Forget FinTechs, here come RegTechs!

You’ve just familiarised yourself with FinTech. Now it’s time to take a look at the innovation that rocked London 2016 FinTech Week: RegTech. The ambition: to manage all regulatory aspects, from the determination of ratios to risk mapping and KYC management.

These new players aim to address the following challenges:

A vision of the future - and it has to be near term if you want to compete

Immediately following the 2008 crash we should have been at the peak of regulatory change. Indeed, there were some very rapid responses, such as the 2009/2010 UK liquidity regime.  The mountain of reform needed was far greater than initially understood, ranging from structural change to Basel III.

As a result of the size of the change needed, it has been slower. Bank business model changes have arisen as a result of the redefinition of capital, the meaning of high quality and, of course liquidity. In addition, the amount of capital reserves and liquidity have increased.  But now that Basel III is largely in place, is the avalanche over? 

Capital markets: Buying habits signal a shift towards the cloud

62% of technology projects in capital markets over the last year have cost less than $500,000, with 45% having a Capex of less than $250,000 according to our latest research.

This came as somewhat of a surprise. 

My conversations with fintech companies serving capital markets have been consistent – times are getting better. Institutions are spending again and, although pressures are there, confidence is returning. Regulatory demands, technical upgrades and changing customer requirements were supposed to be pushing firms to spend. So, in a market widely known for major, wholesale technology change, this level of spend marks a real shift. 

Hats off to RBS

Hats off to RBS (not a phrase you will hear too often). However, given the latest in a sequence of high-profile computer outages the previous week, it was brave to put Kevin Hanley, director of design, services (whatever that means), in front of a roomful of analysts and press at SAP’s Financial Services Forum in London.

BAI Retail Delivery 2014: the inside track

BAI Retail Delivery, Chicago. Source: wikipedia

Technology is only as good as the people and processes around it. The BAI Retail Delivery session, entitled 'Technology as an enabler for operational excellence' and centred around panellists sharing their experience on when and where to apply IT to benefit the bank's operations, quickly became focused on the necessity of the people and the processes being ready.

Sibos: day two round-up

@Swift

Day two of Sibos continued the theme of collaboration, with more focus on standards, market infrastructures and new technologies under the spotlight.

Sibos: day one round-up

@Swift

Sibos 2014 kicked off in Boston with the focus inevitably on regulation, standards and the build-up to the much anticipated plenary which revealed Swift's pricing strategy.

Have European banks given up on core banking system replacements?

© www.itrw.net

Despite the emergence of new technology and increasing competition, it seems the replacement of core banking systems is not on the agenda for European banks. Instead, banks are investing in niche IT projects to not only maintain their existing systems, but to introduce incremental changes, which can provide a quick return on investment (ROI) and meet their business and consumer needs.

New challengers to the UK banking market

Welcome to the IBS table of the challengers to the UK banking market.  

We have put together a list of financial institutions looking for business in the UK.

More details on the core system decisions of the respective banks can be found on the IBS website.

We welcome any input to the table and will be making regular updates, so if you would like to add to the list please contact us via email or the comments section below.