IBM Security has launched fintech programmes and partnerships to overcome the projected 1.8 million-person cybersecurity worker shortage and boost its market share. As part of its initiative, IBM is sponsoring alternative education models such as Hacker Highschool and Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH). It is also looking to change traditional hiring models […]
Spanish wholesale bank Cecabank and consulting firm Grant Thornton have created the first blockchain consortium in Spain. Called Blockchain Banking Consortium, the project intends to progressively develop the potential of blockchain in the financial sector, and according to the pair it presently comprises 33% of the Spanish banking sector. Luis Pastor, Grant Thornton technology and […]
The results from phase two of Canada’s plan for a blockchain-powered interbank payment system reveal that it still faces many obstacles. The Bank of Canada, Payments Canada, R3 and seven commercial banks, have disclosed their report from Project Jasper, an experimental wholesale interbank payment system. First launched in 2015, the results so far show that, […]
Form3, a cloud-based fintech firm launched last year, has partnered with payments validation company Apply Financial. The deal enhances Form3’s Payments-as-a-Service platform with “automation services to validate, enrich, and fix single and bulk payments”, Form3 says.
International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) are working together to establish and develop their ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN). IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and MAS have signed a memorandum of co-operation. Through AFIN, they plan to establish a regional network to help financial institutions, fintech firms […]
Blockchain consortium R3 has completed the first two of three tranches in its Series A fundraising round, securing $107 million in the “world’s largest distributed ledger technology (DLT) investment to date”. The consortia contest is heating up as this handy cash injection follows on from yesterday’s (22 May) announcement from the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) […]
Denmark’s Saxo Bank has released its new developer portal as it looks to strengthen its involvement in open banking. The portal provides technical documentation, reference guides, sample code and interactive tools. With the release, Saxo has made its trading infrastructure available to third-party developers, fintechs, vendors and partners, enabling them to connect to its trading […]
Nasdaq and Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) have unveiled a new payment solution for automating reconciliation using Chain’s blockchain infrastructure platform. The solution enables straight through payment processing by using a distributed ledger to record and transmit payment instructions. A number of payment transactions have been done including Citi’s automated processing of cross-border payments […]
The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) has seen a surge of interest in its plans to drive Ethereum blockchain technology best practices with the arrival of 86 new members. New faces include Broadridge, DTCC, Deloitte, Infosys, MUFG, National Bank of Canada, Rabobank and Samsung SDS. As Banking Technology reported in March, Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Intel, […]
Android Pay users on Google Chrome mobile web can now pay online using their PayPal account and their fingerprint – without needing to enter in their username or password. As reported last month, Google inked several deals with PayPal (and banks) to advance its Android Pay, and this latest partnership expands it even more. Bill […]
It was only two days ago since the last blockchain and Bitcoin round-up, but here’s more news to keep you in the loop. Features Ripple, BitGo, Abu Dhabi Global Market, R3 and Corion. Ripple has enjoyed a good start to the year with ten more financial institutions recently jumping onboard its blockchain network; and deals […]
IBM and Chile’s Santiago Exchange, the largest in the country, have teamed up to introduce blockchain across the country’s financial sector. The agreement makes the Santiago Exchange the “first stock market in Latin America” to apply IBM blockchain within its short selling system for securities lending. Built by IBM and Santiago Exchange, the solution is […]
Equifax, credit information provider Castlight and Oakbrook Finance, the owners of consumer loan brand Likely Loans, have teamed up to develop new products for the 2018 open banking initiative. Under open banking, Equifax says bank transaction data will play a crucial role in lending decisions. Lenders will have access to real-time and historic account and […]
North Carolina-based Coastal Federal Credit Union and eight partners have unveiled Constellation Digital Partners – an organisation offering the “first and only” suite of digital financial services dedicated solely to credit unions. The creation of the firm and its platform is the result of a three-year long R&D effort, which culminated in the filing of […]
We look at UK fintech firms working outside of the London “bubble”, examining where they are based and why; their history; target markets; clients; tech specialisations, concerns and future plans.
Misys has announced the availability of its solutions for German retail banks in the cloud. Diebold Nixdorf will deliver infrastructure services out of its certified data centres in Germany.
Alipay is teaming up with First Data in North America as it looks to take a bite out of Apple’s market share. As Banking Technology previously reported, Alipay has been gaining plenty of traction around the globe – with HelloPay Group in Asia merging with Ant Financial (which runs Alipay); and inking deals with European […]
Deutsche Bank and a variety of German and European companies have teamed up to establish a joint, pan-industry platform for online registration, e-identity and data services. The initiative was set up by the bank, Allianz, Axel Springer, Daimler, Postbank, technology think tank Core, and location services provider Here Technologies. Their aim is to “make online […]
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
Singapore is piloting a new initiative to let people apply for a bank account without needing to submit supporting documentation. The Smart Nation and Digital Government Office, Government Technology Agency and Monetary Authority of Singapore, have begun a pilot with four banks to explore simplifying online banking transactions with the use of the government’s MyInfo […]
In the latest InsurTech Bytes – the podcast for the future of insurance by FinTech Futures – we learn from one of the best disruption duos in insurance: Trov and Anthemis Group.
Peruvian mobile wallet BIM, described as “the world’s first fully-interoperable national mobile money platform”, will launch new services in H2 2017. It will enable customers to pay electricity, water and telephone bills, as well as have access to micro savings and loans, and micro-insurance.
Temenos is looking to conquer the core banking software markets of China and Japan.
JP Morgan Chase has finally bid farewell to the R3 blockchain consortium as it pursues its own interests. As Banking Technology reported in November, JP Morgan was understood to be in the “leave” camp as it opted out of a fundraising effort for R3. R3 had initially planned to raise $200 million from its members […]
To the outside observer the insurance industry may look very conservative with dominant global companies and local players operating in the way they have done for years and with very little interaction with their customers. But this is changing.
Here’s something brief to avoid wasting precious minutes on pernicious waffle. A blockchain and Bitcoin round-up, featuring Populous, Humaniq, BOScoin and the Winklevoss twins. In the UK, blockchain invoice and trade finance platform Populous will launch its initial coin offering (ICO) on 16 July. It is an Ethereum-based platform and uses smart contracts, XBRL data […]
Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) is contributing to a new model, Euronext Fund Service, to help investments in funds for domestic and international investors. Launched by Euronext and available from 15 May 2017, this new service will enable institutional and retail investors to place subscription/redemption orders, in a “simplified and automated manner”, through their brokers […]
Accenture and the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) have formed an alliance to make the most out of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Accenture Analytics, part of Accenture Digital, will work with DFKI (Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz). Accenture will get access to DFKI research results, AI tools, and its “Living Labs”. Prof. Dr. […]
As banking continues to go digital, online innovators and niche players in North America are getting personal by adding social activities to their customer services.
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 […]
Nasdaq has unveiled its venture investment programme, Nasdaq Ventures, as it seeks out new fintech firms to work with in the global capital markets. Adena Friedman, president and CEO, Nasdaq, says it plans to “accelerate the pace of innovation”. The minority stake investments made by Nasdaq Ventures are expected to range from less than $1 […]
BNP Paribas Securities Services is partnering with AXA Investment Managers for the creation of a new digital fund distribution platform. Called BNP Paribas Fund Link, it aims to make the fund distribution process better by improving the flow of information between fund buyers and sellers via blockchain and smart contract technology. Jean Devambez, head of […]
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, […]
Like an astute player of the Risk board game, Android Pay’s global expansion plans continue apace as it is working with several banks to let their customers add cards to its service from a mobile banking app. The latest banks include Bank of America, Bank of New Zealand, Discover, mBank and USAA. They follow on […]
There is no smoke without fire. The “big smoke”, as London is colloquially known, has been creating a fire of innovation in the financial technology space for years, but there are other UK fintech centres in the Southwest; Cardiff; Manchester/Leeds; and Edinburgh/Glasgow that create their own heat.
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 […]
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 […]
Cyberattacks have been dominating newspaper headlines for some time now. Whether it’s losing access to PayPal, a distributed denial of service attack on Lloyds Group, or Tesco Bank customers losing £2.5 million to hackers, the threat of a cyberattack in 2017 is so great that it’s not a case of if, but when one occurs.
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Dr Andreas Dombret, member of the executive board of Deutsche Bundesbank, ponders why fintech innovation is such a hot topic now, of all times, what exactly innovation in banking means, and whether banks are even capable of being innovative.
