BATS Chi-X Europe has begun its pan-European listings business with the start of trading in two exchange-traded funds. The firm’s strategy is to focus on ETFs, where it believes it has found an opportunity to cut away at costs.
A UK technology company has created a banking app that promises to help customers keep track of their finances at a glance, interfacing with the Pebble smartwatch which launched launched in January 2013.
Three independent UK building societies – Ipswich, Loughborough and Dudley – have agreed to use a new software as a service solution from Unisys to handle their mortgage and savings accounts. The deal represents the latest move in a series of steps by the UK’s building society sector to adopt cloud platforms.
Market participants need to be sure they understand how their collateral is being handled. They also need to make sure they are ready for EMIR, according to financial executives at the Mondo Visione Exchange Forum this week.
Bulgaria’s DSK Bank has launched a mobile savings application called DSK Gameo, which is designed to encourage customers to save by making banking more fun, while helping the bank better understand its user-base.
LCH.Clearnet’s ForexClear service has cleared its first trades through a partnership with pre-trade risk and post-trade processing company Traiana, which matched and affirmed the FX derivative client trades using its Harmony CCOP Connect service.
Swansea Building Society has just upgraded its lending and saving platform to the latest version of vendor Sopra Banking Software’s mortgage and savings suite – a move that it says will help it to handle its regulatory reporting obligations much more effectively and launch new products quicker when needed.
Global funds network Calastone has signed up Austrian private bank Semper Constantia to take up its order routing services.
The European Commission has rejected a request from the European Securities and Markets Authority to delay the reporting of exchange traded derivatives, with the effect that all derivatives trades will have to be reported to registered trade repositories from 12 February next year.
French operator group Orange has formed a strategic partnership with payment provider Visa to accelerate awareness and everyday usage of contactless payment technology in France. The operator has also launched a mobile prepayment solution called Orange Cash in the country.
Deutsche Bank has chosen Kim Hammonds as chief information officer and global co-head of group technology and operations. Hammonds joins on 25 November from Boeing, where she was chief information officer.
Mobile phone-based payment solutions will eclipse cards by allowing bank customers to pay directly from their accounts, says a PKO Polski executive.
Data specialists Volante have launched their SEPA Accelerator, a tool designed to help companies comply with the upcoming Single Euro Payments Area, which takes effect on 1 February 2014.
Polish IT specialist Comarch has launched a host-to-host banking solution designed to allow corporates to issue bank instructions directly from their enterprise resource planning software.
The UK High Court has ruled against Barclays in a case brought by remittance provider Dahabshiil, granting an injunction preventing the bank from closing Dahabshiil’s account.
Andrea Galeazzi, director of network services at Italian payments and technology infrastructure company SIA, has taken up a new role as chairman at Italian telecoms firm Emmecom. The move is part of SIA’s acquisition of the smaller firm, which took place in July and forms a key part of its European expansion plans.
Furness Building Society has chosen a mortgage and savings suite from vendor Sopra Banking Software, to act as the society’s core banking platform. The new system is intended to help the society become more flexible and develop new products, especially online products.
Moscow Exchange has opened its new cleared OTC derivatives market, marking a major step towards Russia’s G20 commitments. But some observers still have doubts about Russia’s reputation as an investment destination.
Germany’s Eurex and Austria’s Vienna Stock Exchange have formed an index licencing agreement that will see Eurex list new futures and options based on leading indices of the Vienna Stock Exchange.
Fewer than one in four of UK consumers would use their smartphone like a credit card to make payments even if they had the relevant app, according to a new survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of outsourcing firm Firstsource Solutions.
Russian telecoms carrier MegaFon has announced the commercial launch of an 8,700 kilometre long terrestrial fibre optic trunk connecting Europe and Asia. The DREAM – Diverse Route for European and Asian Markets – link extends from Frankfurt-am-Main to the Kazakhstan-China border, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and was created by MegaFon in cooperation […]
Pan-European clearing houses EMCF and EuroCCP have received approval from the UK consumer authority the Office of Fair Trading to go ahead with their planned merger, announced in July.
The number of UK consumers who switched their current account during the last month increased by 11% compared to the same period last year, giving hope to the UK Payments Council that its new seven-day account switching service which launched on 16 September may be beginning to work.
Banco Itaú Suisse, the Swiss business of Latin American bank Itaú Unibanco, has chosen a private banking business system from software vendor ERI as part of a drive to make the Swiss unit a central hub for the Group’s European private banking business.
Swift has completed network acceptance testing for its connectivity service for T2S, the EU project to reform Europe’s post-trade infrastructure.
The constantly changing tide of national, European and global regulatory change is making life difficult for Britain’s building societies and banks to keep pace, according to Mark Smith, head of ALM at Yorkshire Building Society.
The UK Payments Council’s seven-day account switching service has been attacked as a “complete waste of time” by participants at a panel discussion in London on Wednesday – an allegation that was vigorously denied by representatives of the Council and the UK retail banking sector.
Sell-side only block trading network Squawker has completed its pan-European rollout, connecting 70 sell-side firms to the new venue, which promises ‘algorithm-free’ trading in 13 European countries.
Spanish operator group Telefónica has teamed with local bank CaixaBank to set up a company offering consumer financing for mobile handsets and devices.
The public is ready to adopt mobile payments in many aspects of their lives, but service providers need to have a defined role in the ecosystem and an understanding of how they interact with other players and the consumer.
Polish IT specialist Comarch has launched a mobile business banking solution aimed at banks that want to give corporates, SMEs and micro business customers a mobile offering.
UK operator EE has launched mobile voice recording services to help UK organisations to fully comply with the FCA’s mobile trading regulations.
BATS Chi-X Europe’s upcoming move into the European listings space will help bring a much-needed reduction in costs that could help to make the European ETFs market stronger, according to Mark Hemsley, chief executive at BATS Chi-X Europe.
As financial regulation on mobile phone recording grows ever tighter in Europe, a significant proportion of financial institutions still haven’t put in place any technology to handle it. They could be missing out, according to Steve Haworth, chief executive at computer telephony specialist TeleWare.
The London Stock Exchange is planning to roll out a new millimetre wave wireless communication link between its data centre in the City of London and the Equinix data centre in Slough, in a deal that will provide faster access and benefit HFT firms looking to arbitrage between multiple trading venues.
Adoption of alternative payment mechanisms is growing more rapidly in developing economies as they leapfrog the legacy infrastructures deployed elsewhere.
Formed earlier this year, Zapp expects to launch next year with the backing of most of the major UK retail banks, Peter Keenan, chief executive of the venture, says that at the time of launch the Pay by Zapp service will be available to 40% of UK current account holders, and it will have the backing of 50% of the nation’s online and mobile retailers – including well-known brands.
Senior financial industry executives have expressed disappointment at the failure of the US and European securities regulators to realise a deal over derivatives reforms and swap execution facilities, the new category of US execution venues brought in under the Dodd-Frank Act.
US banking and payments technology specialist FIS has launched a cloud-based real time core banking utility aimed at mid-tier banks in central and eastern Europe, which it says will help client to roll out new products faster and cheaper than ever before.
Leeds Building Society has joined the shared services alliance founded by HP Enterprise Services and the Yorkshire Building Society in September, in a deal that will see the society move its core application for mortgages and savings to the cloud. The deal also marks a growing recognition among the UK’s mid-tier institutions of the power of cloud to help them move with the times.
