Irdeto, the world leader in digital platform security, today announced that PayU, the leading online payments service provider, has implemented Irdeto Cloakware for Payments & Banking solutions to prevent theft and fraudulent transactions for its customers. The secure service is now live in one of PayU’s key regions. By implementing Irdeto’s unique security technology, PayU is raising the bar on security to protect all payment transactions for merchants and consumers.

Cyber threats targeting payment systems are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated as e-commerce grows and more methods of payments are introduced. While traditional security approaches only protect the credit card data, Irdeto is supporting PayU with the only solution on the market using whitebox cryptography to secure all transaction information, including financial data, the user’s personal information and credit card details. This enables PayU merchants and consumers to enjoy a safe digital shopping experience, no matter what security threats lie ahead. In addition to a more secure and robust ecosystem, PayU will reduce the scope and cost associated with PCI compliance for its merchant customers who opt for a hosted payment page. 

“Cybercriminals now employ many different and complex tactics to steal customer and merchant data - and it’s changing every day,” said Guy Duncan, Global CTO, PayU. “These constantly evolving strategies and attacks make traditional approaches to security ineffective. Today’s threat landscape requires a new approach that protects the entire digital shopping experience. Irdeto has been in the security and anti-hacking business for nearly 50 years and were the right long-term partner for us. By integrating Irdeto Cloakware solutions, we are taking an innovative approach to ensure that our customer’s personal and financial information remains protected, and we are reducing PCI compliance burdens for our merchants.”

Cloakware for Payments & Banking is a comprehensive solution suite that combines whitebox cryptography, server-side diversification and integrity verification to protect JavaScript, payment forms and APIs. By deploying state-of-the-art security solutions, organizations like PayU strengthen consumer trust that is required to complete a purchase, substantially reducing current 30% to 60% fall-out ratios. Supported by Irdeto’s cutting-edge security solution, PayU will be able to expand their merchant base rapidly in key markets while introducing a trusted solution to support new services and secure transactions. In addition, through tokenization and support for one-click payments, the seamless and secure user experience provided by Irdeto and PayU will help increase conversion rates for merchant customers.

“E-commerce ecosystems are becoming an easy target for hackers who exploit gaps left in security defenses,” said Doug Lowther, CEO, Irdeto. “Irdeto’s mission is to help payment service providers and banks close those gaps by safeguarding and monitoring digital transactions and securing APIs for both web and mobile applications. Our solutions provide a critical layer of security for today’s anytime and anywhere e-commerce and payment environments so organizations like PayU can provide a convenient and safe digital shopping/banking experience for consumers.”

Get in touch with Irdeto to discuss how to close your security gaps and find out more here: http://irdeto.com/products/payments-and-banking.htm

IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, today announced it has added CME Clearing to its netting synchronization service from MarkitSERV, the trade processing platform for OTC derivatives.  The service provides a single source of electronic messages from multiple clearinghouses to help banks and asset managers update risk management systems when trades are netted or compressed at the clearinghouse.

Claire Lobo, managing director and head of business development for MarkitSERV at IHS Markit, said: “Netting introduces a new set of post trade events to the OTC derivatives market and the need for banks and asset managers to consume netting data from multiple clearinghouses illustrates the value of MarkitSERV’s central hub and global network.  The workflow and integrations we offer automatically synchronize bank risk systems when position data change due to netting, novation, termination or other event in the derivatives lifecycle.”

Clearinghouses net exposures to help firms reduce the capital and operational costs associated with OTC derivatives.  For CME, the service initially supports netting of cleared interest rate swaps, basis swaps, forward rate agreements, overnight index swaps and swaptions.

Sunil Cutinho, President of CME Clearing, said: “MarkitSERV synchronization is an important solution for our clients because it enables straight-through processing of post trade services like netting, coupon blending, and compression.  This also paves the way to deliver further efficiencies and innovations as we scale out swaption clearing and develop listed invoice spread trading.”  

In addition to automating trade booking, firms can also reconcile all OTC derivatives trades, cleared and uncleared, with their counterparties and clearinghouses with the data maintained centrally by MarkitSERV.  MarkitSERV can also send regulatory reports to update trade repositories on behalf of customers.

MarkitSERV introduced netting synchronization with LCH in November 2015.  More than 20 firms are actively using the functionality.   

Ghana International Bank plc (GHIB), a Ghanaian-owned international Bank based in the City of London, has gone live with KnowCo’s stress-testing system, KST.

GHIB delivers banking services for Ghanaians around the globe, and for corporates doing business in Africa the Bank is a gateway to the global financial system, providing access to expertise, capital and extensive cross-border capabilities. GHIB is majority-owned by the Bank of Ghana, Ghana’s central bank, and was incorporated in London in 1998, although previously present in London since 1959 as the London branch of another shareholder, Ghana Commercial Bank.

Following an internal review of the bank’s risk management systems and processes, GHIB concluded that its plans for development and growth demanded further support in the high-focus area of stress-testing. The Bank subsequently began its search for a solution, which led to a comprehensive evaluation of competing offerings. Festus Mensah, Head of Regulatory Reporting, explains why KnowCo’s product was selected:

“We needed a system that was tried and tested, but also flexible and future-proof, and which most importantly could be scaled to match our continuous programme of risk management enhancement. After reviewing the market we found that KnowCo’s KST solution was the system which best matched our requirements, through elimination of spreadsheets and manual input associated risks, with an easy to implement and execute, auditable stress-test functionality. Backed by a responsive support team and strong domain expertise, we are better able to respond to an evolving and challenging regulatory environment.

KST meets our demanding ambitions for enhanced stress-testing to support the Bank’s plans for prudent expansion and growth. The system is highly configurable and is kept constantly up-to-date with regulatory developments.”

KnowCo’s KST is a client-server system, fed automatically with new data overnight by its data loading module. Data is captured at cash-flow level and can be rendered and reconciled to the same level of granularity.

Stress scenarios for liquidity, credit risk and IRRBB, as well as business plans and projections for the whole balance sheet, can be stored in the KnowCo database, housed in the client bank’s

production environment, and can be run at any time on any dataset, facilitating ICAAP, ILAAP and RRP production and consistency.

Out-of-the-box reporting for risk intelligence is comprehensive and easily configurable into more customised reporting for individual client requirements.

Paul Ashton, KnowCo’s Managing Director, commented “We are delighted to have added Ghana International Bank to our growing KST user-base, and we look forward to continuing to provide risk management efficiencies and enhancements supporting the Bank’s drive for controlled growth.

We believe that the KnowCo solution is the most intuitive and transparent system for smaller- to mid-sized banks on the market, providing comprehensive capabilities around stress-testing and business modelling, all built on our deep experience of bank risk management best practice and our constantly-updated knowledge of regulatory expectations.”

KnowCo is a specialist UK-bank support resource for:

• ICAAP, ILAAP and RRP
• Risk Appetite Statement development and enhancement
• Regulatory Disclosure
• Business Planning and Modelling and
• Risk Management Policies, Processes and Assurance

KnowCo’s K-ALM software suite facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements for:

• Credit risk capital (Pillars 1 and 2) stress-testing and management
• IRRBB stress-testing and management
• Liquidity risk stress-testing and management
• Funds Transfer Pricing
• Strategic business modelling
• Regulatory metrics such as LCR and HHI

The Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK) has chosen Wolters Kluwer’s OneSumX to provide its software for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)9 implementation and reporting.

OneSumX for IFRS comprehensively addresses the specific methodologies and calculations of IFRS, particularly fair value and amortized cost, impairment and hedge accounting, all of which are continuously evolving. The solution's modularity and flexibility enable firms to benefit from certified off-the-shelf functionality which can be tailored to deliver the most effective implementation for their specific situation.

The state run export agency was already a customer of OneSumX Regulatory Reporting for Financial Reporting (FINREP) and has now expanded its use of Wolters Kluwer’s software to provide a framework for the accounting and disclosures component of IFRS9 – due to be implemented by all financial institutions by January 1, 2018.

“SEK required a solution that could comprehensively manage its IFRS9 requirements, working in tandem with FINREP,” notes Susanna Rystedt, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) at SEK. “Wolters Kluwer, with its strong reputation in the field, was a natural choice for us given our existing work with the firm in the field of regulatory reporting.”

“Wolters Kluwer is delighted that SEK has extended its use of our market leading suite of products,” notes Kris Van Bavel, managing director, EMEA, Finance, Risk and Reporting, for Wolters Kluwer. “IFRS9 will have a multi department impact, across Finance, Risk and Compliance functions, and teams at all financial institutions should prepare to work collaboratively. Our integrated modular solution will better enable firms to fulfil the complete IFRS9 requirements by the 2018 implementation date. We certainly look forward to continuing to work with SEK and other clients on managing the road to implementation for this critical part of the regulatory and accounting framework.”

Wolters Kluwer Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) is a division of Wolters Kluwer which provides legal, finance, risk and compliance professionals and small business owners with a broad spectrum of solutions, services and expertise needed to help manage myriad governance, risk and compliance needs in dynamic markets and regulatory environments. The division’s prominent brands include: AuthenticWeb™, Bankers Systems®, BizFilings®, Capital Changes, CASH Suite™, CT Corporation, CT Lien Solutions, ComplianceOne®, Corsearch, Expere®, GainsKeeper®, LegalVIEW®, OneSumX®, Passport®, TyMetrix® 360, Uniform Forms™, VMP® Mortgage Solutions and Wiz®.

Wolters Kluwer N.V. (AEX: WKL) is a global leader in information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. Wolters Kluwer reported 2015 annual revenues of €4.2 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide.

 Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Atlanta-based Online Banking Solutions, Inc. (OBS). Through this acquisition, Fiserv will gain additional cash management and digital business banking capabilities, which complement and enrich its existing solutions.

“Financial institutions are increasingly focused on deepening relationships with commercial customers,” said Jeffery Yabuki, President and Chief Executive Officer, Fiserv. “The addition of Online Banking Solutions’ technologies further enables Fiserv clients to provide greater value to their commercial customers through sophisticated cash management solutions when and where they need them.”

OBS offers a modern cash management platform with the user experience and functionality that sophisticated business users expect. Its cash management capabilities are designed for digital channels, have easy-to-use interfaces and enable notification and authentication via smartphones, tablets and wearable devices. A single platform facilitates a unified experience across multiple devices, while integrated security and analytics offer enhanced fraud prevention. In addition to cash management, OBS provides a secure browser that functions as a secure, convenient gateway to applications provided by financial institutions to their commercial customers.

OBS received the “Up-And-Comer Award” in the Aite Group U.S. Cash Management Vendor Evaluation 2016.

OBS products are currently integrated across a number of Fiserv solutions and with other core processing platforms. OBS product integration is currently available across Fiserv core account processing platforms such as Signature^®, Premier^® and Cleartouch^®, and post-closing will include DNA^®.

“Our relationship with Fiserv is already established through our activities with several mutual clients,” said Dan Myers, CEO, Online Banking Solutions. “Joining Fiserv allows us to create new opportunities for our associates and to broaden the reach of our leading solutions to more banks and credit unions, ultimately enabling them to better serve their commercial customers.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close before the end of 2016. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

Tradeweb Markets, a leading global provider of fixed income, derivatives and ETF marketplaces, announced a 371% year-over-year increase in U.S. institutional cash credit volume to more than $11.8 billion in November, following record trading in each of the last two months.

All Tradeweb Markets credit platforms accounted for 2.8% of overall U.S. corporate bond volume and 12% of trades executed in November, according to TRACE data. Tradeweb has also grown block trading of investment grade credit (>$5 million) to represent 23% of U.S. institutional investment grade volume on the platform.

Tradeweb has expanded its credit offering to include a broader set of pre-trade data and tools to identify liquidity, the most diverse range of trading protocols, and industry leading post-trade processing and spotting. And as a result of this growth, Tradeweb now ranks as the second largest electronic cash credit trading platform in the U.S. according to Greenwich Associates’ 2016 North American Fixed Income Study.

“We’re helping clients leverage relationships better through meaningful advances in technology, enhancing trade workflows with greater efficiency, and we’re making a major impact on liquidity and operational risk reduction,” said Billy Hult, President of Tradeweb Markets. “Tradeweb is a compelling electronic alternative that makes it faster and easier to find the other side of your trade for both odd-lot trades and larger orders.”

Including credit default swaps (CDS), overall U.S. credit volume grew 124% to more than $79 billion, and international credit volumes rose by 52% to more than $63 billion.

Tradeweb also plans to launch advanced all-to-all trading functionality for U.S. corporate bonds in the first half of 2017. The additional execution protocol will increase traders’ flexibility in how they can source liquidity from both buy- and sell-side participants on Tradeweb.

“The growth across our platform demonstrates that the industry benefits from multiple ways to access credit liquidity, and the addition of all-to-all trading will provide a comprehensive set of trading protocols to the cash corporate marketplace.” Said Lee Olesky, Tradeweb Markets CEO. “Growing our credit business is a key priority for Tradeweb, and we are best positioned to continue driving the broader electronification of corporate bond trading as the largest fixed income specialist in scope and scale of our markets and client base.”
 
Tradeweb continues to build the most complete global credit marketplace, with expanding offerings in Europe, the U.S. and emerging markets. More than 500 buy-side institutions leverage Tradeweb to trade corporate bonds and credit derivatives, streamlining their operational workflow and improving their execution quality with better pre-trade discovery and efficient protocols. 

PPRO Group, the cross-border e-payment specialist, today announces the appointment of John Fernandez, Senior Legal Counsel as Chairman of the Electronic Money Association (EMA). This appointment gives PPRO Group a prestigious position within the industry representative body, comprised of over fifty participants including the likes of PayPal, Skrill, Worldpay and Google Payments.

The EMA is Europe’s premier trade body representing Fintech companies, e-money institutions and other innovative payment service providers. The EMA represents the views and interests of its members in dialogue with government, public bodies and customer organisations.

In his role as Chairman, John Fernandez will support the EMA in coordinating its efforts with industry to ensure its collective interests are represented regarding the introduction of new payments related laws and regulations within the EU. John also acts as an independent contact point should members wish to raise any specific matters with the EMA.

John Fernandez says: “I am honored to have been nominated and appointed as Chairman of the EMA on behalf of PPRO Group. PPRO has been a longstanding member of the EMA and this nomination reflects the continued growth and success of PPRO Group and the value the industry places on our participation.”

SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:SSNC), a global provider of financial services software and software-enabled services, today announced Daman Investments PSC, one of the leading UAE-based regional investment companies, has chosen Advent Portfolio Exchange® (APX) to enhance its asset management technology capabilities.

The APX platform offers a robust set of portfolio management, fund accounting, and performance analytics tools. APX stood out from the competition due to its simplicity and modular features, as well as SS&C's global experience and strong local presence. Another factor was the extensive global Instrument coverage available in APX, as well as locally popular instruments and Sharia investments coupled with multilingual reporting with Arabic language support.

"Daman's client-centric approach over the years has allowed us to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns and APX will help us further strengthen our investment management & client-reporting capabilities," said Farid Samji, Head of Asset Management at Daman Investments. "SS&C's APX provided us with a compelling solution, which was not only compliant with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) but also had a robust implementation track record and support in the region."

"The team went through an extensive evaluation process before selecting SS&C and we are honored to work with Daman Investments and support their investment efforts in the region," said Mats Berggren, Vice President EMEA, SS&C Advent. "APX will dramatically help Daman Investments enhance its client focus and reporting capabilities in an increasingly competitive marketplace."

SS&C has been operating in the Middle East through its SS&C Advent business unit since 2006 and has more than 30 clients based in the region. The key to their success has been strong local presence and a deep understanding of regional investment management practices, combined with world-class technology within our integrated middle and front office solutions. 

Tieto has signed an agreement with Marginalen Bank to provide PCI DSS certified end-to-end card services. The card solution will be provided as a service using cloud-enabled technology and also include Business Process Outsourcing. The agreement is valid for five years and will provide the bank with a scalable and cost-efficient solution, compliant with the regulatory requirements of the financial industry.

New research from Celent – sponsored by Colt - has found that the appetite for cloud-based services in capital markets has reached a critical point and that cloud is set to become the main delivery model for certain key functions in the near future. The research, entitled ‘The cloud comes of age in the capital markets’ shows that attitudes towards cloud have softened in the last 12-18 months, with participants showing more acceptance of the security, stability and reliability of cloud-based deployments.

The research paper shows that cloud adoption is being driven by four key factors: increase in regulation (e.g. MiFID II, Dodd-Frank), cost pressures, macroeconomic uncertainty (e.g. Brexit, China’s economy), and the rise of fintech.  The cloud has emerged to solve these challenges, offering firms a more agile infrastructure that enables them to address ever-evolving regulatory requirements and the proliferation of trading applications as well as the need to rapidly connect to multiple liquidity sources. Moreover, the cloud is a key driver for fintech innovation as it facilitates the implementation of new ideas and reduces the cost of failure.

These drivers, however, have varied manifestations across the capital markets ecosystem: 

-       The buy side, in particular smaller firms, is more open to service-based models and has used hosted solutions for most systems, including trade management. Hedge funds are keen to develop insights quickly, making a cloud model more appealing.

-       The sell side tends to be more focused on maintaining control of their systems. However, they are eager to explore solutions that build better distribution models and to a lower, variable cost model. Many firms have already created private clouds for key resources while moving less sensitive applications to the public cloud. 
 

The adoption of cloud based deployments also varies across business functions. Whereas there has been a wider acceptance for moving non-core and non-proprietary data to a cloud environment, the move of front office functions and proprietary or client information has lagged behind. However, this attitude is shifting as firms become more comfortable with the performance and security of the cloud. Innovative TradingTech, RegTech, and market data services are also expected to move to the cloud. 

Moreover, the research found that there are still barriers to be overcome before widespread adoption of the cloud, namely data storage locations, risk liability and organisational inertia. 

According to Brad Bailey, Research Director at Celent: “The barriers to cloud adoption are no longer based on a mistrust of the technology, but rather how to successfully deploy a solution that complies with regulations, and these concerns are common to all technology solutions, cloud-based or not. In many cases the public cloud is now more secure than on premise systems and we are seeing institutions alter their attitude from ‘never’ to ‘how to’ embrace the cloud.”

The capital market space is also seeing a parallel emergence of the need for better connectivity to support secure cloud deployments. Security and performance concerns limit the usability of the public internet as a connectivity option for capital market participants. Private, dedicated cloud access is better suited for capital market requirements, offering better speed and latency as well as superior performance and security.

As participants use more hybrid cloud models and multiple cloud providers, there will be an increased need for managed cloud connectivity models, enabling firms to leverage the cloud.   Such managed connectivity solutions, like the Colt PrizmNet financial extranet, make it easier to access value added cloud based services like market data, regulatory solutions and analytics, hence enhancing the user experience.

“Market pressures are forcing firms to focus on their core strengths and shift technology functions to specialists. Therefore it comes as no surprise that the cloud is coming of age in the capital markets, helping firms to address regulatory and cost pressures whilst focusing on the core business. Capital markets firms starting out on this journey need highly secure, on-demand network services that are designed to meet the stringent requirements and speed of the financial markets,” said John Loveland, VP of Capital Markets at Colt.

The cloud comes of age in the capital markets report is available for download here.