Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the software specialist for banking and finance, today announces that a major European bank has selected UniversalSuite, its front-to-back solution for retail, commercial and corporate banking.

David Arnott, Chief Executive Officer at Temenos, commented: “We are delighted to have signed another major European bank onto our UniversalSuite solution, a material transaction about which we will provide more details in due course. Following recent agreements with institutions such as Nordea Bank, signed in September last year, and Standard Chartered Bank, signed in July this year, this deal clearly demonstrates that Temenos is the established technology partner for the digitization of the world’s banking industry.”

Temenos will report its Q3 financial results on 19^th October 2016.

 GFT, the leading provider of business, design and technology consulting to the financial services community, has appointed David Collins as Head of Financial Services across the GFT Atlantic Region, a senior hire that marks a key milestone in GFT’s strategy to service clients in the UK and North America.

David brings with him a wealth of experience across financial services and technology. He joins from Sapient where he was heavily involved in working to reshape and refocus its UK business consulting organisation. Before this, he held the role of CEO of SDX Trading and chief marketing officer at SuperDerivatives. In this role, David was responsible for the innovation of new products in trade execution and market data, the evolution of existing products and the expansion into new markets. His experience also spans roles as a partner at Capco and a derivatives trader at BNP Paribas, DLJ and Standard Bank.

In his new role, David will be responsible for all Financial Services Client Units in the GFT Atlantic Region (UK, US and Canada), ranging from sales right through to delivery. He will be actively involved in engaging with new customers and extending existing customer relationships further, in order to continue to serve clients in the best way possible, whilst expanding the Atlantic business.

David has had a particular interest in FinTech since being involved in the first professional grade derivatives platform at SuperDerivatives. This interest will form a key part of his role as GFT continues to evolve its digital offering to new, and existing clients. Spearheading upcoming new projects in the FinTech space, he will play a vital role in ensuring that GFT is able to offer a practical business application for new technologies.

David Collins, Head of Financial Services at GFT commented: “I am excited to join the global management team at GFT where I look forward to continuing growing and pushing the Financial Services business forward across the Atlantic region. Having recently led a project to change and develop the EMEA division of Sapient, I am eager to bring the skills that I have gained, and the experiences that I encountered in this process, to continue GFT’s progression as the largest scale consultancy focused on financial services.”

Gareth Richardson, Managing Director at GFT commented: “We are thrilled to have David on board and we are eager to utilise his broad range of skills, gained from his wide experience in the financial services sector. Having played a key role in the sale of SuperDerivatives to ICE, it is clear that David’s drive will perfectly complement our Atlantic Management team, and I am sure he will be a great asset to GFT.”

TransferTo, the leading B2B mobile payment network, and Eurogiro, a global payments network, have connected to provide access to Eurogiro members to transfer money to mobile money and bank accounts through the TransferTo payments network.

Eurogiro is a global payments network connecting member payments ecosystems, such as postal branches and banks. Eurogiro members reach more than 500,000 branches and 4 billion people in more than 50 countries.

Members of Eurogiro’s network can expand their service offerings by offering Mobile Money, which is powering growth in many emerging markets. A Eurogiro member in Ukraine can now accept remittances at a post office and transfer the funds to a recipient in Philippines, who will receive the transfer in his mobile wallet. Similarly, as part of the partnership, TransferTo partners will also be able to send money to Eurogiro members across the globe.

Eric Barbier, CEO of TransferTo, says, “post offices and banks globally are a major channel for money transfer. Eurogiro’s wide distribution of urban and rural member branches will provide flexibility to consumers, to use physical outlets, cash and mobile money in the manner that they are most comfortable with.”

Michel Stuijt, CEO at Eurogiro says, “Mobile is the future and TransferTo is helping us bring mobile payments into the mix of our member service offerings. By combining forces, we get an excellent interface into mobile wallets around the world. The quick availability and simplicity of connecting with TransferTo made this a very easy decision.”

TransferTo is a global leader in cross border B2B mobile payments, interconnecting the world’s leading mobile operators and financial institutions to enable secure cross-border mobile money and airtime transfers worldwide.

Samsung SDS, a global IT services company, today, unveils Mobile Voice Recording Solution (MVRS) Powered by Samsung SDS EMM, a secure and FCA-compliant communications recording Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solution.

The MVRS Powered by Samsung SDS EMM is developed predominantly for the financial services sector in anticipation of forthcoming MiFID II regulations set for 2018, which require all communications data to be recorded, monitored and stored for five years. It has already been implemented by a number of FCA regulated firms, and can also be used in other industries like health and rail, where remote and lone workers need to be monitored via mobile. 

Available on Samsung Galaxy devices, the solution records all SMS, voice and call conversations made by trading employees. All recorded data can then be seamlessly integrated, whenever there is an active mobile connection, into organisations’ central compliance centres or to ISO and designated UK Government-certified data centres as required by law. This data can then be used with other recordings to produce analytical compliance reports.

The offering runs as a native application meaning there is no reliance on third party communication solutions. It also has the ability to override and prevent such solutions being installed on a device, to avoid any correspondence not being officially recorded, providing complete assurance that all users are abiding by compliance rules.

The solution can also track a user’s movement through Google Maps, identify which other apps they are using on a device and how much data is being used, to highlight potential irregularities. All data used and stored can be viewed at all times via an intelligent portal where calls, SMS and emails can be downloaded, played back and read. 

Adrian Klingenberg, Financial Sector Sales Manager, Samsung SDS Europe said: “MVRS Powered by Samsung SDS EMM has been developed using the most robust and secure technology available. In an increasingly regulated sector and with MiFID II moving ever closer, organisations need a solution that they can be sure meets all possible standards.

“We’ve had tremendous feedback from customers in the financial services sector to date. There is a huge target market for this kind of product and we are excited to bring it to even more organisations who are looking for a modern, best-in-class service.”

MVRS Powered by Samsung SDS EMM will be officially launched at an event held at Eight Club Moorgate, London on October 5^th. Further details and registration information can be viewed here. 

The specialised asset manager Axion Swiss Bank has signed a long-term contract with Avaloq for full Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services. By partnering with Avaloq, the bank will benefit from the same advantages as its parent company BancaStato, which has been relying on Avaloq’s expertise and competence since 2012. The migration is expected to be completed by the beginning of January 2017.

Axion Swiss Bank is a private bank that mainly focuses on asset management and consultancy. The Swiss bank is fully owned by Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino (BancaStato) and renowned for its reliable, confidential, and sophisticated service. The bank’s main focus lies on assisting its clients in making the most of and further developing their assets.

Following the take-over by BancaStato in January 2014, Axion Swiss Bank has now made the strategic decision to also migrate to the BPO setup based on the Avaloq Banking Suite that is already in use at BancaStato. The Avaloq BPO solution entirely covers banking processes and back-office services in an integrated way. By outsourcing standardised processes, Axion Swiss Bank can reduce the efforts spent on standardised processes, focus on its core competencies and thus deliver added value for its clients.

Marco Tini, CEO at Axion Swiss Bank comments: “By working with Avaloq, we not only profit from efficiency gains, but also from a more agile way of operating. We always strive to offer our clients comprehensive consulting services and high-quality advice. By outsourcing certain areas to Avaloq, we free up resources that can be reinvested in client management and product services.”

Markus Gröninger, CEO of Avaloq Sourcing (Switzerland & Liechtenstein) adds, “Nowadays, the smaller to mid-sized banks find it increasingly difficult to invest in technology innovation and to keep up with large-sized banks. With our solutions we help these banks close that gap as we continue to invest in technology and services. We are certain that Avaloq will be playing an integral part in Axion Swiss Bank being able to respond to the changing client demands.”

Intellect iGTB, the organisation behind the world’s first comprehensive global transaction banking solution, has made its well-established global integrated cash and trade solution, Digital Transaction Banking (DTB), available as software as a service. DTB comprises account services, reporting, collections and receivables (including EIPP), liquidity, trade finance, supply chain finance and treasury products, all seamlessly integrated. The product continues to experience great success and increasingly, banks are requesting a software deployment model that gives an even faster and simpler way to access these services. This is based on the model bank concept with many pre-configured elements and a comprehensive set of tried-and-tested customer journeys.

The solution, which has over 70 installations, has a track record of increasing customer numbers by 32% year-on-year in one bank, and even more impressively a doubling of customer base in just 9 months in another, the solution consistently demonstrates other benefits such as profitability increase, very high STP and FTE reductions. It is no surprise therefore that many banks are utilising the service in tens of countries. Now, the cloud aspect allows banks to simply switch on and go.

The solution was designed for, and has been implemented by, banks across the spectrum from small to regional to global, and in turn used by their business customers of all sizes. But the new availability on the cloud will be of value, in particular to local and primarily domestic banks, as it allows them to bypass more costly and long-term investment and implementation procedures by eliminating the need to physically integrate the technology solution into their existing systems. Instead, they can access the software as a service and seamlessly use it for onboarding any of their customers simply.

This new form of accessing such a solution means that banks can exploit the opportunities presented by the $12 trillion held in corporate cash. From relationship managers to CDOs, Heads of Transaction Banking and COOs, banks are asking how they can improve customer stickiness, revenue, efficiency and use of resources – and provide their customers with a single view across cash and trade processes via any device, including tablets, mobile phones, laptops and wearable technology such as the Apple Watch. This solution will allow them to meet both those bank needs and those of their corporate customers without siloes and in the optimal manner for varied client segments.

iGTB CEO Manish Maakan comments “Banks need, and are rightly demanding, the ability to offer new and enhanced services in a simpler manner. By accessing our proven existing solution via the cloud, any banks – particularly those whose concerns are more locally focused – can gain benefits that deliver significant value, all in a remarkably short space of time.”

Compass Plus, an international provider of retail banking and electronic payments software to processors and financial institutions, is leading the support for the Emerging Payments Association’s (EPA) first Retail PayTech Forum. The event aims to create a platform for Retailers to discuss issues they have around payments.

Earlier in 2016, the EPA invited retailers across a range of industries – including Sainsbury's, McDonald's, Ocado and The Post Office – to share and discuss the challenges they faced when assessing and adopting PayTech innovations. In openly sharing and discussing the challenges individual retailers faced, a lot of common ground was found between the participants.

Juan Andrade, Payments Manager at Secret Escapes, attended one of these meetings. He said:"Retailers have a clear requirement for a platform that brings together payments expertise from across the retail industry – a demand that is not currently being met.”

Now, with support from sponsor Compass Plus, the EPA has addressed the lack of such a platform by bringing together a PayTech-focused retailer community at the first Retail PayTech Forum. The Forum will educate delegates on new technologies, regulations and products; allow delegates to share knowledge on both current and anticipated issues; and provide a platform for discussion of retailer-led collaborative opportunities, such as establishing a standard for PayTech companies to conform to when developing application process interfaces (API) or software development kits (SDK).

Commenting on Compass Plus’ support for the Forum, which takes place today at London’s Andaz Hotel, Paul Love, Principle Product Manager at Compass Plus said: “The EPA’s Retail PayTech Forum is the ideal setting to explore the opportunities made available by new technologies, regulations and products, as well as providing a platform for sharing knowledge and experience of their adoption by consumers.

“Compass Plus is delighted to be helping bring these forward-thinking companies together to engage in some very constructive discussions around PayTech.”

Speakers at the inaugural Retail PayTech Forum will include Nathalie Oestmann, Director and Head of Samsung Pay Europe, Caroline Rolfe, Co-Founder and Commercial Director of Runninginheels.com and Ben Fricke – a long standing figure in the food industry.

About the Emerging Payments Association:

The Emerging Payments Association (EPA) is a community for the world's most progressive payments companies. The EPA helps them to have influence over the payments landscape and get access to the people operating in it, whether they are buyers, sellers or partners.

The EPA’s goal is to establish the UK as the global hotspot for payments innovation. Its mission, to advance payments innovation, has the potential to improve lives everywhere, not just in the UK but around the world. By attracting investment capital and creating a hospitable regulatory environment for innovators, new entrants and disruptors, the UK can make a material contribution to the world around us.