance’s focus will be on a new mobile wallet platform, which lets users pay for items by smartphone scans. With América Móvil on board, PayPal can target 140 million users in Brazil and Mexico. Dan Schulman, […]

BBVA makes Cisco top technology partner

Spanish bank BBVA has signed a strategic alliance with Cisco, allowing it to become its “priority” technology partner. BBVA says it wants to “foster connectivity and collaboration” between clients and employees, and speed up innovation and digitisation. This is the first of a series of alliances and BBVA says it is aiming to create more […]

Top fintech stories this week – 26 February 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Fiserv’s CUnify core processing system bags 25 US credit unions More good news for the US software vendor. IBM delivers blockchain-as-a-service for developers Code to joy… nearly 44,000 lines made available. Potential “merger of equals” between Deutsche Börse […]

Retail banking: the power of the personal

In 2016, retail banks are facing up to their biggest challenge. A combination of new market disrupters, increased regulation and the continuing pace of technology change is set to transform the industry, shifting power firmly to the consumer. Natalie McLellan, director of financial services at consultancy firm Egremont, offers her insight. Many commentators argue that […]

New digital bank powered by Temenos’ front-to-back office platform

EQ Bank, a new pure-play digital bank in Canada, has opened its virtual doors. It is underpinned by the front-to-back office software from Temenos. The bank is using Temenos’ T24 core banking system at the back-end and Temenos Connect for digital channels at the front-end. It is also using Insight BI for business intelligence and […]

Deutsche Börse launches fintech initiative in Frankfurt

Deutsche Börse has launched a fintech initiative for new companies and start-ups in Frankfurt. From April onwards, it will make “fully equipped rooms available as a suitable environment to further develop new ideas and entrepreneurial concepts”. The start-ups will also receive on-site support from employees of the Deutsche Börse Venture Network. These will use their […]

AsiaHawala powers Iraq’s “first” mobile money service with Mahindra Comviva

AsiaHawala, Iraq’s “first” mobile money service, has chosen Mahindra Comviva’s Mobiquity Money solution as it looks to expand its reach across the country. The Iraqi company offers consumers a mobile account for a range of financial transactions – such as P2P transfer, bill payments, merchant payments, salary payments and a recharge service. With Mobiquity Money […]

Are cloud-based managed services set to take off in 2016?

Over the last few years, technology infrastructures have become increasingly complex and expensive to manage. At the same time, IT budgets have been cut, leading to companies finding it hard to provide and maintain IT infrastructures. Dana Brants, head of services at Swift, looks at what companies can do under the circumstances. Due to costs, […]

Net Element enters Azerbaijan’s mobile payments market

Florida-based Net Element has launched its mobile payments platform, Digital Provider, in Azerbaijan. The venture is done via the company’s Russian subsidiary, OOO Digital Provider. The company says the new integration allows content providers and aggregators access to all “major” mobile operators in the country. It has also signed a contract with a national television […]

IBM delivers blockchain-as-a-service for developers

Blockchain gets another boost as IBM has made nearly 44,000 lines of code available to the Linux Foundation’s open source Hyperledger Project to help developers build secure distributed ledgers. IBM has also made a range of announcements spanning technology and business consulting to “rapidly advance the use of distributed ledger technology across multiple industries”. These […]

Achieving merchant acceptance – the key to successful digital financial services

Digital financial services (DFS) have the power to transform the lives of millions living in poverty. However, the lack of merchant acceptance presents a significant obstacle to its success. Sacha Polverini, chairman of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) focus group on digital financial services and Carol Benson, managing partner at Glenbrook Partners, look at how […]

Veridian Credit Union revamps digital channels with Alkami Technology’s ORB platform

Veridian Credit Union, a $2.95 billion credit union in Iowa, is implementing Alkami Technology’s ORB platform for digital channels. The new solution will replace a legacy set-up, which includes a mobile banking offering from another US provider, Clairmail (now part of Monitise). Clairmail was selected by Veridian back in 2009. In 2012, the vendor was […]

Broadridge allies with AMA for corporate governance

Broadridge Financial Solutions has taken a minority stake and entered into an exclusive distribution and marketing alliance with Netherlands-based management consulting firm AMA Partners. AMA provides DirectorInsight, a platform offering data and analytical tools for the evaluation of corporate governance and executive compensation. Broadridge says the deal expands its data capabilities for corporations and institutional […]

CopSonic and Natixis join forces for SwipeSonic ultrasound payments

Natixis Payment Solutions has teamed up with French start-up CopSonic to create SwipeSonic, an ultrasound payment solution for online shopping transactions. CopSonic’s technology uses ultrasound to encrypt information within music and voice, or transmit data “entirely inaudibly to the human ear”. Emmanuel Ruiz, CEO of CopSonic, says: “Sound is the easiest and most effective technology […]

Barclays and BlackBerry bringing BBM to Pingit mobile payments

Barclays and BlackBerry are bringing BBM, the mobile instant messaging service, to Pingit money transfers in the UK. BBM users can now make mobile payments to each other using Barclays’ mobile payment app Pingit. Matthew Talbot, SVP, BBM at BlackBerry, says to “exchange money was a logical extension” of BBM’s functions. Once a user has […]

Digital Asset teams with Accenture, Broadridge and PwC for blockchain growth

New York-based Digital Asset Holdings, a developer of distributed ledger technology (aka blockchain), has teamed up with Accenture, Broadridge and PwC. Digital Asset says it has entered into non-exclusive strategic business relationships with the companies, and Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset, says the alliances will “accelerate innovation” and “drive growth”. The Accenture relationship will […]

Capco: Costs driving financial industry towards utility model

Financial technology consultancy Capco has found that cost pressure will drive the uptake of the utility model in finance. In its latest report, ‘What Makes Utilities Useful,’ it surveyed senior banking executives’ attitudes towards adoption of a utilities-style approach. With responses from 102 financial services professionals across 69 financial institutions in 26 countries, they found […]

Nasdaq OMX: Cap Markets Union needs disruptive technology

A whitepaper by market operator Nasdaq OMX has warned that disruptive technology needs to be encouraged if Europe’s proposed Capital Markets Union (CMU) is to prove effective. The paper notes that the current proposals place an emphasis on larger institutions investing and growing their product and service offerings, which the firm argues do not necessarily […]

Nasdaq extends blockchain innovation with Estonian shareholders

Estonia’s e-Residency platform will use a blockchain-based e-voting service to allow shareholders of companies listed on Nasdaq’s Tallinn Stock Exchange, to vote in shareholder meetings. The country’s e-Residency platform is an electronic identity system used by both Estonian residents and those with business interests in the country to access government services through e-Residency digital authentication. The program […]

BBVA breaks off fintech fund

BBVA, a major shareholder in Atom Bank, a UK challenger, has announced an increase in its financial technology fund to US$250 million from US$100 million and a partnership with Propel Venture Partners which will see Propel managing the investment independently. Propel will use the US$250 million in a US and a European fund while opening an office […]

Will innovation replace secrecy in Swiss banking?

To succeed as a startup hub Switzerland may need to focus on developing a hub for senior entrepreneurs within the financial industry. That is one suggestion stemming from a new report into the country’s capacity to become an innovation hub for fintech firms, published by consultancy EY and the Swiss Finance and Technology Association, entitled […]

AllianceBernstein tracking fixed-income execution with Interactive Data

Investment manager AllianceBernstein is working with Interactive Data, to help evaluate its trade execution quality and perform transaction cost analysis (TCA).  The work will be done across various mutual funds and separately managed portfolios using Interactive Data’s Best Execution (Best Ex) service. The service leverages its Continuous Evaluated Fixed-Income Pricing to run TCA for fixed-income […]

Memory muscle

An in-memory DBMS with its roots in embedded systems for the defence and aerospace sectors is setting records for manipulating financial data. Chief executive Steve Graves told Banking Technology how it works.

Nasdaq sees tech revenues climb

Market operator Nasdaq has seen revenues from its technology sales increase, with its Technology Solutions division, which makes up 27% of total net revenues reach $146 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, up from $4 million from the fourth quarter of 2014. The exchange’s Market Technology unit, which accounts for 13% of total net revenues, […]

Electronic payment volumes and security fears rocket

A survey of more than 3,700 IT security practitioners from more than a dozen major industry sectors found 54% of those firms surveyed had a security or data breach involving payment data, on average four times in past two years.​ The research, independently conducted by the Ponemon Institute on behalf of digital security firm Gemalto, also […]

DTCC: Blockchain is “once-in-a-generation opportunity”

In a new whitepaper, the US post-trade infrastructure provider Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), has voiced its belief that the financial services industry “has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine and modernise its infrastructure” by employing blockchain in a coordinated manner. Blockchain is the transaction model used to transfer ownership of crypto-currency bitcoin. It was developed […]

‘Smart’ CRM sees investment from HSBC

Cognitive computing specialist CustomerMatrix, a co-founder of forum Cognitive Computing Consortium, has closed US$10.5 million in Series-B funding. The investment, one in a series of investments in artificial intelligence-like technologies in 2016, was led by HSBC, with participation from Aster Capital, and existing investors Newfund and True Global Ventures. CustomerMatrix, which offers a predictive engine called […]

Swift payments innovation initiative gains ground as 45 banks sign up

A total of 45 banks including Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank and many others have signed up to a new payments innovation initiative headed by Swift, which is due to launch early next year. Announced in December, the initiative aims to dramatically improve the customer experience in correspondent banking by increasing the speed, transparency and predictability of cross-border payments.

‘Modular’ financial services set to benefit consumers

Financial services are becoming “modular”, with digital distribution platforms, new product providers, alternative sources of capital and a growth in outsourcing likely to reshape the industry, according to a new report by global management consultancy Oliver Wyman.