Financial Services/Finserv


Spring Edition of Pay Magazine Has Sprung

The digital edition of the spring 2017 issue of Pay Magazine is now available and it’s full of insights and information to help move your company forward. A theme of the spring issue is game-changing technology—and the innovators, products and companies behind it. This edition of Pay Magazine includes an interview with The Bancorp’s Jeremy Kuiper, who discusses some of the major shifts occurring in the industry.

Societe Generale calls for Indian fintech start-ups

Societe Generale is calling for Indian start-ups with the launch of Catalyst 2.0 – its accelerator programme to promote innovation. This is its second edition, and Societe Generale Global Solution Centre (SG GSC), an innovation hub of the banking group in India, will run Catalyst 2.0 from May to August 2017. During the ten-week programme, […]

Capriza powers Yorkshire Building Society mobile move

UK-based Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) has chosen Capriza’s platform to help improve its digital and mobile capabilities. The society will use the platform to let its customers connect and apply for its mortgages and savings accounts through mobile devices. Nick Mortimer, head of marketing and e-commerce, Yorkshire Building Society, says Capriza’s platform offers “very little […]

Malaysia’s central bank seeks fintech start-ups

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the nation’s central bank, is calling out to fintech start-ups for ideas to improve the financial services sector. The bank’s Financial Technology Enabler Group (FTEG) is now open to concepts through its “Fintech Hacks” initiative which aims to “identify pain points in the delivery and consumption of financial services, and solicit […]

Nomura turns fintech Voyager in India

Asian investment bank Nomura plans to tap into India’s lively fintech scene with the launch of its “Voyager – Nomura Fintech Partnership” – including a new JPY 10 billion ($91.7 million) fund to provide support to start-ups. Nomura is inviting entrepreneurs to participate in the programme to build solutions for capital markets and investment banking […]

Accenture calls for Asia-Pacific fintech start-ups

Applications will soon open for Accenture’s fourth annual Asia-Pacific Fintech Innovation Lab, a 12-week programme to help start-ups speed up product and business development. According to the firm, investments in Asia-Pacific fintech companies are on the rise. During the first quarter of 2017, investments totalled $1.1 billion, representing 21% of the $5.1 billion invested into […]

Report: accelerators speed up UK fintech growth

We’re travelling at the speed of light, that’s why we’re on a news site. The UK’s fintech scene is chock-full of sweet accelerators and incubators – powering the industry ever onwards. In their 76-page report, “Business incubators and accelerators: the national picture”, the UK Government and innovation foundation Nesta paint a pleasant portrait of energy […]

Singapore regulator and UN team up for ASEAN financial inclusion

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) have teamed up to improve access to digital financial services in the ASEAN region. The partnership is under the ongoing UNCDF’s Shift (Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations) programme for development in this part of the world. Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer, MAS, […]

UK’s Financial Conduct Authority champions consumer

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is calling for an end to consumer vulnerability and more access to financial services in its plans for 2017. In a speech today (18 April) by Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the FCA, the publication of its corporate documents and its role and goals were all outlined. Bailey says: […]

Top fintech stories this week – 14 April 2017

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Mastercard gets approval to buy VocaLink for $920m Deal expected to close in coming weeks. Bank of England implicated in Libor rigging by secret recording Well, it was secret. FIS sheds Ambit Private Banking business FIS inherited it […]

UK regulators call for PSD2 feedback

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) are calling for input on their approach to applying the second EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2). PSD2 is required to be in place in the UK by 13 January 2018, and the nation’s HM Treasury will transpose PSD2 into UK legislation in the Payment […]

Aegon is Ohpen to savings and investment tech overhaul

Financial services provider Aegon is partnering with core banking engine provider Ohpen to develop a new platform for its Dutch services. The platform will be used for the administration and distribution of its savings, pension and investment products. The firms say they are merging their domain knowledge within pensions and technology. Aegon will plug into […]

Fintech boosts UK economy by £6.6bn

Oh UK fintech firms, you pretty things. The industry brings £6.6 billion to the nation’s economy, employs 61,000 people, and was showered with praise at the UK government’s inaugural International Fintech Conference in London. At yesterday’s event (12 April), Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, like any smart politician, latched himself like a limpet onto […]

R3 and Acord launch DLT-ful insurtech centre

Consortium R3 has partnered with Acord (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development) to launch a virtual “centre of excellence” for distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the insurance industry. R3 counts a number of insurance companies amongst its member base, including MetLife, AIA and Suncorp Group, as well as other financial services members that have […]

Standard Chartered supercharges two Asian start-ups

Standard Chartered has given a big boost to two Asian start-ups with two proof of concept (PoC) projects. Bambu, a Singapore-based robo-advisory for wealth management firm, and KYC Chain, a Hong Kong-based digital identity management firm using distributed ledger technology, were selected from SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator 2.0 – a 12-week accelerator programme in Hong Kong […]

CFSI, Chase Seek Fintech Startups for Financial Health Awards

Fintech entrepreneurs still have a few weeks left to win financial backing from two big players in the payment space. The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and JPMorgan Chase’s Financial Solutions Lab (FinLab) plan to award $250,000 to programs that help consumers build financial health, “with a special focus on those communities that are frequently underserved, such as older Americans, communities of color, people with disabilities and products that address the gender wealth gap.”

UK regulator plays sheriff to fight “Wild West” sandboxes

As fintech regulators across the world begin to set up their own sandboxes, with different models and standards, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority says a “Wild West” version could emerge. But hang on folks, we got a new sheriff in town. Speaking at the Innovate Finance Global Summit in London, Christopher Woolard, executive director of […]

DeVere delves deeper into fintech space with e-money app launch

Financial consultancy firm DeVere Group has launched an app-only e-money service as it pushes deeper into the banking and fintech sector. As Banking Technology reported last month, the group took advantage of Lithuania’s ambitions to attract fintech firms and set up a new office in the capital Vilnius. This was preceded by the unveiling of […]

UK’s Financial Conduct Authority calls for blockchain feedback

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is calling for feedback on the potential for future development of distributed ledger technology (DLT) / blockchain in the markets it regulates. It says it is “particularly interested to explore where the balance of risk and opportunities may lie” for DLT and wants to boost innovation that advances it […]

UK challenger Redwood gets banking licence

Redwood Bank, a new UK-based SME challenger, has secured a banking licence following approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). As Banking Technology reported in October last year, Acorn Financial Partners (AFP) submitted a banking licence application. Now that it has authorisation, AFP is called Redwood Bank. Redwood says it […]

The Monday mindset: 10 April 2017

Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, Banking Technology’s deputy editor Antony Peyton briefly reflects on last week’s visit to Morocco for HPS Worldwide’s PowerCARD Users Meeting 2017. At […]

Bank of England implicated in Libor rigging by secret recording

A secret recording that implicates the Bank of England (BoE) in Libor rigging has been uncovered by the current affairs programme, BBC Panorama. Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) is used by banks to set prices of financial products. Last year, several ex-Barclays workers were found guilty of manipulating the Libor interest rate between 2005 and […]

Woes for Wonga with data breach

UK-based payday loan company Wonga says there may have been illegal and unauthorised access to the personal data of some of its 270,000 customers. In a statement, the firm says information stolen may have included one or more of the following: name, e-mail address, home address, phone number, the last four digits of a card […]

R3, HQLAX and five banks build collateral lending solution on blockchain

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) consortium R3, together with five of its members and financial resource management specialist HQLAX have built a collateral lending solution for liquidity transfers. The solution is based on R3’s flagship platform, Corda, and is “an operating model for a digital collateral receipt (DCR) lending marketplace”.

UK and India strengthen fintech ties

A team of British politicians and fintech business leaders are in India as they seek to strengthen trade and investment between the two nations. At the 9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue, held today (4 April) in Delhi, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, and the Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley, discussed […]

Fintech funding round-up: 4 April 2017

The world is not short of money… for some. Our latest fintech funding round-up features Aeries Financial Technologies, CASHe, Perfios and Ayopop. There’s never a shortage of fintech news in India. Aeries Financial Technologies, which owns the app-only lending platform CASHe, has raised $3.8 million in Series A funding from an investor group led by […]

BNP Paribas to buy 95% stake in French digital bank Compte-Nickel

BNP Paribas is buying a 95% stake in Financière des Paiements Électroniques (FPE), which provides the digital-only bank Compte-Nickel. BNP Paribas wants to tap into Compte-Nickel’s growth – citing its 540,000 accounts opened over the past three years and that a new account is being opened in France every 30 seconds. Compte-Nickel also offers real-time […]

SIX teams with DTCC to issue legal entity identifiers in Switzerland

SIX Securities Services, which runs the central securities depository (CSD) for Switzerland, is partnering with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) to offer legal entity identifiers (LEIs) for Swiss entities. According to SIX, LEIs were devised to provide insight into corporate entities with the aim of reducing cross-platform risk exposure. By providing LEIs together, […]

Visa brings more action to Amazon transactions

Visa says it has become the first card network to give its UK commercial account holders a comprehensive view of their Amazon Business purchases. The new transaction data, available to Barclaycard, Citi, HSBC, and Lloyds Bank account holders, provides line-item details on all purchases for Amazon Business customers and integrates with reconciliation tools. Kevin Jenkins, […]

Lloyds standing small with new micro-branches

Not only is Lloyds cutting branches across the UK, it is now making them smaller in size. With the well-known rise in digital banking, the bank has plans to introduce micro-branches. This means no counters, and two members of staff with mobile tablets to help customers who dare walk into a branch. A spokesperson for […]

Attic Lab teams with Polybius for blockchain-powered bank

Ukrainian start-up Attic Lab has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Polybius Foundation to provide the blockchain backbone for a new digital bank. As Banking Technology reported in September last year, Attic Lab unveiled its open source blockchain platform and has been gaining some traction with banks in Europe. It will implement SmartMoney, a […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 3 April 2017

Another day, another cryptocurrency. A concise round-up of blockchain and Bitcoin events. Features Japan, Lykke, ChronoBank and London’s Imperial College Business School. It’s the land of the rising sums, as Bitcoin is now a legal payment method in Japan. As a result, Bitcoin trades rose today – at 11am (UK time) it was up 2.8% […]