Banking


Android Pay gets four UK OKs

Natwest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Ulster Bank have all launched on Android Pay in the UK today (13 September), with TSB “coming soon”. The development follows hot on the heels from last week, when US-based Chase Bank customers were able to add their eligible Chase Visa cards to Android Pay. The cards include […]

GFT and Fidor join forces for mobile banking app development

Following a joint project with O2 to create Germany’s first mobile-only, full-service bank account, GFT Technologies and Fidor have entered a broader “strategic innovation partnership”. The focus is on developing mobile financial and banking apps, and marketing/selling Fidor’s proprietary technology, Fidor Operating Systems (fOS).

Facebook Messenger v1.2 enables native payments in chatbots

Facebook has announced its Messenger bots can now accept payments natively, without redirecting users to external sites. The announcement was made by David Marcus, head of Facebook Messenger, at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, as he unveiled the launch of the Messenger platform v1.2.

UnifyID launches “holistic implicit authentication” platform, the first of its kind

UnifyID, a California-based fintech start-up, has brought to market its flagship identity and authentication platform. The proposition is “holistic implicit authentication”, i.e. it leverages the individual’s uniqueness to identify and authenticate the person by combining a number of biometric authentication features, analysing the patterns and utilising the machine learning technology.

Goldman Sachs in free software gambit

In a new gambit, Goldman Sachs is giving its most valuable software away for free to win more business from clients. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Michael Dubno, who was CTO at Goldman Sachs for 20 years, discussed how the investment bank makes “billions of dollars in well-timed trades, and sidestep billions […]

The global economy, brought to you by APIs

The Brexit unrest aside, Europe is taking initiatives to make a sounder, more user-friendly economic landscape. By using technology solutions and digital innovation, the European Union (EU) is encouraging greater transparency, usability and higher standards of security for all manner of web-based banking and financial transactions. Irrespective of any governmental re-organisation, and the trickled-down impact […]

Fintechs and banks, collaborate to succeed!

Banks and fintech companies need to collaborate to succeed, argue Saxo Bank’s global COO, Søren Kyhl, and Stig Tørnes, head of business management. And that requires a change of mindset on both sides, the sooner the better. Fintech has become the buzzword for a diverse group of companies whose ambition is to bring efficiency to financial […]

Wells Fargo fined $185m for fake bank account scam

Fake it until you make it… unless you get caught. Employees at Wells Fargo have been found guilty of creating millions of fake bank accounts and credit card numbers over the past five years, as an unsubtle attempt to boost sales figures. For this illegal activity, the bank has been fined $185 million, including a […]

Start-up Clinc unveils Finie, AI personal assistant for mobile banking apps

Fintech start-up Clinc says it has created “the world’s first” open source platform for building artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning-based personal assistants. Clinc calls it “the financial genie” or “Finie”. It is pitched to banks, financial institutions and personal finance managers. The solution was developed by a group of professors at the University of Michigan, […]

Top fintech stories this week – 9 September 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Barclays and Wave pioneer blockchain trade finance transaction What is a fintech day without blockchain? UK challenger banks: who’s who The list has been updated. US credit union consortium plots blockchain use Watch out R3. Smile and an […]

FTR 2015 – EU regulation with global impact

What is FTR 2015 and how does it affect banks operating in the cross-border payments space? Marc Recker, Head of Market Management, Institutional Cash Management at Deutsche Bank, explores. The challenges and complexities of complying with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CFT) regulations are certainly not new in the financial industry. Over the past […]

CBA and Barclays partner for Australia-UK mobile payments “first”

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Barclays have joined forces to let their retail customers move money between Australia and the UK with “just a mobile number”. In a “first between the two countries”, CBA and Barclays say they have worked to connect each of their payment apps together – CBA’s CommBank and Barclays’ Pingit. […]

Banking Technology Awards 2016 – shortlist unveiled

Our rejuvenated Banking Technology Awards have received an unprecedented amount of entries this year – from banks, financial institutions, fintech firms and individuals worldwide – and we are happy to reveal the shortlisted candidates. Now in their 17th year, Banking Technology Awards recognise and reward excellence and innovation in the use of IT in financial […]

Swift admits attacks are “here to stay” – so what can banks do?

There’s a cultural misconception that security equals lockdown in the financial sector; disclosure runs counter to that perception. Banks are less inclined to share intimate details of attacks because they don’t want to damage market confidence and that makes cyber security a major challenge for the sector. Swift has recently sent a letter out to customers […]

PriceMetrix acquired by McKinsey

McKinsey has bought PriceMetrix, a Toronto-based data and analytics company focused on the wealth and asset management sector. McKinsey says that “PriceMetrix will retain its management team, brand and identity, and will work in close collaboration with McKinsey’s wealth and asset management team”. PriceMetrix’s tools – ValueOne, CommissionCheck and FeeCheck – are complementary to McKinsey’s […]

Avaloq in tune as iTunes for finserv

“We can be the iTunes for finserv,” was one of the messages from Avaloq CEO Francisco Fernandez on company strategy and software functionality. This morning at today’s (7 September 2016) Avaloq Community Conference at the Seminarhotel Bocken in Horgen, Switzerland, the private banking software specialist is holding an open day as it looks to the […]

Barclays and fintech start-up Wave pioneer blockchain trade finance transaction

Barclays and fintech start-up Wave claim to have become the first organisations to complete a global trade transaction using distributed ledger/blockchain technology. Barclays is now calling on other banks to adopt Wave’s platform. “This can develop into an industry-wide improvement in how trade documentation is managed,” Barclays urges. The letter of credit (LC) transaction between […]

Mambu plans to onboard 50 new clients by year-end

Fintech vendor Mambu says it has added 25 new clients to its portfolio this year and is set to double this figure by the end of 2016. It will also more than double the size of its team by the year-end. “All [of Mambu’s new customers] are focused on servicing consumers and businesses poorly reached by […]

How emerging banks are changing the banking experience

Consumers and businesses alike will often consider a company’s reputation before entering an agreement with them. After all, why would anyone choose an organisation which has history of letting its customers down, over another with a spotless track record? It’s unsurprising then that once the reputation of traditional banks in the UK was tarnished by […]

USAA launches online virtual assistant

USAA, a provider of banking and insurance services to the US military personnel and their families, has launched a virtual assistant for its website. The solution is based on the Nina artificial intelligence (AI) technology, supplied by Nuance Communications. It will provide immediate online support and answers to USAA’s member’s “most critical needs”, says Nuance, […]

Shadow data – robbing cloud’s silver lining

Welcome to the dark, scary world of “shadow data”, which can easily turn into a nightmare for enterprises from data governance, compliance, reputation and financial losses points of view… Are you sitting comfortably? Yamini Kona, principal consultant, financial services at Infosys, is going to tell a chilling tale. Imagine a scenario where an employee shares […]

Barclays Wealth enlists Tech Mahindra for tech modernisation

Tech Mahindra and its specialist banking IT consultancy and integration subsidiary, Sofgen, have been recruited by Barclays Wealth for its tech modernisation initiative. Barclays has been rolling out a new core banking platform – Avaloq Banking Suite – for a number of years, as well as a new front-office investment management platform, Charles River’s IMS. […]

Erste Bank Hungary updates retail payments hub with ACI Worldwide

Erste Bank Hungary is implementing ACI Worldwide’s UP Retail Payments solution, upgrading from the older versions of ACI’s solutions. The bank will also deploy ACI Proactive Risk Manager (a fraud management solution) and ACI Interchange (central monetary transaction manager) to calculate interchange fees. Erste and ACI have been working together since 2003. Tamás Foltányi, COO […]

BNP Paribas Investment Partners live with Commcise commission management solution

Commcise has implemented its flagship cloud-based commission management software, CommciseBuy, at BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP). The project covers the investment manager’s international network across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. The new solution comprises “a complete multi-broker, multi-asset, integrated commission sharing agreement (CSA) and share-of-wallet hosted service”, says the vendor. Commcise also provided […]

BGL BNP Paribas centralises securities ops on ERI’s Olympic core system

BGL BNP Paribas, a Luxembourg-based subsidiary of BNP Paribas, has gone live with a new centralised hub for securities processing. The technology that underpins it is the Olympic core banking system, supplied by banking tech vendor ERI. ERI is a long-standing supplier of core banking software to BNP Paribas’ wealth management and private banking businesses. […]

Emirates NBD unveils innovation lab

Emirates NBD has established its Future Lab, part of its digital strategy to speed up the development of digital and mobile banking services in the UAE. The bank says the lab is the “first of its kind in the UAE banking sector”, and will act as a “strategic think tank” in addition to being a […]

Wells Fargo and Amazon abruptly kill off US student loan partnership

It only lasted six weeks but Amazon and Wells Fargo Education Financial Services have ended their partnership to offer US college students a discount on private student loans. The deal, launched in July, was Amazon’s first venture into the lending market for college students. For Wells Fargo, it was an attempt to build up its […]

Banking on collaboration

The disruptive forces of technology and legislation are forcing banks to become open and collaborative, things which they historically found challenging. A friend who owns a small business recently went through what I call a “connected and choreographed” experience to get a loan. iWoka, a digital lending company, simply asked him to log on to […]

Smile and an HSBC account smiles with you

HSBC business customers can now open accounts using “selfie” verification, giving them the option to complete ID security checks on their mobile device. It says ID verification can be completed in a “few clicks” on an Apple or Android device. Once the initial headshot or selfie of a customer is captured, it is then assessed […]

Commerzbank selects AxiomSL for regulatory reporting

Commerzbank is implementing UK-based AxiomSL’s platform to automate regulatory reporting requirements. The bank, Germany’s second largest, plans to deliver the SEC 15c3-1 (Securities and Exchange Commission’s uniform net capital rule) as well as other regulatory mandates such as the Financial and Operational Combined Uniform Single (Focus), Treasury International Capital (TIC), Off Balance Sheet reporting (OBS) […]

New US clients for Temenos’ Akcelerant subsidiary

Banking technology vendor Temenos says 16 financial institutions in the US have signed for its account and loan origination, collection and recovery software in the last six months. The suite of products originates from a local specialist vendor, Akcelerant, which Temenos acquired in early 2015; and 600+ credit union clients with it. Jay Mossman, formerly […]

Macquarie unveils new digital banking services

Australia-based Macquarie Group has launched a range of new digital banking functions and is looking for feedback from any early users. The services are underpinned by the DataStax Enterprise (DSE) platform. Features range from search-how-you-speak technology; the ability to tag and track transactions; upload receipts and warranties; set saving and spending goals; and automatically categorise spending through […]

Tier 1 US bank live with Temenos core and payments software

Temenos says it has gone live with its flagship T24 core banking system at a “top 20 US bank”. Banking Technology understands this is Ally Financial. The bank is also now live with the vendor’s newly-built payments hub, Temenos Payments Suite (TPS). It is “the first tier 1 bank to do so in the US”, […]

Dai-ichi Life Vietnam Fund Management live with SS&C’s Portia

SS&C’s Portia platform now supports middle and back office operations at Dai-ichi Life Vietnam Fund Management. Portia is a long-standing investment management solution. It came SS&C’s way in 2012 via the acquisition of the Portia business from Thomson Reuters. SS&C paid $170 million for it. Dai-ichi Life was looking for “a proven investment management solution […]

MDM Bank launches single-tap mobile payments; OpenWay provides tech

One of Russia’s major banking players, MDM Bank, has rolled out a single-tap Mastercard Contactless mobile payments option. The service is underpinned by the WAY4 Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology from OpenWay. MDM Bank’s customers can now pay from their Mastercard account with no need to enter a password or PIN code or even activate […]