Asia


Axis Bank pilots India’s first RuPay EMV contactless smart card

Axis Bank has partnered with OT (Oberthur Technologies) to pilot the “first” open loop EMV contactless smart cards to be used in public transportation in Bengaluru, India. OT, a provider of security software products and services, says the cards allow people to tap and pay instead of buying a ticket each time they use transportation […]

Shubham Housing Finance opts for Nucleus’ FinnOne lending platform in the cloud

India-based Shubham Housing Development Finance Company has implemented Nucleus Software’s FinnOne Neo, a loan lifecycle management solution in the cloud. Nucleus says Shubham is one of the first dedicated housing finance companies in India to set up their lending platform on cloud infrastructure. Ajay Oak, chief operating officer of Shubham, says Nucleus was chosen “because […]

ICICI and Axis first Indian banks to join Swift payments initiative

ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are the first Indian banks to sign up for Swift’s global payments innovation initiative. Swift says both of them will be joining forces with more than 70 other banks globally. The initiative aims to “enhance” cross-border payments by using its messaging platform. In its first phase, the initiative will focus […]

Mainstream fintech in India: a bird’s eye view

Soumik Roy, Banking Technology’s editorial contributor based in India, explores India’s digital banking landscape, examines innovative players like DBS digibank, and ponders what’s next for the nation’s fast-paced fintech sector. Electronic banking and payments are rapidly picking up pace in India; citizens love the convenience, the government hopes it will drive transparency and reduce the […]

Standard Chartered bringing video banking to Asia, Africa and Middle East

Standard Chartered Bank is bringing its video banking service to Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the “biggest roll-out of its kind by any international bank”. The bank says more than five million clients in nine markets across the continents will get access. The service is already live in Malaysia and Singapore, and will launch […]

Yes Bank says yes to Gemalto’s mobile payments for UPI

Yes Bank has deployed Gemalto’s SafeNet Network HSM to secure mobile payment transactions for its customers under India’s recently implemented Unified Payments Interface (UPI). UPI was launched in April by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and will go live by the end of this month with 15 participating banks. It offers instant, online […]

Infosys quarterly profit dips

Financial systems vendor Infosys has reported a fall in profit for Q1 2016 due to slower than expected project ramp-ups on deals it had won in previous quarters. For the quarter ended 30 June 2016, net profit was $511 million – a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline of 4.1%, but a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 7.4%. Operating […]

India’s Unified Payments Interface gets more banks onboard

Unified Payments Interface (UPI), launched in April by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), will go live by the end of this month with 15 participating banks. UPI offers instant, online bank payments, and is seen as a major change to the Indian financial sector. It enables banks to provide real-time payments through QR […]

Reserve Bank of India to tackle fintech regulations

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put together an inter-regulatory working group (WG) to study the entire gamut of regulatory issues relating to fintech and digital banking in India. The move is designed to help facilitate their development and is the latest in a long list of technological advances in the country. Aside from […]

Standard Chartered to invest $3bn in strengthening ops; not threatened by fintech firms

Standard Chartered says it plans to invest $3 billion in strengthening it technology, retail and private banking and wealth management operations. As part of this, $30 million will be invested over the next three years in Scope International, the bank’s global shared services centre in Malaysia. Scope International’s CEO Matthew Norris says that the subsidiary […]

World first as blockchain used in Myanmar microfinance space

Japan-based software development firm Infoteria says it has “successfully” used blockchain for microfinance transactions in Myanmar – the “first time in the world”. The test was carried out on the computer system of Yangon-based BC Finance, Myanmar’s largest microfinance company. Infoteria says the data in question comprises spreadsheet software rather than specialty systems; and transactions […]

Rubik expands in Asia with Bank Alfalah

Pakistan’s Bank Alfalah will implement Australia-based Rubik Financial’s collections platform, CWX. Rubik is joining forces with long-time banking partner Temenos on the project to integrate CWX with Temenos’ core banking system T24. Iain Dunstan, Rubik’s CEO, says CWX will enable its clients to “better evaluate, manage and review their collections strategy, as well as greater […]

Maybank live with One Treasury in India; launches mobile app in Cambodia

Maybank Indonesia has gone live with Intellect’s integrated treasury management system, One Treasury, for its Indian operations. Intellect says the solution has enabled the overseas branch to “eliminate dependence on intensive manual operations”. The firm says the deployment, user acceptance testing (UAT) and data migration were completed in seven months. Intellect says One Treasury is […]

Axis Bank first in India to launch innovation lab, Thought Factory

India’s third largest private sector bank, Axis Bank, has launched a new innovation lab, becoming the first domestic bank to do so in India. Dubbed “Thought Factory”, the lab is aimed at accelerating the development of innovative technology solutions for the banking sector and is expected to work closely with the start-up community. Thought Factory […]

Fujitsu builds accounting system for Central Bank of Myanmar

Fujitsu has built an accounting system that complies with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the Central Bank of Myanmar. The Japanese firm says it has systemised journal entry, including functions for automatically generating accounting entries, and all sorts of forms. These were previously done manually by bank employees. This accounting system was built by […]

State Bank of India merges with associate banks

India’s government has given the green light to the State Bank of India (SBI) to merge with its five associate banks. SBI is already among the largest an India and a sizeable international player, with the total assets of $400 billion and a network of 16,500+ branches (including over 190 international locations across 36 countries). […]

Indopay and ACI Worldwide team up for international e-commerce platform

PT Indopay Merchant Services, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s banking solutions provider PT Abhimata Persada, has teamed up with ACI Worldwide for the latter’s UP eCommerce Payments solution. Indopay is keen to grow its share of the domestic market and also expand across Asia – and ACI’s platform will underpin the strategy. The Indonesian eCommerce marketplace […]

Earthport gains foothold in Sri Lanka via Commercial Bank of Ceylon

Earthport, a cross-border payments service provider, has inked a deal with Commercial Bank of Ceylon to provide local payment capability into Sri Lanka. The deal is part of Earthport’s Asian expansion strategy, with similar money transfer partnerships already secured in Pakistan and India. Sajeev Viswanathan, president, global strategy at Earthport, says the tie-up with Commercial […]

Torstone’s Inferno goes live in Myanmar’s securities market

Torstone Technology says an unnamed Myanmar-based broker has started using Inferno, its post-trade securities and derivatives processing system. Inferno will process the broker’s post-trade flow of its equities execution business. The system covers the “whole” trade life-cycle from trade capture through to settlement, accounting and reconciliation. Brian Collings, CEO of Torstone Technology, says Asia is […]

Licence rejection sees PayPal quit Turkey

PayPal is suspending business in Turkey from 6 June as it has failed to get a new licence for its services. The US company says the decision will affect “tens of thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of consumers”. PayPal did issue two separate statements to TechCrunch. The first was very similar to the […]

CIMB Bank and MasterCard launch corporate cards in Malaysia

CIMB Bank, in partnership with MasterCard, has launched its Corporate Card Solutions in Malaysia, a new addition to its suite of cash management products. The solutions include the corporate card and purchasing card which offer automated processes and real-time reporting; and a new virtual card solution for supply chain requirements. Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz, […]

Reserve Bank of India pushes for ATM revamp

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans an overhaul of the country’s ATMs to enable the processing of EMV chip and PIN cards by 2017. The RBI says while India’s POS infrastructure accepts and processes EMV chip and PIN cards, the ATM infrastructure, “on the whole”, continues to process card transactions based on data from […]

HSBC India halves branch network

HSBC India is closing 24 branches across the country due to the rise in digital banking. Following a “strategic review” of its retail banking and wealth management business in India, it says it will move from 50 branches across 29 cities to 26 branches across 14 cities. HSBC India says: “This change reflects changes in […]

VPBank revamps omnichannel banking with SAP; plans new digital bank

Vietnam’s mid-tier banking player, Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank), has implemented a new digital solution, SAP’s Omnichannel Digital Platform. Omnichannel Digital Platform stems from the Sybase 360 product that came SAP’s way with the acquisition of Sybase in 2010. The new solution was deployed in one year at VPBank, with online and mobile components for retail […]

Philippines credit union groups sign for Temenos’ software

Two Philippines-based credit union networks, National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and Philippine Federation of Credit Cooperatives (PFCCO) will build a common banking and payments platform based on Temenos’ software. The new platform will underpin the service known as the ACCU Payment Platform (APP). ACCU stands for “Asian Confederation of Credit Unions” – both NATCCO and […]

IDBI Capital goes live with new trading platform, TCS Bancs

IDBI Capital, a subsidiary of India-based IDBI Bank, has gone live on a new securities trading and processing system, Bancs. The system is supplied by TCS Financial Solutions. Bancs supports online brokerage operations at IDBI Capital. It provides front-to-back office functionality and replaced IDBI Capital’s multiple trading and trade processing platforms. According to TCS, IDBI […]

Vietnam’s TienPhongBank stops attempted fraud through Swift system

Vietnam’s TienPhongBank (TPBank) says it has stopped an attempted wire fraud that involved the use of “fraudulent” Swift messages. The bank said in a statement late on Sunday (15 May), in response to inquiries from Reuters, that in Q4 2015 it “identified suspicious requests through fraudulent” Swift messages to transfer more than €1 million in […]

BPCE implements new core banking system in Vietnam, Sopra Banking Amplitude

Vietnam-based subsidiary of France’s major financial group, BPCE, is implementing a new core banking system, Sopra Banking Amplitude. The new solution will cover front-to-back office operations of the bank, including digital banking functionality. The system is supplied by Sopra Banking Software. The project follows the reorganisation of BPCE’s operations in Vietnam, with the business moved […]

Swift quick to dismiss Bangladesh’s allegations over cyber fraud scandal

Swift has rejected the allegations made by Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials to Reuters about the cyber fraud scandal in February. A few months ago, hackers stole more than $100 million from the country’s foreign currency reserves. In the ensuing furore, the head of Bangladesh’s central bank, Atiur Rahman, resigned; […]

IDBI Bank in major tech upgrade and business process re-engineering

IDBI Bank (formerly Industrial Development Bank of India), a state-owned bank in India, is going through a major core banking platform refresh. The bank is currently running on an old version of Infosys’ Finacle, version 7.x. Furthermore, the system was deployed in separate installations for domestic operations (retail and corporate), commercial lending (corporate finance), Dubai […]

DTCC teams with Korea Exchange for trade repository solution

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and the Korea Exchange (KRX), the securities exchange operator in South Korea, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to co-operate with each other on a trade repository solution in South Korea. Under this deal, both organisations will explore linking DTCC’s global trade repository (GTR) solution directly to […]

IBM Watson to bring cognitive computing to South Korean banking

IBM and SK Holdings C&C, a South Korean IT services company, are planning to bring IBM’s Watson cognitive technology language services to South Korean banking. The alliance, which includes training Watson to understand Korean, is designed to “dramatically accelerate” the adoption of cognitive computing throughout the region, giving South Korea-based developers a set of localised […]

Indian Bank in search of new BPM and middleware systems

Chennai-based Indian Bank has issued expressions of interest (EOI) for a new business process management (BPM) system and new middleware. The EOI for middleware closed on 5th May, whilst the closing date for BPM submissions is 14th May 2016. The bank will then proceed to the request for proposal (RFP) stages for both solutions. Indian […]

Punjab National Bank to modernise enterprise data warehouse

Punjab National Bank (PNB), one of India’s “big four” banking groups, is looking to renovate its data management set-up. It issued an RFP “to revamp existing functionality” either by enhancing its current enterprise data warehouse (EDW) or to deploy a new one. The RFP was issued late last year, for an end-to-end solution for EDW […]

Tokai Tokyo Securities goes live with Fidessa’s trading platform

Tokai Tokyo Securities (Asia) has gone live in Hong Kong with Fidessa’s trading platform as a fully outsourced service. Nishida Tadahiko, director and president of Tokai Tokyo Securities (Asia), says: “We have been using the Fidessa system for years in Japan [where the parent company, Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings, is located], with full confidence in […]

Nucleus Software’s net profit and revenue fall in FY 2016

Nucleus Software’s net profit after tax decreased in the financial year (FY 2016), from INR 647 million ($9.7 million) in the previous year to INR 325 million ($4.8 million). For the period ending 31 March 2016, revenue dipped from INR 3.48 billion ($52.2 million) compared to INR 3.53 billion ($53.03 million) in FY 2015. Vishnu […]

Citigroup to launch voice recognition tech in Asia

Citigroup is planning to launch voice recognition technology to its retail customers, as part of its drive to digital banking. It says it will be the first bank in Asia to do this and is targeting one million Asian users in a year, according to Anand Selvakesari, Citi’s Asia Pacific head of consumer banking. Singapore […]

Intellect still losing money in FY 2015-16, but revenue rises

Intellect Design Arena is still not making a profit and has reported a loss before tax of INR 258.9 million ($3.9 million) for the full year (FY) 2015-16. This is an improvement on last year, when it reported a loss before tax of INR 812.3 million ($12.2 million) for the period ending 31 March 2015. […]

Sanasa Development Bank implements new loan origination system

Sanasa Development Bank in Sri Lanka is automating its front-office lending software. The bank is going to implement a new end-to-end platform for loan origination, mobile loan origination and collections. The bank issued a request for proposal (RFP) at the end of last year to find the new system and the supplier. The bidding process […]

Federal Bank in treasury management software overhaul, looks to replace Intellect

Federal Bank in India is looking to replace its legacy treasury system, supplied by Intellect Design Arena. It issued a request for proposal (RFP) for procurement and migration of treasury management. The bank currently runs its treasury operations from its Mumbai office, and is active in domestic, FX and derivative sectors. Since 2009, these have […]