Published
- 04:00 am
Oracle today unveiled Oracle Utilities Customer to Meter, a comprehensive meter-to-cash solution for today's customer-first utility. Oracle Utilities Customer to Meter is the first offering to combine a market-leading customer information system (CIS) with a market-leading meter data management system (MDMS) into one solution with a single user interface.
Leveraging a single shared technology stack, this new solution can reduce utility costs due to faster implementation times, fewer integration points, and greater operational efficiencies. Oracle Utilities Customer to Meter delivers all of the benefits of a complete meter solution and a powerful customer platform, enabling utilities to more immediately and efficiently extract value from advanced metering infrastructure data to improve customer experience. With this streamlined approach, utilities can more easily design customer-centric, personalized programs and services, and prepare for the continued growth of smart meter programs. This holistic solution lays the groundwork for an evolving utility that wants to roll out smart meters in the future, without a major IT project.
"Utilities that leverage data to deliver an improved customer experience and more personalized programs - such as tailored time-of-use billing, or targeted home energy management advice - and do this with a single, integrated solution that combines customer and meter data, will be well poised to take advantage of the continued growth of smart meters and a smarter, more customer-centric grid", according to Roberta Bigliani, Vice President, IDC Energy Insights.
With rising customer expectations and expanding smart grids, utilities are turning to modern, comprehensive technologies that deliver world-class customer engagement and operational efficiencies. Oracle Utilities Customer to Meter provides the platform to respond to evolving market dynamics and quickly implement new business requirements that span metering, rate analysis, billing, collections and customer programs. For example, as electric utilities face increasing distributed generation they may test new rate structures to better manage demand. With Oracle Utilities Customer to Meter, months of customization can be reduced to hours of configuration and utilities can easily test and implement the changes necessary to evolve. Oracle Utilities Customer to Meter consolidates advanced usage and billing capabilities for all meters – from scalar to interval – so utilities can manage those meters and their data in one place and derive greater value from grid investments.
"Oracle Utilities continues to partner with utilities around the globe to solve the issue of increasing complexity in this rapidly transforming industry. Simplifying meter-to-cash processes is an important part of those partnerships. This new solution does exactly that: it allows utilities to get up and running in a matter of months with a complete meter-to-cash solution and allows them to leverage that complete solution to streamline business processes and easily stay ahead of rapidly evolving business drivers impacting how they serve their customers," said Rodger Smith, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.
- 01:00 am
Apptio, the business management system of record for hybrid IT, today announced real-time analytics for managing and optimizing public cloud costs in AWS. The new capability gives IT leaders real-time visibility into the cost and consumption of public cloud IaaS/PaaS environments alongside on-premises and private cloud investments. With this innovation, Apptio further extends its lead as the only product capable of managing the "true cost of ownership" of Hybrid IT.
According to recent Gartner research, "Top Challenges Facing I&O Leaders in 2017 and What to Do About Them," formulating and implementing a successful hybrid cloud strategy remains the single greatest challenge for infrastructure and operations teams. Managing the cost of cloud migration, public cloud sprawl, data center efficiency, SaaS applications and internal physical infrastructure is complex and highly variable. As public cloud spending continues to grow across multiple vendors, cost and utilization are captured in complicated invoices containing millions of line items which only further intensifies the problem.
The agility provided by the cloud is a necessity for IT leaders focused on driving innovation at the pace of business, but because cloud services charge by the hour based on usage and consumption, it is easy for costs to quickly spiral out of control and become unsustainable. IT leaders must optimize their public cloud spend to drive better decision-making and alignment with business priorities. With the addition of real-time analytics for the cloud, Apptio's applications now give IT leaders more proactive control over cloud spend and consumption.
"IT is mission critical to the business with the power to accelerate market-shaping innovation and new customer experiences through cloud technology," said Sunny Gupta, Apptio CEO. "Yet, enterprise tech leaders are looking for more flexibility than on-premises solutions offer. By embracing hybrid IT and real-time cloud costing, CIOs and their teams can avoid surprises and move from reactive fire-fighting to proactive delivery of business value that impacts the bottom line."
These new capabilities quickly and easily identify valuable insights from the vast amount of data included within public cloud invoices. Customers can view their cloud spend on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis to proactively monitor spend and spot trends. IT can also leverage a standard model delivered by Apptio to allocate cloud cost and consumption directly to the infrastructure, applications and services each business unit consumes.
- 08:00 am
Symphony Software Foundation (the Foundation), the nonprofit organization fostering open source software (OSS) innovation in financial services, on the Symphony secure collaboration platform and beyond, announced that Ipreo, a leading global provider of market intelligence and productivity solutions to financial services and corporate professionals, joined the community as its latest Gold Member.
As part of its engagement, Ipreo will take on an active role in the Foundation. Ken Watson, Chief Technology Officer at Ipreo, has been elected a Gold Director of the Board. Ipreo will engage in Foundation Working Groups such as the API Working Group, focused on Symphony platform APIs to enable server-side integrations with third-party technologies, and the Financial Objects Standardization Working Group, tasked to develop standard patterns of usage and representation to facilitate financial interactions involving humans through the Symphony platform.
Gabriele Columbro, Executive Director, Symphony Software Foundation, said, “We are excited to see a leading fintech player like Ipreo joining our Foundation. This is yet another testament to the increasing momentum in the interest for a true open ecosystem and interoperability within financial services. Fintech platform providers such as Ipreo realize the commercial benefits of collaborating in the open to maximize adoption, interoperability and developer engagement on common platforms, while focusing on delivering true competitive differentiators.”
In joining the Foundation, Ipreo adds to an impressive lineup of active member firms including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BlackRock, BNY Mellon, ChartIQ, Citadel, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, FactSet, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ICAP, IHS Markit, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, OpenFin, S&P Global Markets Intelligence, The Beast Apps, Tick42, Tradeweb and Wells Fargo.
- 04:00 am
Yandex.Money, the largest online payment service in Russia, brings its users a new method of contactless payments — via Android Pay.
Android Pay enables users to pay for their purchases from smartphone bringing the device to the contactless terminal. For that, download the Android Pay application and link it to a Yandex.Money virtual or plastic card. Users also need to activate the NFC function on their mobile devices. Contactless payments can be confirmed with a fingerprint or a smartphone password, and in some cases, with the PIN code of the bank card. Payments for purchases via Android Pay can be made from Android smartphones version KitKat 4.4 and later, as well as from Android Wear 2.0 smartwatches. This works for both — offline payments and payments in mobile applications.
Thanks to Yandex.Checkout, Russia’s leading payment service provider, companies can receive payments via Android Pay in mobile applications. Online merchants will see the payment via Android Pay as a usual purchase from a bank card. Users will not have to enter any payment data — everything is already stored and securely encrypted in their phone.
Payments via Android Pay are completely safe — each operation is protected by Mastercard Digital Enhancement Service (MDES).
Russia has now become the eleventh country to introduce Android Pay— after the USA, the UK, Japan and others. In addition to Android Pay, Yandex.Money provides contactless payments via Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and using NFC or QR codes in Yandex.Money app. Contactless payments by Mastercard are currently being accepted by more than 6 million merchants in 96 countries, 50 of which are in Europe. Over the past year, the share of contactless payments made through Yandex.Money has grown by 13%. In order to pay contactless 81% of Yandex.Money users issue virtual Mastercards.
- 03:00 am
Euro Automatic Cash, a joint venture in which Banco Popular Español has a 50 percent share, is transforming its ATM network to reflect its new corporate branding and image with state-of-the-art ATMs from NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR), a global leader in omni-channel solutions and market leader in Spain according to Retail Banking Research.
“Euro Automatic Cash aims to provide a highly available service to direct clients, as well as customers of other financial institutions, offering them modern ATMs that deliver a compelling user experience,” said José Rincón, Managing Director of Euro Automatic Cash. “We want our commitment to customer service to be reflected in the touchpoints that are the interface between our company and our customers.”
With the new ATM systems, Euro Automatic Cash will be able offer new features and services to its financial institution customers in the future, such as cash recycling, targeted advertising and personalized services through its self-service terminals.
Carlos García Reig, General Director of Financial Services at NCR Spain added, “Euro Automatic Cash is a remarkable example of the value that deploying our SelfServ ATMs and security software bring in operational efficiencies, great consumer experiences and exceptional service delivery. This enables financial institutions to reflect their brand and support their brand promises.”
- 06:00 am
Diebold Nixdorf, the global leader in connected commerce, today announced a strategic partnership with Kony, Inc., the leading enterprise mobility and application company, to offer white label mobile application solutions for financial institutions and retailers.
Digital trends are impacting every touchpoint and this partnership aims to help banks and retailers on their digital transformation journey by putting the consumer at the center of the experience. To address key mobility trends around consumer loyalty and differentiated digital experiences, this partnership will focus on the following core areas:
Move to the next generation of mobile applications: DN Mobile will have a pre-packaged option, as well as a build-your-own toolkit to empower financial institutions and retailers to innovate quickly and better engage with their customers.
Engage the API economy: An open services-oriented application platform will facilitate new types of collaborations with payment providers, merchants and FinTechs.
Transcend legacy channel silos: Integrated software product lines will enable connected commerce across self-service, POS, branch and digital channels.
"This partnership marks a transformative moment for the industries we serve. We are extending our leadership in systems of engagement all the way from the branch and store through to cloud connected mobile applications for the consumer," said Alan Kerr, senior vice president, software, Diebold Nixdorf. "This extended reach into mobile applications will blend channels together in innovative new ways and propel our vision of connected commerce into the marketplace. We couldn't be more pleased to be partnering with Kony, the market leader, on this exciting journey."
Kony is recognized as a top leader by Gartner and Forrester, and is the largest mobility provider focused purely on cross-platform, cloud-based enterprise solutions. Kony serves more than 250 million mobile app users worldwide every day and manages more than 3.4 billion user sessions annually.
"We are thrilled to join forces with Diebold Nixdorf," said Thomas E. Hogan, chairman and chief executive officer, Kony, Inc. "Diebold Nixdorf's vision and commitment to connected commerce, combined with their domain expertise in banking and retail, make them the perfect partner for Kony. Our joint vision is clear: to deliver the industry's most innovative digital solutions. Together, we will disrupt and lead the market. "
- 06:00 am
Today Saxo Bank announces the release of its new developer portal. The portal provides technical documentation, reference guides, sample code and interactive tools for many of the technologies which in combination underpin Saxo’s Open Banking initiative. Saxo’s Open Banking strategy is built on the premise that going forward an increasingly broader range of partnerships and collaborations will be the new disruptive factor in the financial industry. As part of this vision, Saxo has made its multi-asset trading infrastructure available to a wide ecosystem of third-party developers, fintechs, vendors and partners, enabling them to connect their enterprises directly to Saxo’s complete trading engine.
Benny Boye Johansen, Head of Open API comments: “Open Banking has become a buzz word in the financial industry, but Saxo Bank’s multi-asset trading infrastructure is unique in actually making it possible to tap into almost any part of the value chain using a combination of APIs and technologies. Partnerships and collaboration are key to Saxo Bank’s business model as a facilitator, so we wanted the new portal to be a natural resource for developers no matter what case they were trying to fulfil.
Sometimes all requirements can be realized by a single API. For example, it is possible to write and integrate a complete trading platform via the SaxoOpenAPI, and if you are just looking for best in class liquidity and execution services, it is all available through our FIX technology. You may even combine the two technologies and use our FIX connectivity liquidity provision while at the same time use OpenAPI to source balance and margin information into your proprietary application or directly into Microsoft Excel.
At other times the full palette of technologies comes into play. A Saxo Bank White Label may use our Client Management Services API to create fund and manage their clients in our cloud. They may use our Trade Event Notification System to keep their systems in sync with client trading activity, and Saxo’s comprehensive list of End-of-Day files for all internal bookkeeping and reporting. Additionally, they can use SaxoOpenAPI to integrate trading directly into their web portal or to develop a completely bespoke user front-end either complementing or completely replacing our award winning SaxoTraderGO trading platform”.
The release of the new developer portal also brings significant improvements to Saxo Bank’s Open API offering. The documentation and the developer tools have been improved and more APIs have been added. This is in line with the strategy to gradually share new functionality on an ongoing basis as it is being made available and used by Saxo’s own trading platforms.
More information here: https://developer.saxo
- 07:00 am
Synechron Inc., the global financial services consulting and technology services provider, has today announced that demo versions of a select group of its blockchain accelerator applications will be made available on Microsoft Azure. These include the Blockchain Accelerator for Trade Finance now available on Quorum, the Blockchain Accelerator for Insurance Claims Processing on Ethereum, and the Blockchain Accelerator for Smart Margin Calls now available on Corda. This makes Synechron's Trade Finance Accelerator one of the first publicly viewable application to use the Quorum platform, demonstrating its Constellation and Enclave functionality for bank-driven requirements. These Accelerators will be available on Azure the week of May 22 and are currently available for a live demo at Consensus 2017 in New York, May 22-24.
Synechron, working in conjunction with the Microsoft Azure Blockchain team, are pleased to announce the general demo availability of three new Blockchain Accelerators on the Azure Marketplace. The Accelerators are industry-leading and award-winning applications that focus on six industry use cases: Trade Finance, KYC, Margin Call Management, Insurance Claims Processing, Mortgage Financing & Processing, and Global Payments. These solutions extend leading ledger platforms including Ethereum, Quorum, Hyperledger's Fabric, Corda, and Ripple. Synechron's Blockchain Accelerators can be rapidly deployed into the Microsoft cloud by anyone with an Azure subscription, making it easy for clients to choose a cloud-based deployment model with enterprise security in mind.
Marley Gray, Principal Architect for Azure Blockchain said, "Microsoft is building an open, ecosystem-driven platform for blockchain app development. Through partners like Synechron, we're empowering businesses to accelerate their own blockchain initiatives. We're excited to offer these three Accelerators, which show customers what blockchain applications could potentially look like."
Faisal Husain, Synechron CEO, said: "Developing innovative, real-world solutions drives everything we do, so being the first company to share working blockchain applications on Azure is incredibly significant for us. This week, users will be able to see how a blockchain really works and experience the different functionalities available across platforms. We have no doubt that this will help stimulate further interest in the potential of blockchain, enabling financial services firms to accelerate their blockchain initiatives."
More information these three blockchain applications from Synechron can be found below:
- Blockchain Accelerator for Trade Finance - creates digital versions of transactions, generates smart contracts, centralises underlying collateral information on a distributed ledger across a private network to increase efficiency, eliminates "double spend" fraud, enhances data quality and reduces settlement time.
- Blockchain Accelerator for Smart Margin Calls - uses smart contracts to determine the valuation of the trade portfolio, handles margin calls and initiates track and validates margin payments for increased efficiency, automated settlements, enhanced accuracy and significant cost-reduction.
- Blockchain Accelerator for Insurance Claims Processing - uses smart contracts, enables auto-execution of insurance claims and payments on an authoritative data feed for reduced risk and fraud and decreased processing costs.
- 01:00 am
Barings, one of the world's leading asset management firms, today launched a global brand advertising campaign articulating its commitment to meeting the ever-changing needs and aspirations of its clients by providing a broad set of innovative, customized investment solutions across asset classes and geographies.
"Adaptability - the new look of partnership" is the central theme of the campaign, which will run through early December and will be seen in over 10 languages in markets across the U.S., Europe and Asia. An initial focus on digital media will be augmented in coming months by print advertising in the world's leading financial news outlets.
"Barings' legacy is one of continuously adapting to meet the evolving needs of our clients, and investors in today's challenging environment are telling us this is more important to them than ever before," said Thomas M. Finke, chairman and chief executive officer of Barings. "Barings is committed to being a strategic long-term partner to our clients, and we believe our ability to innovate and customize solutions across our global investment platform to meet a client's specific needs is the essence of partnership."
With more than $280 billion under management and investment teams in the U.S., Europe and Asia, Barings combines deep experience across fixed income, equities, real estate and alternative asset markets with capital solutions including the direct origination of debt to finance clients' capital needs.
The firm's global scale, breadth and depth of expertise across a wide variety of liquid and illiquid asset classes and geographic markets provide clients access to differentiated investment opportunities, portfolio diversification and opportunities to benefit from shifting relative values within and between asset classes as well as from region to region.
- 03:00 am
Ria Money Transfer ("Ria") the third largest money transfer company in the world and subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT) has signed direct partnership agreements with three of India's leading cash remittance payout agents, Paul Merchants Limited, Weizmann Forex Limited and Transcorp International Limited.
Ria's new principal agents are well-recognized in India and all have more than 15 years' experience in the money transfer sector. With the addition of Paul Merchants Limited, Weizmann Forex Limited and Transcorp International Limited, Ria will upgrade its cash payout network during the next 12 months by adding tens of thousands of high-quality retail and non-banking financial company locations across India. The robust and ubiquitous network will provide Ria with increased brand recognition across India, while providing tremendous convenience and accessibility for beneficiaries to easily receive cash remittances.
Juan Bianchi, CEO & President of Ria Money Transfer, said: "By partnering with Paul Merchants Limited, Weizmann Forex and Transcorp International, Ria will raise the quality of its existing network in India and provide customers with a ubiquitous spread of locations to receive cash remittances from their loved ones, no matter where they reside. We look forward to having long-term, successful partnerships with all our principal agents, and warmly welcome them to the Ria family."
There are approximately 15.6 million Indians living outside their country of birth, making them the largest diaspora group globally. India is also the number one recipient of migrant remittances, worldwide, receiving $62.7 billion in 20161.
The announcement follows a launch event in Dubai, where Ria announced its expansion and ramp-up in the Middle East with more than 50 business partnerships in the banking and financial services sector. Ria's regional headquarters in Dubai will also serve as the base for its ongoing global growth strategy in this region.
Ria's expansion in the Middle East is the most recent in a line of strategic moves for the company, which forms part of Euronet's money transfer segment. Following Ria's 2015 acquisition of leading Malaysian money transfer business, IME2, the company also increased its footprint in Asia. The new Indian partnerships aim to strengthen Ria's Middle East operations and connect the different regions, allowing for the fast and reliable flow of remittances worldwide.
In 2015, GCC countries sent $38.6 billion to India, making it the world's largest sending region for remittances to India, while the United States was the second top remittance sending country, responsible for sending $11.7 billion. Combined, this represents 73 percent of the total amount sent to India that year3.
Ria already has a strong network worldwide, including in top remittance sending countries where many Indians reside. In the US and Spain, customers can also make transfers to India online, at www.riamoneytransfer.com and www.riamoneytransfer.es and in the UK through Asda Money Transfer Powered by Ria. In addition to cash pick-up, Ria also offers bank deposit services which allow customers to transfer money to any bank account in India.
