Blogs

Accenture has completed its acquisition of Italian banking technology service provider, SEC Servizi Spa from the Intesa Sanpaolo Group. Accenture now has 80.8% ownership in SEC Servizi and will also be acquiring the remaining interests held by other shareholders. Established in 1972, SEC Servizi is a consortium formed by Italian banks to provide IT services and […]

Julian Saunders, CEO and founder of personal data governance company PORT.im, discusses how alleged breaches of GDPR by Facebook and Twitter may just be the beginning Cast your mind back to early 2018. The world was alive with the sound of GDPR commentary. In the run-up to the May compliance deadline, everything was up for […]

Online banking is fast becoming the norm and brings with it many benefits. However, it is not without risk. How can firms ensure that customers are being best served by these new ways of transacting? Digital banking has many benefits. For customers, they can instantly manage their finances from any location using an ‘always-on’ service. […]

In June, Visa started rejecting one in 10 financial transactions across the U.K. and Europe – a problem lasting 10 hours and affecting 1.7 million cardholders. Even in an IT environment designed to support 24,000 transactions per second, a hardware failure crashed the system. The incident was a wake-up call for an industry reluctant to […]

The world of banking today is like a race car on the grid preparing for the inevitable green light. There is a lot of noise before the ‘go’ signal; from the vehicles revving their engines, pundits in commentary boxes speculating on the race outcome, and spectators cheering on favourites from the grandstands. When the chequered flag drops and the race begins, a plume of dust and smoke is left behind as the vehicles speed off across the track. The winner is yet to be […]

If you have an electronic invoice system that just about meets the needs of the accounts team, but operates in complete isolation from the rest of the company, is that a system that provides much value? It might do — if you’re doing business in the 1990s. Since then, a plethora of electronic invoicing systems […]

Personal identification numbers (PINs) are everywhere. These numeric versions of the password have been at the heart of data security for decades, but time moves on and it is becoming evident that the PIN is no longer fit for purpose. It is too insecure and is leaving consumers exposed to fraud.  Why bin the PIN? […]

Does anyone long for a return to more benign economic times? A time when a rise in the base rate simply led to immediate benefits for savers. Well, get prepared for a continued long wait, as last week’s decision from the Bank of England’s (BofE) signals anything but a move to more conventional times. In […]

In the last few years, we have seen the frequency and severity of third-party cyberattacks against global financial institutions continue to increase. One of the biggest reported attacks against financial organisations occurred in early 2016 when $81 million was taken from accounts at Bangladesh Bank. Unknown hackers used SWIFT credentials of Bangladesh Central Bank employees […]

For years, cybersecurity was considered a “check-the-box” discussion during the merger and acquisition (M&A) process. It was almost always examined to ensure there weren’t any glaring issues or major red flags—but due to limited time resources, or the ability to parse out qualitative responses during M&A from real performance, there wasn’t a great deal of […]

Digital disruption in the banking industry is something that’s gradually been gathering pace in recent years, but it’s about to get much more prevalent. Enter the GAFAMs. Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft – the big five global tech companies that have made their presence known by expanding their customer offering and disrupting multiple industries […]

Don’t be daunted by the overwhelming technological resources of today’s market leaders, says Kevin Deierling, vice president marketing, Mellanox Technologies. Times are changing and that exclusive hyperscale architecture is now within reach of any large enterprise. How to tame the tech titans asked a January 18th Economist headline in Competition in the digital age. A […]

The Payments Service Directive 2 (PSD2) came into full force in January 2018, bringing with it dreams of open banking that will transform the way we move and use money. PSD2 opens up banks’ payments infrastructure and customer data assets to third parties. Expect PSD2 to bring more options and innovations in payments and information […]

Remember Blockbuster? Woolworths? HMV? Comet? These brands – once household names – are now a distant memory. But they do lead us to think about what lessons we can learn from their demise. Ultimately, if businesses do not adapt to new technology, they run the risk of falling behind the times, and eventually, failing. It […]

While the benefits of fintech are being seen at increasing scale for consumers in the US, Europe and China, adoption among corporates is less emphatic. A recent paper from Wharton Business School highlights what many see as an ongoing challenge – the struggle between existing bank partners and new, challenger fintechs for that vital role […]

Payments have come a long way since the days of waiting for a check to clear in seven days, paying for goods is now possible from anywhere at any time, on any device. What’s more, these purchases are no longer exclusively domestic. From the smallest micro-merchant to the largest corporate, trade and therefore transactions are […]

In the third of this three-part article series on the effect of the 871(m), Daniel Carpenter, head of regulation at Meritsoft takes a look at some of the unintended consequences the finance industry may face once the ruling is fully enforced. Speaking at the Vantage Melbourne rise of AI and automation conference last quarter, Telstra’s […]

For the first time ever, eWallets such as PayPal and Alipay are outpacing credit cards as a method of payment for cross-border online shopping. The emerging trend, identified by Pitney Bowes in its 2017 Global Ecommerce Study1, raises concerns for online retailers accepting only credit cards as a payment method.  With 70% of consumers now […]

It would come as no surprise if internet retailer Amazon announced it was taking over the world tomorrow. There seems to be very little that it can’t offer customers, whether it’s conquering Christmas lists, watching boxsets through Prime or managing life admin through the intelligent personal assistant Alexa, almost everyone uses one or more Amazon […]

Data volumes are not just growing, they are exploding. Now measured in zettabytes – which could become yottabytes in the not too distant future – it’s not surprising they are causing more than a headache for today’s organisations. These vast pools of data are also putting traditional database architecture to the test. Nowhere is this […]

I began this three-part series on 871(m) by quoting one of America’s most famed political characters and Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin. In order to round this series off in the same fashion, I’ll turn to another American political figure, this time: Abraham Lincoln. He was once quoted as saying “you cannot escape the responsibility of […]

Having positive cash flow is a must for any business. Get it wrong and you put the existence of the entire organisation in jeopardy. Get it right, however and you open up a wealth of new opportunities for your company from unlocking new business deals to driving incremental revenue streams (more…)This content is restricted to […]

For many years Jeff Bezos’ online shop has had almost every conceivable item in its range.  Now apparently, Amazon wants to expand and offer some kind of current account or bank to its customers. The offering will be aimed at young people and other consumers who do not currently have their own account. However, according […]

In the midst of complex mergers and acquisitions negotiations, deals more often than not face unexpected developments that can cause significant delays. Even the most common hurdles – such as misplaced documentation – can have a significant material impact on a business’ speed-to-market and share valuation. This is a key reason why it is time […]