Just a couple of months following the appointment of the new CIO at Harrods Bank, its chief executive – Peter Ball – leaves. Ball has moved to specialist lender Together, to head its retail division. Together has been ramping up its leadership team – over the last three months alone it has added Colin Kersley, […]
Berlin-based Raisin has gained a third partner bank on its pan-European deposit marketplace website, Euram Bank in Austria. The latest partnership follows on from deals with Poland-based Alior Bank and J&T Banka in the Czech Republic. Dr. Tamaz Geordgaze, CEO and founder of Raisin, says the level of Euram’s equity has remained at an “excellent” […]
The Bank of Russia, the country’s central bank, has set up a blockchain research consortium with several privately-owned Russian banks. The development follows Banking Technology reporting recently that Russian payment platform Qiwi was planning to create such an entity. The central bank’s deputy governor Olga Skorobogatova says: “We developed a technical prototype for message transmission […]
As first reported by Banking Technology in early May, Phoebus Software has gained a new customer – UK challenger bank Atom. The five-year deal will see Phoebus’ lending software supporting Atom’s secured business lending and account servicing for Atom’s residential lending. The new platform will be used by the bank’s team to originate loans for […]
Three ex-Barclays workers have been found guilty of manipulating the Libor interest rate between 2005 and 2007. Jay Merchant was convicted unanimously at Southwark Crown Court in London of rigging the key financial rate. Jonathan Mathew and Alex Pabon were found guilty by majority verdict after a ten-week trial. They will be sentenced on Thursday […]
On Friday 24th June Britons woke up to the game-changing news that UK voters had voted to exit the EU. As the politicians look at how to commence divorce proceedings, the financial sector faces a number of challenges and questions around existing regulatory structures, currency and market valuations, and the wider macro impact. In this […]
The Dutch government is to open a new campus for the development of blockchain to attract banks and financial institutions. At a media briefing by Holland Fintech and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the first official “Fintech Ambassador of the Netherlands”, Willem Vermeend (also a professor in economics and former minister of social affairs and employment), […]
IBM and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa have completed their first blockchain project to “improve” the French bank’s ability to verify customer identity. The result of the pilot is an operational permissioned blockchain network that provides a view of customer identity to enable compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements. “Blockchain is a transformative agent in our […]
Nordea has set up a new “Group Digital” unit to drive its digital banking agenda forward. The unit will start to operate on 1 September and will be co-headed by Poul Raaholt, previously head of group IT at Nordea, and Ewan MacLeod, previously responsible for the retail digital transformation programme at Royal Bank of Scotland. […]
Nordic digital payments firm Nets has been selected by a Danish banking collective to launch a new NFC mobile wallet solution. The collective, known as the Bokis partnership, includes 62 banks that form the small to mid-sized banks segment of Lokale Pengeinstitutter (the Association of Local Banks, Savings Banks and Co-operative Banks in Denmark), together […]
The Services Family bank will cater for the UK military personnel, veterans and their families. Sopra Steria’s technology will underpin its operations. The digital bank is being created by The Services Family Ltd (TSFL), a financial services firm set up two years ago by two military veterans. It is going through a process of obtaining […]
Deutsche Börse is to provide the IT infrastructure for German private bank Donner & Reuschel, and will assume administration and hosting for its data centres. In addition to connecting to its own trading platforms, Eurex and Xetra, network connectivity will also be extended to bank end users and additional third-party providers. “Deutsche Börse provides our […]
Hackers have used the Swift network to steal $10 million from an unnamed Ukrainian bank, according to an independent IT monitoring organisation that spoke to the Kyiv Post. This latest incident is part of a spate of thefts when the banks’ access to the Swift network was used to execute them. Recently, investigators said they […]
BookingBug says Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) has become “the first truly omnichannel mortgage provider” with its new system that enables booking appointments in branch, online, mobile and call centres. UK-based BookingBug specialises in appointment scheduling and event management software. The new system has centralised data across 3,000 staff in 200 branches at YBS, and cut […]
CTO Mark Hipperson, who was also the bank’s co-founder, has recently left Starling. Prior to moving to Starling, Hipperson was a long-standing GM at a UK-based IT consultancy firm, BJSS. Earlier in his career, he was head of technology at Barclays’ corporate banking division (1992-2000). According to FT, this was his comment on his departure: […]
Following an unsuccessful attempt to implement Third Financial’s Tercero platform and the subsequent market search, LGT Vestra has decided to keep its incumbent solution, JHC Systems’ Figaro. Figaro will continue to support front, middle and back office operations of the UK and Jersey-based wealth manager. The company was known as Vestra Wealth until recently. In […]
The London-based subsidiary of South Africa’s banking group, FirstRand Bank, is live with a new regulatory reporting solution. The software is supplied by specialist vendor AxiomSL and supports the bank’s production and submission of statistical reports required by the Bank of England (BOE). AxiomSL has been providing its BOE reporting solution to financial institutions in […]
Hundreds of UK-based jobs at Visa are in danger following the fallout from Brexit, according to Sky News. Sky News says it “has learnt that an agreement in the recent £17.5 billion takeover of Visa’s European operations by its American sister company included a stipulation that data from Visa card transactions should not leave Europe”. […]
By a slender majority of 51.9% to 48.1% the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union. The move will have ramifications for banking and financial services internationally as the country renegotiates its relationship with the EU and could topple London’s standing as a leading global financial centre. Nothing will change immediately, but in […]
Data science and data mining provider, Grace Systems, won MoneyConf’s best start-up in the Pitch competition in Madrid. Around 1,850 people enjoyed the two-day event at the elegant venue of La Nave. Part one of our review of the show looked at wealth management, part two examined biometrics and Santander’s plans, part three was a […]
Love for London’s fintech and awry Brexit predictions – were two of the discussion points from MoneyConf 2016 in Madrid. More than 1,800 people attended the two-day event at the cool venue of La Nave. Part one of our review of the show looked at wealth management, part two perused biometrics and Santander’s plans, while […]
Deutsche Bank has got the green light from its work council to cut 3,000 full-time jobs. The cuts mainly impact retail and commercial business lines, with separate talks to be held regarding job cuts across other divisions. This development is part of Deutsche Bank’s major initiative to turn its fortunes around, announced last autumn. 9,000 […]
Start-ups should first be focused on domestic markets over global ambitions, was one of the messages amidst the hurly-burly of Madrid-based MoneyConf 2016. More than 1,800 people were on hand for the two-day event held at the pleasant venue of La Nave. Part one of our review of the show was on wealth management, while […]
Customer feedback on biometrics is based on how they feel, rather than trust; was one of the messages from MoneyConf 2016 in Madrid. At the stylish venue, La Nave, more than 1,800 people attended the two-day event. Part one of our review of the show looked at wealth management. In the nicely titled “No shoes, […]
Speed is of the essence if firms want to capitalise on opportunities in wealth management, was one theme from MoneyConf 2016 in Madrid. More than 1,800 attendees were at the compact and colourful venue, La Nave, for the two-day event. In a panel on “The next generation of wealth management”, Kim Fournais, CEO and co-founder […]
Commerzbank says it’s the first major bank in Germany to develop this type of digital financing marketplace. Main Funders is aimed at SMEs. Main Funders enables clients of Commerzbank’s Mittelstandsbank (MSB) business division (which caters for SMEs) to present concrete investment projects to potential investors and secure financing. The financing volumes are between €200,000 and […]
Virgin Money UK, a financial services brainchild of Richard Branson, is understood to be looking for new core and digital channels banking software. Virgin Money’s underlying technology in the UK stems from a number of acquisitions, including a small outsource firm, Intelligent Managed Services (IMS), in 2010, and a larger, well-established bank, Northern Rock, in 2012 (the […]
BMCE Bank International, a UK-based subsidiary of Morocco’s BMCE Group, is live on a new regulatory reporting platform supplied by specialist vendor AxiomSL. The vendor says BMCE Bank International is using its solution to comply with its Bank of England (BOE) statistical reporting requirements (including FSA 047/048, ELS and balance sheet returns). The platform is […]
Simcorp is implementing its flagship investment management system, Simcorp Dimension, at Exane to support its middle and back office ops for listed and OTC derivatives. Paris-based Exane is an independent investment firm that focuses on asset management, derivatives and brokerage in cash equities. Exane has been running a number of disparate systems and decided to […]
The participants are BNP Paribas Securities Services, Caisse des Dépôts, Euroclear, Euronext, S2iEM, Société Générale and Paris Europlace. They have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to study and develop a post-trade blockchain infrastructure for SMEs in Europe. The agreement is open to other interested parties. The aim is “to improve SME’s access to capital […]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will cut about 900 tech jobs in the UK, according to a Reuters report. At the end of last year, RBS’s domestic workforce stood at 64,000 people. Since March this year, the bank has cut at least 2,700 jobs in the UK, mainly across its branch network. The latest job […]
Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL), the oldest bank in Luxembourg, is embarking on a major tech overhaul. It will replace its legacy software with Temenos’ T24, Banking Technology understands. Founded in 1856, BIL operates in retail, private and corporate banking, treasury and financial markets. The core banking software replacement comes as part of a broader […]
The Bank of England (BoE) will launch its own fintech accelerator to harness innovation for central banking. Fintech firms will be invited to carry out a proof of concept with the BoE. The bank will then act as a reference site for these companies. The BoE says it “will offer firms the chance to demonstrate […]
Berlin-based fintech incubator FinLeap and solarisBank have created the first global banking platform, called Solaris – a Banking-as-a-Platform (BaaP) service. What is it all about and how is it going to make its mark on the fintech industry? Devie Mohan interviews FinLeap’s co-founder, Ramin Niroumand. The solarisBank launch has been in the press quite a […]
Standard Chartered has compiled a report questioning whether blockchain could disrupt the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Target2Securities (T2S) project. T2S aims to standardise European cross-border trade settlement by integrating securities and cash accounts onto a single IT platform. Not only blockchain could play a material role in this project, some analysts suggest, but it could […]
Eurobank Ergasias has signed a ten-year agreement with Accenture to pursue digital transformation of its subsidiaries in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine. Accenture will help build a new platform for the bank, dubbed “Intelligent Infrastructure”. It will be based on Accenture’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering and will support Eurobank’s core functions, such as loans and deposits, […]
Russia’s largest banking group, Sberbank, is undergoing a major technology overhaul. The bank’s senior MD of technology, Mikhail Khasin, did a presentation on the bank’s new business development platform at a recent conference, TAdviser SummIT. The initiative is a “revolutionary transformation” of all systems that currently form Sberbank’s core banking platform. He said the new […]
Two former Merrill Lynch directors, Paul Richards and Giles Hutson, have unveiled a new fintech venture, Insignis Asset Management. Insignis, a cash management company, is set “to revolutionise how clients manage their cash deposits”, the founders say. The Insignis Digital Banking Network will enable clients to deposit cash, starting from £100,000, into a hub account, […]
Private banking software vendor Avaloq is to gain two sites in Austria for its flagship core banking system, Avaloq Banking Suite. These are at the Austrian operations of LGT and Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB). Both banking groups originate from Liechtenstein and both are long-standing users of Avaloq Banking Suite at home and Switzerland. LGT also runs […]
British Bankers Association (BBA) has secured the go-ahead from its members to merge with three other UK-based trade associations: Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), Payments UK and UK Cards Association. The new trade association will be have a broader representation of the financial services industry. Anthony Browne, CEO of BBA, comments that it is only […]
