Published
- 01:00 am
Commonwealth Bank is putting the power of big data into the hands of small and medium businesses by launching a powerful new-to-market business analytics platform. The world-leading Daily IQ 2.0 platform brings together a suite of data feeds and online tools enabling businesses to not only monitor their performance in real-time and instantly view customer purchasing and demographic trends, but to model future scenarios based on a range of current financial and industry data.
“The reason the platform is so powerful is because it accesses CommBank’s 1.2 billion monthly transaction records and links to their bank accounts, point-of-sale information and many other relevant data feeds to give deep insights that typically only the biggest businesses have access to.”
Daily IQ 2.0 has already helped a number of businesses make important decisions including identifying opportunities about where to open a new store, which customer segments are most valuable and therefore better targets, and how to better manage cash-flow. It also enables a business to benchmark their current performance against industry peers, and track the spending patterns and demographics of customers in any location.
The platform, provided at zero cost to CommBank customers, combines an analysis of key financial metrics within a business - income and cash-in-hand, sales trends, profitability - with insights into the purchasing behaviours of their own customers including repeat purchases, average spend, age and location. The platform will be rolled out progressively, initially to small to medium sized businesses and then later this year to smaller and micro-sized businesses.
Ms Roberts said: “Through Daily IQ 2.0, our goal is to empower SMEs to take advantage of the scale of CommBank’s transaction information combined with important data feeds and scenario modelling to create a clearer daily picture of the opportunities and risks that exist within their business.
“SMEs are constantly being told about the benefits of big data, but the reality is that many don’t know where to start or have the time and expertise to produce insights that actually impact their day-to-day decision-making.”
The launch of the new platform comes as a survey of SMEs reveals that half use ‘gut-feel’ in decision-making, with only 34 per cent using data and most citing lack of time and associated costs as the major barriers to leveraging big data. Despite this, SMEs indicated that they would derive the greatest benefit from big data in the areas of long-term planning, cost reduction and customer experience and loyalty.
“Our research tells us SMEs want to use data in operational decision making and now they can in a simple and easy way, every day, over their morning coffee or as part of a regular meeting routine. Many small businesses owners are not experts at data analysis, but Daily IQ does that for them and gives them more time to focus on what they do best,” Ms Roberts said.
Daily IQ 2.0 is integrated within the existing functionality of Commonwealth Bank’s online banking portal, NetBank, and business banking platform, CommBiz.
- 07:00 am
NCR Corporation, a global leader in omni-channel solutions, has launched the NCR Silver family of point-of-sale (POS) solutions to Australian retail, service and restaurant merchants. NCR Silver is an integrated payment, marketing and management solution that can transform a tablet into a complete POS system, capable of sales reporting, employee management, inventory management and more.
One of NCR Silver’s first customers is Sydney-based Arepas Australia, which currently operates two markets. The popular Venezuelan restaurant chose the NCR Silver Pro Restaurant app for its intuitiveness and quick access to sales reporting.
“I find it very user-friendly and easy to use,” said Arepas Australia owner Ybrahim Camero. “With NCR Silver, I can see trends, I can do email marketing, I can see what my top seller is. It’s a super comprehensive system that gives me everything I need.”
NCR Silver launched in the United States four years ago to address the needs of small businesses, which often favour cloud-based technology.
“We’ve developed NCR Silver specifically for the small business market in mind,” said Adam McArdle, Regional Director, APAC, NCR. “We understand the challenges small businesses face, what’s going to make an impact on their bottom line and the value they place on customers, so we’re confident that this new offering will help them manage and grow their business.”
The new NCR Silver suite of software solutions includes:
· NCR Silver core app - offers mobile payments, intuitive sales reporting, integrated loyalty and more, and is suitable for small to medium-sized businesses
· NCR Silver Pro Restaurant app - designed for food-service merchants who want to serve customers faster, optimise staffing, manage table locations, provide promotional pricing and more
NCR Silver operates on iOS and closed Android devices.
NCR Silver offers 24/7 customer support and the unique Silver Concierge service, which provides initial remote setup and remote monthly menu maintenance.
“NCR’s focus is on developing technology that gives small businesses the freedom and flexibility they need to make life easier,” said Chris Poelma, president and general manager of NCR Silver. “NCR Silver has a low cost of entry and quick, professional implementation support so customers can get up and running faster with minimal disruption.”
Pricing and availability
NCR Silver core and NCR Silver Pro Restaurant are available for download from the Apple App Store and work on compatible iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices running iOS 7.1. They also work on Silver Register, a closed all-in-one Android platform.
- 05:00 am
Wirecard has successfully promoted the digitalisation of payment processes through Internet technology on a global scale and achieved its growth targets for 2016 as a result.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased in 2016 compared to the previous year by 35.2 percent to EUR 307.4 million (PY: EUR 227.3 million). In the 2016 fiscal year, the EBITDA margin increased to 29.9 percent. The cash flow from operating activities (adjusted) amounted to EUR 283.0 million (2015: EUR 199.7 million).
In the 2016 fiscal year, earnings after tax increased by 87.0 percent to EUR 266.7 million (PY: EUR 142.6 million). Adjusted for the income from the sale of shares in Visa Europe to Vis Inc., earnings after tax amounted to EUR 176.7 million. Earnings per share increased by 86.0 percent to EUR 2.16 (PY: EUR 1.16). Adjusted for the special effect from the sale of Visa Europe, earnings per share stood at EUR 1.43. The Management Board will propose to this year's Annual General Meeting that a dividend of EUR 0.16 per share (PY: EUR 0.14) is paid to shareholders.
Outlook
Internet technologies are increasingly driving the convergence of all sales channels. As a leader for innovation in the digitalisation of payment processes and card products, Wirecard AG has taken up a leading competitive position to benefit from this trend.
Wirecard CEO Markus Braun commented: “Alongside the continuously strong growth of e-commerce, we identify additional stimulus for growth in the area of omnichannel solutions and connected commerce due to the advancing digitalisation of bricks-and-mortar retailing. We want to support companies to benefit from integrated and digitalised payment solutions and value added services.”
- 01:00 am
Tradeshift, the world’s biggest business commerce platform, has partnered with CreditEase to deliver a trade financing app that will bring low-cost financing to millions of businesses in China. CreditEase, the largest peer-to-peer lender in China (and globally), can now deliver accounts receivables financing to millions of fast-growing small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“The new CreditEase app on the Tradeshift platform provides a powerful peer-to-peer financing option for hundreds of thousands of China-based exporters," said Mikkel Hippe Brun, co-founder and senior vice president, APAC, Tradeshift. “This a true fintech partnership and will build solutions enabling businesses to take greater control over their working capital health, leading to a stronger and more reliable supply chain in China.”
Through the company’s venture fund, CreditEase New Financial Industry Investment Fund, CreditEase will work with Tradeshift to jointly develop solutions that enhance traditional supply chain finance services. The aim is to improve the success rate and efficiency for suppliers and buyers by providing a unified, innovative, automated and on-demand online financial service.
“Our objective is to optimize the entire supply chain funding process,” commented CreditEase CEO Ning Tang. “The collaboration between CreditEase and Tradeshift will be extended from the electronic invoice to the upstream and downstream supply chain processes, creating a closer trade link for global sourcing and supplier interconnection.”
The partnership is the latest in a string of announcements from the region. In late 2016, Tradeshift announced the launch of two joint ventures in China to connect millions of trading partners, digitalize the transactions between them, and offer accessible financial services to SMEs in the region. With over four years of experience in China, Tradeshift is leading the way in addressing China’s growing market and supply chain, and with the help of partnerships and integrations such as the CreditEase app and joint ventures, the company is on track to process upwards of 100 million transactions per year across supply chains throughout China.
- 01:00 am
Today Cobalt DL, the FX post-trade processing network based on distributed ledger technology, announced a partnership with LMRKTS, who will be the first firm to offer services on its revolutionary BlueSky service, the shared ledger component of Cobalt’s platform.
Cobalt delivers a private peer-to-peer network that significantly reduces post-trade costs and risk for institutions operating in today’s FX markets. The Cobalt platform is designed to create a single, shared view of a transaction on shared infrastructure and allows clients to reduce reconciliation and operational costs by up to 80%.
The Cobalt BlueSky service is a secure repository of unique shared FX contracts and the staging area for life-cycle events, risk reduction and preparation of trades for settlement finality. Cobalt BlueSky enables third party technology providers to facilitate and develop their own applications based on access to the database of reconciled transaction data created by the Cobalt network. Access by these technology partners to the BlueSky database will be subject to governing legal service agreements with Cobalt participants who retain control over their data.
LMRKTS provides multi-lateral portfolio compression in a way that drives down exposures and reduces costs for every participant in different asset classes and applications. Because it is delivered as an analytic that bolts on to existing and new infrastructure, it provides both scale and seamless processing to LMRKTS’ clients. By partnering with Cobalt BlueSky, LMRKTS will be able to offer improved multi-lateral compression services to the broader group of Cobalt’s ledger members as well as existing LMRKTS customers. LMRKTS will use Cobalt’s reconciled transaction data to drive compression algorithms. Results are seamlessly delivered back to Cobalt.
In the future, Cobalt BlueSky will enable partners to provide services such as risk analytics, transaction cost analysis, regulatory reporting or clearing. In partnership, Cobalt and its clients offer a clear solution to the industry problem of costly and inefficient legacy infrastructure. The Cobalt platform can guarantee the delivery of 1 million messages per second as well as storing transactions on its shared secure global network.
Lucio Biase, CEO of LMRKTS, commented: “We are always on the lookout for industry trusted partnerships that advance the needs of our clients by delivering broader, more innovative product offerings to the market. Secure and rapid access to transaction data, provided by Cobalt and its BlueSky service, will enable LMRKTS to reduce cost, risk and reliance on legacy systems for our expanding client base.”
Adrian Patten, Co-Founder and Chairman of Cobalt, said: “We are delighted to welcome LMRKTS as a BlueSky partner. Our partnership brings together 18 of the leading FX participants to take advantage of LMRKTS improved compression services and is the next step in our mission to cut costs and reduce risk for all market participants. We look forward to increasing the number of collaborations over the coming weeks and months”.
- 01:00 am
Today Neptune Networks Ltd., the fixed income market network for pre-trade indications in bonds, reported that it has completed connectivity to FlexTrade’s buy-side EMS platform, FlexTRADER, to distribute high quality, pre-trade data to assist investors with liquidity and price discovery within existing workflows.
With 22 dealers committed to the platform, over $110bn of gross notional and more than 20,000 axe/inventory items updating real time across 11,000 individual bonds (including Investment Grade, High Yield, Emerging Markets and select Rates from 20 different denominations), Neptune continues to expand from its original focus on European corporate bonds to a portfolio that also reflects the global nature and reach of its user base.
Matthew York, Product Owner – Fixed Income at FlexTrade, commented: "Quality, targeted pre-trade indications are a key component to assist buy-side traders in implementing their desired execution policy. Using this information in pre-trade venue selection along with recording the available data throughout the order and execution lifecycle will aide dealers in fulfilling their best execution requirements. The standardised, commoditised delivery mechanism Neptune employs allows this to be integrated into FlexTRADER in an efficient and cost effective way.”
Neptune offers a commoditised and open standard FIX network that allows banks and investors to exchange-controlled and targeted real-time axe and inventory using a robust data governance model. It minimises unintended information leakage whilst remaining part of the investor’s existing workflow. By focusing on the creation of a technology utility to directly exchange this information, Neptune enables greater transparency of trading interests between buyers and sellers of bonds – usually banks and investors such as asset managers.
The Neptune network allows asset managers to connect to the sell-side via any combination of the Neptune GUI, proprietary OMS/EMS or OMS/EMS providers such as FlexTrade. The flexibility of connectivity options means they will be receiving real-time, pre-trade indications from multiple banks through a single connection that is integrated into their current workflow.
Grant Wilson, CEO, Neptune Networks Ltd, said: “We are pleased to have our latest EMS connected to Neptune and we look forward to partnering with further providers in the coming weeks and months as we continue to expand access to the platform. Enhancing the flow of electronic pre-trade information has been a focus of market participants for many years. For Neptune to have achieved such a significant amount of aggregated liquidity from market leading institutions in a relatively short period is testament both to our core principles of standardisation and to the tremendous support we have had from banks and asset managers who have collaborated closely with us and each other, to create an open standard, technology-based, non-profit utility.”
As more participants join and the quantity of data increases, it is a core principle of the Neptune network to enhance the quality of the data. Neptune’s unique combination of data ownership, open-standard technology and collaboration creates an environment where the sell-side are comfortable delivering the highest quality, structured data to their clients. This quality will continue to be a core focus for the Neptune utility as the participants and data on the network grow.
Byron Cooper-Fogarty, Head of Sales, Neptune Networks Ltd, said: “Connectivity to an EMS vendor such as FlexTrade is precisely what our buy-side clients are seeking from Neptune. It provides the ability to consume an aggregated feed of the highest quality bond axes, which in turn allows them to be more targeted in their enquiries for large size bond execution. As the EMS becomes a more important part of fixed income, we are well placed to serve our clients with minimal disruption to their workflow.”
- 01:00 am
Basel, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), the organization responsible for ensuring the operational integrity of the Global Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) System, calls on market participants that will have to comply with the forthcoming European Union (EU) revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Regulation (MiFIR) to obtain an LEI as soon as possible. Failure to obtain an LEI (by the firm or its client) in time will prevent firms from being able to comply with the reporting requirements applicable in the EU as of 3 January 2018. To further streamline the issuance of LEIs, GLEIF has introduced the concept of the ‘Registration Agent’, which allows organizations to help their clients to access the network of LEI issuing organizations.
MiFID II and MiFIR, which cover trading venues, investment firms and intermediaries, will take effect on 3 January 2018. The MiFID II/MiFIR implementing legislative acts require a significant number of actors to obtain an LEI that are under no such obligation to date. With regard to transaction reporting under MiFIR, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has clarified that investment firms should obtain LEIs from their clients before providing services which would trigger reporting obligations in respect of transactions carried out on behalf of those clients.
The concept of the Registration Agent, introduced by GLEIF, helps investment firms and their clients to comply with reporting requirements in general. The Registration Agent’s role in the Global LEI System is directly connected to the LEI issuing organization. LEI issuing organizations – also referenced as Local Operating Units – supply registration, renewal and other services, and act as the primary interface for legal entities wishing to obtain an LEI.
The Registration Agent may choose to partner with one or more LEI issuing organizations to ensure its clients’ needs for LEI services are met. Possible tasks performed by a Registration Agent include:
- Publishing information on its website to help a legal entity apply for an LEI with an LEI issuing organization.
- Managing communications with the legal entity.
- Collecting and transmitting to the LEI issuing organization the information required to verify the existence of the entity applying for the LEI.
- 06:00 am
Mirasys Ltd., one of the leading suppliers of open platform Video Management and Visual Intelligence Solutions, introduces a new generation video management system: Mirasys VMS V8. The new V8 scales more than ever to different size environments, meets customers’ demanding versatile needs and offers several additional applications that improve the efficiency of customers’ daily operations. Mirasys V8 includes three different product variants: Ikon, Entegra and Stratos. Entegra is already available in March, 2017 and the other two variants will be available in the autumn, 2017.
Mirasys VMS V8 is fast and easy to install. Special attention has been paid to the efficient centralized maintenance and management demanded by the networked video management systems. Petri Bäckström, VP of Product Management, says: “Our goal is to get the software deployment costs to less than half of the current level. From the autumn 2017 onwards centralized remote management, diagnostics maintenance and updating of servers, client applications and drivers do not require on-site travel any more. Ready-made templates speed the information input to the system and installation work. User profiles are easy to create, manage, and modify. Servers can be pre-configured before the delivery on site, and pre-installed and pre-configured cameras and applications on servers save time.”
You can fully modify the very modern user interface of the Mirasys VMS V8 based on your unique needs and preferences. The UI is easy to learn for novice users, yet it has powerful features and customization for professional users. In the autumn a new HTML5 browser-based client user interface provides easy access to the Mirasys system from everywhere: desktop, tablet and mobile.
Companies and communities have more cameras and megapixels in use. Frame rates and bitrates have increased and there is a need for more server capacity. Systems simply need to perform better to be able to use the visual information received from the cameras. Petri Bäckström explains: “Mirasys VMS V8 meets and exceeds scalability and performance demands set by the latest camera technologies - giving total freedom in designing the VMS system. Among other things, Mirasys TruStore Technology provides unlimited storage possibilities.”
V8 provides versatile connectivity possibilities with which system integrators can customize and differentiate the service offering per customer. Mirasys VMS has a comprehensive support already in place for thousands of different devices. The possibilities to link video to other information channels and use the improved situational awareness in operations will be more and more important in the future of the video management. This future is supported by the new, intelligent Mirasys Smart Event Management integration platform introduced for external systems and which makes possible the intelligent two-way communication between systems.
Current customers having a networked Mirasys system can get all the V8 benefits for their use as the V8 Master Server supports also V6 and V7 networked VMS servers. For centralized networked system owners, it is not mandatory to upgrade local/individual VMS servers. It is enough to upgrade the Master Server and client applications to V8. Other VMS servers can be updated when the age of the hardware or increased performance demands require it. This means significantly lower TCO.
- 03:00 am
Diebold Nixdorf (DBD) is demonstrating a new, innovative banking concept, Essence, that features a sleek, modern design and user interface to advance the future of connected commerce. Powered by software-driven interactions, the intuitive multi-touch functionalities that consumers have come to expect from smartphones and tablets, such as swipe, scroll and smart zoom, enhance and modernize everyday consumer banking transactions.
Increased security: In addition to the encrypted touchscreen PIN entry and NFC authentication option, the magnetic stripe card reader found on traditional ATMs has been replaced with an EMV chip card reader to authenticate the consumer and eliminate the risk of card skimming.
Endless possibilities: An array of customizable colors and designs and electronic receipt capabilities provides consumers a glimpse into the future with this modern concept.
Miniaturized footprint: By eliminating the traditional magnetic stripe card reader, receipt printer and PIN pad, the concept meets the needs of busy, technology-minded consumers and the compact, through-the-wall design fits in busy environments without compromising valuable space.
"Our latest concept delivers the future of consumer transactions by reimagining what the self-service channel looks like," said Richard Harris, Diebold Nixdorf vice president, design and new technology incubation. "Diebold Nixdorf is uniquely positioned to connect physical and digital channels and guide financial institutions and retailers into the future of connected commerce."
- 08:00 am
Sibos has reported the host cities for both 2020 and 2021, which will be Boston and Singapore respectively. In 2020, Sibos returns to Boston and will welcome thousands of senior figures from the global financial services and technology communities to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (MCCA), one of North America’s largest venues.
It will provide the perfect platform for four days of high-level networking, discussion and debate as Sibos returns to a city renowned for its financial strength, asset management businesses, and science and technology scene.
Singapore will play host to Sibos for the third time in 2021, following successful runs in 2003 and 2015. This is the culmination of joint efforts by The Association of Banks in Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board, and Marina Bay Sands – which will be the venue and knowledge-exchange platform for Sibos for the second time.
Singapore’s role at the heart of developments in the ASEAN region, and the strengthening of its position as a FinTech hub are clear draws for delegates. The city-state has long been seen as a leader in digital innovation, with a highly connected telecoms infrastructure driving industry trends, such as mobile payments.
Sven Bossu, Head of Sibos at SWIFT, says: “After Toronto this year, Sydney in 2018 and London in 2019, we’ll be kicking off a new decade by bringing delegates to more of the world’s financial powerhouses.”
“We truly value the desire and commitment shown by the local communities and authorities in both of these fantastic cities, which have become firm friends and allies of Sibos. We look forward to working with them to deliver cutting-edge programmes that help the industry to make sense of a changing world.”
Sibos 2017 takes place on 16 to 19 October at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto. Future Sibos venues include Sydney in 2018 and London in 2019.
