OTB Ventures (OTB), a leading venture capital fund specialised in investments in technology companies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), today announces the launch of its early growth technology fund – the largest venture capital fund in CEE - with $100m in commitments from international institutional investors, including the European Investment Fund (EIF), and high-profile backers including Greg Jankilevitch.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced that 138 clients have signed up to adopt, and more than 30 vendors have partnered with, DTCC’s multi-award winning Global Trade Repository (GTR) service, in order to meet their regulatory obligations under the forthcoming European Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR).

Israel Discount Bank announced today that it has partnered with Integral to deploy new eFX workflow automation and trading technology to drive business growth. 

What is the Product/Service?

As their customers have become increasingly reliant on online and mobile services in the past few years, banks have undergone massive transformation. The ongoing quest to offer better experiences for today’s digital-first consumers has forced banks to transition into software businesses as much as they are financial services providers. However, a transformation of such magnitude has introduced new challenges, which have seen the banks blighted by increasingly frequent IT failures.

Services in real time are already part of the customers’ everyday life – financial institutions also follow this trend. Česká spořitelna, the biggest commercial bank in the Czech Republic, is a company of the Viennese Erste Group Bank AG and, since autumn 2019, provides real-time payments for its customers. For this purpose, valantic’s Real Time Payment Engine has been implemented. For more than 20 years, the technology company develops software for payment, investment banking and transaction management.

FIS™(NYSE: FIS) announced today that Opel Bank in Germany has chosen its next-generation core banking system, FIS Modern Banking Platform, to power its online bank. Opel Bank is the first European-based bank to choose the new platform since its introduction in January.

Standard Chartered today announced business targets for supporting its clients as they transition to a low- carbon economy as part of the Bank’s sustainability aspirations. By the end of 2024, the Bank commits to:

 The Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), the leading pan-Asian payments association in Asia, has released a ground-breaking research report on Open Banking in APAC, outlining challenges, opportunities and recommended approaches for Asia-Pacific’s financial sector. The report was presented to ABAC (APEC Business Advisory Committee) in Sydney on February 14, 2020 to assist with APEC Interoperability policy. 

Rapyd, a global B2B Fintech as a Service provider, today announced a new agreement with Visa (NYSE:V) that will help Rapyd expand its worldwide business operations.