Ukraine’s UniCredit ‘Ukrsotsbank’ has chosen US technology firm Fiserv to provide its Integrated Currency Manager tool, which the bank will use to improve its supply chain management and make better use of its available resources.
A new service that claims to be able to dramatically cut post-trade costs for brokers and asset managers has been launched in the UK, using FIX messaging.
Argentina’s Caja de Valores central securities depository has chosen the London Stock Exchange to be its technology provider, as the depository gears up to support the country’s new Bolsa & Mercados Argentinos exchange.
Banks should not be afraid to go further and faster in their adoption of cloud computing, says Mohamed Gamil, chief operating officer at Islamic Bank of Britain.
For firms who remember MiFID I, and those that don’t, round two is almost upon us. This month, the Council of the EU agreed their general approach, meaning that the draft of MiFID II/MiFIR is free to advance to the European Parliament. If all goes according to the current plan, the new combined legislation will be with us in time for 2015 implementation.
Financial technology company SIA has acquired Italian telecoms firm Emmecom, as part of a plan to create a new technology infrastructure across Europe for merchants and banks.
US post-trade utility the DTCC has agreed to acquire post-trade specialist firm Omgeo, in a deal that it says will help improve collaboration between investment managers, broker-dealers and custodian banks and reduce risk for market participants.
The introduction of seven-day account switching in the UK in September is a fundamental pillar of UK government plans to inject more competition into retail banking. But the plan has its critics – some of whom warn it may achieve the opposite of what it intends.
Securities trading in France, the Netherlands and Belgium is to move to T+2 settlement in October 2014, following a decision by Euroclear to pre-empt Europe-wide settlement reforms.
Peter Leukert, formerly of NYSE Euronext and Commerzbank, has joined banking and payments technology firm FIS after just 15 months in the job.
Bangladeshi bank AB Bank has chosen ElectraCard Services to run its ATM network and process credit and debit cards, as the bank ramps up its drive to increase financial inclusion in the country.
Predicting the future is never easy, but trying to anticipate likely developments in a particular area is essential in order to take timely action. With that caveat, Stephen Lindsay, head of standards at SWIFT, sets a boundary on a discussion on the Future of Standards: “What we are trying to do is extrapolate a little bit from where we are now to where we might be in a few years’ time,” he says.
Cover story: high frequency trading isn’t the only reason to deploy faster technology … Also in this issue: A road to nowhere? The UK’s plans to improve competition in retail banking are not without critics. The lure of the East: opportunities and challenges in the Middle East markets A watching brief: regulators are beefing up their […]
At a passionate debate in Westminster this week MPs, led by Rushanara Ali, member for Bethnal Green & Bow, called for government action in the wake of Barclay’s recent decision to close accounts for a large number of small payments businesses in the remittances sector.
With lots of different regulatory benchmark efforts now underway, the industry could be forgiven for not taking a common stance. With IOSCO issuing final principles, ESMA and the EBA are simultaneously consulting on a European set of principles. Meanwhile the UK is moving ahead with its own reforms.
UniCredit and IBM are to form a joint venture company that will offer IT infrastructure services to other financial institutions as part of a “multi-billion dollar”, 10-year agreement.
The London Stock Exchange’s plans to establish a new central securities depository in Luxembourg reveal the way regulation can have unintended consequences – in this case a proliferation of CSDs.
Clearstream, Euroclear and Eurex Clearing have signed an agreement with the ICMA European Repo Council to create a joint project aimed at improving the efficiency of the repo market.
On 23 April 2013, the markets suffered a brief, sharp drop as algorithms reacted to “news” from the Associated Press’s Twitter handle that President Obama had been injured in a bombing attack at the White House. In a few minutes, the Dow Jones dropped 145 points, Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost $136 billion in […]
BNP Paribas Securities Services is to use Swift’s value added network service to connect to T2S, the single European settlement platform due to roll out in 2015-16.
Moroccan investment bank Casablanca Finance Group has installed a new banking system from Swiss technology company Avaloq, as the Moroccan financial services industry spreads its wings across Africa.
The Bahrain Bourse is to replace its trading platform with a new one provided by Nasdaq OMX, as the Bourse aims to become a trading hub in the Persian Gulf region.
Saudi Arabia’s Riyad Bank has chosen technology company Calypso Technology to help revamp its treasury operations and improve its back office.
The financial services sector’s growing interdependence between internet-accessible clearing and transaction processing infrastructure means that a successful DDoS attack can have far reaching consequences, such as customer dissatisfaction and loss of trust, brand damage, increased operating costs and lost revenue to name just a few.
After a long wait, the first real FATCA implementation deadlines are just around the corner. To meet the new account identification requirements, by 1 January 2014, institutions should be in the process of implementing the necessary upgrades in their onboarding and overall compliance systems and processes.
Turkey’s newly-merged Borsa Istanbul has formed a deal with Nasdaq OMX, under which the new Turkish market will take up Nasdaq trading, clearing, market surveillance and risk technology.
The Iraq Stock Exchange is to upgrade its trading technology using Nasdaq OMX, in a project that highlights the progress made by the country’s stock market since the American-led invasion in 2003.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Jennifer Boussuge as head of Global Transaction Services for EMEA. Boussuge has been with the company for more than 19 years, during which time she has held a number of leadership roles, most recently as head of global sales for GTS.
The possibility of jail for miscreant top bankers has hit the headlines following publication of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards final report, a compendium of all that is considered wrong with both banks and the regulator …
For the first three months of 2012, Misys was the subject of a protracted bidding war. Misys is clearly not the company it was a year ago:the firm has endured some painful change, but it has at least been quick. It has also produced what promise to be tangible benefits for users …
BNP Paribas Securities Services has added Collateral Access, an integrated and comprehensive collateral management system for both buy-side and sell-side clients.
The impact of the internet on the banking industry may yet turn out to be far more important than the financial crisis and the subsequent regulatory overhaul. Viewing statements on-line and making payments electronically is just the very beginning of the revolution.
GBST‘s Capital Markets and Six Financial Information have teamed up to enhance GBST´s solution for the Financial Transaction Tax that some European countries are introducing.
RBS has hired Carole Berndt as global head of transaction services. Berndt has been EMEA head of transaction banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for the past three years. She will be based in London and report to John Owen, chief executive, International Banking, at RBS, who said: “I am delighted to welcome Carole […]
Direct market access provider Object Trading has connected its clients to Nasdaq OMX NLX, the newly launched London derivatives market, and they have begun live trading.
Spanish bank Sabadell has released a mobile app that lets consumers withdraw cash without a debit card.
Union Bank of Taiwan has signed up with global fund transaction network Calastone to automate its offshore fund transactions through the new Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corporation fund service.
ISO 20022 has been hailed as the lingua franca in payments and securities for some years now. It offers great potential for re-engineering the payments industry, and for process improvement, but for a standard that promises so much it is still relatively unknown.
New York start-up Simplified Financial Information is piloting a market data analytics system prior to release later this summer.
Next Bank Madrid has chosen the finalists for a competition that seeks to find the best financial services startup companies from the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world.
