BankingTech


NSD builds business intelligence as Moscow goes for gold

Russia’s central securities depository NSD is to get a complete business intelligence overhaul through a joint project with consultancy Optima Group. The deal should help bolster NSD as one of the key pieces in the government’s strategy to turn Moscow into an international financial centre.

CME gears up for European OTC deluge

As new rules for the central clearing of OTC derivatives loom ever larger on the horizon in both Europe and the US, technology is helping to make the transition easier – but the kind of contracts being traded may well change, according to CME Group.

Banish Missed Trade Misery …

A study shows that 62% of City traders “admit to missing key investment or sell opportunities because they didn’t keep track of time zone differences”.

Customer relationships in a multichannel world

The public perception of banks has been battered in recent years, but financial institutions have been working hard to repair the damage. A key tool in their strategy has been to improve customer service in a multichannel environment.

Finalists named for London banking ideas challenge

Seven innovative start-up companies have been chosen to take part in a major new London-based project that aims to bolster advanced technologies in financial services. The seven firms will participate in a twelve-week programme in which they will gain support from the major banks and gather interest from venture capitalists and investors.

Rise of the machines: banks embrace automation despite the cost

Flawed decisions taken by machines are causing financial services firms to lose customers and suffer unexpected costs, according to new report by the Economist Intelligence unit. Yet retail banks are increasingly turning to technology to assess customers.

Social media 2.0 for banks

A new social media tool designed for banks and built by British technology firm Integritie aims to break through the barriers that separate customers from their bank.

Seller beware

Conduct risk, which places emphasis on providers of credit to treat customers fairly, will challenge them to deliver higher standards of customer support across the whole relationship.

Riding the payments roller-coaster

UK banks are still in “a difficult place” as they face economic uncertainty, increased cost and competitive pressures, complex regulations and rapid technological changes – but the changes that are happening in the payments industry offer scope for them to reclaim the initiative and deploy innovative solutions.

Netherlands’ Rabobank draws on outsourced IT “knowledge”

Dutch cooperative Rabobank has increased its outsourcing of banking software development and testing, via a five-year deal with technology specialist Cognizant that the cooperative hopes will provide it with the benefits of stronger technology.

Industry “not ready” for OTC derivatives reform

Four out of five financial institutions are not ready for new regulations governing the trading, reporting and clearing of OTC derivatives, according to a new survey by US communications company IPC.

Saxo Bank gobbles up Turkey business

Online investment bank Saxo Bank has opened an office in Istanbul, Turkey, following its acquisition of local broker Değer Menkul Değerler in May last year.

Regional differences colour IT spending priorities

Total bank IT spending across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific will grow to $179.2 billion in 2013, an increase of 3.4% over last year according to research and consulting firm Celent.

East Africa Exchange opens in Rwanda

The newly created East Africa Exchange, which is currently taking its first steps in Rwanda, is part of a regional integration project between Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda that aims to boost liquidity and provide a commodities market for 130 million people across the region.

Unlocking the potential of Big Data

At the centre of the national crisis sits a banking industry tarnished in the public’s eyes by poor performance, excessive pay and the ongoing need for state support. Just where does the industry go from here and how does it start to rebuild trust?

Lloyds slashes another 940 jobs as cuts deepen

Lloyds Banking Group is to cut 940 more jobs, the latest in a series of savage headcount culls at major financial institutions. Separate announcements earlier this week confirmed 200 human resources jobs would be axed, and a further 175 cuts made in the Halifax branch network.

Broker back-ends still outpaced by trading technology

Too many brokers are still using outdated methods such as email and telephone to confirm trade matches, undermining the advantages gleaned from high-performance trading technology, according to a new study by financial research firm Aite Group.

Chilean broker imports UK trading technology

Chilean broker Banchile, part of Santiago- based Banco de Chile, has deployed a brokerage platform from UK systems supplier Fidessa that will link it to international trading venues.

Moscow reforms will “fundamentally change” Russian markets

The upcoming IPO of Russia’s Moscow Exchange on its own bourse is just one step in a titanic effort to transform Russia’s capital markets and attract attention from international investors – and it may not be the most important one, according to Serge Alexandre, electronic trading services at Russian broker Otkritie.

Clearstream allies with Belgium’s Belfius

German central securities depository Clearstream has partnered with Belgian bank and insurance firm Belfius, to develop a new collateral service for bilateral trades, focusing on OTC derivatives and aimed at corporates and medium-sized banks.

MiFID II faces national challenges

Proposals in Germany that would affect the country’s capital market structure could create problems of regulatory arbitrage when the European Commission’s MiFID II arrives in 2015-16, according to Mark Spanbroek, general secretary at the FIA European Principal Traders Association.

Nasdaq OMX expands and regroups technology business

Nasdaq OMX is to combine its market technology and corporate solutions businesses, in a move that it says will help the firm provide more transparency to customers and a stronger business proposition.

Headcount cull claims investment bankers

As job cuts continue to bite at some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions, new figures from Bloomberg Industries reveal the scale of the cull driven by lacklustre macroeconomic performance in Europe, a declining stock market and tightening financial regulation.

Acleda Bank fuels Cambodian expansion with Temenos tools

Cambodia’s Acleda Bank has embarked on a massive programme of expansion in a bid to reach unbanked customers in the country, drawing on core banking technology provided by Swiss banking software company Temenos.

Swift’s Innotribe Challenge 2013 opens for entries

Swift has opened its Innotribe Startup Challenge 2013 for entries. The year-round competition is intended to introduce financial industry decision makers and early-stage investors to the “innovations and emerging companies that are poised to transform the industry”.

International clearers form ‘Liquidity Alliance’

An alliance between central securities depositories in Germany, Spain, Brazil, South Africa and Australia aims to tackle the expected global shortfall in collateral arising from tough new financial regulation.

Trendy techs top CIO priority lists for 2013 says Gartner study

Faced with flatlining IT budgets, global CIOs must better exploit the business potential of technology to achieve results – currently they realise only 43% of that potential says Gartner. Top of the priority list is what the research firm calls ‘digital technologies’. In this it includes mobile, analytics, Big Data, social media networking and cloud, […]

French regulator raises temperature of debate in London

A heated argument that erupted between panellists at an event in London yesterday signals deep divides in Europe over the role that financial regulators should take as France and Germany introduce their own national rules.

Banks boost ICAP’s Traiana with $36 million investment

Interdealer broker ICAP has raised $36 million through the sale of a 12% stake in its Traiana post-trade processing and risk management business to a consortium of banks – Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Nomura, and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

German HFT proposals earn buy-side support

Market participants have expressed support for controversial new proposals in Germany to control high-frequency trading, including a requirement to obtain a licence or stop trading.

The irresistible rise of digital banking

The banking industry, integral to our commercial and personal lives, has always evolved with the times to embrace new challenges and consumer attitudes. Technology plays an obvious and increasingly important role in this evolution.

Social media trading goes live on DCM

Online trading service DCM Capital has released a trading platform with a social media sentiment feed, allowing traders to incorporate information from channels such as twitter and Facebook into their trading decisions.

HSBC plans to pilot FX netting in China

HSBC is to pilot a foreign exchange netting system in China after getting approval from authorities there – the first foreign bank to get such approval. The programme is part of the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange’s recently launched Foreign Currency Centralised Management pilot scheme for multinational companies.