Financial services IT consultancy Synechron has launched six blockchain applications in the cloud, enabling financial institutions “to be up-and-running on a blockchain network or in a ‘sandbox’ environment within weeks”. Synechron says its offering comes with consulting services on the functional and technical side, training programmes as well as the UX design. The applications use […]
What were the most popular mobile banking apps (on Android) in the US in August 2016? We reveal the stats for the top ten apps in the US, ranked taking into account two engagement metrics – current installs and active app users.
The full authorisation by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) covers all of AvantCredit’s credit and lending operations and includes permissions for credit broking, debt collection and debt administration.
East West Bancorp is implementing SS&C’s integrated risk and finance solution, Evolv, to manage reserving under current US GAAP and new CECL accounting standards. The solution is delivered in the cloud. The contract was signed with Primatics Financial, a subsidiary of SS&C. “Preparation for CECL is critical for our business,” Sharon Cheung, controller at East […]
Standard Chartered and SuperCharger are inviting applications from start-ups for its SuperCharger Fintech Accelerator 2.0. For the second year running, SuperCharger says it offers access to market entry resources, mentors, technology advice from industry experts and joint venture opportunities. The selection panel is looking for start-ups for supply chain and trade finance, wealth management, distributed […]
Commerzbank has processed its first transaction settled by a bank payment obligation (BPO) between Germany and China. The BPO covers the export of chemicals between Commerzbank’s customer (the buyer), Trigon Chemie in Germany. The seller is an unnamed customer of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Beijing. Trade business between the two was previously […]
Deutsche Bank is partnering with start-up accelerator Axel Springer Plug and Play to select, develop and finance up-and-coming firms from sectors such as banking and insurance. Deutsche Bank will be an exclusive Axel Springer Plug and Play partner – the latter a joint venture between the media company Axel Springer and California-based Plug and Play […]
If the student body at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is any indication, it will be some time before bitcoin becomes a common form of payment. A study that began more than two years ago indicates that students preferred to pay with cash, payment cards or mobile wallet apps over the decentralized virtual currency.
The Bank of England, hoping to better fend off cyber-attacks and better serve smaller financial services providers, will upgrade its Real-Time Gross Settlement system. The system, which handles transactions worth about $659 billion per day, will undergo a “comprehensive rebuild” by 2020, according to a provisional goal issued by the bank.
London-based finech startup Curve continues to ramp up toward a full launch, landing £2 million (roughly U.S. $2.6 million) in post-seed investment, which the company said it’s hoping will lead to a larger Series A round later this year. Curve offers a physical smart card equipped with chip-and-PIN, magstripe and NFC technology.
Federal regulators are planning to tighten the screws on marketplace lenders over concerns about consumer protections and reckless lending. At a marketplace lending policy summit, U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry told lenders to expect a new regulatory framework this fall that would support “responsible innovation.”
Standard Chartered, National Australia Bank, Mizuho Financial Group, BMO Financial Group, Siam Commercial Bank and Shanghai Huarui Bank are the latest banks to join Ripple’s blockchain-powered network for cross-border payments. “2016 has proven to be the year where the most forward-thinking financial institutions are actually using blockchain technologies for payments and settlement rather than as […]
UniCredit will launch “Buddybank”, a bank project exclusively designed for smartphones, in early 2017 in Italy. Buddybank will offer current accounts, credit/debit cards and “contextual” and instant personal loans, as well as a 24/7 concierge service, accessible via chat and phone, that “can help with everyday tasks such as restaurant reservations, taxi booking and travel […]
Six start-ups have signed contracts with Barclays after using its New York accelerator programme to showcase their innovations. After thirteen weeks of product development, mentoring and networking, the demo day in New York marked the culmination of the second class of the Barclays Accelerator. In total. ten teams were selected from a pool of nearly […]
What were the most popular mobile banking apps (on Android) in the UK in August 2016? We reveal the stats for the top ten apps in the UK, ranked taking into account two engagement metrics – current installs and active app users.
The Bank of England (BoE) has published a consultation paper on the next generation real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service. On the way out is the bank’s legacy 20-year old platform. The BoE is calling on the payments industry specialists to get in touch.
Having gone through an unprecedented number of high-quality entries for our Tech Leadership and IT Team of the Year Awards, and for our newly-launched Woman In Technology (W.I.T.) Award, we are pleased to unveil the shortlists.
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Welcome to the world of mergers and acquisitions – and our mission to provide a quick round-up. Ant Financial, Alibaba’s payments arm, has bought Missouri-based EyeVerify, a biometric security technology company. The big deal here is that its tech is used by Wells Fargo – and regional banks and credit unions in the US. Also, […]
A San Francisco-based mobile-only banking startup announced Sept. 14 new partnerships as it prepares to launch a beta of its mobile banking product in the U.S. later this year. Varo Money Inc. has signed an agreement with The Bancorp, in which The Bancorp Bank will be providing private-label banking services for Varo’s mobile checking and savings accounts.
IT services integrator Wipro has set up a blockchain research facility at its Bengaluru campus in India to help its engineers build applications. Wipro is working with a number of unnamed start-ups to scale up the business, and with scant regard to detail it says some pilot projects should be completed soon. Being vague is […]
Retailers are increasingly faced with the need to provide a seamless omnichannel experience in order to succeed. One way to achieve this is via APIs that help integrate the in-store experience with Web and apps. Discover highlights five key areas that retailers can quickly and easily address with the right publicly available APIs.
Desert Schools Federal Credit Union is modernising its digital channels with specialist vendor Alkami Technology. Alkami’s flagship digital platform, ORB, will support the credit union’s 22,000 online banking users.
Look for Chase Pay at the POS at your local Best Buy, just in time for this year’s U.S. holiday shopping season, Chase announced Sept. 14. Chase this week also made a noteworthy security move. On Sept. 12, JPMorgan Chase—without announcing it—reversed its security position on its mobile app, removing the need to type in a password once a customer has already been authenticated by either Apple’s Touch ID or an Android biometric scan.
UBS is testing out artificial intelligence (AI) to see if it can assist clients in how best to invest their money – just by looking at their facial expressions. UBS chief investment officer Mark Haefele says the Swiss bank is running several pilot programmes – with one tool able to interpret clients’ facial expressions while […]
Dennis Lockhart, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, has announced his intention to step down from his position effective Feb. 28, 2017.
The board of directors of B2B commerce facilitator Global Sources has appointed Fumbi Chima and Michael Scown to board membership seats, effective Sept. 12, 2016.
Green Dot Corp.has appointed Mary Dent as CEO of Green Dot Bank, the company’s wholly owned bank subsidiary.
JetPay Corp., a provider of debit and prepaid card services, has named Michael Collester as its Chief Operating Officer.
Mastercard has restructured its global products and solutions team in Asia Pacific, promoting Julienne Loh to the role of executive vice president, global products and marketing, and Felix Marx to executive vice president of services for the region.
Mercator Advisory Group has added Brian Riley to its team as director of the consultancy’s Credit Advisory Service.
Vince Padua has joined digital commerce and payments provider Mozido as the company’s executive vice president of product and development.
Paul Parisi has been named general manager of PayPal Canada.
Cloud-based payment technology provider ShopKeep has named Mike Sommers as the company’s new senior vice president of product management.
Online search is a vital source of traffic generating around 14% of traffic to global banking sites, according to digital market intelligence agency SimilarWeb. So what are the most searched keywords in the global online banking industry and who is winning this important traffic?
Digital bank N26 (formerly Number26) is now offering voice-powered payments via Siri – the “first” bank in Germany to do so. Users can transfer money by talking to Siri; and can also request money from their N26 contacts using Apple’s instant messaging service iMessage. Valentin Stalf, founder and CEO of N26, says: “Our customers can […]
Finovate – now ten years old (or young) – has celebrated its anniversary with over 1,600 attendees at its New York show. Banking Technology was a media partner, and FinTech Futures Series, Banking Technology’s sister company, took part in the event.
Bank of Bhutan, the country’s oldest and largest bank, has ditched Oracle FSS’s Flexcube and gone live on TCS Financial Services’ Bancs core banking system. TCS says all existing customers, accounts, lending and internet banking subscribers were migrated from Flexcube (which was originally installed at the bank in 2008) to TCS Bancs. The bank selected […]
Finserv provider Tramonex is partnering with Saxo Payments for segregated client accounts in 25 currencies, and foreign exchange (FX) liquidity. Tramonex has joined the Saxo Payments Banking Circle, and says it is now able to offer its clients individual, physical and virtual accounts with their own unique International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs). Tramonex previously offered […]
All aboard the blockchain bandwagon – Goldman Sachs has filed a new patent application to use it on the foreign exchange (FX) market. The latest development follows on from late last year when Goldman Sachs made a patent application for a new virtual currency, dubbed “SETLcoin”, for “nearly instantaneous execution and settlement” of trades involving […]
