In the past couple of years, the media has heavily focused on reporting the development of new ventures in the financial technology sphere (''fintech'' as the cool kids like to call it). We have witnessed countless sensational headlines pitting big ''stuck-up'' banks versus highly innovative startups. While these match ups may be entertaining they do not necessarily reflect the history of this fascinating ecosystem. Let's take the time to debunk those preconceived notions.

Wacom Co., Ltd. announced that 317 units of its DTU-1141 have been installed in branches of Citibank Korea Inc. for electronic document processing including digital signatures, furthering the company's initiative to go completely paperless and shortening processing time to create remarkable customer experiences.

Virtustream and Capgemini  expanded their strategic collaboration to deliver modernization and transformation services for private and hybrid cloud SAP® solution environments. This initiative delivers end to end deployments, distinct service levels at the application layer and cost efficiency for workloads running on SAP software. Customers across North America and Europe, particularly across Consumer Products, Retail and Manufacturing sectors, are expected to benefit from effective automation, cloud migration and deployment experience to help them innovate rapidly.

The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus included Alpari Eurasia Ltd. in its list of registered Forex companies. As such, clients of this company - a part of the international financial Alpari brand - will be able to receive services which provide access to international financial markets within Belorussian jurisdiction.

CoreCard Software, a leading provider of card management systems and processing services, today announced completion of MasterCard EMV Certification for one of its processing clients. This certification means the CoreCard processing platform is now EMV-enabled and current and future clients can issue chip cards to their cardholders.

Glory Global Solutions (Holdings) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of GLORY Ltd.

 Thomson Reuters and CME Group today announced they have reached an agreement to implement connectivity between their instant messaging networks, Thomson Reuters Eikon Messenger and CME Pivot Instant Messaging, to support open and compliant cross-industry communication for financial and commodities markets. This combined service will be available late Q3 2016.

 Metamako, the leading specialist in deterministic network devices for the world’s financial institutions, announced today that it has signed a partnership agreement with PRO

TSYS announced that Lloyds Banking Group, the UK's leading provider of current accounts, savings, personal loans, credit cards and mortgages, has renewed its agreement with TSYS to continue to process the bank’s UK commercial card portfolio.

Bibby Transportation Finance (BTF), a subsidiary of Bibby Financial Services, announces the addition of Ivan Cook as Business Development Officer. Cook rejoins BTF to focus on providing freight factoring and asset-based lending solutions to customers as the company accelerates its North America growth strategy.