EQ Investors (EQ), the boutique wealth manager led by John Spiers, has announced that Mike Neumann has commenced his role with the company as Head of Investment Management. Neumann will focus on investment strategies for the firm’s EQ Bespoke clients, with responsibility across all areas of solution design, management and client delivery.

Neumann, who has over 25 years of investing experience, joins from Tilney Bestinvest, where he was Director of Investment Management.

One of the great things about industrial logic is that it’s easy to slice it up in so many different ways. This appears to be exactly what is happening with the DB1 LSE merger and the rumoured counterbids from ICE and possibly others. Reuniting Liffe (now owned by ICE) with its original clearing house (LCH, now majority owned by LSE) would be powerful, especially when you throw in the OTC open interest that sits at LCH SwapClear. This is, of course, exactly the same logic driving the Germans who wish to do the same combination but using their derivatives exchange, Eurex, instead.

Tagetik, a visionary leader in global performance management software solutions, announced today that 265 insurance companies and more than 2,300 professionals throughout Europe are using Tagetik’s pre-packaged solution to help them meet the rigorous requirements imposed by the Solvency II Directive, designed to standardise the regulation of EU insurance companies and to reduce the risk of insolvency. The directive’s Pillar 3 (Full Measures) requirements, which govern disclosure and reporting transparency, went into effect on January 1, 2016.

 Ilex International, a leading European Identity and Access Management company, is launching its latest Sign&go Mobility Center to give organisations greater confidence in mobility.

NFC mobile payments continue to grab headlines, but to really drive uptake and ensure full market coverage, combining contactless cards with next-gen mobile banking apps is surely the right way to go for 2016’s challenger banks, says Paul Underwood, managing director, Thames Card Technology.

2016 has started off with a big bang in the product innovation sector with the launch of new technology, gadgets and even robots disrupting the marketplace, But how do you get into a career in this fast-paced, challenging industry – especially as a woman? 

Challenging is one thing, but gaining a firm foothold in the UK banking sector is another, especially as the number of new entrants grows.  From 2013 to mid-2015, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) granted 11 new banking licenses, which included several challenger banks.  And many more license applications have been made and are pending approval over the coming months.

SCORPEO, the financial technology company and market leading service provider for capturing value from corporate actions are today demonstrating their Value Analysis™ service for Pensions Funds and Investment Managers at the PLSA Investment Conference in Edinburgh. SCORPEO are taking part in the Innovation Zone at the conference.

Misys, the leading financial software company, has been named as the National Public Champion for the UK in this year’s European Business Awards.

Almost 160,000 votes were cast by the public to choose the winner for their country. The public voted after watching the video entries posted by companies at www.businessawardseurope.com. Misys won after receiving the highest number of votes for the 32 UK entries.

FICO, the predictive analytics and decision management software company, today announced that Shop Direct, the UK's second-largest pure-play online retailer, has had great success fighting multiple types of credit fraud using FICO technology and FICO analytics. The FICO fraud solution provides Shop Direct with further protection against first-party and third-party credit fraud, including application fraud.