Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers will access to Android Pay, following Google’s announcement today that it is launching its mobile payments service in the UK.

UniCredit and Anthemis Group to launch a new joint investment venture. UniCredit EVO (equity venture opportunities) will be a dedicated initiative focused exclusively on identifying and investing in best-in-class financial technology startups. With an initial capital commitment of €200 million from UniCredit, the initiative will target mid stage startups and follow-on investments in more mature and established FinTech businesses, as well as early stage digitally native financial services startups working on more pioneering solutions.

This week’s closing date for the ESMA consultation, which sets out amongst other things a non-exhaustive list of transaction reporting examples as Level 3 guidance, is a keen reminder of just how much there is to be done for MiFID II. This hefty document, published in December last year, is a crucial step that will allow the implementation to pick up some pace over the coming months.

Chartis Research has recognised Wolters Kluwer  a Category Leader for the financial services industry in its FinTech Quadrant™ on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 9 Technology Solutions.

Hailed by legislators as the new framework to close loopholes, MiFID II will see OTC trading face new restrictions, most importantly in the form of the Systematic Internaliser (SI) and the new trading obligations. As the fog slowly lifts, it’s becoming apparent that these new restrictions could impact market structure in surprising ways. A more detailed analysis shows that ETFs, ADRs and other similar financial instruments will face comparable requirements to equity shares.

 Broadridge enhanced its Managed Data Service offering with the addition of several professionals with extensive experience in data management software.

The introduction of new, polymer currency this year means businesses will face the biggest upheaval in UK currency since the introduction of the pound coin in 1983, says Cummins Allison, the leading innovator and provider of coin and currency processing solutions. The introduction of the new five pound notes in September, followed by new pound coins and ten pound notes in 2017, means the money counting machines that many businesses rely on to accurately process cash must be replaced or updated.

 NiCE IT Management Solutions attained a Gold Datacenter and a Gold Application Development competency, demonstrating a "best-in-class" ability and commitment to meet Microsoft Corp. customers' evolving needs in today's dynamic business environment and distinguishing itself within the top 1 percent of Microsoft's partner ecosystem.

On May 19, Prague will host Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Prague. The event will bring together blockchain developers and those who apply the technology in practice: financiers, bankers and businessmen.

The event will consist of a conference, divided into two streams, and an exhibition of IT developments in the field of Blockchain.

The participants will talk about the practical application of Blockchain technology and its legislative regulation in Europe. Developers of payment services and gadgets will deliver their reports.

MUFG Union Bank (the Bank) has launched IPA Port, a new online platform that offers fully integrated issuing and paying agent services (IPA) for issuers of USD commercial paper and certificates of deposit. This easy to navigate platform delivers seamless processing for issuance, interest, and maturity payment activities using real-time data and transaction monitoring and reporting through a single online source.