Banking


Standard Life and ING Australia working with IBM on digital projects

UK-based investment company Standard Life and ING’s Australian subsidiary are working with IBM on a range of digital and data management initiatives. Standard Life: it’s personal Standard Life is personalising its financial services capabilities “to each of its 3.8 million UK customers”, IBM states. Using IBM’s analytics tools Standard Life “can accurately track a person’s […]

Finca and First Access join forces for microfinance fintech

Microfinance organisation Finca and credit scoring specialist First Access have unveiled “the world’s largest microfinance fintech collaboration”. The two companies say this partnership “will create the largest and most sophisticated alternative credit-scoring approach by a microfinance institution (MFI) in the world.” It will also vastly improve Finca’s outreach to excluded populations. First Access will analyse existing […]

Capital One UK launches fintech start-up accelerator

Capital One UK is inviting fintech start-ups to join its newly launched Capital One Growth Labs – “an accelerator programme for early-stage start-up and high-growth companies”. The initiative is supported by technology investor L Marks. The aim, states Chris Owen, programme leader, is to discover and partner with the new fintech talent and “and unlock the truly […]

IDBI Capital goes live with new trading platform, TCS Bancs

IDBI Capital, a subsidiary of India-based IDBI Bank, has gone live on a new securities trading and processing system, Bancs. The system is supplied by TCS Financial Solutions. Bancs supports online brokerage operations at IDBI Capital. It provides front-to-back office functionality and replaced IDBI Capital’s multiple trading and trade processing platforms. According to TCS, IDBI […]

Sberbank builds new digital product, Sberbank Messenger

Russia’s banking giant, Sberbank, has unveiled a new digital product, Sberbank Messenger – a communication platform for users to interact with friends and colleagues as well as with services providers, shops and businesses. It can be a person-to-person communication or by using artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The solution will be in beta testing later this […]

The switch from analog to digital banking is not just about new tech – part 1

Art Gillis, a seasoned banking technology consultant (working in the computer industry since 1958 – and listed as a top 25 tech consultant by the American Banker) and author, pulls no punches in this opinion piece. Digital technology evangelists, read it at your peril. The past 50 years I have known only three bank CEOs who […]

UBS invests in digital tech firm SigFig, develops new platform for advisors

UBS Wealth Management Americas (WMA) and tech company SigFig has formed a “strategic alliance” to develop digital technology for UBS WMA, its financial advisors and their clients. San Francisco-based SigFig specialises in wealth management software. It will create and customise digital tools and services for UBS WMA’s 7,000 advisors. UBS WMA’s remit is domestic US and […]

MyState in digital banking transformation

Australia-based financial services group, MyState, is gearing up to launch a new digital banking system, provided by domestic vendor Rubik Financial. The new solution is set to go live in August and promises to transform MyState’s digital channels and customer experience, according to Rubik. It will provide “superior digital experience” to customers, the vendor says, […]

Beaten British banks need to modernise and improve software quality management

Following outages at some of the UK’s leading banks including Barclays and, most recently, HSBC which left customers unable to access funds for up to two days, means system failures are a hot topic. The amount and frequency of these damaging failures emphasises the growing issue of poor software quality management in the UK banking […]

Infographics: the efficient treasury

The treasury function plays a pivotal role within a bank, and with great power comes great responsibility… and the need for automation. Misys and Banking Technology conducted a survey to find out about the changing role of the banks’ treasury and the degree of support received from current systems. How can technology help treasurers cope […]

HSBC to cut 850 jobs in UK

HSBC is to cut 850 information technology jobs in the UK today (16 May), the first stage of its restructuring plan that will see 8,000 British jobs terminated by the end of 2017. The employees are based in London, Sheffield, Leeds and Birmingham and all the jobs will disappear by the end of this year, […]

UK challenger banks: who’s who

With so many new banks trying to muscle into the UK banking sector, spurred on by the reduced barriers to entry and calls for competition, Banking Technology wonders: will this boom be followed by a bust? In the meantime, make hay whilst the sun shines! Here is our guide to who’s who in the UK […]

Infographics: the efficient treasury

Banking Technology and Misys conducted a survey to find out about the changing role of the banks’ treasury and the degree of support received from current systems. The results are in our infographics – great contents that is easy on the eye and easy to digest.

Top fintech stories this week – 13 May 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Perception brings to market new core platform UK credit unions, lenders and start-up banks take note. ING adds some zing to start-up ring It’s working with 45 start-ups on banking innovation. Punjab National Bank to modernise enterprise data […]

BPCE implements new core banking system in Vietnam, Sopra Banking Amplitude

Vietnam-based subsidiary of France’s major financial group, BPCE, is implementing a new core banking system, Sopra Banking Amplitude. The new solution will cover front-to-back office operations of the bank, including digital banking functionality. The system is supplied by Sopra Banking Software. The project follows the reorganisation of BPCE’s operations in Vietnam, with the business moved […]

Barclays swerves Android Pay with smartphone NFC payments

Banking giant Barclays has announced the launch of its own mobile contactless on Android, and confirmed it will not be joining Android Pay, reports Tim Skinner at Telecoms.com. The bank has been one of the UK’s more innovative financial institutions harnessing mobile payments, and specifically the integration of payment technology into wearable or alternative devices. […]

RBS to cut 200 more jobs in UK

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is planning to cut around 200 more jobs at its UK retail bank, according to sources close to the development. The latest round of job cuts follows the announcement last month that 600 jobs were to go in the UK. Rob MacGregor, national officer at the Unite trade union, says: […]

Fear of missing out vs fear of failure: how to resolve the conflict

The fear of missing out (FOMO) forever clashes with the fear of failure (FOF) when it comes to innovating in banks. Lee Cameron, CEO of Monitise, explores the FOMO versus FOF conflict and how to resolve it. FOMO is commonly cited as being characteristic of the Instagram-driven millennial generation, but how does this relate to […]

RBS puts on Red Hat for new innovation centre

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is powering its new Open Experience centre with Red Hat technologies, including the Red Hat Mobile Application Platform and OpenShift Enterprise, Red Hat’s web-scale container application platform. Open Experience was launched by RBS in February at its HQ in Edinburgh (UK) to pursue “innovative new technologies for the bank and […]

Banking Technology May 2016 issue out now

The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.

Swift quick to dismiss Bangladesh’s allegations over cyber fraud scandal

Swift has rejected the allegations made by Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials to Reuters about the cyber fraud scandal in February. A few months ago, hackers stole more than $100 million from the country’s foreign currency reserves. In the ensuing furore, the head of Bangladesh’s central bank, Atiur Rahman, resigned; […]

IDBI Bank in major tech upgrade and business process re-engineering

IDBI Bank (formerly Industrial Development Bank of India), a state-owned bank in India, is going through a major core banking platform refresh. The bank is currently running on an old version of Infosys’ Finacle, version 7.x. Furthermore, the system was deployed in separate installations for domestic operations (retail and corporate), commercial lending (corporate finance), Dubai […]

Cloud nine for UK start-up AccessPay with £1m Barclays backing

Barclays is providing £1 million in funding to UK-based AccessPay to support its growth and further develop their relationship. Access Systems (trading as AccessPay) provides a cloud-based connectivity layer between a business’s finance systems, their banks and “all of the major” UK and international payment networks such as BACS, Swift, SEPA, Faster Payments and Direct […]

Haitong International continues roll-out of GBST’s Syn middle office system

Haitong International Securities Group has gone live with the second stage of the middle office revamp. The underlying tech is the Syn capital markets platform, provided by GBST, an Australia-based securities processing software vendor. Haitong signed for Syn last year and reported the first go-live in November. It has adopted the Syn platform as it […]

European Banking Federation pushing for global policy on cybersecurity

The European Banking Federation (EBF), the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) are planning global policy measures on cybersecurity, data and technology through a new set of common principles. In its paper, “International Cybersecurity, Data and Technology Principles”, the organisations want to create a “starting point for dialogue […]

Nordea to launch crowdfunding service in Finland

Nordea says it will be the “first” bank in Finland to offer its customers an equity-based crowdfunding service. It has developed an online crowdfunding platform that will match entrepreneurs seeking financing with investors; and will be linked to a book-entry system. The service will be launched in the next few months. The bank says the […]

Stanbic IBTC Bank in core banking system upgrade

Stanbic IBTC Bank in Nigeria is upgrading its core banking system, Infosys’ Finacle. The new version of the system will go live on 16 May, 2016 – but in the run-up to this the bank will be limiting its operations over the weekend 13-15 May. Stanbic IBTC will close its branches to customers on Friday […]

PSD II: the devil is in the detail

There’s a devilish amount of detail in the Payment Services Directive II (PSD II) and those responsible for implementing its requirements at financial institutions are only just now beginning to realise it. At last month’s Swift business forum in London, Emily Reid, partner at law firm Hogan Lovells, joked that payments regulation was a “growth […]

Vendor spotlight: the difference engine

Amidst the mass of humanity at Money 20/20 Europe in Copenhagen, Olivier Sery, general manager Iberia for TAS Group, took a few moments of his time to discuss the company’s software solutions for electronic money and payment systems; and its future plans. “We’ve done the investment, but now is the time to grow our footprint.” […]

Coast Capital Savings Credit Union looks for Temenos T24 software developer

One of Canada’s largest credit unions, Coast Capital Savings CU, is looking for a full-time software developer experienced in Temenos’ T24 core banking system. What’s the job? Writing code, developing and customising the credit union’s core processing platform, T24. “That sounds pretty simple but working on the software platform that powers our core banking operations […]

Indian Bank in search of new BPM and middleware systems

Chennai-based Indian Bank has issued expressions of interest (EOI) for a new business process management (BPM) system and new middleware. The EOI for middleware closed on 5th May, whilst the closing date for BPM submissions is 14th May 2016. The bank will then proceed to the request for proposal (RFP) stages for both solutions. Indian […]

Punjab National Bank to modernise enterprise data warehouse

Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of India’s “big four” banking groups, is looking to renovate its data management set-up. It issued an RFP “to revamp existing functionality” either by enhancing its current enterprise data warehouse (EDW) or to deploy a new one. The RFP was issued late last year, for an end-to-end solution for EDW […]

ING adds some zing to start-up ring

Dutch bank ING has revealed it’s working with 45 fintech start-ups on banking innovation, such as money management, payments, lending and mobile on-boarding. Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group, says of the 45 fintech firms, these include seven start-ups working on their proof-of-concept through the ING Fintech Village initiative in Belgium, and four through the […]

Metro Bank inks teller cash recycling deal with Glory Global Solutions

UK-based Metro Bank will roll out Glory Global Solutions’ Vertera 6G teller cash recyclers (TCRs) across the bank’s new locations as well as replace older technology in existing outlets. Metro Bank will set up a number of new branches in the course of 2016 and 2017. The bank, which opened for business in 2010, currently has […]

Central banks of Spain and France late with Calypso tech project

Banque de France and Banco de España are running late with their implementation of a new treasury and capital markets (TCM) system, Banking Technology understands. The two banks jointly opted for a new solution in 2013/14. It is understood that Calypso was chosen to replace a host of legacy technology, including Wallstreet Suite from Wall […]

Really! Why is my big data a time bomb?

Over $100 billion fines were paid in US for non-compliance since 2007! More than $2.5 billion in 2015 alone was a result of incomplete and inaccurate data used for complying with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. It’s not just financial institutions, but most firms are sitting on a ticking time bomb. How? Dr Seth Rao, CEO […]

RBS and RocketSpace to open London campus for tech start-ups

San-Francisco based RocketSpace, with the support of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), plans to open a campus in London, designed specifically for “high-growth” tech start-ups. The campus, located near Angel tube station, will initially hold up to 1,500 members at its opening in early 2017. Duncan Logan, RocketSpace’s founder and CEO, says: “Creating a physical […]

Perception brings to market new core platform for UK credit unions, lenders and start-up banks

UK-based financial services vendor Perception is building a new comprehensive platform for credit unions, community development financial institutions (CDFIs), loan companies and start-up banks. The solution aims to cover loans, savings, mortgages and current account business lines, front-to-back office. Be different, make a difference Perception has identified the gap in the market that it feels […]

New bank gearing up for launch in the UK

First Global Trust Bank (FGTB) is a new name on the UK banking scene. The bank has recently been granted an “authorisation with restriction” licence to take deposits by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The London-based company was originally set up under the name of Llamabrook in 2011. It became FGTB in March this year […]