Amsterdam-based banking software vendor Ohpen has gained approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to carry out its regulated activities under its new British company, Ohpen Operations UK. Angelique Schouten, Ohpen UK’s CEO, says the approval means it can “deliver an alternative for financial services companies to digitalise and outsource their entire investments and […]
Customers of Lloyds, Halifax and TSB are unable to access their online accounts after a major outage. Based on Twitter feeds and the website monitoring service, Down Detector, there are problems across the UK. Many Twitter users, no strangers to tedious whinging at the best of times, are saying they can’t access accounts online or […]
U.K.-based Starling Bank has become the “first of the digital-only challengers” to join Faster Payments this week. The 13th direct participant of the Faster Payments Scheme, Starling says its customers will be able to see where their money is flowing and when in real-time, 24/7.
Fifth Third Bank is partnering with venture capital (VC) firm QED Investors to bring new products and services to their banking customers. The VC firm will advise the Ohio-based bank and support its NorthStar strategy to “enhance offerings through technology”. Tim Spence, executive vice-president and chief strategy officer for Fifth Third Bank says the partnership […]
Financial adviser firm DeVere Group has unveiled its own private bank, DeVere Group Bank St Lucia. The company says the launch “has been facilitated” by the acquisition of St Lucia-based Arton Bank for an undisclosed sum. Arton Bank was set up and licensed in 2014 under the Offshore Banking Act 1996. Founder and CEO of […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
The world’s largest wealth manager UBS has extended its long-standing agreement with EPAM Systems, a provider of product development and software engineering solutions. The agreement – worth over $300 million – “supports the bank’s strategic cost reduction programme”, according to EPAM.
HSBC has appointed a technology advisory board of top-level specialists from around the globe as the banking giant is keen to capitalise on opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), biometrics, blockchain and data science, combat cybercrime and leverage its global infrastructure.
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.
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.
A three-way alliance of legal firms is helping Europeans call out financial wrongdoing and benefit from US whistleblower laws. New York-based Meissner & Associates is collaborating with Stuttgart/Berlin-based Naegele and London-based Brahams Dutt Badrick French (BDBF) to create the new transatlantic initiative, the “first of its kind”. The plan is to help employees, suppliers and […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Deloitte has launched a blockchain lab in New York’s Wall Street. 2017 could be its “make-or-break year” for blockchain, says Eric Piscini, principal with Deloitte Consulting. Joe Guastella, another principal with Deloitte Consulting, says its “ecosystem for education, ideation [we missed you jargon], strategy, application prototyping and development is there to support Deloitte’s clients and […]
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 […]
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.
BMW Group Financial Services (BMW FS) has selected UK-based fintech vendor Sword Apak to support the planned harmonisation of its European core operating systems. Called the Ideal Programme (integrated delivery of a European application landscape), it was launched in November 2016. It is designed to integrate three key modules: commercial finance, dealer front-end and the […]
FinTech Hive, to be housed at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in Dubai’s Central Business District (CBD), is set to launch this quarter. Accenture runs fintech innovation labs in New York, London, and Hong Kong; and has been tasked with setting up and operating the accelerator. Aimed at providing better financial services technology to […]
A skirmish over the future of US fintech is underway in the new US Senate, with two Democratic senators this week saying a new federal charter governing the industry “could weaken consumer protections, limit competition and threaten financial stability”, reports Paybefore. Late last year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released a […]
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, […]
California-based InvestCloud has acquired Babel Systems in London for $20 million. Babel provides a modular and API-based trade and accounting platform, while InvestCloud has over 660 clients with “accounting needs served by legacy accounting systems that were designed in the last century”. This acquisition links InvestCloud’s digital platform with Babel’s capabilities. InvestCloud will also continue […]
Centenary Bank in Uganda has gone live with a new core banking platform, Profits, supplied by Intrasoft International.
Strategic, credit, operational and compliance risks remain “top concerns” for the financial services industry in the US, according to the latest report by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
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 […]
Look back at some of the top-read feature articles on all matters fintech published by Banking Technology in 2016.
Monese, a mobile-only bank founded by Norris Koppel, an Estonian expat in London, has raised $10 million in Series A funding round as it looks to go pan-European.
Look back at some of the major payments projects in 2016, with Banking Technology’s top ten.
A UK-based challenger bank, Tandem, will start offering financial solutions to customers of retailer House of Fraser in 2017. As part of the collaboration agreement between the two companies, House of Fraser will invest up to £35 million in Tandem.
It felt like there was a blockchain story every day in 2016, but we look back at some of the bigger stories with Banking Technology’s top ten! Microsoft and AMIS launch Asia’s first blockchain consortium Microsoft says it is also in “collaboration” with banks such as Ubon Financial, Cathay Financial Holdings and MegaBank to further […]
Look back at some of the major fintech events in 2016, with Banking Technology’s top ten! Sibos 2016: markets still in “Dante’s circles of hell” It’s the big one. And this is just one snippet from our extensive coverage of Sibos in Geneva. We also produced videos, published Daily News at Sibos, had fun with […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! The last weekly news round-up of 2016. Happy holidays from everyone at Banking Technology!
BNP Paribas has processed “several live payments” using blockchain technology for two of its corporate clients, Amcor and Panini Group.
Because you’ve all been so good this year, here’s a fintech funding round-up to save you time… so you can eat and drink more over Christmas. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and a group of other financial institutions including ICAP’s venture arm are finalising an investment in blockchain start-up Axoni, according to Reuters. New York-based […]
Credit card firm MBNA is to be taken over by Lloyds. The firm’s current owner, Bank of America, has agreed to sell it for £1.9 billion. The deal is expected to close in H1 2017.
UK challenger bank Starling talks about finding its niche and how it intends to prosper in an increasingly competitive space – all in preparation for its 2017 launch.
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Citi and FIS have formed separate agreements with PayPal for Citi cardmembers and FIS linking payment cards. For Citi, its customers will be able to use their Citi Cards with PayPal – online, in-app and in store – in 2017. Terms of the agreement are not being disclosed. With this agreement, Citi says it is […]
Innovation Down Under gets jazzed up. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released class waivers to allow eligible fintech firms to test certain specified services without holding an Australian financial services (AFS) or credit licence. ASIC commissioner John Price says its fintech licensing exemption is “unique” and “no other major jurisdiction has implemented […]
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new availability zone in London which indicates all is not well in the UK following Brexit, reports Jamie Davies at Telecoms.com. The new data centre creates the 16th availability zone worldwide for the public cloud leader, and is the first available in the UK. To date, customers in the […]
At last week’s RegTech Futures summit in Amsterdam, organised by FinTech Futures and supported by Banking Technology, the potential of regtech innovators to re-imagine compliance – reducing the cost, creating more robust systems and creating new opportunities for deeper digitisation – was discussed in depth.
Italy’s largest bank UniCredit plans to raise €13 billion and axe 14,000 jobs over the next two years as it looks to get its finances in order. Along with the job cuts, which amount to about 11% of its workforce, UniCredit will shut down about 25% of its 3,800 branches. It also aims to use […]
