Banking


Standard Chartered focuses IT on retail and risk as Winter’s axe falls

Standard Chartered is to invest $3 billion in “strategic opportunities” and its technology infrastructure as part of a wholesale reorganisation of the bank in the wake of a $139 million third-quarter loss. The restructuring will see 15,000 jobs – 17% of its workforce – go over the next three years.

Deutsche axes 15,000 in technology and ops overhaul

Deutsche Bank is to shed 9,000 full-time staff and 6,000 external contractor jobs in its global technology and operations infrastructure as it sets out to “modernise its outdated and fragmented IT architecture” and improve control systems.

Cashfac adds analytics capabilities for corporates and banks

Cashfac Technologies, a specialist market leader in bank-to-corporate cash management solutions has launched Cashfac Analytics, a real-time data analysis and reporting module that enables banks and corporates to better understand their cash movements.

UK banking jobs move out of London

Banks in the UK are increasingly shifting jobs away from London, with the result that while the overall number of banking jobs fell 0.5% between 2013-14, 77 local authorities in the UK saw the number of banking jobs grow faster than in London.

The instant catalyst

Immediate payments are acting as a catalyst for banks to add value and develop holistic payment solutions. In this extract from World Payments Report 2015, the impact of immediate payments on banks’ offerings is examined

Chips off the old blockchain

The distributed ledger is one of the hottest topics in financial services. Born out of the crypto-currency bitcoin, the blockchain concept has gone mainstream and the first area to feel the impact is likely to be payments.

Deutsche creates FX index based on Autbahn data

Deutsche Bank’s Research unit is launching a new set of proprietary foreign exchange positioning indices based on data from its Autobahn FX trading platform. Called Corax – Categorised ORderflow from Autobahn FX – the indices will be published every Wednesday in the Corax Positioning Report.

Goldmans, JPM and Morgan Stanley plan reference data utility

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are building a reference data utility with SmartStream, which they say will provide data normalisation and validation for all asset classes. The project aims to reduce costs for consumers of data in capital markets by economies of scale.

Fintech for corporates: partnering for success

With global investment into the fintech arena growing at an astonishing rate, it is only a matter of time before the corporate sector begins to feel its true force. Fred DiCocco, head of market management, BNY Mellon Treasury Services, discusses how banks are adapting. Fintech is triggering a monumental shift in the payments space, with […]

Top-tier banks rally round R3 distributed ledger project

Nine major global investment banks have formed a partnership to explore the potential of distributed ledger technology in financial markets. The project, led by financial technology company R3, aims to create early standards for the emerging technology that will make it easier and more efficient as it grows.

Reshaping the future of corporate banking

Pascal Augé, head of global transaction and payment services, Société Générale speaks to Daily News at Sibos about the growing importance of transaction banking for corporate customers

ISO 20022: we’ve reached the crossroads and need to act

Last year, the ISO 20022 standard celebrated its 10th birthday, and consequently it may seem a bit odd to say that after more than a decade since its inception, the financial community really should start taking assertive action. Since 2004, the ISO 20022 standard has, thankfully, witnessed substantial adoption but it has been what could be termed an “uncontrolled adoption”. So why is action so critical now?

Barclays opens startup accelerator programme in London

Barclays and startup accelerator company Techstars have opened the application process for the third cohort of their Accelerator programme in London, which will give ten businesses a chance to “shape the future” of financial services, the bank has said.

GMEX signs Bank of America, prepares for launch

International derivatives market GMEX is due to go live on Friday after more than two years of development. Created by co-founders Hirander Misra and Vj Angelo, the new exchange has just signed Bank of America Merrill Lynch and will start by offering futures contracts backed by German derivatives giant Eurex.

Reinforcing supply chain links

Despite the squeeze on capital created by the increased global regulatory burden, treasurers must still provide ample working capital for daily commercial flows, with minimum damage to their balance sheets. At the same time, the continuing rise in cross-border trade – frequently with relatively unknown and distant markets – increases exposure to geo-political and environmental risks. In such an environment, and particularly in light of post-crisis sensibilities, liquidity is more of a concern than ever, both to lubricate the daily machinations of trade and to act as a buffer for potential financial or supply-related shocks

Ageing reconciliation systems cost firms dear

Two-thirds of top-tier financial institutions have established reconciliation centres of excellence following a recent wave of consolidation of the reconciliation function – but more than half of firms say their reconciliation technology platform was at least five years old, and a quarter of respondents use platforms more than nine years old.

Commerzbank continues card processing contract with Worldline

Commerzbank has extended its existing credit card processing contract with Worldline for a further seven years. Since 1998 Wordline has provided the bank with an end-to-end processing service that includes complete processing of all the bank’s issued Visa and MasterCard cards.

The new payments landscape: we need a new mind-set

Popmoney, Dwolla, Square Cash, Funding Circle, Venmo, Nutmeg, Transferwise, Stellar, Kabbage … this is not a list of the latest box office hits or some weird shopping list, but a handful of the emergent FinTech companies that are sprouting up everywhere like wild mushrooms. These companies are, to a certain extent, beginning to reshape and […]

HSBC sees boom in use of mobile among corporate customers

Corporate users are increasingly adopting mobile payments, according to figures from HSBC, which expects usage of its HSBCnet Mobile corporate banking platform to double over the next 18 months, reaching $100 billion in payments.

ISDA rallies support for derivatives data reporting rethink

Eleven financial associations have published their support for a new set of derivatives reporting standards developed by ISDA, which is calling for greater cross-border harmonisation of data standards – even if that means some national laws will have to be amended.

Citi launches futures trading on Velocity

Citi has launched Futures trading functionality on Citi Velocity, the trading platform which provides clients with access to Citi’s research and liquidity across FX, Rates and Credit. Launched in January 2012, Velocity 2.0 is continuously upgraded to include new features and asset classes. It provides clients with an integrated trading suite enabling fastest possible execution […]

Permanent TSB and Italian bank adopt Wolters Kluwer reporting tools

Irish bank Permanent TSB has chosen a regulatory reporting platform from Wolters Kluwer as part of its measures to cope with Basel III. Belgian bank Banca Monte Paschi Belgio, the Belgian branch of Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, has also chosen the same OneSumX regulatory reporting solution.

Deutsche Bank plans three new labs as part of €1 billion digital investment

Deutsche Bank plans to open three innovation labs as part of its €1 billion investment in digital initiatives over the next five years. The bank has partnered with different technology partners for each of the Deutsche Bank Labs and will be working Microsoft in Berlin, HCL in London and IBM in Silicon Valley.

The Irresistible Rise of Real-Time Payments

Whatever label you use, instant, immediate, faster or real-time payments have moved to the top of the agenda at every payments-related event so far this year and are sure to be high on the agenda when Swift’s annual Sibos event lands in Singapore in October. Nearing the halfway mark for 2015, here’s a roundup of the stories so far …

May 2015: Retail Revolution

Revolution Retail How consumer behaviour is changing banking The next frontier for digital banking As real-time payment systems proliferate around the world, attention is turning to the issues of cross-border payments Destined to fail IT services suppliers need to understand the peculiarities of bank procurement processes. A former insider spills the beans Conference reports News and views […]

Industry bodies look to harmonise ISO 20022 real-time payment implementation

Global interoperability of real-time payments systems will require harmonisation of market practices and standards. A group of international clearing houses, banks, vendors, payments associations and other parties have proposed setting up an activity to look at how to deliver this under the aegis of the International Standards Organisation – and set an ambitious target of collating an initial variant of ISO 20022 usage guidelines for real-time payments before the summer.

ABN Amro extends Temenos relationship to private banking

ABN Amro plans to implement the Temenos WealthSuite integrated wealth management platform for its international private banking business. It will also be able to extend the use of the T24 core system to its private banking and diamond & jewellery business, giving it one platform with one operating model across multiple business lines.

April 2015: Rewiring the Markets

Rewiring the Markets Is regulation making capital markets more efficient? Don’t bet on it … Procurement Policies Learn to love the annual budgeting process Supplier management Balancing cost and manageability in supplier sourcing Learning from experience What to look for as real-time payment systems proliferate unstoppable evolution How changes in payments will make some banks […]

Santander launches ISA mobile app

Santander has launched the UK’s first standalone ISA mobile app , which was designed and developed with mobile specialist company Monitise.