Last week over 750 banking executives descended upon Nashville, Tennessee, for the 2016 American Bankers Association Bank Marketing Conference. Each day spent networking with and learning from industry experts at the downtown Omni Hotel brought a new set of engaging conversations, significant insights, intriguing strategies and impressive results.

Financial institutions around the world not only prioritise financial inclusion and financial transparency, but also share the desire to increase data sharing and collaboration with their peers to achieve it, according to a new study by LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, a global big data, technology and analytic linking company.

Accenture has entered into an agreement to acquire Defense Point Security, LLC (DPS), a privately held cybersecurity company that supports the U.S. federal government with advanced cyber defense and response capabilities—including advanced Security Operations Center (SOC) expertise, cyber operations, security engineering, and cyber analytics. DPS, recently recognized as one of the “World’s Hottest and Most Innovative Cybersecurity Companies to watch in 2016” by Cybersecurity Ventures, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture Federal Services (AFS).

New research from FIRST, a leading global events agency, reveals that over the next three years, 63% of private equity professionals think the level of funds raised by the industry will increase when compared to the previous three years.  Only one in five (20%) expect it to fall.

Some 69% of those anticipating it to become easier to raise funds say it is because investors are increasingly looking to diversify their portfolios, and they will therefore increase their exposure to private equity.  Some 27% believe it is because returns from private equity will become more attractive.

Ahead of the 7th Annual Operational Risk Management Forum, read here an interview with Mr. Ruben Cohen, Independent Consultant, about the role of local regulators in the implementation of SMA and the impact SMA will have on capital.

Ahead of the 7th Annual Operational Risk Management Forum, read here an interview with Mrs. Simona Fionda, Head of Operational Risk at Metro Bank about the new requirements of SMA and how the SMA will impact operational risk as a whole.

Sungevity, Inc., a technology-driven solutions provider offering a high level of service and choice to residential and commercial solar energy customers, today announced the appointment of Elizabeth K. Rushforth to the role of SVP & General Counsel, reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Birch.

Viptela, the Software-Defined WAN company, today launched the vForce Global Partner Program. This comprehensive suite of go-to-market support, financial incentive and training resources enable solution and managed service providers to deliver the business benefits of SD-WAN to global enterprises. To date, more than 40 partners from around the world have joined the program including: Dimension Data, World Wide Technology (WWT), Forsythe Solutions Group, Logicalis, Fishtech Labs, Teneo, Alphaserve Technologies, Vandis, Daymark Solutions, ProSys and Verizon.

CPI Card Group, a global leader in financial and EMV® chip card production and related services, today announced it was ranked No. 75 on the 2016 FinTech Forward 100 list of leading technology providers in the world. Driven by industry publication American Banker and financial services professional organization BAI, the FinTech Forward program aims to identify technology trends for bankers.

 AutoGravity, a FinTech pioneer on a mission to transform car financing by harnessing the power of the smartphone, has partnered with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC