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.
International financial centres can play an important role in easing companies’ participation in new markets. Heather McKenzie looks at the elements needed to build a successful financial centre
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.
Germany’s Commerzbank and Benelux-based Clearstream are planning to launch a new service designed to help customers in the G20 nations gear up for central clearing of OTC derivatives.
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.
Financial industry analysts have warned that investors should be careful about how they approach automated trading, following news that a trading error at Goldman Sachs lost the firm $100 million on Tuesday.
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.
Ukraine’s UniCredit ‘Ukrsotsbank’ has chosen US technology firm Fiserv to provide its Integrated Currency Manager tool, which the bank will use to improve its supply chain management and make better use of its available resources.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has chosen Canadian IT firm CGI Group to help its corporate clients manage the transition to SEPA, the European Union project to simplify bank transfers denominated in euros.
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.
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.
UniCredit and IBM are to form a joint venture company that will offer IT infrastructure services to other financial institutions as part of a “multi-billion dollar”, 10-year agreement.
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.
BNP Paribas Securities Services is to use Swift’s value added network service to connect to T2S, the single European settlement platform due to roll out in 2015-16.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Jennifer Boussuge as head of Global Transaction Services for EMEA. Boussuge has been with the company for more than 19 years, during which time she has held a number of leadership roles, most recently as head of global sales for GTS.
BNP Paribas Securities Services has added Collateral Access, an integrated and comprehensive collateral management system for both buy-side and sell-side clients.
RBS has hired Carole Berndt as global head of transaction services. Berndt has been EMEA head of transaction banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for the past three years. She will be based in London and report to John Owen, chief executive, International Banking, at RBS, who said: “I am delighted to welcome Carole […]
UK Treasury officials and senior bank representatives showed diverging views over the future of retail banking at an event hosted by Experian in London yesterday, revealing differences of opinion about how best to reform the sector.
As the first deadline for implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area approaches in February 2014, you could be forgiven for thinking that it is pretty much all over – or at least will be by October 2016, when the second deadline arrives. Don’t count on it, cautions Ruth Wandhöfer, global head, regulatory & market strategy, Citi Transaction Services.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed former FSA supervisor Jon Pain as head of its conduct and regulatory affairs division, reporting directly to chief executive Stephen Hester.
Mark Buitenhek, global head of payments and cash management at ING, describes how simplification, SEPA, security and service are the principal issues facing transaction banks, along with regulation.
Standard Chartered has enlisted Clearstream and Euroclear to make more efficient use of collateral, as tough new financial regulations drive investor fears of an impending collateral shortfall.
Maurice Cleaves, Barclays, talks to Banking Technology editor David Bannister about the themes that emerged at the International Payments Summit 2013 in London.
Lloyds Banking Group says it is well advanced in plans for the separation of branches that it had hoped to sell to Co-op Bank in compliance with a European Commission ruling following the state aid it was given by the UK government.
BNP Paribas Securities Services and Swift are collaborating to enhance the bank’s collateral protection solutions for corporate, buy-side and sell-side clients. The bank has set up “Margin Project”, planning to integrate Swift’s standardised tri-party collateral messages to ensure full compliance with the upcoming regulatory requirements on OTC transaction, mitigation of counterparty risk, asset safety and […]
UBS has appointed Oliver Bussmann as group chief information officer, replacing Michele Trogni, who is retiring after 25 years at the bank, the last four of which she spend as head of group technology. Bussman will take up the post at the beginning of June.
The emergence of alternative payments providers such as PayPal and the growth of mobile payments systems such as M-Pesa should be seen as a major opportunity for banks, not a threat, according to Ron van Wezel, global head of emerging payment streams at Deutsche Bank.
As tough new rules requiring the collateralisation of OTC derivatives take hold in Europe and the US, Citi has retooled its OpenInvestor investment services to include segregated collateral custody accounts – a move the bank says will help mitigate counterparty risk and improve collateral efficiency.
Bank of America has launched a new ATM service that will allow users to have a video conversation with a human teller at the machine.
Technology company NCR has introduced contactless ATMs in Poland that allow customers to withdraw cash without inserting a card, through a joint project with MasterCard and ING Bank Slaski.
Dutch bank ING has appointed Ron van Kemenade as its new CIO. Van Kemenade has 20 years of experience in the financial services and online sectors. Previously CIO of ING in the Netherlands, the promotion will see him CIO for the entire ING Bank. Van Kemenade joined ING in 2003 as Internet manager at Postbank […]
Standard Chartered has appointed Peter Burnet as its regional head of corporate finance for northeast Asia. In his new role, Burnett will cover project and export finance, mergers and acquisitions advisory, structured trade finance, financing solutions and equity capital markets.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has launched a service aimed at helping smaller banks to cope with Dodd-Frank rules for US cross-border trades.
Barclays has appointed Shaygan Kheradpir to the new role of chief operations and technology officer.He will join the executive committee of Barclays and report directly to group chief executive Antony Jenkins.
Bank of America has introduced a new credit card that rewards customers with up to £100 annually for responsibly managing their monthly credit card payments.
Spanish bank Banco Santander has signed a deal with iZettle, a fledgling Swedish payments specialist that focuses on ‘social’ payments. The two companies plan to distribute mini chip-card readers to customers, so that they can accept card payments with smartphones and tablets.
Barclays has appointed Nicki Thomson as head of business services for corporate banking. In her new role, Thomson will lead a team of relationship directors tasked with providing lending and banking support to the business services sector.
Banks may have a poor reputation with the public, but the majority of people in the UK would be more likely to adopt mobile payment services if they are provided by a bank.
Germany’s Commerzbank has adopted a visual transaction signing tool from British security firm Cronto for its online banking customers, designed to protect against Trojan malware.
HSBC and Barclays have begun trading Singapore-listed stocks on the London Stock Exchange, using the LSE’s newly-created international board.
