“In light of today’s news about the move to negative rates by the Central Bank of Japan, it has been suggested that the BoJ is protecting banks from the effect of negative rates on holding deposits by providing a tiering of subsidy against central bank reserves. The suggestion being that the more cash that’s held centrally, the lower the rate will go.

The bank is working with Digital Asset Holdings, the firm set up by its former head of commodities Blythe Masters, to address liquidity matches in its loan funds.

Misys, the leading financial software company, announces today that it has appointed Rob Binns as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr Binns joins Misys from HP Inc where he was Head of Treasury and Investor Relations. He joined Hewlett-Packard in 2007 from Mercury Interactive and has held a number of senior finance positions in the company including VP Software Field Operations and VP Investor Relations before being appointed Vice President and CFO, HP Software in 2014.

Bravura Solutions Pty Limited (Bravura) has today unveiled Sonata CPPI, a new module within its award winning Sonata solution. The fully integrated, global module enables financial services organisations to offer individualised and flexible portfolio protection products including individualised time invariant portfolio protection (iTIPP). Sonata CPPI users can offset the risk of providing protection with a third party risk management provider. Barclays is the first bank to offer this service to clients. 

 Horizon Software today announced the launch of its new certified gateway to Borsa İstanbul.

Nucleus Software, the leading provider of lending and transaction banking solutions to the global financial services industry, further strengthens its global presence by announcing the successful launch and roll-out of its lending software at Bank of Queensland (BOQ), in Australia. BOQ, a leading Australian challenger Bank, has implemented Nucleus Software's award winning flagship lending product, FinnOneTM for its retail loan origination operations.

What a difference twelve months can make. Industry conversations at 2014’s Mobey Day, (Mobey Forum’s annual open conference for all mobile money stakeholders) told of an industry undergoing major disruption.  Just twelve months later toward the end of 2015, the industry vibe had changed almost beyond recognition, particularly in the mobile payments arena.  Consternation, hesitancy and all-out frustration had given way to optimism. Last year’s disruptions have become this year’s tools of liberation, enabling banks, finally, to make progress.

Chubb today announced a number of new distribution appointments with immediate effect. This follows the recent appointments, previously announced:

Fidessa group plc (LSE: FDSA) today announced that RHB Investment Bank (RHB), a premier Malaysian bank, has implemented Fidessa as its strategic trading platform across Asia.

The platform, managed by Fidessa throughout the region, provides advanced capabilities including algorithmic trading across all member markets, intelligent IOIs and a centralised order management system with integrated middle-office supporting RHB's growing regional business.

Being under the regulatory spotlight highlighted major shortcomings in visibility and accountability for financial services. As the industry strives to better communicate customer needs, business values to staff, and encourage a more open and honest approach from leadership, having a strong and united internal communications strategy has never been more crucial.