Fintech funding round-up: 17 January 2017
They said it. We read it. We edited. A round-up of the latest funding efforts in the fintech and payments space. Featuring Kasisto, BillGO, Gumption Labs and Fraugster.
Digital
Video: Banking Technology Awards 2016
Our dazzling event gathered together over 260 banking and financial technology specialists from all over the world – recognising the excellence and innovation in the use of IT in financial services, and of course the people that make it happen! Join us at the 2017 awards, which will be held at a 5-star venue in London in Q4 this year.
RosEvroBank builds blockchain platform for remote customer identification
RosEvroBank, a top-50 bank in Russia, has created a prototype of a blockchain-based system that enables remote verification of customers for other financial institutions. The decentralised system is built on the Microsoft’s Ethereum Consortium Blockchain infrastructure.
Five Degrees and SEI provide tech to new digital investment service, Munnypot
Munnypot, a new robo-advice and investment service in the UK, has fully launched with tech support from a number of partners.
RBI investigates blockchain for financial applications in India
The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has recently issued a whitepaper, “Applications of Blockchain Technology to Banking and Financial Sector in India”. We summarise the report and highlight the key findings.
The White House unveils fintech framework for US
The National Economic Council (NEC) of the US, part of the Office of White House Policy, has published a whitepaper, “A Framework for Fintech”.
One in four UK card payments now contactless
According to the UK Cards Association, a trade body for the country’s card payments industry, a quarter of all card transactions are now made via contactless in the UK. 325 million purchases, altogether worth £2.9 billion, were made using contactless debit and credit cards in November 2016.
Seven European banks join forces for blockchain platform for SMEs
Seven European banks – Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Natixis, KBC, Rabobank, Société Générale and UniCredit – have agreed in principle to develop a blockchain-based shared platform for domestic and international commerce for SMEs.
BNP Paribas Wealth Management goes for digital client experience and “pizza” teams
BNP Paribas Wealth Management has unveiled its new Client Experience venture co-created with customers and fintech firms. The initiative focuses on digital solutions as the bank is keen to “create a new wealth management experience”.
Deutsche Bank bans texting and messaging apps on work phones
No more texting or using messaging apps such as WhatsApp on company issued phones, Deutsche Bank tells its employees. According to a memo issued by COO Kim Hammonds and chief regulatory officer Sylvie Matherat, the functionality will be switched off this quarter.
Yes Bank opens fintech accelerator programme for start-ups
India’s Yes Bank is inviting fintech start-ups to take part in its Yes Fintech Accelerator Programme. The application process is open until 2nd February 2017.
Fintechs making strides in PSD2
In November last year, German fintech firm figo completed a financing round that totalled €6.8 million. Figo has developed a banking application programming interface (API) and various products and services related to the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2). It is just one of the many fintech firms that are poised to grab the considerable opportunities that PSD2 opens.
Wearable technology in investment banking: watch your money on your watch
How can wearable technology be made popular in investment/wealth management services? We suggest a number of features that can create value and relevance to individual traders and wealth managers, if made available on smartwatch trading apps.
Top fintech stories this week – 13 January 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Airtel Payments Bank launches in India
Airtel Payments Bank, India’s “first” payments bank, has started national operations with services now live across the country. As Banking Technology reported in July 2016, telecoms giant Airtel was planning its own bank. It says it is a “fully digital and paperless” bank, and from today (12 January), over 250,000 neighbourhood Airtel retail stores across […]
HSBC targets Hong Kong millennials with new social payment app
HSBC will unveil a new payment app in Hong Kong in early 2017 aimed at millennials and offering a social aspect in addition to just payments. Called PayMe, it is “available to everyone in Hong Kong”, regardless which local bank the customer uses. However, the small print says it is only eligible to users with […]
New name in the UK challenger bank space – ClearBank
The bustling UK challenger bank scene has grown by another addition, ClearBank. It is a brainchild of Nick Ogden, founder and former CEO of WorldPay.
Fifth Third swings for the mobile wallet fences
Go big or go home: Fifth Third on Wednesday (11 January) said that its customers can now use five major mobile wallet providers, with debit and credit card purchases via the recently added Android Pay and Microsoft Wallet, along with previous partners Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Masterpass. The deal comes amid a heady time […]
PayPal and Discover partner for US payments
Discover Financial Services and PayPal have signed an agreement making PayPal more widely available to Discover cardmembers, acquirers and merchants. The agreement provides PayPal with access to Discover’s tokenisation services, so PayPal customers in the US can pay with their Discover cards at all of the contactless-enabled merchants that accept Discover. As part of the […]
Can you marry an app Monzo?
Mobile-only challenger bank Monzo has revealed some witty conversations between its banking customer support team and customers. In an amusing blog post, the bank says its customer support team of around 17 people manage hundreds of queries on a daily basis in as “close to real-time as possible”. Some of these conversations struck a chord […]
“Humanoid” Ira to assist customers in HDFC Bank branches
India-based HDFC Bank is about to introduce its first “humanoid” branch assistant – Ira. The human-sized robot was built together with artificial intelligence (AI) company Asimov Robotics.
Payments paradise by the dashboard light: Visa, Honda test-drive in-car transactions
Honda and Visa are testing a system that enables a driver to pay for fuel and parking from inside Web-connected cars, the latest development in the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), and yet another sign that more payments are moving beyond physical payment cards, reports Paybefore. The announcement, made from the Consumer Electronics Show in […]
Commerzbank unveils first digital platform for German SMEs
Commerzbank has developed the first digitalisation platform for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Called “#openspace”, and located in Berlin-Schöneberg, it offers long-term co-operation between SMEs, “innovation partners”, and start-ups with the objective of “tackling the challenges posed by the digital future together”. Holger Werner, CEO and founder of #openspace, says “digitalisation dominates the media, sciences, […]
New digital bank, SunTrust, runs on ICS Banks core platform
SunTrust Bank in Nigeria has renewed the contract with banking software vendor ICS Financial Systems (ICSFS) for its ICS Banks core banking system.
Municipal Credit Union revamps digital payments with Payveris
Municipal Credit Union (MCU), a $2.5 billion credit union in New York, is implementing a new digital payments platform supplied by Payveris.
Capital One joins forces with fintechs Gusto and Bill.com
Capital One Spark Business has announced “strategic partnerships” with two fintech companies, Bill.com and Gusto. The aim is “to build and deliver better financial management, HR and cash flow tools designed for small businesses”, Capital One says.
Mystery surrounds Postfinance online banking outage
Postfinance, the fifth largest retail financial institution in Switzerland, has suffered a 24-hour outage on its online banking service – and doesn’t know the exact cause. About 1.7 million customers were affected by a total loss of electronic banking on Sunday and Monday morning (8/9 January). On Monday afternoon, things were back to normal as […]
Izola Bank selects Finex Solutions for digital banking revamp
Malta’s Izola Bank has chosen Munich-based Finex Solutions to overhaul its digital banking services for retail and corporate customers. The bank will use the Finex Excellence Digital Banking solution, which supports internet, tablet and mobile banking. Andrew Mifsud, CEO of Izola Bank, says it has already “successfully implemented a mobile token solution provided by Finex” […]
Fana Sparebank to revamp core banking, payment and self-service solutions with Evry
Norway-based banking software provider Evry has signed a new five-year agreement with a domestic banking group, Fana Sparebank, to modernise its core banking and payments tech.
ME Bank outsources core banking to Capgemini
Australia’s ME Bank has signed a five-year deal with tech consultancy firm Capgemini to manage its core banking functions. ME Bank says it will still look after the design and security elements of the Temenos’ T24 core banking system, while Capgemini will provide a managed service for its infrastructure. In an interview with the Australian […]
Virgin Money to launch digital bank, looks for customer experience leadership
Virgin Money plans to launch a digital bank – VMDB – and is now recruiting for a head of customer experience. As Banking Technology reported in November, 10x Future Technologies, the start-up founded by former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins, is building a digital core banking platform for Virgin Money. The latter also signed a long-term […]
Digital officers of India, unite!
A group of senior executives in India’s digital sector are looking to create a group of chief digital officers (CDOs) or equivalent in the country.
Putting trust in chatbots
Artificial intelligence (AI) interfaces and chatbots could be revolutionary for financial institutions – but only if they strike the right balance between human and machine interaction.
Country spotlight: Lithuania – the young ones
Banking Technology explores a less known – but a noteworthy – destination for fintech in Europe, Lithuania, and its capital Vilnius. Whilst it is realistic that it cannot compete with the European Goliaths such as London or Paris, it wants to carve its own niche in the fintech space, and has quite a lot to offer.
State Bank of India to launch digital bank, SBI Digi Bank
State Bank of India (SBI) is working on its own digital bank – SBI Digi Bank – which it plans to launch in the next three to six months.
Top fintech stories this week – 6 January 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! The first weekly news round-up of 2017. Happy 2017! Let it be a year of discovery and success.
Top five jargon winners in 2016
For some people in the world of fintech, they find comfort in the language of jargon. Pity these poor souls! Lost, confused and unable to communicate clearly and normally. Here are our top five jargon winners of 2016. You can avoid being on this list next year – just use English! CIBC ends phase one […]
MVB Bank in tech overhaul with Jack Henry’s Silverlake core system
MVB Bank, a $1.4 billion community bank in West Virginia, has signed for a new core banking system, Jack Henry’s Silverlake.
Samba Bank live with new core banking system, Temenos’ T24
Pakistan-based Samba Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Samba Financial Group, has gone live with new core banking software, Temenos’ T24 (R15).
NetGuardians signs fintech deal with Keystone Bank
Nigeria-based Keystone Bank has selected the FraudGuardian solution from NetGuardians for protection from online banking fraud.
