Israel’s Bank Leumi is gearing up for the launch of its new digital banking subsidiary, Pepper. It is expected to open its virtual doors for business before the end of 2016. The tech is provided by Temenos.
Italy’s largest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, is working with Gemalto to deliver PIN codes to customers via SMS, web and mobile banking app. Gemalto describes the project as “the world’s first comprehensive e-PIN notification service”.
UK-based banking services challenger Ffrees Fiamily Finance has launched a new “digital agency banking solution” – U Account. The account is supported by Wirecard, Global Processing Services (GPS) and payments software vendor Bottomline Technologies.
Soldo, a London-based fintech start-up, is launching its flagship multi-user spending account. Soldo is not a bank, but a prepaid MasterCard. It holds an e-money licence from the UK’s regulator, FCA.
The UK’s regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will focus on “unlocking regulatory reporting” in its second TechSprint event. Over 100 developers and 30 organisations are expected to participate and “experts from the Bank of England will be observing”, says the FCA.
SEB has teamed up with blockchain specialist Ripple to enable SEB customers to make real-time transfers between SEB accounts in Stockholm and New York. This is “the first step” of a larger blockchain-based payments project.
Law firm Addleshaw Goddard (AG) is launching the AG Elevate programme – worth up to £500,000 – to support the UK fintech firms. The application process will open on 17th November 2016 – more established firms as well as start-ups are welcome to take part, AG says.
Wipro has unveiled its Open Banking API Platform as its “expects a large number of banks and financial institutions to adopt open banking initiatives to conform with evolving banking regulations, meet customers’ digital expectations, and stay ahead in an increasingly competitive fintech industry”.
Eight start-ups and scale-ups in wealth management, regtech, artificial intelligence (AI), payments, big data, blockchain and cybersecurity are to take part in SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator 2.0.
Byte Academy has unveiled its first international campus with programmes in fintech, data science and Python full-stack development. The new campus is based in Singapore, supported by Standard Chartered Bank, IBM, Thomson Reuters, Microsoft and the Insead business school.
Kasikornbank (Kbank), one of the largest banks in Thailand, is exploring blockchain with IBM, “to save costs and speed up transactions”, the two companies say. The services will be launched in H1 2017, to certify the letters of guarantee (LCs).
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
There has been a tremendous amount of excitement and discussion about the potential of blockchain technology to transform the financial services industry and beyond. But the only thing that is clear at the moment is that there is still a lot of work to be done to implement wide scale use cases, clear up any regulatory uncertainly or barriers and educate institutions and employees about the technology and its potential.
Amidst tightening regulations, the latest hack of the Bitfinex Bitcoin exchange has highlighted ongoing difficulties for the sector. Bourn Collier, associate, and Oliver Yaros, senior associate at Mayer Brown International LLP, explore. A few years ago media reports in Britain drew attention to the unfortunate plight of James Howells, a Welsh IT worker who had […]
Let’s put the fun in funding by keeping it mercifully brief. A round-up of some key events. KEEN Venture Partners, a new venture capital firm operating from London and Amsterdam, has announced €90 million first close of its inaugural fund. It will use the money to provide early growth capital for tech firms with a […]
BBVA says it is the first financial institution in Spain to launch online onboarding via mobile, which allows anyone to open an account in “just a few minutes”. A customer’s identity is verified through a selfie and a video call. Users can open an account at BBVA through their mobile phone by going to its […]
Citi has unveiled a new feature to let credit card members dispute certain posted charges directly within the Citi mobile app for iPhone in the US. It says it is the only major US credit card issuer to provide this feature on mobile, and the new feature is designed to provide “increased peace of mind” […]
Dysrupt Labs has launched Percypt, the “first” Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) collective forecasting platform. The firm says Percypt is designed to give organisations insight on questions; and by tapping into the combined insight of its teams and networks, it says collective forecasts are 30-80% more accurate. Dysrupt Labs CEO Karl Mattingly says surveys, polls and traditional management […]
How would you respond if someone were to ask you: “What is the purpose of the bank branch?” For decades, the first answer may have been: “To allow customers to conveniently transact with the bank and manage their accounts”. This model has now changed drastically, and banks that still operate as they used to will very quickly yield to more forward-thinking competitors.
If you reduce it, they will come. Swiss ministry officials want to entice fintech firms and boost competition with new, lighter regulations. The nation’s finance ministry says the plan is to remove barriers to market entry and offer more legal certainty for the fintech space. Ministry officials say draft legislation could be sent to Switzerland’s […]
Poland’s Ministry of Digital Affairs and its banking sector have launched a project, “From paper to digital Poland”, to boost the digitalisation of the nation’s public administration. With the project, Poles can use their banking ID and password to log in to the social insurance board, contact public administration offices or a local government’s site […]
Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has launched its Regulatory Laboratory (RegLab) as it looks to boost innovation in the region. As Banking Technology reported in August, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM was looking for public feedback and comments for its proposed RegLab. Richard Teng, chief executive officer, FSRA of ADGM, says it […]
The payments industry went just a bit blockchain bonkers at this year’s Sibos. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) was a hot topic throughout the week. This was quite astounding given there are very few examples of working blockchain or DLT use cases; most of the initiatives under way are proofs of concept.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) wants more access to financial services and for fintech to show a greater understanding of the nation’s ageing population. In its 160-page “FCA Occasional Paper”, published today (1 November), the FCA looks at “barriers to bank accounts”, digital transformation and the growing grey brigade. Christopher Woolard, director of strategy […]
The name may not be catchy but “The Japan Bank Consortium to Centrally Provide Domestic and Cross-border Payments” has officially launched with 42 member banks. As Banking Technology reported in August, SBI Ripple Asia, a joint venture between distributed ledger tech provider Ripple and SBI Holdings, announced that a Japanese consortium of 15 banks in […]
London-based Nimbrix has unveiled its new blockchain platform and the creation of an industry consortium with KPMG and Microsoft. The Nimbrix buy-side platform will use cloud, open API, Software-as-a- Service (SaaS) and blockchain. It will be powered by Microsoft Azure, and Nimbrix says trades can be “executed instantaneously between counterparties, thus reducing the risk of […]
MasterCard has unveiled its own blockchain as it reacts to arch-rival Visa’s partnership with Chain and seeks to use the technology in payments and trade finance. Its version is currently at the testing stage and offers the usual things in this corner of the fintech world. These include smart contracts – scriptable transactions that automate […]
Deutsche Bank is opening its data store to software developers from Germany and abroad as it looks for more digital solutions for its bank clients. Its site, developer.db.com, will from tomorrow (1 November) provide access to the bank’s proprietary development environment, allowing programmers to test their ideas for “digital services of the future”. The bank […]
The US Department of the Treasury has unveiled an “Office of Innovation” as it looks to assert its control on regulations in this fintech space. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), an independent bureau within the Treasury, says it is “making certain that institutions with federal charters have a regulatory framework that […]
No more drowning in tons of paper and receiving eye-watering bills from lawyers – Drooms introduces a brand new virtual data room, Drooms NXG. The work is a result of a two-year development, says Jan Hoffmeister, managing director and co-founder of Drooms, and features self-learning software and automatic translation from core European languages to English. […]
Tullett Prebon Information (TPI), a provider of real-time price information from the global OTC financial and commodity markets, has signed a deal with Brave New Coin (BNC) to distribute its digital currency data. TPI says this is the “first time such a comprehensive view of the entire digital currency landscape has been made available to […]
OCBC has become the first bank in Asia Pacific to let customers send cash through Siri. Users can send money with a voice command via Siri, then use the OCBC Pay Anyone mobile e-payment service. It also offers Apple’s instant messaging service – iMessage. No need to stop texting, payments can be made without leaving […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! HSBC Private Bank live with Avaloq Banking Suite EXCLUSIVE. It’s on in Switzerland and Luxembourg. European Association for Biometrics conference Eyes down for our event review. New challenger bank to launch in UK Hampshire Community Bank wants a […]
Algebra, Asia’s “first Shariah-compliant robo-advisor”, will be launched this December by Malaysia-based Farringdon Group Private Wealth Managers. It will be open to investors from across the globe, with a minimum investment of $200 per month. Funds will follow basic Islamic principles. For example, no stocks may derive income from gambling, alcohol, tobacco, pork products, adult […]
In an age of increasingly high consumer expectations, driven by ever increasing customer choice, the term “customer experience” has become more than a simple buzzword. Used as a key brand differentiator for all types of industries, it has emerged as a crucial tool in driving customer loyalty in the long-term. Irrespective of whether you are […]
A new challenger bank – Hampshire Community Bank – is gearing up for launch in the UK.
Toronto-based payments start-up nanopay has completed its $10 million Series A funding round. With this financing and the MintChip platform, which nanopay recently acquired from The Royal Canadian Mint, it is developing new business partnerships to “expand the global utility and acceptance” of MintChip. Laurence Cooke, CEO and founder of nanopay, says its focus is […]
London-based blockchain firm SETL and Cobalt DL, a private peer-to-peer network, have teamed up to use SETL’s OpenCSD within the Cobalt FX post trade platform. The service is set to launch in 2017, with 15 institutional FX participants “already committed” to the service. Earlier this year, SETL unveiled the OpenCSD platform, its first commercial offering, […]
Bank of America has unveiled its new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to help customers make decisions on their finances. Called Erica, a nod to the name America, it will be available inside the bank’s mobile app in 2017. Customers can do the usual AI stuff – chat via text or voice – and it’s all […]
New retail banking apps are released onto the market daily – from traditional banks entering the app era to new disruptive payments services. What does each one of these apps have in common? The need to perform. When Consorsbank, part of BNP Paribas Germany, launched its retail app, it knew performance mattered. The bank shares how it delivered an app that consumers wanted.
