Swedbank and SIX first to back Bloomberg PolarLake EDM service
Swedbank has become the first live user of Bloomberg PolarLake’s managed service model for enterprise data management.
FinTech
New BAML trading system aims at “disillusioned” investors
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is seeking to attract long-term investors who have become disillusioned with equity markets. Its new trading system, Instinct Natural, is a crossing network that is clearly geared towards customers that want to trade in blocks. But market participants have expressed concerns about its potential to meet the needs of long-term investors.
Industry veteran jumps ship to mobile operator payment venture
Weve, the advertising and commerce joint venture between mobile network operators Vodafone, O2 and EE, has hired payments industry veteran David Sear as its permanent chief executive.
SEPA …
Cover Story: The SEPA end date is now just a year away. Is everybody ready? Of course not.
Mobile to dominate rise in retail bank IT spending
Further evidence that bank IT spending is growing again comes from industry analysts at Ovum, which is predicting overall growth of 3.4% among retail banks, reaching $118.6 billion in 2013, as they focus on “customer satisfaction and revenue growth”.
Market abuse highlights vulnerable European equity market
The imposition of an £8 million fine against defunct Canadian day trading firm Swift Trade earlier this week illustrates the potential for abusive strategies that distort markets – and the need for a new approach from regulators, according to Matthew Coupe, director of regulation and market structure at NICE Actimize.
Exchanges: time for a rebuild?
Technical problems at Nasdaq and BATS have reinforced the impression among many market observers that there may be something seriously wrong with equity market structure. Recent history reads like a catalogue of disaster for many of the world’s most prominent trading venues.
Western Union: Expanding on all fronts
As the global payments markets changes, Western Union has plans to change with it. Massimiliano Alvisini, regional director UK, Ireland & Nordics explains how and why.
More than a third of euro transactions lack accurate SEPA data
New research from Experian shows that “only 65% of euro transactions have fully accurate destination routing data and 12% of electronic payments made to and from businesses in euros currently contain data errors”.
Report: State of the enterprise tablet market – the new age of mobile computing
The enterprise is experiencing massive changes as the major technology trends of cloud computing and tablets are intersecting to upset the balance of legacy computing environments.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
CGI in mobile alliance with Monitise
CGI, which recently acquired UK software house Logica, has formed a partnership with mobile banking and payment specialist Monetise to offer joint services for banking and payments companies using the Monitise platform.
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.
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.
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, […]
Payments Council pushes mobile payments back another year
The UK Payments Council has announced that the introduction of its planned Mobile Payments Service has been pushed back until “spring 2014” – a year after its previously expected introduction, and two years after Barclays broke from the rest of the UK banks and launched its Pingit service. The delay comes despite commitments from financial […]
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.
Wall Street Systems acquires IT2 Treasury Solutions
IT2 Treasury Solutions, a UK company that provides treasury management software and services for large corporations and small and mid-sized financial institutions, has been sold to Wall Street Systems, a subsidiary of trading technology provider ION Trading.
Mobile banking to hit 1 billion users by 2017
As uptake of mobile banking services is predicted to reach 1 billion by 2017, banks are starting to view the mobile channel as an indispensable revenue stream, according to Nitin Bhas, senior analyst at telecoms research firm Juniper Research.
IT pros willing to back the bankers
The finance sector has been plagued with bad press over the past five years, with little respite for those in the industry, but despite the issues faced by the sector, 59% of IT jobseekers would still consider entering the industry, writes Richard Nott, website director at CWJobs.co.uk.
Diebold debuts cardless ATM at CES
ATM maker Diebold has developed an ATM that lets customers withdraw cash without using a card – and saves the bank money in the process.
Tough year ahead for NFC as retail payments diversify
NFC technology advocates face continued disappointment in 2013 as it is likely to be overshadowed by other developments in retail payments, according to a new report by financial research firm Celent.
SunGard boosts corporate actions automation capability through acquisition of XSP
Financial technology company SunGard has acquired XcitekSolutionsPlus, a company that provides corporate actions tools, in a move aimed at capitalising on the increasing automation of the sector.
Thomson Reuters debuts FATCA compliance kit
Thomson Reuters has launched a tool to help financial institutions comply with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, widely known as FATCA, which requires banks to identify their US customers for tax purposes.
Rogue trader terms identified as Switzerland’s oldest bank is forced to close
Ernst & Young has developed new software designed to catch employees engaged in corporate wrongdoing, as Swiss bank Wegelin and Co prepares to cease operations following the firm’s prosecution for helping US citizens evade taxes.
CIBC promotes NFC payments via BlackBerry
Canada’s CIBC bank has launched a novel promotion aimed at increasing uptake of NFC technology for mobile payments.
Celoxica debuts HFT futures trading tools
UK technology company Celoxica has launched a new futures trading platform, which it says will make automated trading strategies even faster and more efficient.
Unbundling tops banking reform recommendations
Global investment banks need to stop focusing on easy opportunities and start innovating, according to a new report by US business consultancy AlixPartners – even if that means unbundling services and embracing smaller financial institutions as allies.
New Year, New Job
New Year, New Job? With gloomy predictions and swingeing cuts at big firms, what do employment prospects look like in 2013? Also in this issue: Bloomberg’s Stanley Young on broadening its enterprise offerings. ART for art’s sake: Assess, Rationalise and Transform is the motto for risk management The Year Ahead: a round-up of views on what the year ahead […]
On board the enterprise
Like Apple under Steve Jobs, Bloomberg has a long-held reputation for being a ‘closed’ sort of company, reluctant to compromise its products or its ways of working.
BNY Mellon and Rule counter OTC derivatives conundrum
Asset managers should take five simple steps to counter the effect of rising collateral requirements for OTC derivatives, according to a joint study by BNY Mellon and Rule Financial.
Banks must do more to embrace social media says study
Financial institutions are still not using social media to its full potential and are missing out as a result, according to a new report by German IT firm GFT.
