Misys announced today its latest release of FusionBanking Essence, its retail banking solution, to enable banks to deliver a simpler, faster and smarter banking experience to consumers and SMEs. 

Streamlined digital onboarding capabilities ensure rapid account opening, while advanced technologies such as secure fingerprint authentication enable high quality customer service and security. Flexible and intuitive account personalisation and faster ways to set up payments respond to customers’ individual needs and preferences. Advanced analytics enable banks to meet customer needs more effectively, coupled with interactive financial planning tools which help customers better manage and plan their finances. Features such as multi-currency accounts, facial and ID recognition during onboarding further address the needs of a tech-savvy globalised world.

“We are seeing the emergence of two-speed banking – a world in which forward thinking banks are embracing digitalisation and analytics to put customer needs first,” said Simon Paris, President at Misys. “These fast-lane banks are in the market for modern front-to-back digital banking solutions to meet the needs of the increasingly mobile and tech-savvy customers, who demand highly personalised and relevant experiences. Our latest release  equips banks for the digital transformation journey ahead, enabling them to expand, compete and thrive.”

Building on the Misys “outside-in” banking philosophy, the enhancements are designed to help banks meet the expectations from consumers and SMEs for fast, relevant and convenient digital banking.

Stephen Greer, Analyst at Celent, said: “The new normal of financial services necessitates a broader understanding of what it means to be digital. Banks must be able to meet the demands of today’s tech-savvy consumers and SMEs, pushing customer experience levels to new highs whilst still meeting regulator demands and driving down costs. A critical element to digital effectiveness and competing in this era is an intentional organisational shift away from legacy practices towards becoming a truly digital organisation.”

Within the bank, FusionBanking Essence’s modern architecture delivers increased operational performance and ongoing regulatory compliance capabilities. Its digital engine and digital development kit enables banks to customise and extend the capabilities of their digital channels to meet customers’ ever-changing requirements. Advanced analytics support the development and rapid delivery of relevant products and services through preferred customer channels, improving the cost/income ratio and ensuring low TCO. This ability to understand customer behaviour and deliver back highly personalised and relevant services and added value is vital in today’s competitive landscape.

Analytic software firm FICO today launched the FICO^® Enterprise Security Score, a metric that reveals the likelihood an organization will be breached due to a cyber attack. This score can be used by an enterprise to understand and shore up its defence gaps, and by third parties such as cyber insurance providers, potential partners and customers who need an objective measure of a firm’s cyber risk.

More information: http://www.fico.com/en/products/fico-enterprise-security-scoring   

The FICO Enterprise Security Score is an upgrade of the solutions previously offered by QuadMetrics, which FICO acquired in May. FICO upgraded the QuadMetrics analytics with FICO’s advanced analytics technologies that power various industry-leading solutions from FICO, including FICO^® Falcon^® Fraud Platform.

The FICO^® Enterprise Security Score performs a complex assessment of network assets, applies advanced predictive algorithms, and then condenses the results down to a three-digit score that rank-orders based on the odds of breach for an organization, allowing an empirical comparison of organizations’ cyber security risk. The score represents the likelihood of the enterprise suffering a material breach in the next 12 months. Organizations can use this score to understand and track their own performance, or share it with business partners as an easy-to-understand surrogate for a more in-depth exchange of security posture details. The score comes with current threat profile characteristics and granular insights into potential security issues.

“The need for a standard, empirically derived analytic measure of cybersecurity risk gets stronger every day,” said Doug Clare, vice president of cybersecurity solutions at FICO. “There have been attempts to quantify a firm’s security posture, but they lack the predictive element, which is FICO’s specialty. We aim to bring to cybersecurity the consistency, transparency and predictive power we have brought to credit history in the US through the FICO Score.”

The FICO^® Enterprise Security Score is backed by a highly scalable, cloud-based platform that evaluates the entire Internet address space for information to assess the security of any network. This unique asset is updated with billions of data points from around the globe, and enhanced with public and proprietary source information. There is no software or hardware to install, and no integration work to perform.

“To date, cyber insurance underwriting has been challenging, as threats change constantly,” said Clare. “Without a clear industry benchmark or standardized risk criteria, insurers have had to rely on a wide range of high-touch methods and judgmental criteria when establishing cyber policies and premiums. The FICO Enterprise Security Score delivers a trusted, empirically derived, long-term view of cyber risk that can improve not only the underwriting process but ongoing portfolio risk assessments.”

“Information security professionals actually have a fairly good understanding of the challenges and threats of cybersecurity, but often aren’t able to see the cohesive effects of their countermeasures and diligence, affecting both their overall effectiveness and their ability to quantify the risk for their business partners,” said CEB Senior Executive Advisor Jason Malo. “Benchmarking at an enterprise level could help complement current metrics and also provide a risk measurement framework for ongoing management and project investment.”

“By combining our wide network of data resources with FICO’s industry leading advanced  analytics, we’ve created the most powerful and accurate forecast of a company’s cyber risk,” said Manish Karir, former CTO of QuadMetrics, and product manager of the Enterprise Security Score. “This score gives chief information security officers details they need to protect their own network assets. It also provides an empirically derived standard benchmark for cyber insurance providers and everyone else in the cybersecurity ecosystem.”

"QuadMetrics provided a very unique scoring index, indicating the likelihood of cyber security problems for an organization,” said Joe Sawasky, CEO of Merit, a non-profit, Member-owned organization governed by Michigan’s public universities that owns and operates America’s longest-running regional research and education network. “This proved invaluable to our member organizations in Michigan, given that cyber risk is now among the top business risks overall. The FICO enhancements will make this an even stronger solution, which provides value not only to CIOs but also to CFOs, risk management professionals and boards."

The FICO^® Enterprise Security Score is a complement to FICO^® Falcon^® Cybersecurity Analytics for threat detection.

 For the tenth time Path Solutions has won the category of ‘Best Islamic Technology Provider’ in the 2016 Islamic Finance news (IFN) Service Providers Poll conducted by Malaysia-based RedMoney Group. More than 55 percent of readers have endorsed their satisfaction in using iMAL Islamic core banking system from Path Solutions, which this year celebrates its 25^th birthday.

According to IFN spokesperson, “For the ninth successive year and 10^th time in total, Path Solutions takes the crown for ‘Best Islamic Technology Provider’. This category was extremely close, with a new runner-up emerging this year; Oracle FSS came second in a very tight race, while Malaysia’s Silverlake FSS took third place”.

IFN spokesperson continued, “Path Solutions is one of the most prolific, hardworking and supportive players of the Islamic finance industry, and takes its role far beyond its day-to-day business activities to support technological advances and activities in all its forms. Most recently, the group sponsored the Egyptian Collegiate Programming Contest in order to support the development of young professionals within the industry”. 

The Best Service Providers Poll is conducted annually by the weekly e-newsletter Islamic Finance news. For this 2016 edition, more than 1,900 votes from Islamic finance institutions, issuers, investors and government bodies from around the world determined the leaders in 13 categories. It emerged that Path Solutions is clear favourite by an absolute majority of IFN readers when it comes to technology providers for the Islamic financial services industry.

Commenting on the award, Mohammed Kateeb, Group Chairman & CEO of Path Solutions said, “As Path Solutions is still buzzing from being awarded two of the highest honours at CEO Insight Global Awards 2016/17, we’re gratified to add to our success this prestigious award that we are winning for the tenth time, ninth consecutive year, in addition to being recognized by such a prominent industry-focused publication. But what makes this award exceptional, is earning it through the votes of our esteemed clients and partners - a fantastic validation of the value and technology leadership we are bringing to the Islamic finance industry. Certainly, we are determined to continue this impressive trajectory”.

Kuwait-based Path Solutions is a multi-award winning Islamic banking software house specialized in the provision of integrated solutions and services to the Islamic financial marketplace. With 25 years of solid experience, Path Solutions is well positioned to be the trusted IT partner of forward-thinking Islamic banks willing to capitalize on best-of-breed technologies. The company goes a step beyond traditional software vendors by delivering solutions designed to mitigate Sharia risk, optimize output, minimize costs and which can be easily extended to support geographical and business expansion.

This 10^th IFN award is indeed another impressive milestone for Path Solutions.

The IFN Service Providers Poll, now in its 13^th year, is known beyond dispute as the leading industry recognition. It prides itself on being the only comprehensive, independent and unbiased guide to the top players supporting the Islamic financial services sector.

The IFN polls take an unbiased and all-encompassing approach in selecting the best Islamic firms in the world. Since their establishment in 2005, the polls continue to be an appropriate representation of the current Islamic financial market landscape and are the industry’s most comprehensive annual polls.

The 2016 IFN award winners will receive their trophies in their respective regions. The first IFN Awards Ceremony will be held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday 22^nd February 2017, followed by a second one at the Ritz Carlton DIFC in Dubai on Monday 27^th February 2017. These high profile events will gather the industry’s elite recognizing excellence, achievement and leadership in the Islamic finance industry.

The IFN Awards Service Providers Poll results will be published in the 2017 Annual Guide (December 2016) and the 2017 IFN Special Awards Report (March 2017).

Goldmoney Inc. (TSX:XAU), a financial technology company operating a global, 100%-reserved gold-based financial network, today announced the launch of P2P gold transfers for U.S. users at Money 20/20, the world's largest payments and financial services innovation event.

The roll out will occur on a state-by-state basis, and will enable Goldmoney Personal and Business account users in the U.S. to send and receive gold on the Goldmoney Network. Furthering advancement in cross-border commerce, the U.S. expansion will also enable Goldmoney Inc. to distribute its technology across other wallets and financial platforms.

“We believe transferring value globally should be fast and cost-effective. We’re pleased to extend P2P gold transfer functionality to U.S. users, enabling Americans to instantly send and receive any value of gold on our closed-loop network, and efficiently transact across borders and between currencies without unnecessary fees and charges,” said Josh Crumb, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Goldmoney Inc. “Effectively connecting fintech innovation with gold, the world’s universal and best performing store of value, the Goldmoney Network successfully safeguards users from the volatility and targeted-devaluation of currencies and the high costs of exchanging value globally.”

Goldmoney Network users in the U.S. can instantly redeem and settle to a verified bank account in USD within 24 hours, or order physical gold delivery (in cubes, coins, or bars) for one percent of the gold price at redemption. All gold purchased by Goldmoney Network users is 100% allocated, and securely stored and insured without charge in Brink’s vaults located around the world.

“Gold transcends borders because its value is timeless and universal, and transacting in gold puts the world at par. Global commerce is negatively impacted by the cost and delays of foreign exchange, as well as the increasing uncertainty caused by currency manipulation and devaluations. Our merchant tools aim to fuel business growth globally by making it simple to request and receive gold for goods and services from customers and clients around the world,” said Darrell MacMullin, CEO, of Goldmoney Network. “By using gold as a worldwide remittance rail, U.S.-based freelancers and small business owners can expand their sales globally and pay suppliers, partners, and employees while protecting their earnings and working capital.”

New Goldmoney Personal Features for U.S. Users

• Send and receive vaulted gold through the Goldmoney Network for free via email or mobile phone number. Gold received is vaulted and insured, and can be automatically redeemed to currency in a linked bank account or by delivery of physical metal.

New Goldmoney Business Features for U.S. Users

• Send gold remittances and micro transactions instantly to multiple recipients worldwide (employees, commissions, dividends, rebates or rewards) with the Goldmoney Payout tool.
• Invoice international customers for goods and services. Invoices can be paid in any currency via credit card, debit card, or bank transfer, and received as vaulted gold.
• Instantly receive gold from vendors, contractors, and customers for only one percent per transaction. Transfer to international suppliers or retain gold balance to securely store earnings for free.
• Elimination of cross-border and foreign exchange fees.

Profile Software, an international financial solutions provider, announced today its participation in the North Africa Banking Technology Exhibition taking place on the 8^th and 9^th of November at the JW Marriott Hotel Cairo, Egypt.

The North Africa Banking Technology Exhibition is the platform to discuss the latest developments and innovation within technology in Banking in the region. Senior level industry professionals will explore business opportunities to partner up with Financial Technology companies to drive customer experience and boost profits. Software is changing how banks engage with consumers and the North Africa Banking Technology exhibition is powering that change in the region.

At standno A03, Profile Software is presenting the innovative FinTech offerings for the wider region, showcasing its solutions range for Corporate, Investment, Retail Banking, Risk Management and Compliance.

• FMS.next: the universal banking platform that effectively covers the areas of Core Banking, Islamic Banking, Collections, Payments, Risk Management, as well as Peer-to-Peer Lending that combines banking and investment management functionality.
• IMSplus: the award-winning investment management platform that successfully accommodates the requirements for Wealth Management, Asset and Fund Management, Insurance Investment Management, Family Offices, Custody and Brokerage.
• Axia: the web-based, omni-channel Wealth Management solution that provides flexible deployment options with powerful functionality for client onboarding solution, financial planning etc. through an intuitive design.

Profile Software will provide professional delegates with insights on how technology can accelerate their operations, while utilising technologically advanced and flexible platforms to manage their banking operations.

For additional information on the event and to register please follow the link here!

Dell EMC has announced the availability of the innovative OpenScale Payment Solutions from Dell Financial Services (DFS), developed to span a broad range of Dell EMC products and solutions. The OpenScale Payment Solutions provide the most flexible consumption options in the industry, to help customers scale technology availability with IT demand.

The Internet of Everything, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is transforming the way every business operates, and businesses must transform to survive. However, according to recent research from Dell Technologies, insuffi­cient budget and resources tops the list of barriers slowing digital progress.

Dell EMC OpenScale Payment Solutions provide the underlying financial flexibility to enable and smooth this transition. The new portfolio combines DellScale Ready and EMC OpenScale flexible payment solutions to help customers invest in IT infrastructure and digital skills leadership on their own terms. With this new flexible consumption portfolio, Dell EMC customers – from small customers to global 50 – have access to the new and complete portfolio ofDell EMC technologies and solutions from basic scaling to full utility. The portfolio includes payment solutions across a continuum, from legacy applications running in a predictable environment to workloads with high variability and unique requirements in flexibility, scale and IT resource management. The payment solutions include:

·         Pay As You Grow: similar to a traditional lease with set payments over time that fit the customer’s budget. Customers receive and install the equipment immediately, and can set tiered payments that start low and increase as their business grows.

·         Provision and Pay: customers may acquire technology over time with recurring plan, deploy and pay cycles, with time to configure and deploy technology before payments are due.

·         Ready Capacity: customers may acquire base and buffer storage technology while deferring buffer capacity payments until activation occurs or nine months have elapsed, to ease planning for technology upgrades or incremental capacity.

·         Flex on Demand: customers with variable server, storage and converged infrastructure usage can pay for only the technology used, setting a minimum payment for base storage capacity and paying for storage buffer as they use it.

·         Datacenter Utility: establishes a pay-per-use environment across a customer’s entire IT infrastructure, enabling IT to charge business departments in flexible ways, such as amount of storage used or time-based access to applications.

·         Cloud Flex: gives customers the flexibility to validate the fit of select Dell EMC hybrid cloud solutions within their IT infrastructure and data center plans without committing upfront to an outright purchase.

Results from a recent IDC survey[1] show that when selecting an IT infrastructure provider, more than half of respondents want a provider that can offer flexible IT consumption. Respondents in same study also said:

·         Availability of flexible payment options or pay-per-use was very important (63 percent).

·         Lack of a pay-per-use model would cause their organisation to remove an IT infrastructure provider or IT cloud services provider from its provider list (56 percent).

Now that Dell and EMC have merged into one, the company is moving at an accelerated pace to deliver even greater customer value through combined technology and service offerings and even faster innovation. Dell EMC will deliver to customers the quality, speed of delivery, price points and consumption flexibility only possible through its world-class supply chain and financial services offerings. This strategy will enable more customers to partner with Dell EMC as their single vendor for end-to-end enterprise solutions designed to modernise, automate and transform their data centers.

[1] Source: IDC, Enterprise Customers View of Pay-Per-Use Offerings, August 2016, Doc # US41673116

 allpago, the leading payment service provider (PSP) in Latin America, will today announce at the Money 20/20 Conference in Las Vegas that it is expanding its payments coverage by moving into Argentina, the third largest e-commerce market in Latin America.

By establishing a presence in Buenos Aires and integrating local payment methods into its platform, allpago will make it easier for Argentina’s 34.5million online shoppers to shop with global e-commerce companies.

The Argentinian government has made significant reforms this year enabling merchants to repatriate earnings in an economical feasible way through official channels. allpago is working with local partners to help clients establish legal entities and trade compliantly in Argentina.

Philipp Bock, founder & CEO of allpago, comments: “Argentina presents a huge, growing e-commerce opportunity, but its history of high tariffs and local payment limitations meant cross-border e-commerce has, until recently, been only for the privileged few. Argentina has now relaxed the restrictions that stopped people buying from abroad and allpago has made it possible to shop online using a much wider range of preferred local payment methods.”

“We know from experience that conversion and acceptance rates increase dramatically when merchants start offering local payments to customers. We are very excited about being able to offer this capability in Argentina over the same platform and API that allpago clients already use to process payments from elsewhere in Latin America.”

With existing operations in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, allpago’s expansion into Argentina means merchants can now engage with more than 80 per cent of Latin America’s $78 billion B2C e-commerce market using its payment platform. allpago continues to build relationships with banks, acquirers and payment partners in the region to expand its coverage further.

allpago’s state-of-the-art technology provides all relevant payment methods alongside industry leading levels of security and integrated risk management systems to help merchants of all sizes and locations improve conversion rates, boost revenues and run compliant e-commerce operations in Latin America.

allpago has published a research report on the Argentinian payments and e-commerce landscape, which is available to download for free from www.allpago.com/business-intelligence.

To accommodate the nearly 100 million Chinese consumers who annually travel abroad and use Alipayto make purchases, Verifone (NYSE: PAY), a world leader in payment and commerce solutions, is partnering with Alipay, a financial services and lifestyle app of Ant Financial Services Group, to enable retailers in North America and Europe.

Using a mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solution to accept Alipay App payments at their stores, retailers can increase brand visibility, and drive traffic and sales through Alipay’s in-app marketing tool. With the Verifone e355 mPOS solution, retailers will be able to accept Alipay anywhere in the store and implement marketing campaigns targeting Chinese consumers who use the Alipay app. Together, Verifone and Alipay will help retailers increase foot-traffic and enhance the shopping experience for millions of Chinese tourists.

“Scale, security and speed are important to us as we look to enable our customers to walk into a store while traveling abroad and pay for purchases with theAlipay App—just like they do here in China,” said Douglas Feagin, SVP of Ant Financial Services Group and Head of Alipay International. “Verifone has each of these attributes, and as a trusted partner to global and national retailers, we benefit from Verifone’s scale to bring broader Alipay acceptance for Chinese consumers who travel abroad.”

The most widely used payment method in China with 450 million active users; Alipay holds nearly 70 percent of the country’s third-party mobile payment market share and processed more than 160 million daily transactions as of June 2016.

“By expanding Alipay acceptance across many boarders for an easy, frictionless traveling and shopping experience, Verifone is creating a future that takes the convenient cashless payment experience to the next level for Chinese consumers wherever they are,” said Albert Liu, EVP, Corporate Development, Verifone. “The potential of Verifone’s footprint of installed devices in more than 150 countries means we are connecting retailers to increasing opportunities to engage and serve global consumers from the POS.”

Verifone and Alipay will be showcasing Alipay App acceptance on the Verifone e355 at Money20/20 (Verifone booth #2414), October 23-26 in Las Vegas.

• 24.10.2016 -- 03:31 pm

Financial IT interviews Aivars Belis,Sales Executive, Europe, Tieto at Sibos 2016 .

A quick snapshot of the various ‘cyber crime’ terminologies, some key stats, along with some alarming perceptions.