Fidor, the advanced provider of digital banking solutions that helps firms launch and run their own digital banks, today signed a partnership agreement with Van Lanschot, the leading wealth management firm, founded in 1737 in the Netherlands. 

The partnership will enable Van Lanschot to upgrade their payments software and infrastructure using the Fidor digital banking solution. As part of the agreement, Fidor will manage user and account data and will process Van Lanschot’s payments flows within its fidorOS (fOS) platform in addition to modernising the user experience with iOS and Android native mobile applications and a desktop internet banking platform front end.

This agreement means that, over time, Van Lanschot clients will enjoy an improved and modern user experience across a range of value added services: an innovative and modern mobile payment app, on-us real-time payments, multiple accounts in multiple currencies, global money transfers, P2P transfers in addition to special services for the Dutch market such as iDEAL payments and Acceptgiro.

This partnership comes at a time where banks will soon be facing pressure to comply with the new Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The fidorOS platform is built using open APIs and geared for the future. The integration of fidorOS will provide Van Lanschot’s platform with added benefits such as significant cost efficiencies, added flexibility and fast implementation while reducing risks for Van Lanschot to enter into a major and costly infrastructure change on their back end.

“To be working with the most reputable wealth management bank in the Netherlands shows how far the belief in the effectiveness of digital banking has now progressed. This partnership with Van Lanschot marks the launch of Fidor’s Payments Avenue, which will be extended to other European countries and offered to banks that wish to join our payment business model as a service,” said Ge Drossaert, Chief Commercial Officer and Member of the Board at Fidor AG.

Richard Bruens, member of the Executive Board of Van Lanschot, said: “This is an important step, as it will allow us over time to provide our clients with state-of-the-art payments services and products. In Fidor Solutions, we believe to have found the best partner to improve our offering and focus even more on our core business, wealth management. Fidor’s Payments Avenue also opens up a multitude of opportunities as banks are given more chance to collaborate together”.

Fiserv, Inc., the world leading provider of financial services technology solutions, revealed today that Raddon Financial Group has relaunched with an updated slate of research and consulting services for financial institutions. These services are designed to provide banks and credit unions with the insight and direction they need to navigate an increasingly competitive market. As part of the relaunch the company has been rebranded as Raddon^SM, a Fiserv company. A redesigned website at raddon.com offers access to research reports and provides insights via the Raddon Report blog.

“Raddon has been a sought-after source of financial industry insights and expertise for more than 30 years,” said Chris Canton, senior vice president, Raddon. “In today’s rapidly changing world, bank and credit union clients rely on us for information that helps them anticipate future demand and positions them to grow. We’re changing how we go to market with a focus on delivering actionable insights that enable our clients to better serve their customers and members.”  

The heightened emphasis on research and consulting is evident in the company’s investment in services such as Raddon Research Insights, Performance Analytics and consulting.

Raddon Research Insights

Raddon Research Insights, an evolution of the former Raddon Strategic Planning Study Group, examines the financial behaviors, intentions and attitudes of consumers and small businesses in the United States. Research delves into topics such as usage of banking channels (branch, online, mobile, etc.), technology adoption, financial product design and usage, and the competitive landscape. In order to capture the rapid changes taking place in these areas, Raddon will conduct a minimum of eight topical research studies per year. Findings will be shared with subscribers via research papers and webinars.

“The pace of change in financial services is extremely rapid, driven by new technologies and changing user expectations,” said Bill Handel, vice president of research, Raddon. “Frequent research ensures our clients are able to stay up to date with information on how people are managing their financial lives. We help our clients spot trends and changes so they can be ready to serve customers in the ways they expect.”

Raddon will also launch a new conference, the Raddon Research Conference, to establish a forum to share and discuss research findings as well as their practical application through marketing and business strategies.

Performance Analytics

Performance Analytics, formerly known as the Raddon CEO Strategies Group, provides new product ideas, strategies for segmentation, insights on pricing, profitability measurement, and actionable insights based on a financial institution’s own unique data. Specific areas analyzed can range from branch optimization to loan growth. Twice a year, clients receive a detailed performance and opportunities report customized to their financial institution.

Raddon will continue to host its annual Raddon CEO Forum featuring strategy sessions targeted to large credit union executives. Raddon also offers semi-annual Performance Analytics workshops, where participants can review results from their organization and interact with peers to share best practices.

Consulting

The new Raddon consulting suite has three pillars: Strategy Services, Marketing Services, and Sales and Service Culture Transformation.

Raddon combines unique industry expertise with proprietary research, analytics and benchmarking diagnostics to tailor market-driven strategies for sustainable performance improvements and measurable results. Senior level financial services consultants at Raddon help financial institutions ensure a solid differentiated strategic foundation, create segment-specific growth strategies, align products and services with customer needs, create marketing and communication plans and improve sales and service productivity.

Gini has chosen data-aggregation specialist eWise to deliver Hong Kong’s first ever customer relationship management platform to create customer loyalty programs through the secure aggregation of end-user’s credit cards and bank accounts. 

Gini is an online-to-offline digital commerce technology that enables merchants and marketers to target loyalty and rewards based on actual transaction data from banks, and represents a technological breakthrough for marketers, who have long struggled to properly target consumers in a market dominated by offline spending.  Launching in Hong Kong in Q2 2017, the CRM platform will help merchants identify and reward customers with discounts, offers and incentives based on actual spending habits. Users will be able to redeem cash-back rewards by simply using any credit card linked to the app, without any need for vouchers. Merchants will not need to adapt their hardware to track loyalty points as customer loyalty will be measured through Gini’s data science. 

Gini deploys the eWise AEGIS aggregation platform to pool multiple end-user credit cards and bank accounts, along with the eWise Categorisation-as-a-Service  (CaaS) artificial intelligence API to analyse individual spending patterns. Combined, this personal finance technology will identify the customers that merchants are targeting, and directly offer them loyalty rewards and offers through the platform. The collaboration with Gini marks eWise’s first Hong Kong partner, and is comprised of a local dream-team of founding entrepreneurs; brothers Calvin Lang (梁敬汪) and Victor Lang (梁敬熙), and their cousin ex-Citibank Vice-President, Raymond Wyand.

CEO, Raymond Wyand said: “Gini will give Hong Kong’s residents an intuitive relationship with their favorite vendors, enabling truly targeted discounts. Unlike other apps which have a scatter-gun approach to loyalty points, Gini deploys proprietary data technology to identify customers deserving of rewards. This saves the merchant valuable time, improving an indispensable element of Hong Kong’s personal finance eco-system, all while maintaining user privacy.”

Once billed as a leading young entrepreneur by Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek Asia, COO Victor Lang said: “eWise has been a tremendous partner for us. Their emphasis on best-in-class security and data privacy protection allowed us to create an in-device solution that ensures total user privacy. Through eWise, we can get a holistic view of end-users’ spending, and merchants signed on to the Gini platform won’t have to change their transaction software to keep track of their most loyal customers. Given our experience so far, it’s no surprise to me that HSBC group and Westpac have also chosen eWise as partners.

David Hamilton, CEO of eWise said: “For their personalised rewards solution, Gini needed a reliable and robust transaction categorisation API, and the security of client-side data aggregation supplied through the eWise AEGIS platform. We’re delighted to have Gini as our first Hong Kong partner, as we continue our expansion into Asia markets.”

Gini was recently admitted into the Cyberport Incubation Programme, a Hong Kong government backed initiative to support entrepreneurs. Gini’s launch coincides with Hong Kong’s emergence as a Fintech player driven by Hong Kong’s robust capital markets, banking experience and the city’s gradual cultural shift from conservatism to experimentation as signaled by Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority September 2016 launch of a regulatory sandbox to drive innovation.

Gini is a member of the CardLinx Association, a non-profit professional consortium with a mission to increase the interoperability and promote the growth of online-to-offline commerce and card linking. Other members of the CardLinx Association include Microsoft, Mastercard, Discover, Facebook, AirBNB, Hilton, Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, and Samsung.

Misys is making gamification an integral part of its Misys FusionBanking Essence Digital platform to help banks educate the next generation on better money management. Integrating Moroku’s GameSystem directly into the Essence Digital architecture enables banks to inject some fun into personal financial management (PFM) and help consumers achieve their savings goals.

“Digitalisation has completely changed the way that people interact and we believe the next generation will be more incentivised through gamification,” said Simon Paris, President at Misys. “Supporting better financial management and education in banking is a powerful tool that moves consumer experience beyond the transactional and opens the door to bring people of all age groups into the savings fold. Working with Moroku to apply today’s digital habits to driving better money management makes sense and is an important move as empowering financial literacy is becoming ever more crucial.”

With research suggesting that consumers spend more than one billion hours a month playing mobile games, the case for gamification in helping banks to attract, engage and retain customers is compelling. Banks stand to benefit from building greater trust with consumers and capturing market share. Gamification can also deliver a significant boost to customer experience. FusionBanking Essence Digital brings points, leaderboards and rewards to standard banking activity, to educate and also support savings and spend management.

Colin Weir, CEO at Moroku said, “Banking and finance is rarely considered fun. In fact it is often boring and complex, and can feel unrewarding in the short term. Our software helps banks build and run contemporary digital experiences for their customers. The purpose is to drive engagement, literacy and action by adding a touch of creativity and eliciting an emotional reaction. Integrating our software with Misys expands our reach to bring banks gamification functionality and ultimately help their customers succeed.”

Jost Hoppermann, VP & Principal Analyst, Forrester recently wrote*, “A great banking customer experience (CX) builds on great mobile or omnichannel banking capabilities with polished user interfaces (UIs). While the ability to efficiently and effectively support the configuration of predefined UIs to the individual needs of a bank will grow, Application Development & Delivery teams should not focus purely on channels and UI: They also need to look for gamification and social banking support to enrich the overall CX.”

Previously available as a standalone component, GameSystem (known as Gameo) is now delivered to banks on a single, scalable digital platform through FusionBanking Essence Digital. Available on premise and via the Misys FinCloud, it will further contribute to cost savings whilst ensuring easy upgrade paths and continuous innovation. 

eProseed will co-organize the 2017 edition of Oracle's Integration & API Cloud CAB Summit that will take place in Melbourne, Australia. The event will gather Oracle product managers, eProseed's leading experts, and selected customers from Japan and Asia-Pacific (JAPAC), a region in which eProseed has just set up its 9th subsidiary.

eProseed is pleased to announce its participation as an exclusive sponsor in the Oracle Integration & API Cloud Customer Advisory Board Summit for the JAPAC region to be held on March 15 & 16, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia.

The goal of the summit is to create a forum for the exchange of ideas with the Oracle Product Management and Engineering teams in order to provide feedback and help shape the future direction for Oracle Integration & API products both in the Cloud and on-premises. Participants will have a unique opportunity to share ideas, best practices, business use cases and solutions as well as learn from the experience of other Oracle customers drawn from multiple industries. 

eProseed's ACE Directors and members of Oracle's Product Management and Engineering teams will discuss, with a group of hand-picked participants, the transformation now taking place in the market as organizations are moving their business models to the cloud.

"This event is an invaluable opportunity to foster direct relationships with Oracle product teams, and actively influence Oracle product development lifecycle by providing feedback, validating strategies, or testing and evaluating beta releases. It is also a place of choice for sharing our hands-on experience with customers from throughout the JAPAC region", comments Geoffroy de Lamalle, eProseed's CEO.

The Oracle Integration & API Cloud CAB Summit in Melbourne comes as eProseed expands its products and services to a growing number of customers in the JAPAC area. "In particular, contacts have been established with central banks and regulators in the region and a strong interest was confirmed for eProseed FSIP, our supervision and insights platform, along with Oracle Fusion Middleware and Oracle Cloud Integration Services offered by eProseed", explains Geoffroy de Lamalle.

"Asia is now home to the world's fastest-growing economies, which contribute about 40 percent of global output and one-fourth of world trade. With growth come challenges. eProseed will continue to support customers in solving their hardest challenges", adds Jeroen Bolluijt, eProseed's Managing Partner for Australia & New Zealand.

The Oracle Integration & API Cloud CAB Summit will explore the new Oracle iPaaS integration services that enable users to quickly integrate on-premises and cloud, mobile or IoT applications, including Oracle Integration Cloud, Oracle SOA Cloud Service and Oracle API Manager Cloud Service.

iGTB, the Global Transaction Banking division of Intellect Design Arena Ltd, five Austrian Raiffeisen Regional Banks (Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien AG, Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark AG, Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich Aktiengesellschaft, Raiffeisen-Landesbank Tirol AG and Raiffeisenlandesbank Vorarlberg Waren- und Revisionsverband regristrierte Genossenschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) and Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), Vienna, a leading banking group in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe, have agreed a contract to implement a comprehensive digital trade finance platform.

The deal includes provision of both an advanced and intuitive client portal, as well as a full digital back-end infrastructure, thereby standardising Raiffeisen’s operations across numerous legal entities and client segments and providing guarantees, letters of credit, collections and financings through efficient digital channels.

The iGTB solution enables Raiffeisen to automate its operations better and adapt to continuing business and market demands. This includes the specifications for SWIFT’s upcoming trade finance changes in 2018 and 2019 further simplifying operations and reducing costs for the banks.

Sabine Zucker, Division Head Trade Finance & Transaction Banking Raiffeisen Bank International says: “This is an important programme for us, driving not only excellence and important improvements in our offering to clients, but also digitising and streamlining our internal processes and creating further efficiencies. iGTB’s technology will help us harmonising our processes as well as reducing risk and complexity in our operating model, with the concomitant benefits to our clients.”

Hans-Jörg Preining, Division Head of Operations, Raiffeisen Landesbank Oberösterreich Aktiengesellschaft: “Replacement of our current IT-system and selection of iGTB as partner for this important IT-project allows us to improve services not only for our clients but also for our partner banks (our shareholders) for whom we already handle international documentary business. Our aim is not only to harmonise processes, increase efficiency, continue to meet internal and external regulatory requirements but also to be and remain fit for the future. We are convinced that in having selected iGTB as partner for this project, we will be able to strengthen our current position in the market.”

 “We are delighted to be working with Raiffeisen and helping them with their trade finance services. We have always believed it possible to simplify complex and disparate processes and build our software this way. Raiffeisen were pleased with this, and the opportunity it gives them to bring even more solid benefits to their customers. This deal also represents an important milestone for us as we increase our existing presence in Europe,” adds Manish Maakan, CEO of iGTB.

SafeCharge, a leader in advanced payment technologies, today announced that it has been selected by online travel agent (OTA) Anywayanyday to provide payment services. Anywayanyday was looking to improve transparency and control around its payments, to better combat fraud and improve business efficiency. As part of the collaboration SafeCharge will be providing card acquiring, enhanced back office and financial reporting, improved resilience, with unparalleled availability, and travel-specific fraud protection. The announcement builds on the continued growth of SafeCharge in the travel sector with wins such as El Al Airlines.

The travel industry is increasingly demanding, with the traditional agency model giving way to a digital-first approach with OTA’s like Anywayanyday growing rapidly. These OTAs are not only accepting payments from consumers across an increasingly multi-channel environment - especially as mobile becomes more popular - but also need to reconcile payments with their travel partners:  airlines, hotels, tour operators, etc. The delay between booking the service and the use of that service (often months) creates risk as the card used for the initial booking may later be found to be fraudulent when the full transaction is settled.

Furthermore, OTAs are subject to frequent fluctuations in transaction volumes, creating a need for a payments platform with continuously high uptime. Businesses operating within the travel sector run the risk of incomplete transactions, reducing bottom lines and increasing customer churn if the payment system cannot meet this need.

“As the market becomes more demanding, clear and concise financial reporting is critical to business performance. The ability to drill-down as far as a single transaction will give us the transparency we need when working with multiple partners across different geographies over extended time frames,” said Evgeny Shukhlin, CEO, Anywayanyday. “The unparalleled uptime of SafeCharge ensures we’re always open for business, and the simple yet sophisticated fraud solution - managed from a single point - safeguards our customers and our partners. This level of transparency and control is unprecedented, in our experience. SafeCharge has put us back in control of our payments.”

“The travel industry is transforming as traditional players and digital platforms collide. This means that existing payment solutions aren’t fit for purpose in many cases,” said Yuval Ziv, COO at SafeCharge. “We’re invested in transparent, resilient and highly secure payment services, designed specifically for the travel industry to meet its challenges head on. Anywayanyday is a major win for us as we grow our footprint in the sector and it is a testament to the effectiveness of our services.”

Gemalto, the global leader in digital security, and Airtel Lanka today announced the deployment of Gemalto's Device Management platform in Sri Lanka that enables Airtel's subscribers to have instant access to their favorite 4G data services such as email and internet. Gemalto will also provide powerful marketing tools for targeted promotional campaigns and allows its subscribers to experience 40% faster internet. 

Switching to a new mobile device is very common for subscribers in Sri Lanka. With the help of this solution, Airtel Lanka is able to automatically detect and configure its subscribers' devices over-the-air and avoid any interruptions in their internet services. Gemalto's solution provides the industry's largest knowledge repository of over 175,000 device references from over 2000 manufacturers. This library is constantly updated to include the latest, local, and even non-branded models not recognized by GSMA, allowing Airtel to offer an out-of-the-box experience to its subscribers. The proven Gemalto Device Management platform already manages more than one billion devices worldwide. 

"Youth are always the early adopters of any trend. It is the same with smart phone devices as well. However, we find that a lot of them experience interruptions in accessing internet services because networks fail to correctly identify the type of device and device settings," said Mr. Jinesh Hegde, CEO and Managing Director at Airtel Lanka. "With Gemalto's solution, we are able to offer uninterrupted services irrespective of the kind of device they use, allowing our subscribers to experience 40% faster internet." 

"In Sri Lanka, the smartphone vendors are competing to launch low-cost models to capture the local market, increasing device diversity like never before," said Sashidhar Thothadri, Senior Vice President, Mobile Services & IoT, South Asia & Japan at Gemalto. "With our complete solution, Airtel can now not only save up to 40% of customer care costs due to configuration-related issues, but also boost customer intimacy and revenues with accurate analysis of devices and usage patterns."