KAS BANK, the specialist provider of securities services to the UK pension industry, has advanced its cost transparency services with an end-to-end cost transparency solution for DC pension schemes, aiding the delivery of the cost report on the Chair Statement.

KAS BANK’s cost transparency solution for DC schemes comes in answer to regulatory pressure on pension fund trustees to create and publish a Chair Statement that reports on costs and charges and determines value for money for members.

Volante Technologies Inc., a global provider of software to accelerate digital transformation and modernization, today announced that it is providing end-to-end SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) instant payments processing as an on-demand managed service on Microsoft Azure. Volante’s SEPA Instant Payments as a service will provide all payment service providers (PSPs) certified access to the two principal pan-European schemes, EBA CLEARING’s RT1 and ECB’s TIPS, through the high-speed, secure messaging and low-latency SIAnet network.

The days of “business as usual” are over for financial institutions. Retail banks, insurers, investment firms, and wealth management companies alike are all under pressure to deploy new “anytime- anywhere” digital services. Not surprisingly, according to Ovum’s recent ICT Enterprise Insights, the banking sector recorded high digitization maturity-progression of 42 percent, second only to the telecoms sector at 43.9 percent.

SIA, in partnership with Colt Technology Services, has won a tender commissioned by the European Central Bank for the provisioning of connectivity services allowing European central and commercial banks, central depositories, automated clearing houses and other payment service providers to connect directly to Eurosystem market infrastructures through a single access interface (Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway - ESMIG).

Bottomline Technologies (NASDAQ:EPAY), a leading provider of financial technology that helps make complex business payments simple, smart and secure, today announced its partnership with Starling Bank, the leading digital banking platform, and the launch of Bottomline’s Real Time Payments Express Service. This new 24x7 service will allow banks and corporates to send, receive and track payments in real-time to any UK bank account.

iSignthis Ltd (“the Company”), is pleased to announce that it has now approved more than 150 reportable accounts1. The focus this last month has been on more complex and larger entities, in sectors adjacent to our CFD/FX core markets. Onboarding of approved merchants continues at a pace driven by the merchant integrating to our API’s, consistent with our guidance and expectations.

Pool D, which has been awarded ahead of Pool C, has been designed to promote fintechs relevant to small and medium sized businesses.  Those who missed out of the funding will be disappointed, but it is extremely encouraging to hear BCR Ltd chairman Godfrey Cromwell stating, 'There is a vibrant and varied fintech community across the UK and Europe and BCR received a diverse range of strong, ambitious and innovative applications. It was very difficult to get down to just five awardees – we could easily have awarded to many more.'

Lumi Wallet takes another step towards becoming the premier wallet for the EOS blockchain, celebrating the recent adoption of a new cryptocurrency with a massive giveaway for its users, bestowing them with 1,000 EOS accounts worth $5,000 in partnership with Changelly and Minergate.

Open Banking began on 13 January 2018 with the launch of PSD2. Industry pundits spoke about customers walking through a promised land of meaningful financial insights and competitive products. The new rules make it easier for consumers to compare services and switch to get better deals and more personalised products.

With the younger generation’s willingness to switch to an online-only bank, surely challengers would try to snap up customers. In turn, it was an opportunity for traditional banks to play to the advantages they already hold over their digital rivals.