Compass Plus, an international provider of retail banking and electronic payments software for processors and financial institutions, has announced that it has been certified as one of only five companies to achieve aggregator accreditation for Faster Payments in the UK. Faster Payments is a system that enables customers in the UK to make secure and fast automated payments via mobile, internet, telephone or standing order 24/7/365 at the touch of a button.

The software provider’s open development payments platform, TranzAxis, was certified by Faster Payments Scheme Limited (FPSL), the operator behind Faster Payments, after successfully completing a series of technical tests required by FPSL for its New Access Model. Compass Plus chose Ascert Limited to support the testing.

This accreditation means that Compass Plus will now be able to offer TranzAxis as a Faster Payments software gateway to aggregators and those Payment Service Providers (PSPs) that require direct access to Faster Payments’ Central Infrastructure.

Mike Banyard, Head of Development at Faster Payments, said: “Customer demand for real-time payments means the importance of opening up access to our world-leading service has never been more important. We are pleased to welcome Compass Plus as the latest FinTech to achieve the accreditation standard – they will play a vital role in stimulating competition by providing more choice for payment service providers in how to access Faster Payments.”

Mike Wainwright, Business Development Director at Ascert UK said: “Compass Plus were one of the first FinTechs to take up the cloud based FPS Accreditation service provided by Ascert. The Ascertified cloud based testing system enabled them to successfully complete their own functional testing as well as the formal accreditation with minimal support required from us.”

Darren Busby, Associate VP & Business Development Director at Compass Plus said: “Access to real-time payments will be a benefit for businesses and consumers alike so we are particularly proud to be one of the first vendors awarded the Faster Payments ‘trust mark’ certificate. The certification demonstrates our ongoing commitment to innovation and future-proofing our customers’ business.”

• 12.08.2016 -- 08:06 am

Financial IT Interviews John Graham, Vice President of Marketing, Solarflare

Path Solutions, the premier provider of Islamic banking software solutions and services, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded Corporate Vision’s 2016 Technology Innovator Award for ‘Best Islamic Core Banking System Provider’.

The 2016 Technology Innovator Awards highlight the businesses behind the most ground-breaking developments in technology. The prestigious awards process shines the spotlight on those pioneering IT firms that develop and implement cutting-edge technologies that will continue to enhance and fundamentally alter the business world for the better for many years to come.

Path Solutions invests around 25% of its revenues in research and development, significantly ahead of its industry peers, ensuring that its Islamic core banking system remains at the pinnacle of the Islamic financial services market. The company’s flagship core banking system iMAL enables Islamic financial institutions to optimize their operations and processes while remaining compliant, agile, flexible and responsive to business change.

Speaking about the recognition, Mohammed Kateeb, Group Chairman & CEO of Path Solutions said, “Being awarded the Technology Innovator Award 2016 reinforces our beliefs, strengthens our commitment and encourages us to continue our journey towards excellence. Since 1992, Path Solutions has never missed out at winning industry awards. The company’s performance also garnered great appreciation from top industry analysts. Among this year’s awards we note the Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards, the Beacon of ICT (BoICT) Awards and the IFFSA Awards in which we earned top position”.

The Technology Innovator Awards reflect and reward the many years of dedicated work and investment spent to develop and bring innovative solutions to the market. The award winners' magazine will be distributed to 170,000+ readers worldwide who are a mix of C-level executives from different corporate backgrounds.

The 2016 winners are soon to be announced on Corporate Vision’s awards page which is available here:http://www.corp-vis.com/top-tech-awards

Path Solutions, the global Islamic banking software and services company is pleased to announce it has won the gold award for ‘Islamic Finance Technology Provider of the Year’ at the 2016 IFFSA Awards.

Following the conclusion of the inaugural IFFSA (Islamic Finance Forum for South Asia) which was held on 26^th & 27^thof July 2016 in Sri Lanka, the winners of the IFFSA Awards were announced during an award gala dinner in the evening of 27^th July.

The IFFSA Awards night has recognised the contributions made by organisations to the Islamic financial services industry, focusing exclusively on organisations with operations in the South Asia region. Path Solutions stood above other submissions and outperformed its competitors due to its innovations and positive impact on Islamic financial institutions in South Asia mainly Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Maldives. 

Mohammed Kateeb, Group Chairman & CEO of Path Solutions, said, “Few awards hold as much gravitas as IFFSA’s. We’re delighted that it highlights Path Solutions as the undisputable market leader in the Islamic financial software industry in South Asia. This third-party endorsement reflects our innovative approach, superior platform and the market-leading solutions we offer to a niche market. This important acknowledgement is further validation that we are delivering the value intended to the world’s most dynamic marketplaces. Path Solutions’ leadership in this area can also be seen by the company’s network footprint which reaches almost every continent, spanning 34 countries”.

The IFFSA Awards are designed to identify South Asia region’s top performers from the Islamic finance industry, as well as the service providers who have led the way in terms of innovation, compliance and overall expertise in the field.

IFFSA Awards’ panel of judges praised the way in which Path Solutions has been able to develop from the ground up modern Sharia-compliant technologies to meet the needs of a growing community of Islamic financial institutions in South Asia.

One of the main reasons for Path Solutions’ industry recognition is its ability to develop and deliver the most comprehensive industry-focused software to the Islamic financial services sector.

Earlier this year, Path Solutions announced the release of the latest version of the multi-award winning Islamic core banking software, iMAL, which provides users with a modern and updated interface, as well as the addition of several new modules to keep pace with changing legislation and evolving market needs.

Path Solutions, the leader in Sharia-compliant technology-enabled solutions and services for the Islamic finance industry, today announced that Mohammed Kateeb, the company’ Group Chairman & CEO was recognized by IFFSA with the 2016 Honorary Leadership Award in Islamic Finance.

In a ceremony conducted in conjunction with the “Islamic Finance Forum for South Asia (IFFSA)” on 27th July in Colombo, and in the presence of a large number of industry players and directors of top-tier financial institutions in South Asia, Kateeb received the award “in recognition for the leadership provided to one of the trailblazers in information technology germane to the Islamic finance industry over the past several years”, said Aakif Wahab, Group Executive Director at UTO EDUCONSULT (PVT) LTD, the organizers of IFFSA.

Kateeb is well known for his authentic leadership style, hands on approach, and an unrivalled depth of knowledge with profound passion for serving the IT industry. Under his leadership and guidance, Path Solutions has achieved tremendous growth and success by developing truly world-class Sharia-based software solutions that enable Islamic financial institutions to remain competitive and stay abreast of customer needs.

Currently, Kateeb serves as member of the Board of Trustees of IRTI, an affiliate of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDBG) to develop a technology-enabled Islamic financial services sector to foster Islamic financial inclusion. He was named among the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Leaders Who Make the Islamic Economy in 2015’ in ISLAMICA 500, and ‘Islamic Finance Technology CEO of the Year 2015’ by Business Worldwide Magazine.

Humbled by the recognition Kateeb commented, “I am deeply honored to have been selected for this Honorary Leadership Award in Islamic Finance. I am humbled and feeling privileged that you placed your faith and trust in me. I would like to thank the distinguished panel of judges from UTO EDUCONSULT LTD for selecting me. As a member of the Islamic finance community, I fully understand how important the contribution of individuals is to the advancement of this industry.  Islamic finance potential is tremendous and we are just scratching the surface. It is the only mean to achieve true financial inclusion worldwide. In addition, as a member of the telecommunication, media and information technology community I recognize the revolution that the world is going through, and without technology innovations in this industry we will not be able to realize its full potential. In the past years, I have worked closely with our clients, partners, employees and members of this community to empower Islamic financial institutions with the best technology innovations. Realizing that we need all the help that we can get, I strive to inspire people around me to make a difference, because success in this segment is only possible when we all work together to achieve it”.

The 1^st Annual IFFSA Awards Ceremony gathered foremost figures from across South Asia. It is subsequently scheduled to be held in the various countries in the region on a rotational basis.

On Day Two of the conference, Kateeb also participated as a panelist in a session titled “Advances in technology and its impact, or lack of it, on the Islamic finance industry”, joining a list of distinguished speakers and panelists from across the world.

New research from The Copenhagen Business School and Reykjavik University and sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA) examines how banks in Iceland and Denmark responded to the 2008 financial crisis. The report, Financial crisis and changes in management controls in Banks, concluded that while Icelandic banks’ reactions were geared towards survival, their Danish counterparts largely focussed on improving their business. Despite the difference, banks in both countries recognised an update to their management control systems was crucial to successfully moving forward after the crisis.

The research involved 26 in-depth interviews with a range of staff in each participating bank, including each chief financial officer and chief internal auditor.

The interviews revealed that banks based in Iceland formalised their risk management compliance and internal auditing practices and hired more people to operate in this area of the organisation. They also strengthened and formalised their policies and procedures to ensure consistent practices. In contrast, the Danish banks adapted their administrative controls to new regulatory requirements. Their risk systems were already relatively mature so the adjustments they had to make to meet regulatory requirements were not as big.

Peter Spence, head of performance management research, CIMA said: “The crisis showed us all how important management control systems are to organisations being able to successfully tackle and move on from crisis. These systems control so many elements of organisations, they are vital to the sound stewardship of assets and central to good management decision-making – not to mention managing behaviour of individuals through processes that embed the culture of an organisation. As a result, they are crucial to the long-term success of an organisation – something which has been emphasised by the financial crisis.”

Diasoft, a leading provider of cutting-edge financial software solutions, announced today that it has signed an agreement with TPBank of Vietnam for implementation of its modern FLEXTERA Loan Origination and FLEXTERA Debt Collection systems.

The contract for the FLEXTERA Loan Origination and FLEXTERA Debt Collection systems was completed and signed recently in Hanoi by Mr. Pham Dong Anh, Deputy CEO of TPBank, Mr. Tran Le Quan, CEO of Fintek (Diasoft's partner in Vietnam) and Mr. Sergey Metelskiy, Head of International Sales at Diasoft.

TPBank (TienPhong Commercial Joint Stock Bank) is one of the leading commercial banks in Vietnam, with over 1,3 million customers and total assets of around 83,200 billion VND. TPBank aims to provide its Customers and Partners with best-in-class financial products and services based on advanced, modern and highly efficient technologies.

In order to automate various steps of loan processing, mainly for personal loans, and create a solid foundation for all of the bank's debt collection activities, TPBank has selected two signature modules of Diasoft`s FLEXTERA Financial Architecture: FLEXTERA Debt Collection and FLEXTERA Loan Origination.

FLEXTERA Debt Collection is an innovative solution that helps financial institutions to automate operations related to debt collection, including customer relationship management, interaction with third party collection agencies, segmentation of debts, allocation of human resources and control over collection activities and reporting.

FLEXTERA Loan Origination (LOS) manages the overall loan origination process from taking and processing of a loan application up to loan disbursement. The system supports a broad range of credit products such as consumer loans, car loans, mortgages, credit cards, loans.

Diasoft's solutions will enable the bank to increase efficiency and quality of its loan origination and debt collection processes. Implementing this project, TPBank expects to improve the overall level of customer services, increase labor productivity and reduce the cost of loan processing. Moreover, the Bank expects to improve efficiency of its operations through adoption of international standards in risk management and establishment of effective operational and credit risk management processes.

Among the key project goals are the following:

·         Implementation of the highly flexible Loan Origination and Debt Collection Systems, meeting all of the Bank's business requirements;

·         Implementation of the efficient tool for automated detection and scoring of risks;

·         Decrease of the overall turnaround time through reduction of repetitive operations (such as repeated input of the same data, double checks of the same risk parameters, etc.) and paper work.

During the Signing Ceremony, Mr. Pham Dong Anh, Deputy CEO of TPBank, commented, "With the rapidly increasing number of retail customers, the LOS project is the tool to help TPBank minimize manual and paper work that the credit department of the Bank has to do on a daily basis. Thereby, this project will help us improve efficiency of the loan process, accelerate loan disbursement, enhance customer experience and increase business performance of TPBank's Loan LOB".

Mr. Alexander Glazkov, Chairman and CEO of Diasoft, stressed out that Diasoft was delighted to become a provider of software services for TPBank, one of the most technologically advanced banks in Vietnam. He also underlined that this project plays an important role in the company's strategy within Vietnam.

"We are proud of being selected by one of the leading commercial banks in Vietnam," commented Sergey Metelskiy, Head of International Sales at Diasoft, "We at Diasoft are happy to provide TPBank with a transparent, secure, efficient and sustainable platform that will support the development strategy of the Bank and help it provide its Customers with modern technology-based financial products and services."

Tran Le Quan, CEO of Fintek, the company that provides consultancy services and deploys technologies at banks, expressed desirable and enthusiasm to coordinate closely with TPBank to implement this project in order to achieve the highest efficiently result for it: “We hope to support TPBank in achieving the long-term strategic goals, bring the best service to get customer satisfaction”.

The Daily Telegraph’s Brussels correspondent, Matthew Holehouse, has joined MLex Market Insight as a re­porter on its Brexit service, where he will cover the UK side of the negotiations surrounding the UK’s extraction from the European Union.

Matthew, who previously worked as Westminster political correspondent for the newspaper, is joining a team of journalists in London and Brussels covering the regulatory and political landscape. Further hires are expected to be announced in the coming days.

“The coming Article 50 negotiations, and prospective subsequent trade deals, will have profound implications for any company that operates in the United Kingdom and will bring about a revolution in how the country is governed,” said Holehouse. “I am delighted to be joining MLex to cover what this extraordinary political story means for business.”

In the UK and Continental Europe, and around the world, businesses are grappling with the regulatory implica­tions of the Brexit decision. What new rules will apply in the UK market, and what reciprocal access the UK can negotiate for its goods and services are critical questions for companies and their advisers.

MLex, a UK subscription-based news service providing insight, commentary and analysis on regulatory risk, will draw on its teams of reporters in London and Brussels, as well as reporters in its bureaus in Washington, San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Sao Paolo, to map out the ongoing negotiations and their global impact.

“Clearly, Brexit has compounded the regulatory headaches for businesses worldwide. But with risk comes op­portunity,” said Robert McLeod, MLex’s editor in chief. “Companies will be jockeying for position to influence the new regulatory and trade regimes – on both sides of the negotiations.

Companies are already adjusting to the globalisation of regulatory risk in antitrust, anti-bribery and data privacy – Brexit adds to that compliance workload.