The cloud model is gathering pace as the preferred environment for software deployments among financial services enterprises of all stripes, from fund managers and asset managers, to insurance brokerages and commercial banking institutions.

This is all well and good, because the cloud offers significant benefits to these institutions, ranging from increased agility and reduced capital expenditure, to greater performance and availability for their mission-critical applications.

FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a global payments technology company, and QRails Inc., a financial services technology company, have entered a partnership to provide next generation strong customer authentication to drive frictionless payments. As part of the agreement, QRails will embed FSS Secure3D, an innovative 3DS 2.0 solution, with its sophisticated integrated payment processing and program management services.

Another mobile pain point: tackled. T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) launched T-Mobile MONEY nationwide. It’s a no-fee, interest-earning, mobile-first checking account that anyone can open and manage right from their smartphone. With T-Mobile MONEY, eligible Un-carrier customers can earn an industry-leading 4.00% Annual Percentage Yield (APY)* on balances up to $3,000 – 50 times higher than the average U.S. checking account – and 1.00 APY% on every dollar over that! Plus avoid all those big bank fees and overdrafts.

Remitly, the largest independent digital remittance company in North America, has launched its award-winning service to France, making international money transfers more fair, transparent, and cost-effective when sending money from France to international destinations.

The European banking industry is under extreme pressure. Although the looming risk posed to financial stability by Brexit is perhaps the most notable risk, 2019 is looking like it will be a challenging year all round. To survive, simply ’doing’ digital is not enough. Managing constant change will require traditional banks to become resilient to its impact by embracing a customer-led strategy, evolving with market trends and intelligently piloting emerging technologies.

The rise of big tech: setting new expectations

The fundamentals of what businesses and individuals perceive as banking have evolved from a traditional high street model to a complex ecosystem of financial and technology providers - all working in collaboration with one another.

BELLIN, a global leader in providing web-based treasury software and services for multinational corporations, has successfully integrated SWIFT gpi for Corporates (g4C) technology in its tm5 treasury management system. BELLIN client Darling Ingredients Inc. just went live with g4C and has processed the first g4C payments in tm5, together with JPMorgan Chase bank.

First and long-time investor Amerborgh sells a part of its stake in Ohpen to NPM Capital, that upon the transaction, will have a 35% stake in Ohpen. Amerborgh wanted to sell this stake to finance ongoing and future projects, like the arts and culture centre "het HEM" in Zaandam.

Ohpen is a fast-growing Fintech company. The Ohpen SaaS, cloud native core banking platform administers retail investment and savings accounts for banks and other financial institutions.