The European Commission (EC) has published the first in a series of highly anticipated delegated acts, defining some of the crucial details for MiFID II.

Fintech firms understandably spend a great deal of time suggesting that financial institutions should put the customer at the centre of their strategy through technology. Financial institutions are increasingly getting much better at providing a slick technology driven banking experience for their customers. There is, however, an increasing interest from diverse financial institutions in engaging their customers on a different level, inviting them to become part of a community rather like the co-operative and mutual societies of the past.

Compass Plus, an international provider of retail banking and electronic payments software to payment processors and financial institutions, has announced the fifth birthday of TranzAxis, the Open Development Payment Platform. Since its launch into production, TranzAxis has been implemented in a number of countries across the globe, including Antigua, Sweden, Russia and Jordan, and has risen to fulfil the technology requirements of companies such as GPC and Klarna.

Anaplan, the enterprise planning cloud company, launched its Global Compensation for Banking app that provides financial institutions with a scalable and agile bonus planning and modeling platform. This secure, multi-dimensional app enables Reward teams to allocate a business’s total bonus pool across multiple organization levels. With full transparency over compensation models, firms can run “what-if” scenarios, deliver sophisticated bonus deferral calculations down to employee level, and analyze results in real time. 

GMC Software (GMC), a provider of customer communications management, announced the availability of its GMCInspire Mobile Advantage, a solution that makes it possible to create a responsive, interactive and regulatory compliant mobile experience with little reliance upon IT or external support.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the United States, has expanded their commitment to Guidewire Software’s solutions by selecting the complete set of Guidewire Digital Portals™ to complement their investment in Guidewire InsuranceSuite. The company is already in production with ClaimCenter and PolicyCenter.

Bitcoin is still an attractive sphere for investment, despite the fact that financiers and developers switched their attention to the blockchain. In the last year alone, venture capital investments in cryptocurrency start-ups reached a record level.

Verafin announced a new analytic to help U.S. banks and credit unions detect suspicious tax refunds.

Misys, the leading financial software company, today announced it has appointed Mourad Ayachi as European Head of Professional Services and Bob Kubala as Regional Sales Manager for North America for its Investment Management division. Both will support the Misys FusionInvest product suite, a fully integrated portfolio and risk management system for buy-side firms.

HID Global introduced a mobility initiative that includes solutions, services, investments and alliances that expand the capabilities of trusted IDs on mobile devices across a growing range of access control, authentication and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.