Published
Aoife Harney
Regulatory Consultant at Fenergo
GDPR outlines six principles that organizations need to abide by. These principles aren't new - they were already outlined in the 1995 directive, but GDPR has revised them slightly. see more
- 02:00 am
marcus evans will host the 2nd Edition Digital Transformation in Wealth Management Conference on September 24-26, 2018 in San Francisco. This conference will provide wealth managers with practical tools for developing a consistent and firm-wide digital adoption strategy allowing them to expand their client base and offerings. Industry experts will assess the best practices for leveraging and scaling robo-advice alongside traditional advice and how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new digital capabilities can enhance financial planning and client onboarding processes.
Learn From Key Practical Case Studies:
- Charles Schwab will discuss where the wealth management industry is heading
- Invesco will assess the best practices for promoting a culture shift in wealth management
- BMO Financial Group will examine methodologies for improving client onboarding
- AgentRisk will explore where AI is bringing the most value to wealth managers
- CUSO Financial Services will evaluate practices for leveraging robo advice alongside traditional models
Key Speakers Include:
- Tobin McDaniel, Senior Vice President, Digital Advice, Charles Schwab
- Donie Lochan, Managing Director, Chief Technology Officer, Global Head of Technology, Invesco
- John Olerio, Senior Vice President, Director, Investment Services, Webster Investments
- Jon Vlachogiannis, Founder, AgentRisk
- Richard Keltner, Senior Vice President, Advisory Services, CUSO Financial Services
For more information, please visit: http://bit.ly/2KyroBx or you can contact Amanda Pink at apink@global-fmi.com.
marcus evans conferences annually produce over 2,000 high quality events designed to provide key strategic business information, best practice and networking opportunities for senior industry decision-makers.
- 07:00 am
Splitit, the leading monthly payment solution, today announced the launch of its debit card installment payment offering in the US and Europe.
Using Splitit, consumers are now able to split their purchases of $400 or less into up to three interest-free monthly payments using their existing debit cards. Additionally, using Splitit, consumers can continue to split any cost into up to 12 interest-free payments on an existing credit card without the need for applications or registrations for new credit lines. The expansion of Splitit’s payment solution will enhance purchasing power for consumers and enable merchants to offer a wider range of payment options across channels and borders, increasing sales revenue.
Splitit’s technology provides merchants an immediately implementable, consumer-oriented solution that allows customers to split the cost of purchases into interest-free monthly payments with their existing debit or credit cards, online, on mobile or in-store. With the addition of debit cards, Splitit is enabling merchants to offer customers worldwide more choice in their payment method, a move set to improve personal finance management for shoppers, decrease cart abandonment and increase average order value (AOV) for retailers.
While consumer financing solutions incur interest and require an application or registration process, Splitit stands apart as the only solution offering no interest, late fees or penalties, and instant approval with no application, registration or credit check. This allows consumers to continue reaping the benefits of their existing cards, such as miles or points.
“Merchants are looking for ways to empower their customers with more options to make their purchases feasible. Simultaneously, consumers, especially millennials, are interested in solutions that will help them better manage their cash flow,” said Gil Don, CEO and Co-Founder of Splitit. “With millions of dollars’ worth of purchases at stake, retailers must ensure a seamless, efficient and customer-centered checkout process, and Splitit is the only payment method solution that truly does this – with no applications, no interest and instant approval. We are happy to be increasing consumer purchasing power, which translates to better outcomes for customers and retailers alike.”
The expansion of Splitit’s offering comes as debit cards have grown in popularity among consumers, with the number of debit transactions per active consumer card reaching a record high of 23.6 monthly transactions in the US in 2016. Debt-conscious millennials, especially, have come to prefer debit cards over credit.
One industry increasingly turning to Splitit is fashion. With millennials at its core, fashion retail sees an average order value of $75 for online purchases. Customers of fashion brands using Splitit can divide the cost of their purchases into smaller, more manageable payments automatically charged to their debit card each month. In doing so, shoppers are better able to manage their finances without owing money or incurring interest.
- 06:00 am
As industry pressures continue to grow, financial services companies are seeking to accelerate their ability to meet increasing regulatory requirements and other business demands, such as CECL, FRTB, traded credit risk, ALM and liquidity, portfolio management and more.
That’s why today, IBM is announcing its acquisition of Armanta, Inc. (Armanta), a provider of aggregation and analytics software to financial services firms. Armanta’s technology platform allows financial institutions to aggregate data across multiple systems in near real-time speed. This helps them enhance their management decision-making and better address regulatory compliance and other market drivers, allowing firms to re-allocate saved capital to innovation initiatives.
Over the past two years, Armanta and IBM have worked together to deliver financial risk solutions to clients globally. The combination of IBM’s and Armanta’s technology and expertise has allowed IBM to deliver new offerings that have already been adopted in the market. Armanta technology has not only enhanced our existing solutions but also allowed IBM to rapidly develop new offerings for clients.
For financial institutions around the world, the addition of Armanta will enable IBM to more effectively manage regulatory mandates by using a common aggregation and reporting solution across multiple risk systems, regardless of whether they are developed in-house or are supplied by a vendor. Clients can also use Armanta to build their enterprise reporting solutions on top of existing analytics. Their powerful aggregation technology will complement current IBM solutions providing clients with the most effective tools for financial risk.
Armanta also provides the ability to instantly visualize complex analyses and different “what-if” scenarios in a secure, sandbox environment, allowing users to act decisively.
With this acquisition, IBM will help clients further integrate their risk management practices with other front or back office functions, while also establishing a common set of data, analytics and reports for business-wide consistency.
As the pace and volume of demand for analytics increase, aggregation and reporting can become bottlenecks and inhibitors to business performance. Armanta and IBM’s combined industry expertise and technology has long been sought after by financial risk professionals, traders and portfolio managers to help them achieve their regulatory and business requirements. This acquisition not only expands our software-as-a-service offerings, but further supports our common clients as they adopt Big Data architectures and expand their API ecosystems.
Post-acquisition, IBM has plans of integrating the Armanta business as part of the Watson Financial Services portfolio, further strengthening IBM’s financial risk analytics services.
- 09:00 am
Profile Software, an international, award-winning banking solutions provider, announced today that FMS.next, its leading Core Digital Banking platform, is now available in the cloud.
FMS.next has been upgraded to major Release 3, including advanced operational and functional features that create added value to modern financial institutions. By having a number of successful implementations, constantly enhancing user experience (UX) and adding new functionality, FMS.next in the cloud allows financial institutions to benefit from the wide banking functions without the burden of an on premises installation. The flexibility of a cloud deployment offers huge advantages to organisations that gain from an on demand infrastructure, suited to their needs, at any time.
Combined with Model Bank preconfigured options, FMS.next in the cloud provides a full digital transformation for modern digital or challenger banks that are cost conscious, yet agile, always striving for quick delivery of requirements in a robust and scalable environment. Utilising cloud, banks gain a proven, secure and continuously supported infrastructure to manage their banking operations end-to-end, at any time, with 24/7 access, hassle-free.
Profile’s FMS.next is a market proven banking platform with a number of solutions available to meet specific industry needs ranging from Core banking, Payments, Loans Management to Marketplace Lending. Profile’s experience in this domain ensures reliability of service and easy to customise platforms to address specific country and regulatory requirements.
- 07:00 am
Agama Technologies, the specialist in video service quality and customer experience, today announces the launch of a fully containerized solution for monitoring, analytics and customer insights. This new functionality will be showcased at TV Connect, Digital Transformation World, ANGACOM and IBC.
The continuous evolution of OTT and other video services increase demand for flexible deployments and operations. Agama’s solutions now offer full support for cloud-based and containerized services throughout the operator’s production environment. These cover virtualized in-house deployments as well as public cloud environments, such as AWS and GCE.
"Today’s market requires any vendor to be at the forefront of cloud and virtualization" says Johan Görsjö, Agama director of product management. "We are proud to introduce container-based support for our products that enable operators to efficiently and quickly deploy systems in any environment; cloud, on-prem or any combination, to support customers wherever their video services are created and consumed”.
Containers allow for efficient use of computational resources: they provide fine-grained scaling and deployment of services instead of monoliths, as well as reduce dependencies between components. This lowers cost, reduces risks and increases operational agility for DevOps teams.
All Agama software has the possibility to deploy in container environments, such as Docker. The solution has extensive automation features, enabling systems to be automatically deployed and configured using the orchestration tool of the operator’s choice, such as Ansible or Chef - all to fully realize the potential that containers give.
- 04:00 am
Mitek, a global leader in digital identity verification solutions, today announced that it is providing digital onboarding for BTCDirect customers. A leading bitcoin broker platform, BTCDirect has experienced rapid growth with up-to 3000 onboarding requests a day. To accommodate the surge in demand and meet increasingly stringent regulations, Mitek’s identity verification solutions are being used to onboard customers in as little as 10 minutes.
Founded in the Netherlands in 2013, BTCDirect acts as an agent in the buying and selling of bitcoins. Its user-friendly platform allows consumers to buy and sell bitcoins and other crypto currencies quickly, easily and securely. Following the increase in cryptocurrency trading in the last year, BTCDirect wanted to ensure the onboarding process was frictionless but also compliant with regulatory demands.
According to a MarketsAndMarkets report, the cryptocurrency space will grow at an unprecedented CAGR of 32% 2017-2023 to hit nearly USD3bn. Regulators have recently been keen to introduce regulation into the space, cracking down on anonymity in cryptocurrency platforms, with the G20 calling for recommendations by July 2018. Customer onboarding looks set to become tougher, and therefore slower. Cryptocurrency companies must make it a priority to implement KYC processes that are compliant and can be scaled to keep up with the surge of customer signups. Using Mitek’s technology, BTCDirect can validate the authenticity of identity documents presented. BTCDirect opted for Mitek’s solution because of its strong roadmap and after seeing great results in the testing period.
“Our aim is to provide a cryptocurrency brokerage that is secure and compliant and thereby staying the #1 crypto currency brokerage in Europe. Offering a scalable solution to customer onboarding is the first step,” said Mike Hutting, CEO and co-founder, BTCDirect. “Mitek’s scalable identity verification solution is speeding up the registration process, enabling us to keep up with the enormous rise in requests. We chose Mitek as a trusted partner in this space to ensure we can be as prepared as possible to meet future regulatory requirements.
“Both regulators and companies themselves are turning away from the anonymity that has often defined cryptocurrencies,” said René Hendrikse, Managing Director for EMEA, Mitek. “BTCDirect is committed to promoting a safe and authentic experience for its customers, and getting ahead of the regulatory curve. With the demand for cryptocurrency skyrocketing, Mitek’s mission is to provide compliant customer onboarding that doesn’t come at the expense of the user experience.”
- 05:00 am
Coupa Software, a leader in business spend management (BSM), today announced that experienced business executive Hiroyuki Okuma has joined the company as its Japan country manager where he will be responsible for driving strategy, brand awareness, sales execution, partner alliances, and customer success.
Prior to Coupa, Okuma was responsible for sales and marketing in the application business CRM domain at Oracle Japan. Okuma helped launch the SaaS business at Oracle that targeted small and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises. Before Oracle, Okuma was a regional sales vice president at Salesforce in Japan where he contributed to the expansion of strategic solutions for the largest automotive group in Japan.
“Coupa is seeing measurable growth and adoption globally for its business spend management platform, and Japan offers another opportunity to build on this success since it is the third largest economy in the world,” Okuma said. “My number one goal is to help Japanese customers manage spend within their organisations. I am excited to spearhead the next stage of Coupa’s growth in the region.”
For more than 25 years, Okuma worked in various key leadership positions at IBM. He served as a sales executive for various sectors such as distribution, communications, government and industrial. Okuma also was responsible for sales in Japan for SMBs.
In addition, Okuma was in charge of business planning for IBM APAC. As a sales and operation manager, Okuma was responsible for solution planning and M&A support for the transportation travel business at IBM U.S. headquarters.
"Hiroyuki is a true business leader who has delivered significant value to Japanese customers for years,” said Steve Winter, chief revenue officer at Coupa.
“I am confident that under his charge, Coupa can become a vital partner for Japanese organisations that seek a unified platform to thrive in today’s digital economy. I’m excited that he is on board at a time when there is tremendous opportunity across the Japanese market.”
- 04:00 am
Thomson Reuters has expanded its North American wealth management brokerage processing platform, BETA, to include automated international post-trade processing for multi-market and multi-currency securities, representing a significant advancement in a continuous effort to better serve both retail and institutional clients.
Powered by NRI’s I-STAR/GX platform, Thomson Reuters North American BETA customers will now benefit from automated settlement and straight-through processing of trades executed across all markets, through a high volume solution with a single-stock record across all asset classes and markets, driving domestic and international corporate actions processing. The fully integrated solution also provides real-time updates of intra-day transaction status changes throughout the lifecycle of the settlement, along with straight-through-processing enabled communication with global and local custodians. It also serves as a multi-tenant solution that segregates each firm’s data while supporting multiple clients within.
“The need for a well diversified portfolio continues to drive wealth managers to seek greater investment opportunities for their clients beyond U.S markets. Our enhanced multi-market capability allows our North American BETA customers to reach new financial markets and grow their existing business by offering a broader array of investment options and opportunities globally,” said David Akellian, Global Head of Wealth Management for Thomson Reuters. “As regulatory demands increase globally, the fully automated single-stock recording process allows firms to be more operationally efficient and transparent in managing custodianship, ultimately mitigating risk, reducing error rates, reducing costs, and freeing up resources to work on other aspects of their business.”
“NRI is excited to be partnering with Thomson Reuters - an important milestone in NRI’s international growth,” said Naohiro Sako, Senior Managing Director, NRI. “Thomson Reuters is a highly respected organization, and together with Thomson Reuters, we look forward to catering to an even wider range of clients’ needs, expanding the reach of our services. Our two organizations will be able to fully automate post-trade processing for international trades, creating a faster, cleaner flow between the US and international markets.”
Thomson Reuters BETA is a complete suite of solutions that enables institutions to manage the daily tasks of their brokerage business. It offers all the tools needed to manage daily operations, plus forward-thinking features to keep the organization positioned for the future. The parameter-driven customization features of BETA deliver a hosted solution with a unique level of flexibility to meet the needs of individual businesses. For more information about Thomson Reuters BETA, visit: https://financial.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/trading-capabilities/post-trade-services/beta-systems-trade-processing.html
- 03:00 am
Mastercard has been recognized by DiversityInc for its efforts to create an inclusive culture built on a foundation of decency and respect. The publication ranked Mastercard fourth on its 2018 list of the top 50 most diverse companies. This is the sixth year in a row Mastercard has been among the top 10 companies for diversity. Last year, the company was ranked #7.
In addition to its ranking on the overall list, Mastercard was recognized in several special categories:
- #8 for Diverse Recruitment
- #11 for Diversity Councils
- #13 for Employee Resource Groups
- Top company for LGBT Employees
In noting the company’s efforts, DiversityInc cited Mastercard’s commitment to hiring more women at senior levels and closing the gender wage gap as examples of how the company is creating a workplace where everyone can reach their full potential.
“Building diverse teams is just one part of the equation,” said Randall Tucker, Chief Inclusion Officer, Mastercard. “We also have to create an inclusive culture where employees in all their diversity feel valued and respected. Inclusion is a leadership skill that has to be developed. When we do it right, it’s better for business and our communities.”
The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity annual ranking of leading public and private companies began in 2001 and celebrates their commitment to workplace diversity.
