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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A new tool designed to help banks and their clients gain a decisive trading advantage over their rivals based on Twitter posts has been launched by UK-based fin tech firm Eagle Alpha.
A new monthly index that measures UK current account switching has been launched by research firm TNS, providing a snapshot of changing consumer behaviour as the UK Payments Council’s switching service begins to take effect.
Following yet another revelation that UK banks have been mis-selling financial products to their customers, this time for identity theft and credit card protection insurance, the need for high street lenders to prove that they are changing their lending behaviour has never been so great.
The London Stock Exchange has intensified its push into the derivatives markets with the launch of a new bourse called LSE Derivatives Market, which it says will create new opportunities for traders in London and provide a better proposition under the EU’s EMIR legislation than its predecessor Turquoise Derivatives.
Nationwide has reported a significant increase in the number of customers switching their main current account to the building society, following the introduction of the new seven day account switching service on 16 September – but not everyone is convinced.
Less than one in ten UK consumers has used a mobile wallet, despite the widespread availability of the technology, a new study has found.
Experts are saying millions of people will abandon their old banks and switch to a new provider, following the introduction of new rules on 16 September designed to make it easier to change banks. But estimates vary widely, from single digits to tens of millions.
Mobile payments specialist Zapp is expecting to sign up five of the six major UK banks within the next few weeks, following a deal with acquirer WorldPay, announced this week. However, the platform still has a long way to go to catch-up with rival Barclay’s Pingit, which has a significant head-start, having launched in February 2012.
Russia’s BCS Financial Group has chosen to install market abuse surveillance, insider dealing and compliance tools from specialist firm b-next, as the firm prepares to enter the UK market.
Retail banking competition is likely to heat up over the next decade, with millions more people switching accounts every year, according to new research published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. But current levels are still far behind those found in other industries such as electricity and gas utilities, the study found.
With only one in five UK consumers using their mobile to make payments, new research suggests that the technology is being held back by consumer fears over security, lengthy sign-up processes and problems making payments outside of individual schemes.
The UK Payments Council has set a date for the introduction of the seven-day account switching service, which will make it easier for UK customers to switch their bank.
Is there anything to fear about the new FCA? Well, possibly quite a lot, it would seem. A hundred or so days into the new era of the FCA and it would be hard for anyone in the wealth management or private banking sector to have missed the message that the regulation of the sector is going to be different from now on.
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.
All of the UK’s mobile network operators have extended their carrier billing offerings by connecting to Gemalto’s direct billing platform, the mobile security solutions provider announced.
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.
Market participants have condemned a proposal in the UK House of Commons that calls for the UK government to consider implementing a tax on high-frequency trading activity in the country.
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.
Mobile operator EE is launching a UK mobile payments service called Cash on Tap, in a move that highlights recent efforts across Europe to make mobile payments a reality.
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.
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.
Financial services observers have expressed support for the UK Payments Council’s new roadmap – but serious concerns remain about the viability of the proposals, which are backed by the UK government as part of a drive to improve services for consumers.
The financial services sector needs to be wary of payments solutions that may be solving phantom problems that are of little relevance to the consumer, according to speakers at the Experian payments conference in London on Tuesday.
