Entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland are being offered the opportunity to pitch for £60,000 of funding as part of a new competition launched today by Techstart NI and Danske Bank. 

Domestic and foreign companies will soon be able to develop and test Fintech blockchain solutions in the regulatory and technological sandbox platform-service LBChain, which is to be created by the Bank of Lithuania. 

A new Visa survey of 1,000 Canadians exploring awareness and perceptions of biometric authentication confirms that consumers continue to have a strong interest in new biometric technologies that make their lives easier. 

Pan-African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA), has today, changed the face of e-banking with the introduction of Leo, the UBA Chat Banker who enables customers make use of their social media accounts to carry out key banking transactions.

Intellect Global Transaction Banking (iGTB), the corporate banking and technology specialist from Intellect Design Arena Limited, has appointed Ravi Pandit as EVP & Head of Sales, USA. Ravi has almost two decades of experience in financial services business development in North America, and his appointment underlines iGTB’s ambitions to extend its market-leading products across the wider US market.

The insurance industry is in a state of flux. For one, it's adapting to a new era of risk, in which a cyber attack could be as economically damaging as a hurricane. On top of this, the modern tools of big data, mobile phones and advanced analytics are ushering in a new generation of products that can be tailored to each individual customer. Meanwhile, the usual pressures relating to digital developments are exacerbating the 'commoditisation' of insurance, which has been brought on by internet comparison sites and the like.

F-Secure reports a security issue affecting most corporate laptops that allows an attacker with physical access to backdoor a device in less than 30 seconds. The issue allows the attacker to bypass the need to enter credentials, including BIOS and Bitlocker passwords and TPM pins, and to gain remote access for later exploitation. It exists within Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT) and potentially affects millions of laptops globally.

The UK’s largest account providers are making it possible for customers to make the most of their financial data and easily and securely access services from a wide range of companies that better meet their needs.

This is the first major milestone in a multi-year programme to open all payment products to a vibrant, innovative new market for financial services

Open Banking for current accounts begins on 13 January with a managed roll-out which will complete in March 2018

Coupa Software, a leader in business spend management (BSM), was named a leader in the inaugural IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Procurement Applications 2018 Vendor Assessment. Among the 13 vendors evaluated, Coupa is recognised as a Leader for capabilities and strategies.

As a next step in the company’s transformation into an integrated service provider, Avaloq strengthens its organisational structure and welcomes three new members to its Group Executive Board. Chris Beukers has been appointed Regional Manager Asia Pacific, Tobias Unger has been appointed Regional Manager Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and Brian Hurdis has been appointed Chief Service Delivery Officer.