Fintech funding round-up: 19 October 2016
Want to save some time but be in the know of the latest funding initiatives in the fintech space? Then read on.
FinTech
Alicia key to Tieto’s AI leadership team
Tieto says it is the first Nordic company to appoint artificial intelligence (AI) to the leadership team of a new data-driven businesses unit. The AI, called Alicia T, will help the management team to become “truly data-driven”; assist with unspecified “innovative ways”; and possess the capacity to cast votes. Ari Järvelä, head of data-driven businesses […]
Symphony unveils open developer platform and access to API
Symphony Software Foundation has launched an open developer platform. The foundation hosts open source development, bots, apps and integrations on the Symphony platform. It will also provide community contributors and foundation member organisations with access to the Symphony API, as well as development tools. Gabriele Columbro, executive director, Symphony Software Foundation, says open source “fuelled […]
Interview: Kyle Ferguson, Fraedom’s CEO – on the road to Fraedom
Payments technology and expense management specialist Fraedom is on the journey to tap into the $110 trillion B2B market opportunity that remains untapped today. “If the technology is both powerful and intuitive, people will use it,” states Kyle Ferguson, Fraedom’s CEO.
Configo launches site to aggregate banks’ API portals
Fintech start-up Configo has launched a project to aggregate the API portals launched by financial players around the world. It is not commercial driven but is “just a small project to put everything in order”, says Yosi Dahan, co-founder and CEO of Configo.
Citi’s treasury and trade goes digital with eSubmit
Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions has launched electronic document submission (eSubmit) for account opening. The service is available in “select” Western European countries and allows clients to complete the account opening process by returning electronic versions of documentation rather than paper. Sabine McIntosh, global head of account services product, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions, says […]
Accenture acquires Allen International for digital banking push
Accenture has acquired London-based design consultancy Allen International as it looks to boost its digital banking ambitions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Accenture says Allen International has worked with more than 350 banks around the world including nine of the top 20 banks. Customers include Emirates NBD, Bank of Ireland, CIBC, Banorte, […]
Trouble in the R3 paradise?
More than 60 of financial institutions around the world (including many top-tier banks) are involved in the R3 consortium, with considerable financial and resource commitments. The international consortium promises to build a common blockchain-based platform – called Corda – but the end-result is still a number of years away.
BNP Paribas picks Fidessa’s derivatives trading platform
BNP Paribas has selected Fidessa’s derivatives trading platform to underpin the bank’s futures and options agency trading business. The platform will support the workflow requirements across Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America. It will also provide BNP Paribas with a suite of specialised derivatives algorithms, including benchmark algos and advanced synthetic order types to normalise trading […]
CBA extends contract with Misys for corporate banking software in the cloud
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has signed for a “cloud-ready single platform” from its long-standing software supplier Misys to support its corporate banking operations outside Australia.
New go-lives for D+H Corporation’s PhoenixEFE core banking system
Provident Credit Union in California and MountainOne Bank in Massachusetts have gone live with new core banking software – PhoenixEFE from D+H Corporation.
Blockchain.info gets hacked
Bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain.info has been the victim of a hack attack on its DNS servers. It experienced an outage for several hours while under attack, and Peter Smith, the CEO and co-founder, says its internal systems “alerted our infrastructure team who immediately began to assess the attack” but it “became clear the attackers gained […]
Nod and pay a virtual reality with Alibaba
Alibaba has revealed a new payment service that lets virtual reality (VR) shoppers pay just by nodding their heads. Called VR Pay, it’s been developed by Ant Financial’s (Alibaba’s financial arm) incubator F Lab, and it’s another innovation in the lively and overcrowded payments arena. With the tech, shoppers (bovine at the best of times) […]
New clients and live sites for software testing firm Validata
Validata, a specialist in enterprise software testing and release automation and Temenos’ partner, has announced a number of client wins and go-lives.
Top fintech stories this week – 14 October 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! MasterCard to buy French payment firm Stet? EXCLUSIVE. Payments processor could be a target. Brooks Macdonald puts IT revamp with Third Financial on hold EXCLUSIVE. All freeze for wealth management firm. Banks behaving badly in Singapore Monetary Authority […]
Payments round-up: 13 October 2016
Make it lean, keep them keen. A round-up of events in the payments space. Nordea is leaving the Swipp collaboration and partnering with Danske Bank’s MobilePay platform in Denmark and Norway. The shared payment solution’s plan is a reaction to “new international players” who “regularly appear in the market”. Danske says it will begin converting […]
White Paper | Driving High Frequency Trading and Compliance With In-Memory Computing
This paper looks at the current state of high-frequency trading – why it’s popular and what types of strategies and technologies are being used. It then explores how in-memory computing can meet the technological challenges and increase trading profits. As competition intensifies in the field of high-frequency trading, financial services firms need a new level […]
ISITC Europe and Oasis to define technical standards for blockchain
The International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication (ISITC) Europe and the Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (Oasis) are to jointly define technical standards for blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT).
Fintech funding round-up: 13 October 2016
Fintech funding without the tub-thumping. A realistic and brief round-up of key events. ComplyAdvantage, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help firms manage compliance, has revealed an $8.2 million Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital. The funding will allow the regtech firm to do the usual stuff – growth and […]
SIBOS Interview: Payments trends in EMEA
Alain Raes, CEO EMEA and Asia Pacific, Swift, discusses the main payment trends in Europe, including real-time and the Global Payments Innovation Initiative.
SIBOS Interview: The securities services industry
Bruno Prigent, Head of Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) and Mathieu Maurier, Global Head of Sales and Relationship Management discuss the global securities industry and SGSS’s plans for the future.
SIBOS Interview: Gerry Gaetz, Payments Canada
SIBOS Interview: Gerry Gaetz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Payments Canada discusses the modernisation of Canada’s payments system with Tanya Andreasyan, editor of Banking Technology.
Infosys blockchain powers ICICI Bank and Emirates NBD trade finance ops
ICICI Bank and Emirates NBD say they have successfully executed the “first” banking transactions using blockchain in international trade finance in India and the UAE respectively. The development saw the exchange and authentication of remittance transaction messages as well as original international trade documents related to purchase orders, invoices, shipping and insurance, among others, electronically […]
SIBOS Interview: Real-time payments in the eurozone
Pascal Augé, Head of Global Transaction and Payment Services, Societe Generale Global Transaction Services discusses the prospects for real-time payments in the eurozone.
Blockchain in investment banking: simplification of systems and processes
Blockchain has the potential to greatly benefit the entire capital markets ecosystem. But the industry should learn to walk – when it comes this emerging technology – before it can run.
Symantec reveals more hack attempts on Swift network
Symantec has found evidence that the Odinaff group has mounted attacks on Swift users, using malware to hide customers’ own records of Swift messages relating to fraudulent transactions. The tools used are designed to monitor customers’ local message logs for keywords relating to certain transactions. They will then move these logs out of customers’ local […]
Diversity in fintech: finding the next Ada Lovelace
Niamh de Niese, a new director and head of BNY Mellon’s EMEA Innovation Centre, shares her views on diversity in fintech, Ada Lovelace (often regarded as the world’s first computer programmer) and how to encourage more women into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions.
MasterCard and SolarisBank partner for digital banking push
MasterCard and Berlin-based SolarisBank have teamed up to bolster their digital banking ambitions. SolarisBank has got principal membership status, and will now operate at MasterCard’s “highest issuer level”, with access to its entire product portfolio. Dr. Andreas Spengel, vice-president at MasterCard, says it is “excited by the outlook of working together with a young, visionary […]
SIBOS Interview: Instant Payments
Alain Vansnick, Head of Payments International Business, TAS Group, explains how banks can get ready for instant payments.
SIBOS Interview: What do we have to consider in correspondent banking moving forward?
Christian Westerhaus, Global Head of Product & Strategy, Institutional Cash Management, Deutsche Bank, talks about the future of correspondent banking.
Mitek solutions now available through Backbase Open Banking Marketplace
Digital banking software vendor Backbase has teamed up with Mitek, a mobile capture and identity verification specialist. Mitek’s OCR and document validation capabilities are now available through the Backbase Open Banking Marketplace.
Payments round-up: 10 October 2016
Wasting your time is a crime. Here’s a round-up of key events in the payments space. Absa has teamed up with South African start-up Walletdoc to let its Absa Rewards customers earn cash rewards each time they use Walletdoc to pay their monthly accounts. Walletdoc works by sending reminders when payments are due, notifying users […]
Sibos 2016: future proofing payments
The global payments industry faces more challenges than ever before – fiercer competition, more regulations, an increasing threat from cybercrime and new demands from customers. Thierry Chilosi, head of markets & initiatives, EMEA at Swift, talks to Daily News at Sibos about the steps market participants can take to future proof their payments infrastructure.
Top fintech stories this week – 7 October 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Deutsche Bank pledges commitment to GTB and digital
“Transaction banking will undergo a change of character,” states the global banking giant.
Fintech funding round-up: 6 October 2016
When time is tight, the reading can be light. A round-up of key events in fintech funding. US-based Payoneer has completed the first closing of a growth equity financing. Proceeds from the $180 million financing will be used to “accelerate global growth”. This year, the firm opened new offices in India, Japan and the Philippines, […]
Finleap and Mohan launch Burnmark
Berlin-based fintech incubator FinLeap has teamed up with fintech analyst Devie Mohan to launch Burnmark, an independent research company focusing on trends in the financial technology industry. Finleap will support Burnmark with network, knowhow and research capabilities. Mohan works closely with traditional banks, consulting firms, innovation teams, start-up accelerators and investors, advising them on fintech […]
SIBOS Interview: How is digitisation and changing expectations driving change?
Erik Zingmark and Peter Hupfeld, Co-Heads of Transaction Banking, Nordea, talk about how a changing world is changing banking.
Thomson Reuters launches new blockchain tech for developers
Thomson Reuters has launched BlockOne ID to let developers build applications in a controlled environment with blockchain. BlockOne ID (for Ethereum) is an experimental user-entitlement framework through which decentralised app (DApp) owners can manage access to their blockchain contracts. Thomson Reuters says it uses traditional methods to authenticate users and provides a mechanism for DApp […]
Swift smart modules seek stronger security
Swift has published a series of eLearning modules as it ramps up its cybersecurity defences in the face of hacking threats. The SwiftSmart modules will help its customers operate their Swift environment “securely and in-line with best practice”. The move is also a “critical part” of its Customer Security Programme launched in May 2016. That […]
