Swift’s Innotribe innovation project has chosen the 15 US semi-finalists for its start-up challenge, which aims to bring together innovative ideas in financial services and turn them into functioning businesses.
As the first deadline for implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area approaches in February 2014, you could be forgiven for thinking that it is pretty much all over – or at least will be by October 2016, when the second deadline arrives. Don’t count on it, cautions Ruth Wandhöfer, global head, regulatory & market strategy, Citi Transaction Services.
ICE Clear Europe is to begin clearing for NYSE Liffe’s London derivatives market on 1 July, marking the end of NYSE’s migration from LCH Clearnet, and the beginning of ICE’s integration with NYSE Euronext, which it purchased in December for $8.2 billion.
In early 2009, soon after the global subprime fallout, the official Vatican newsletter published a rather contextual referral for Islamic banking, observing that the ‘ethical principles on which Islamic finance is based may bring banks closer to their clients and to the true spirit which should mark every financial service‘, writes Riaz Akhtar, senior consultant, […]
The latest figures from UK retailers show a significant move to debit cards and new mechanisms like PayPal as consumers shy away from cash and credit cards.
SwissLife Banque Privée is to implement the Avaloq Banking System at its French operation, which was established last year.
The UK retail banking sector is characterised by a continuing lack of competition and resultant limited customer churn between financial services providers. This has made it difficult even for new market entrants to gain market share from long-standing, less popular competitors, due to the inconvenience and complexity involved in switching banks.
Technology will contribute to the development of the supply chain finance market, with the growth of e-invoicing systems seen as a significant market accelerator by the majority of the banking community.
Portugal’s central securities depository Interbolsa is to use Swift’s value added network to connect to T2S, the single European settlement platform due to roll out in 2015-16.
Hong Kong-based CLSA has gone live on Swift’s Global Electronic Trade Confirmation solution for the automation of allocation and confirmation processes, becoming the first Asian broker to adopt the service.
Europe’s post-trade infrastructure is undergoing significant change, driven by the implementation of the single settlement platform Target2-Securities and the forthcoming CSD Regulation. As a result, market participants need to review their current back office system capabilities.
Trading and risk technology specialist Cinnober is investing in a financial IT cluster in northern Sweden, centred on the university town of Umeå and initiating a a one-year trainee programme stating in the autumn.
Banks need to cross a psychological barrier and embrace the concept of outsourcing their payments operations if they are to compete on product innovation and customer service rather than simply on cost.
The idea of sending money via email is not entirely new. This month, however, a new financial player entered this arena: Google announced that it will integrate Google Wallet into Gmail.
Millennium Information Technologies, the IT subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange has appointed John Mackay “Mack” Gill, as its new chief executive office, taking over from company founder Tony Weeresinghe, who will become non-executive chairman with a global business development role.
Saxo Bank, the multi-asset online trading and investment specialist, has launched Saxo TV, fronted by former Bloomberg TV News anchor Owen Thomas, to provide on-demand business and financial analysis.
Commerzbank is to deploy Clear2Pay’s Open Payment Framework as a central platform for end-to-end XML-processing and to interface with new technology and products. Commerzbank will implement OPF as part of a longer term strategic payments renewal project for its clients in and outside Germany. The project will be implemented in phases, with the first go-live […]
The $400 billion global remittances market is moving from cash to account-based transfer, but costs, regulations and new competitors are still the key issues.
Traditional finance is not as we once knew it. The internet has completely disrupted the financial services value chain. The banks are struggling to keep up with advancing technology. Understanding mobile, cloud computing, social media, big data and how to utilise each capability are key challenges for the banks to overcome.
Swift’s innovation-focused spin-off Innotribe has announced the five Singapore finalists for its global startup challenge, which aims to help innovative new companies in financial services to develop their ideas and transform them into working businesses.
Mark Buitenhek, global head of payments and cash management at ING, describes how simplification, SEPA, security and service are the principal issues facing transaction banks, along with regulation.
Across Europe many banks feel unprepared for the next phase of the ‘digital revolution’, while factors such as expensive compliance regulations, poor data management and outdated systems are constraining them from implementing new solutions
South Africa’s Standard Bank has introduced a new mobile banking tool called AccessBanking, which aims to reach unbanked customers in the country.
Temenos execs were surprised when a group of attractive young women started approaching delegates outside its annual user conference in Abu Dhabi this week. The delegates – existing and potential bank customers – were being tempted by the offer of cocktails in the adjacent hotel, and the prospect of helicopter rides.
Turkish bank Turkland has installed new core banking, CRM and treasury systems from Infosys – the first time a Turkish bank has implemented an externally developed core banking system according to the firm.
Mobile banking can be more secure than online banking – but the real challenge is to move from closed circuit payments to a world in which customers of any bank can use any mobile app to send funds to any recipient, according to Hannes van Rensberg, founder and chief executive at mobile payments specialist Fundamo.
Social investment network eToro is to open up shop in the UK, having won approval from new regulator the FCA this month. Founded in 2007, eToro is a social trading network that aims to revolutionise the way retail investors and high net-worth individuals connect with the market.
It’s often been said that the financial services industry is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and in some instances this may have proved to be a safe bet. The industry is littered with systems that have grown out of cottage industry and ‘fitting square pegs into round hole, writes Paul Taylor, director global matching, Swift. However, we […]
Milan-based financial technology firm SIA is expanding its reach to New York later this year in a move that caps the latest-phase of a three-year recovery plan for the firm. The extension of SIA’s Financial Ring to New York follows that activation of a hub in Frankfurt is the third cornerstone, after Milan and London, […]
Ukraine’s Oschadbank has installed a remote banking service that it says will help it to create a single ‘payment ecosystem’ that covers cards, security, payments and transfers.
US post-trade services company the DTCC and Belgian settlement specialist Euroclear are planning to create a joint service that aims to provide better, safer collateral management for market participants.
Two different visions of the future of retail financial services did battle at the Building Societies Association annual conference in Harrogate this week , revealing a dilemma facing UK building societies.
MTS, the European electronic fixed income marketplace majority owned by the London Stock Exchange, plans to open a platform for US institutional investors, allowing them direct access for the first time.
With the newly formed LEI Foundation moving forward with establishing processes for issuing and managing the Legal Entity Identifier through its Regulatory Oversight Committee and the registration of seven pre-Local Operating Units, it is worth taking a step back to understand exactly why the industry is pushing forward with the LEI and what it could achieve.
Brazilian exchange BM&F Bovespa has joined the BT Radianz Cloud, a financial community that connects 500 member locations in Latin America with BT’s global network.
Bank has named FIS as its technology partner to provide a technology platform in a fully-hosted outsourcing deal that will run for the next four years.
In the debate about the future of UK retail banking, the role of the building society is often overlooked, but technological change is playing to their strengths.
The cost to fully upgrade the financial industry’s infrastructure to make efficient use of collateral will reach $53 billion, according to new research by Celent – but too much standardisation could do more harm than good, warns SIX Securities Services.
A legal framework for the standardised clearing of OTC derivatives has been established in Germany with the approval of standardised documentation by the German Banking Industry Committee, the Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft. The DK has published the framework agreement, called the CRV – Clearing-Rahmenvereinbarung – for use by German banks and their buy-side customers with immediate effect. The document […]
Java virtualisation specialist Waratek, one of the finalists in the Swift-backed Innotribe Challenge at this year’s Sibos in Dubai, has formed a partnership with Asia market access specialist Intralink to expand into Asia Pacific. As well as the Innotribe final, the Waratek CloudVM for Java offering has been selected for the Fintech Innovation Lab, based […]
