FIX Trading Community, the non-profit, industry-driven standards body at the heart of global financial trading, today announced the release of the FIX-over-TLS (FIXS) standard and guidelines to assist users of the FIX Protocol meet certain security requirements. 

FIXS is part of a larger programme of work that the FIX Trading Community initiated in response to the heightened cyber security challenge. The issue for members is how to understand the cyber security landscape, how to respond to the general deterioration and an increased specificity of threats, in a manner that anticipates or leads legislative and regulatory responses. 

FIXS is a technical standard that specifies how to use the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol with FIX. It provides a level of standardisation in order to ensure a certain level of security is applied. Additionally, guidelines are provided for different aspects of TLS as well as for the Stunnel open source program, thereby making the standard accessible to all. FIXS makes it easier for FIX participants to employ TLS, in the belief that this will help to improve security across the industry. 

The initiative facilitates and promotes collaboration through information exchange, debate and joint development. With this interaction, the ensuing development of knowledge and simple information sharing is immensely valuable.

Michael Cooper, CTO Radianz, BT Global Banking and Financial Markets, Chair FIX Cybersecurity Working Group, commented, “The FIX Cybersecurity Working Group was formed a number of years ago to facilitate industry collaboration against the background of a deteriorating cyber security landscape. As part of these efforts, the FIXS Sub-group was established; they have researched and are now publishing guidelines for extending the security of FIX communications and thereby augmenting the security of trading operations.”

Charles Kilkenny, CEO Actuare, Chair FIXS Sub-group, noted, “FIXS is a starting point for firms wanting to secure FIX with TLS. I would ask firms and especially vendors to look at adopting FIXS and provide us with their feedback. We need this dialogue to continually improve what we have and to stay one step ahead. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the FIXS Sub-group for their hard work and contributions, without which we would not be able to do this.”

Juvo, the pioneer in mobile Identity Scoring, today announced a strategic investment from Samsung NEXT that will help provide access to the billions of prepaid users around the world who are currently unbanked or financially underserved. Additionally, this investment will help Juvo enable global mobile operators to significantly accelerate migration to smartphones amongst prepaid mobile subscribers, offering access to digital financial services and delivering on digital transformation.

Mobile operators in competitive and developing markets across four continents use Juvo’s data science fueled prepaid engagement and growth solution to target subscribers with “fee free” airtime advance purchases, loyalty building incentives and rewards, and access to basic and progressively advanced financial services. At the same time subscriber engagement increases, Juvo’s sophisticated data science technology identifies and qualifies users for smartphone migration and handset financing - a first for most prepaid subscribers. Real time Identity Scoring allows retail agents to convert users in-store, through a seamless point-of-sale (POS) integration. As users migrate to smartphones over traditional feature phones, mobile operators deepen subscriber relationships and unlock value via digital services, typically seeing an increase in data consumption by an average of 30 percent per subscriber.

“At Samsung NEXT, we’re focused on working with entrepreneurs and startups that are creating truly impactful software and services--software and services that will transform the way we, as humans, interact with our devices, each other and the world,” said Patrick Chang, Principal, Samsung NEXT Ventures. “Juvo’s impressive traction from mobile operators and consumers offers an opportunity for us to tap into the next billion customers through more comprehensive financial inclusion and accessibility.”

“From the beginning, Juvo has been driven by the vision of ‘access for all’ and the idea that doing good is also good business,” said Steve Polsky, founder and CEO of Juvo. “This new collaboration with Samsung NEXT allows us to further realize our vision by being among the first to integrate financial identity into a hardware device and, with it, offer unprecedented access to greater financial services. Samsung opens a critical piece of the ecosystem for Juvo, and its world class organization, market expertise and reach will accelerate the Juvo mission, putting sophisticated technology in the hands of unbanked people and provide financial access to those who need it most.”

The combination of Samsung’s leading hardware footprint, Juvo’s sophisticated software and mobile carriers’ customer base has the potential to enable real time, automated POS transactions via an easy-to-follow user interface.

A new survey¹ launched today by ING Bank and Illuminate Financial² has found that fintechs and banks believe they are partners in disrupting the financial services market.

The vast majority (70%) of banks surveyed view fintechs as enablers and playing a positive role in supporting the wholesale banking sector. This might come as a surprise to those who have positioned the businesses as direct competitors.

However, the relationship is not without challenges. Both banks and fintechs agree the primary challenge in partnering together is navigating organisational decision making. Sixty percent of banks acknowledge that it can be very difficult or difficult for fintechs to connect with the relevant people in banks and 78% of fintechs agree.

When it comes to the main drivers of partnering, fintechs recognise compliance, operational costs and competitive pressures as drivers for bank adoption of fintech solutions. However, the survey results also show that client attraction and retention is the main driver for half of bank respondents, while only 10% of fintechs believed this was a main driver for banks – suggesting a disconnect between the two.

Both sides were clear on where fintechs can currently offer banks the most value: compliance and know your customer (KYC).

Ian Hollowbread, a Director for CAO Enterprise Office at ING comments: “Customer expectations are changing, which in turn is driving innovation. We are committed to providing our customers with a high standard of service and meeting their technology needs. Partnering with fintechs allows us to develop products and services to empower our customers to stay a step ahead by making banking with ING convenient, clear and easy.”

Mark Beeston, Managing Partner at Illuminate Financial, comments: “The feedback we are hearing from the capital markets fintech community is clear: we need to narrow the gap between large financial institutions that need solutions and early stage entrepreneurs that provide them. A long, complex and often costly sales cycle continues to lock innovative technology out of the banking sector. We look forward to working closely with ING to breaking down this barrier.”

1 - About the survey

The Banking on fintechs survey was carried out by ING UK and Illuminate Financial in Q4 2017, with 10 bank respondents and 100 fintech respondents.

2 -About Illuminate Financial  

Illuminate Financial Management LLP is a venture capital firm that crosses the chasm between capital markets fintech and the financial institutions it should serve. The firm was founded in 2014 recognising the growing importance of Fintech but questioning how much it was contributing to building more sustainable financial institutions. IFM have created partnerships with core strategic investors and a growing number of Capital Markets firms to gain real insight into what the market needs. We leverage this to find, validate and fund early stage companies and harness our extensive experience across banking, entrepreneurship and consultancy to help these companies achieve their full potential.

Accuity, the global financial crime compliance, payments and KYC solutions provider, announced the appointment of Sean Norris as Head of Sales, EMEA & APAC. Bharath Vellore has been appointed as the company’s Managing Director for Asia-Pacific (APAC).

Sean and Bharath have assumed their new appointments effective, 2 January 2018. The two senior leadership appointments reflect the company’s commitment to talent development and deepening its relationships with clients and prospects globally.

Sean’s appointment as Head of Sales EMEA & APAC, is testament to his progressive leadership in growing the APAC business for over 10 years. In his most recent role he expanded the APAC business by overseeing the opening of Tokyo, Hong Kong and Mumbai offices.

In his new role, Sean will be responsible for sales in EMEA and APAC with teams based in 11 offices worldwide. He is responsible for client acquisition, retention, ensuring customers extract maximum value and satisfaction from Accuity’s services. Sean will be stepping into the role previously held by Jeremy Bowen, who has moved to Accuity’s sister company, FlightGlobal, as VP, Global Head of Sales.

Bharath is based in the firm’s APAC headquarters in Singapore and has been with Accuity for the past six years. He has been spearheading the establishment of Accuity’s global innovation team in Asia, working with clients to develop proof of concepts that bring together lean development with compliance expertise. Bharath has also successfully led the integration of Accuity’s financial crime screening solutions with Corda - R3’s enterprise grade distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. His continued dedication and leadership skills have also shaped the establishment of Accuity’s local business in India. 

In his new role, Bharath will continue to drive regional business strategies across new business verticals, identify new markets for growth and deepen Accuity’s market leadership in financial crime compliance and payments, while keeping pace with regional and global regulation.

Hugh Jones, President and CEO of Accuity, said: “I congratulate Sean and Bharath as they take up their new roles. Their ascent within Accuity is testament to our commitment to supporting and developing our people around the world and serving our global customer community.”

• Case Studies
• 24.01.2018 09:02 am
• KAL makes ATMs futureproof with nexo standards protocols

Introduction

KAL is a world-leading ATM software company that specializes in solutions for bank ATMs, selfservice kiosks and bank branch networks. Its multivendor Kalignite Software Suite enables ATM hardware, software and services sourced from multiple vendors to work together perfectly so banks regain control of their ATM networks, reducing costs, increasing functionality and improving customer service. KAL software is the preferred ATM software and ATM management solution for many of the world’s leading banks, including Citibank, UniCredit, ING, China Construction Bank and Česká spořitelna (Česká), a member of the Erste Group. It is installed and supported in more than 80 countries around the world and is certified in over 30 languages.

KAL ATM Software supports 40 ATM manufacturers and over 250 different ATM model types, including NCR, Diebold, and Wincor Nixdorf. There are over 300,000 ATMs running KAL ATM Software today. KAL began providing its ATM software to Česká in 2016. Česká is the biggest bank in the Czech Republic, with almost five million customers and assets of over $45 billion. Česká provides its customers with the broadest range of banking services in the Czech Republic via a branch network of over 550 and more than 1,600 ATMs.

This case study explores how KAL software answered Česká’s requirement to improve the management of the largest ATM network in the Czech Republic – while continuing to innovate and launch new products and services quickly into the market. The case study also addresses how KAL software and nexo standards helped Česká to fulfil its strategy to create a single environment and support for its clients via ATMs, and an online platform that provides consultancy and other services beyond standard internet banking. 

IMM, the leading source of eSignature and eTransaction management for financial institutions, announced today that Chambersberg, Pa.-based 1st Ed Credit Union has successfully implemented IMM’s eReceipt and eTeller Check21 (Teller-based Capture) solutions. 

Hartford InsurTech Hub, powered by Startupbootcamp, announces a new partnership with Crawford & Company, the world's largest publicly listed independent provider of claims management solutions to insurance companies and self-insured entities. The partnership was formed through Crawford Innovative Ventures, LLC, an entity created by Crawford & Company in 2016 to invest in strategic acquisitions and partnerships. By joining Hartford InsurTech Hub, Crawford & Company hopes to bring more innovation to the industry; find new ways to service clients more efficiently; and create more value for claimants through innovative solutions. 

Efficient claims management is vital to the success of both large and small companies working within the insurance industry. Driving efficiencies in the claims process, mitigating leakage, and maximizing quality of policyholder experience are critical to the claims function. Crawford & Company will add extensive claims expertise to assist startups in the acceleration process.

The announcement comes as the InsurTech program recently welcomed the first group of startups in Hartford, with 10 teams from five countries: Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, and the United States. The 2018 cohort provides a range of insurance solutions using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics, and Natural Language Processing combined with Cyber Security, Smart Home, and Health Insurance.

Sabine VanderLinden, CEO, Startupbootcamp InsurTech says: “We are thrilled to welcome Crawford & Company as one of our program partners. InsurTech startups are keen to engage with experts from across the insurance sector to help them refine their propositions and implement cutting edge projects. We look forward to collaborating with the team at Crawford & Company and tapping into their claims management knowledge.”

Greta Van, Chief Strategy Officer, Crawford & Company, says: “Crawford’s purpose is to enhance and restore lives, businesses and communities. Building intelligent solutions delivered by thoughtful people is at the heart of how Crawford wants to serve its clients. Technology is the most critical enabler for these intelligent solutions, and we are committed to being at the cutting edge of enabling technology in the insurance industry. The partnership with the InsurTech Accelerator program is a great opportunity to add to our entrepreneurial culture, and we look forward to working with the Startupbootcamp team and all the startups.”

Erika Bothma, Program Director, Hartford InsurTech Hub adds: “Our new collaboration with Crawford & Company will add claims management capabilities to our roster of partner expertise. We’re very excited to start working with the team at Crawford.”

Mitratech, the leading provider of legal, compliance, and risk management software solutions announced that TeamConnect, the market-leading ELM (enterprise legal management) platform, was rated the most widely used matter management system and the second most widely used e-Billing system in the 2017 HBR Consulting (HBR) Law Department Survey.

HBR's Law Department Survey released this month rated Mitratech's TeamConnect as the most widely used system for matter management out of the 13 systems included in the survey. All told, Mitratech's ELM solutions accounted for more than a third of the matter management user base. TeamConnect also was rated for the third year in a row as the second most widely used e-Billing system, continuing a years-long trend of customers shifting to Mitratech's integrated ELM platform from other point solutions. Customer satisfaction continues to remain high for TeamConnect for both matter management and e-Billing at ratings of 3.5 and 3.7 out of 4.

"It's wonderful to see that TeamConnect has again been rated as the most widely used platform by legal professionals and that we're continuing to see the market shift to our integrated matter management and e-billing solution," said Mitratech CEO Jason Parkman. "We've made decisions to invest not only in TeamConnect, but also in Collaborati, our e-billing product for law firms, at unprecedented levels. Those investments are paying off for our clients by delivering the most powerful and user friendly software in the ELM space."

HBR's Law Department Survey is the longest running source of benchmarking data for U.S. and global law departments. In addition to assessing law department performance and trends, the survey also explores law department participants' use and satisfaction of various legal technologies. The participants represented nearly 300 law departments in the U.S. and globally.

"Legal departments today understand how powerful technology drives strategic decisions to increase efficiencies and reduce costs," said Kevin Clem, managing director and practice group leader, law department consulting for HBR. "We applaud Mitratech for their impressive ratings. Clearly the company continues to deliver value to their clients."

Arya, an intelligent, open architecture digital services platform for both personal and business account holders, today announced the addition of fingerprint authentication for mobile devices and facial recognition for iPhone users to its fully integrated digital banking platform. Created by the founders of VSoft Corporation, Arya combines both mobile banking and digital banking with native, built-in features including VSoft’s industry-leading mobile deposit in a single solution.

The password system in the banking industry is somewhat broken. Between the growing threat of security breaches and the substantial effort it takes to manage multiple passwords for each retailer and app, it is time for a better approach, which involves leveraging an identifier distinct to each user—their fingerprint or facial features.

“End users desire two things when accessing applications: a frictionless experience and security,” said Murthy Veeraghanta, chairman and CEO of VSoft. “These two requirements present a problem to financial institutions that are tasked with protecting sensitive account data. Financial institutions are now challenged to strike a balance between delivering a frictionless experience without compromising security.”

Arya addresses these concerns with its fingerprint authentication function for mobile devices and facial recognition for iPhone users. Fingerprint authentication is the process of confirming the identity of a user though their unique fingerprint while facial recognition verifies a user’s identity through their facial features. After the user provides correct answers to their security questions and enables the available biometric authentication feature respective to their device, Arya will then allow users to view their account securely with a simple tap of their finger or quick facial scan.

Arya’s platform provides users with a frictionless and secure log-in experience, eliminating the need for financial institutions to balance conflicting customer expectations. Because the platform is designed to easily adapt to changing technology and heightened demands from today’s consumers and businesses, Arya allows financial institutions to take advantage of the latest innovations like biometric technologies without the added cost of development.

“Biometric authentication addresses both the security demands of today’s modern consumer and the speed at which banking and transactions need to occur,”Veeraghanta continued. “Quickly adapting to customer preferences, whether through enhanced security measures or a new mobile banking feature, ensures financial institutions are positioned for success, now and long-term.”