Ohpen announced today that it has gained approval from the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), to carry out its regulated activities. The approval enables Ohpen to provide its software and outsourcing services to asset managers, banks and insurance companies in the United Kingdom (UK) under its new British company, Ohpen Operations UK Ltd. “The FCA authorisation allows us to deliver an alternative for financial services companies to digitalise and outsource their entire investments and savings accounts operations,” says Angelique Schouten, Ohpen UK’s CEO.

International expansion Ohpen’s “Bank-out-of-the-box” solution
Ohpen provides both incumbent financial services companies and new market entrants with a “bank-out-of-the-box” solution to fully outsource their operations. Founded in Amsterdam in 2009, Ohpen currently services five of the largest financial services companies in the Netherlands, administrating billions of assets under administration. The move to the UK marks the company’s first overseas operation as part of its international expansion strategy.

“We made it our focus to innovate in the core banking space to enable asset managers, banks and insurance companies to outsource their entire IT-infrastructure, software, back office operations and customer contact centre,” explains Schouten. 

Drawing on their expertise as former retail bankers, the founding team redesigned all processes and built the service from scratch resulting in a “bank-out-of-the-box” solution that is digital- and API-first.

UK: hardly any online fully digitalised capabilities
Ohpen aims to present a fully-digital alternative to the market that is dominated by just a few providers traditionally designed around a paper-based customer experience.

“We are very excited that the FCA has granted Ohpen its full authorisation. I think it says a lot about Ohpen as a business, having gained its FCA authorisation within little over half a year of applying for it. We are poised to challenge the mostly inert core FinTech & outsourcing market with a fresh, innovative, bold and colourful alternative,” concludes Schouten.

Ohpen established their UK office close to the Silicon Roundabout in 2016, with plans to significantly expand the local team over the next two years.

Hellenic Bank, the second largest bank in Cyprus, have chosen Backbase, the market leader in omni-channel digital banking, to provide the architecture for its next iteration of banking systems. Hellenic Bank began operating in 1976 and has since become one of the largest banking and financial institutions in the region, with a network of over 60 branches and 7 Billion Assets under Management.

Backbase was chosen on its expertise in helping financial institutions to embark on their digital transformation by enhancing the omni-channel customer experience. Hellenic Bank’s next generation of omni-channel architecture will have the ability to provide flexible and cohesive customer-experiences across its channels - starting with the public domain landing pages and web content projects, followed by mobile banking.

It was imperative that the new digital platform did not make any concessions on the customer-user experience. With a stronghold on the current market in Cyprus, Hellenic Bank needed a financial technology platform that would act as a key enabler to not only stay relevant with the customer, but to also ensure a seamless customer journey.

“Omni-channel banking is the next frontier that banks around the world must adapt to and implement in their own offerings.” Stated Jouk Pleiter, CEO of Backbase, “It’s great to work with Hellenic Bank to develop their digital channels and provide the flexibility and user-experience needed to support their growing customer base.”

Natasha Kyprianides, Head of Digital Banking and Innovation at Hellenic Bank said “We have selected Backbase because they are widely acknowledged by the industry as leaders in developing omni-channel banking solutions; and in creating a seamless experience. Our digital strategy aims to ensure that the user journey remains consistent as we strive to build strong relationships with our customers. We’re excited that we will be benefiting from a transformative platform that delivers the latest technology at every point of contact.” 

UBS AG, the Swiss global financial services company, renewed its Finance Operations services contract with HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global IT services company, announced HCL. HCL will continue to deliver key Finance Operations services to UBS AG, supporting cost transparency and continuous improvements to the operating model of its finance department for the next three and half years.

HCL has been working with UBS AG since 2012, providing integrated process and technology management in an end-to-end global shared services model. Processes being handled by HCL include the completion of financial reports for multiple regulators; in addition to data management, operational and general accounting functions are delivered, managed via HCL’s Enterprise Function-as-a-Service (EFaaS) model. As an important partner, HCL will further invest in developing Proof of Concepts (POC) for robotics use cases to deliver efficiency gains through the automation of mutually selected business processes within UBS AG’s Finance department.

Todd Tuckner, Group Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, UBS AG, said: “Our continued engagement with HCL is important in supporting our drive to continuously improve our finance function by delivering efficient, effective and well-controlled products and services to our stakeholders.  By streamlining regulatory reporting tasks and exploring new ways to further optimize and potentially automate manual processes, HCL understands and helps us to deliver on our strategic priorities.”

Rahul Singh, President and Global Head – Financial Services, HCL Technologies, said: “The financial services industry is amongst the most heavily regulated in the world, with auditing and reporting requirements that create a major drain on resources. As a result, it is vital that financial services firms can streamline their business processes and improve productivity through automation. With our unique combination of deep domain knowledge and technical expertise, we are thrilled to support UBS AG, as it continues to strive towards achieving greater efficiency gains.”

HCL has deep domain expertise & several years of experience in delivering business process services, with core expertise in process design, simplification & harmonization, digitalization & automation, and agile transition & transformation.

HCE Ticket Wallet Service and Ticketing App enable secure transition from physical to virtual smart cards within existing infrastructure

Rambus Ecebs today announced a comprehensive mobile ticketing product suite leveraging Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology to securely load virtual smart cards onto smart phones for the public transport industry. From the back office to the consumer, this solution includes an HCE Ticket Wallet Service and Ticketing App that enables transport operators to easily and securely transition from physical to virtual smart cards while maintaining compatibility with their existing smart infrastructure.

“The era of smart phones is redefining public transport, providing ease-of-use, security and convenience to travel seamlessly from train to bus to ferry to toll,” said Russell McCullagh, managing director at Rambus Ecebs. “By leveraging HCE technology, which has been proven in high volume for mobile payments, this solution delivers secure mobile ticketing to NFC-enabled smart phones across all mobile network providers. With this, travelers can securely select, purchase, download and use a ticket, anytime and anywhere, on a mobile device.” 

HCE Ticketing Solution Overview

This solution combines the smart ticketing platform developed by Rambus Ecebs with the HCE cloud-based payments technology developed by Rambus Bell ID. The comprehensive suite includes the HCE Ticket Wallet Service, which securely provisions and manages a virtual smart card to store tickets on the phone, and a configurable HCE Ticketing App, which provides consumers with an interface to purchase, fulfill and manage tickets. As well, the Ticketing App helps collect valuable traveler data and analytics for transport operators to optimize ticket offers, pricing, staffing and routes. 

The HCE Ticketing App is fully integrated with Rambus Ecebs’ suite of smart ticketing products and features a flexible interface with a complete set of APIs ready to connect with third-party solutions.

The app enables travelers to load smart tickets to their phone at ticket vending machines. By adding Remote Ticket Download (RTD) software, which complements the app, smart tickets can be delivered immediately to a smart phone without needing to physically go to a ticket machine. Future plans for the Ticketing App include additional value-added services such as account-based ticketing, integrated journey planning, real-time updates and third-party offers. Additionally, both the HCE Ticket Wallet Service and Ticketing App can be deployed with existing ITSO-based infrastructure, the UK interoperable open ticketing specification.

HCE in Transport

HCE offers the security of a smart card on a mobile device without relying on access to a secure element (SE). This is achieved through secure cloud storage of valuable account credentials, rather than the SE in a phone, enabling a broad adoption across NFC-enabled smart phones and mobile network operators.

When applied to transport, HCE enables operators to offer the mobile ticketing experience travelers have come to want and expect by providing a mobile app to securely store and use tickets directly on their mobile devices. Rather than storing tickets on traditional plastic smart cards, they are stored on a virtual smart card in a secured app that can then be used to tap through gates to travel.  

Availability

The solution is available for pilot programs today, with HCE mobile ticketing trials expected to commence in the second half of 2017.

Saxo Bank, the online multi-asset trading and investment specialist, today announces that it is collaborating with Autochartist to make automated technical analysis tools and live trade signals available to clients directly in the SaxoTraderGO platform.

“With the deep integration of Autochartist we further enhance the analysis tools available to clients. There is no need to open other browsers, run applications or third-party setups. The deep integration works seamlessly across devices and makes technical analysis and live trade signals actionable right at the clients’ fingertips,” said Kim Cramer Larsson, Platform Manager & Technical Analyst, Saxo Bank.

Adding to this, Ilan Azbel, CEO, Autochartist said,

“Saxo’s collaboration with Autochartist is an example of how a forward thinking broker uses technical analysis to provide simple, meaningful and actionable content to its clients. The level of integration is unprecedented in the industry by fully integrating content into the entire trading experience of its client; from position open, to setting exit levels. Such deep consideration for the clients’ well-being is what makes Saxo a leader in the industry,”

Autochartist’s advanced algorithms constantly monitor global markets and deliver live trade signals through a wide range of parameters based on technical analysis. 

Each trade signal presents a simple overview of the underlying analysis and an automatically calculated entry price, take-profit target and stop loss that clients can trade directly in the platform as opportunities occur in the market.

“Digesting the market for trade signals using technical analysis is usually a time consuming process and requires in-depth knowledge. This new tool lets technology do the work automatically and enables clients to cover and analyse the market across asset classes with much greater efficiency.  Autochartist provides the analysis and live signals enabling clients to make independent, well-informed decisions as trading opportunities occur,” said Kim Cramer Larsson, Saxo Bank.

The depth of the integration allows clients to apply highly customizable filters to hone in on opportunities aligned with their preferred asset classes and trading strategies, as well as alerting clients to important market events on their preferred assets.

“Clients with experience in technical analysis can use the feature to cover more instruments and streamline time consuming market research. Whereas clients less familiar with technical analysis can leverage AutoChartist to further enhance their trading strategies by including the technical element in the decision-making process,” said Kim Cramer Larsson, Saxo Bank.

As further testament to Saxo Bank’s global presence the new Autochartist feature will be made available in more than 20 different languages as it is rolled out in all markets in the coming weeks. 

Autochartist covers more than 50 currency pairs, 200 stocks, the biggest indices, as well as the major commodities and is free to all Saxo clients. The feature will also be available to white label clients. 

Newport-based Kymin Financial Services has launched Kymin Direct, an automated online investment service via Intelliflo’s Intelligent Office (iO) Personal Finance Portal (PFP) for clients with between £1,000 and £50,000 to invest. Targeted at ISA and GIA savings, the service is competitively priced and does not involve clients interacting face-to-face with the team of advisers unless they request it.

Robin Hall, Kymin’s Managing Director comments: “The government’s FAMR review last year highlighted the gap in easy-access investment routes for people with relatively modest sums of money to invest. We wanted to do something to address this and Intelliflo’s Automated Advice offers the perfect solution.”

People choosing the Kymin Direct service will be guided through an online process to determine their risk appetite and then offered an appropriate investment portfolio supplied by SEI Asset Management.    

The easy-to-use risk profiling tools have been developed in partnership with Oxford Risk, who are leading experts in the field of risk and analysis, dedicated to the practical application of knowledge in risk and risk behaviour. 

SEI Asset Management is one of six fund providers with portfolios available for selection via the Intelliflo service. Other providers include 7IM, Architas, Legal & General Investment Management, Standard Life Investments and Vanguard.

Nick Eatock, Intelliflo’s Executive Chairman comments: “I’m delighted that Kymin has chosen Intelliflo’s system to run their Direct offering. The service has been designed to open up access to the much-discussed robo-advice market in a way that puts – and keeps - advisers at the centre of the process.”

Investments made via Kymin Direct will be available for selected Kymin advisers to view, so they can monitor activity. All investments and selections made will have a complete and comprehensive audit trail and Kymin has implemented an online limit of £50,000. Anyone trying to invest more than this amount at any one go will trigger an automatic alert to the Kymin team, allowing them to make direct contact to ensure clients are making wise decisions based on their financial situations.

Robin Hall comments: “We believe this service will complement our existing offering by delivering instant investment options without the need for face-to-face advice yet with the comfort of knowing that fully qualified advisers are just a click away should they be required.”

Currencycloud, the international Payments Engine behind countless digital businesses, has appointed Ed Addario as Chief Technical Officer (CTO).

Ed brings over 25 years’ professional experience leading both start-ups and large teams in the design, development and delivery of software products across the financial services, telecoms and retail sectors. He joins Currencycloud from Misys, where he was Global Head for Architecture and Integration. Prior to this, he has held a number of senior technology positions in both the US and UK, including SVP Technology with Monitise.

At Currencycloud, Ed will oversee a team of 45 technologists, continuing to advance the next generation API which sits at the heart of Currencycloud’s integration with its customers.

With a B.Sc. in Computer Sciences with minors in Applied Statistics and Machine Intelligence and a M.Sc. in Manufacturing and Quality Engineering, software development is core to Ed’s expertise. He’s a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the IEEE/ISO Standards Organization and regularly commits to participating in Open Source projects in the areas of distributed computing, peer-to-peer networks and cryptography.

Mike Laven, CEO Currencycloud comments: “Ed’s passion for technology and years of experience make him the perfect fit to lead a team that is fixated on providing innovative solutions for our clients. New and emerging digital business models should not be constrained in ambition or scope by legacy technology as they seek to find different and creative ways to move money around the world. Ed will play a key role in developing the tools that we provide, to allow our customers to build the best solution for their business needs.”

On joining Currencycloud, Ed commented: “As a tech enthusiast, I’m excited by the opportunity to be part of a company that is leading the digital revolution and to work with APIs that are built by developers, for developers. The team’s passion for providing digital enterprises with the tools to innovate and grow is truly inspiring. I am looking forward to leading the team as we continue working to enable the next generation of companies to realise the true potential of the digital economy.”

A 2016 report from CEB TowerGroup analysts recognises FICO as a leading provider in “Know Your Customer” systems, with FICO^®TONBELLER^® Siron^® Anti-Financial Crime Solutions. CEB TowerGroup analysts’ 2016 “Do You Know Who I Am? Know Your Customer Systems Market Update” shows that FICO TONBELLER Siron system provides all 18 capabilities studied as standard features.

FICO TONBELLER Siron solution also was noted as a leading solution in a CEB TowerGroup analyst 2016 report on anti-money laundering, “Combatting Rising Threats with Aging Infrastructure: Anti-Money Laundering Systems Market Update.”

FICO is hosting two webinars on AML and KYC in the coming weeks, co-presented with CEB TowerGroup Principal Executive Advisor, Andy Schmidt. “Improving AML Compliance through Advanced Analytics” will be held January 24, 2017, and “Hiding in Plain Sight: Is Your KYC Process a Spotlight or a Blindfold? Operational Benefits of New Analytic Technologies” will be held February 23, 2017.

According to one report, “TONBELLER was already a strong vendor in the KYC market prior to the acquisition by FICO, with identified strengths in risk profiling and dynamic assessment capabilities. The enhanced use of dynamic questionnaires and the addition of tax compliance capabilities further strengthens the FICO TONBELLER offer.”

Terrorism and increased banking regulation have put the spotlight on the systems banks use to know the risk of their customers. The analyst report states, “KYC solutions rank among the highest value commercial banking technologies due to their ability to help banks reduce risk and comply with regulations. We believe that the competitive advantage that KYC can bring by expediting the onboarding process is often overlooked. By shortening onboarding times, efficient KYC processes reduce time to service, resulting in improved customer experience, and ultimately an increased propensity to repurchase from and recommend the bank.”

FICO^® TONBELLER^® provides integrated IT solutions for governance, risk, and compliance to banking, insurance, and corporate organisations in more than 90 countries. FICO acquired TONBELLER in 2015, combining their focus on predictive analytics with TONBELLER’s risk-based financial crimes prevention and compliance capabilities. Siron® AML and Siron® KYC are part of Siron® Anti-Financial Crime Solutions, a suite of solutions for financial and white-collar crime, and risk management and monitoring, analysis, and reporting.

“These reports validate the power of our risk-based approach to fighting financial crime,” said Torsten Mayer, vice president for compliance solutions at FICO. “More than 1,100 businesses in 90 countries rely on FICO TONBELLER solutions for governance, risk and compliance. The rise of terrorism worldwide makes this kind of protection more important than ever, which is why FICO has invested heavily in equipping our Siron product with fresh analytics and the latest features.”

Aquila Capital today announces the opening of an office in Oslo, demonstrating the firm’s ongoing commitment to the Norwegian and the Nordic market. Aquila Capital has appointed Joakim Johnsen to run the office, which was opened in January this year.

Johnsen, who will act as an investment manager within the hydropower team, will coordinate the transactions in the renewable energy sector and will be the contact for business partners and investors on-site.

He has more than 13 years’ experience in developing renewable energy projects and previously held a number of leading roles with Statkraft, where he was responsible for several large M&A transactions in the hydropower sector. Most recently, Johnson, who is a Norwegian, was the company’s country head for Brazil.

Along with his longstanding professional expertise, Johnsen has an extensive international network having worked on projects in Europe, Asia and South America. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Sciences from the University of Manchester and an MBA from the Manchester Business School. He is fluent in Norwegian, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Roman Rosslenbroich, CEO and Co-Founder of Aquila Capital, said: “Joakim is a highly regarded investment professional and I’m confident in the level of expertise he will bring to the team. His wealth of experience will be invaluable as we continue our expansion in the renewable energy sector in the Nordic region. These constitute core markets in the fields of wind energy and hydropower in which we remain committed to pursuing investment opportunities.”   

Joakim Johnsen, added: “Aquila Capital is stepping up its activities in the renewable energy sector in the Nordic countries and I’m looking forward to working with the team to continue the firm’s success in this space.”

The office in Oslo will coordinate investment and transaction management as well as operations in the hydropower sector and enable Aquila Capital to intensify deal sourcing. The office reflects Aquila Capital’s approach to addressing the growing importance of the Nordic region and meeting increasing demand.

Joakim Johnsen will be available via the following address:

Aquila Capital, Sandakerveien 138, 0484 Oslo