News

The University of British Columbia (UBC), which educates more than 50,000 students on campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna, will implement SunGard’s AvantGard Treasury solution for cash and risk management, as well as to facilitate its complex debt and investment activities.AvantGard will provide real-time access to data, detailed reporting and improved visibility to cash and risk, to help UBC enhance strategic decision making. AvantGard Treasury will also assist UBC in managing its complex debt... more

Satuit Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for investment professionals, today announced that the company’s earnings for 2009 grew by 80% year over year. The company credits its strong client retention and the growth of it’s sales force for the strong results. “2009 was a building year for us. We took advantage our surplus cash and of the market conditions to add staff, in sales, programming and client support,” said Karen... more

UBS AG has reported profits of $1.1 billion in its fourth quarter results for 2009.The result marks a dramatic upturn in fortunes for the Swiss bank over the course of last year – in its fourth quarter results for 2008 UBS recorded a loss of $8.95 billion.Since that date, UBS has cut is staff levels by 16 per cent and improved its capital ratios from 11 per cent to 15.4 per cent.Oswald Gruebel, chief executive officer of UBS, said he was pleased with the turnaround."We entered 2009 at the... more

Rajiv Goel, a former managing director at Intel's treasury group, has become the ninth person to plead guilty to allegations of insider trading in the Galleon group case.As well as pleading guilty to insider trading, Mr Goel implicated Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon Group and the alleged mastermind behind the scam.Mr Goel said that he had twice given Mr Rajaratnam, whom he has known for more than 25 years, insider information about Intel's investment plans, reports Bloomberg."I gave... more

 

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) (Nasdaq:FDS), a leading provider of integrated global financial information and analytical applications for the investment community, today announced that its Board of Directors approved a regular quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share. The cash dividend will be paid on March 16, 2010 to holders of record of FactSet's common stock on February 26, 2010. more

Bolsom expects Bank of England to be “cautiously optimistic” in inflation reportSterling suffered further losses this morning after data showed the UK trade deficit widened more than expected to £7.278 billion, after imports from non-EU countries rose at their fastest rate since March 2008. Against the euro it initially fell to €1.1243, and dipped to $1.5582 against the dollar, from just under $1.56 before the data.Mark Bolsom, Head of the UK Trading Desk at Travelex, the world’s... more

SWIFT and SimCorp have together successfully completed a proof of concept, which demonstrates that SimCorp Dimension, SimCorp’s market-leading solution for investment management businesses, can accept, process and transmit SWIFT ISO 20022 MX messages. MX messages are increasingly used in the securities industry, with adoption extending beyond Europe to Asia and the U.S.MX messages offer more clarity and have wider application than earlier protocols, so their use enables investment managers to... more

Today CO2benchmark.com went live with their Carbon Screener, the new analytics platform.It's the first carbon data provider to offer advanced business intelligence capabilities to its users.CO2Benchmark puts you in full control of the insights you want to gain from their vast knowledge base,which covers hard carbon facts & figures of 3,000 companies.The Carbon Screener enables you to slice and dice the information in any way that meets your investment theme or carbon strategy.With just a few... more

NYSE Technologies is to work with four equity exchanges to provide a technology solution for an ASEAN trading network. According to the company, the network is being created to enhance cross-border trading and orders in the region. NYSE Technologies has been chosen to work on developing and managing the technology infrastructure for the network. Once the network has been established, investors will be able to access different trading opportunities within the region from their own country. The... more

 

Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, has described any further falls in stock prices as a cause for concern. The banking expert made the comments during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press program. He said: “It's important to remember that equity values, stock prices, are not just paper profits. They actually have a profoundly important impact on economic activity."If stock prices were to continue falling, then he would be "very concerned”, the banker explained. Mr... more

 

Deutsche Bank has set aside $314 million to pay the new tax on banker bonuses introduced by the UK government. The financial institution is reported to be the first of the major banks to reveal what it needs to pay the new levy. Deutsche Bank employs 8,000 staff in London but has spread the impact of the tax across its global bonus pool. In a conference call, Josef Ackermann, chief executive at Deutsche Bank, said: "We are in a very sensitive situation right now and want to find the right... more

 

The largest 100 financial firms in the world are expecting to invest $100 billion in implementing risk governance technology within their organisations by 2012, a new study has revealed. Findings from a report by Deloitte showed that the figure will be twice as much as the amount spent on technology in 2006. Many of the chief risk officers (CROs) questioned said that funds will be invested in ensuring risk systems meet requirements outlined in the Basel II and Solvency II capital standards.The... more

 

Barclays Wealth has hired three former UBS bankers to help boost its business in South Asia. The bank has appointed Vikram Malhotra as managing director and head of South Asia operations to lead a team of bankers based in Singapore and Hong Kong. Mr Malhotra’s team will work on providing advisory solutions and wealth management to investors in the region. Jagdish Kale and Rohit Nanani have also been appointed as directors and will be providing investment advice to high-net worth clients in... more

 

Brady plc (BRY.L), the leading supplier of trading and risk management solutions for metals and commodities, announced today that the latest release of their trading and risk management technology includes full capability for handling the new cobalt and molybdenum contracts to be launched on the London Metal Exchange (LME) on 22nd February. This includes support for the warrants for physical delivery of these contracts. The two minor metals, cobalt and molybdenum, are by-products of metals... more

Norkom Technologies has today announced that it has signed a deal with Daiwa Capital Markets Singapore Limited, a leading global investment bank, bolstering Norkom’s position in the Southeast Asian financial crime and compliance marketplace. Daiwa Capital Markets Singapore will implement Norkom's market-leading Sanctions & Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) Screening and Transaction Monitoring solutions. Using Norkom’s best-of-breed analytics software, which screens over one billion financial... more

- Real-time pricing and connectivity available Proquote announces today that it is now offering real-time pricing and trading connectivity to the London Stock Exchange's new electronic order book for retail-size bonds. Introduced in response to strong private investor demand for greater access to fixed income, the new order book offers continuous two-way pricing for trading in UK gilts and retail-size corporate bonds on-exchange for the first time. Brokers using Proquote's electronic FIX links... more

Interactive Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC), a leading provider of financial market data, analytics and related services, today announced that its Pricing and Reference Data business has signed an agreement with Korea Bond Pricing (KBP), a leading agency appointed by the Korean Government to provide valuations for fixed income and derivative instruments to the Korean market. KBP will provide local marketing and support services that will help to promote Interactive Data’s international bond... more

FFastFill plc, the leading provider of front, middle and back office solutions today announces the addition of HSBC to its Software as a Service trading platform. more

Atrium Network, provider of smarter connectivity for the financial community today announced that it is building on its expansion into the Canadian market with low latency connectivity to Pure Trading, a Toronto-based competitive alternative auction market system aimed at attracting latency sensitive traders interested in Canadian exchange-listed securities. Low latency connectivity will be provided by Atrium Network using the latest dark fibre technology into the heart of the Pure Trading data... more

FinArch’s Finance Resource Planning (FRP) offering in growing demandFinancial Architects (FinArch), a leading international provider of financial and risk management software, today reported its full year results with an astonishing growth in overall revenues in 2009. The excellent results of 2009 and the promising outlook for 2010 are clear evidence of the call in the banking industry for robust, more integrated approaches to implementing finance and risk management systems. Despite the... more

US pay czar Kenneth Feinberg has said he held conversations with Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs' chief executive officer, about how much the firm should pay its senior staff in bonuses.Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs' revealed that Mr Blankfein is to receive a $9 million bonus, paid entirely in stock while the rest of the firm's staff will share out $16.2 billion between them.The figures were much lower than expected, with Alan Johnson, a Wall Street compensation consultant, predicting to... more

 

Worries focus on state of the economy, not on the balance sheetThe financial crisis isn't over yet - more bad news is expected to come - but corporate treasurers around the world are still feeling quite bullish about 2010. This is just one of many findings about the health of the global business environment from the latest Quarterly Business Confidence Survey, researched and published by EuroFinance, the leading global provider of conferences, training and research on cash management, treasury... more

Marcus Cree, director of risk solutions for SunGard’s capital markets and investment banking business, said, “Regulators, investors and managers have changed their view of how financial institutions need to be run and how the markets need to be controlled. They demand more disclosure, improved risk management and more capital control. To achieve this, firms need a risk infrastructure that supports the ability to pinpoint their exposure, better manage capital flows and achieve a holistic... more

SAS® operational risk management software tops bank’s selection list on several frontsBanks looking to garner advanced measurement approaches (AMA) for assessment and management of operational risk require a comprehensive framework for capital estimation, which incorporates loss events across the enterprise. With that advance need in mind, Union Bank, N.A., has selected SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, to help manage risk more efficiently and with more rigor. Union... more

NewRiver, Inc, creators of the leading central repository of mutual fund documents and data for financial services firms – today announced the immediate availability of the NewRiver Summary Prospectus Index for Variable Annuitiessm. Similar to the Company’s highly regarded NewRiver Summary Prospectus Indexsm, this latest Index tracks and provides a high level-overview of all of the summary prospectus filings that are part of variable annuity contracts. NewRiver is also offering Insurance... more

Annual technology report reviews database vendor vision and execution capabilities Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC) announced today that Gartner, Inc. has positioned Teradata in the Leaders Quadrant in its 2009 “Magic Quadrant (MQ) for Data Warehouse Database Management Systems (DBMS),” authored by Donald Feinberg and Mark A. Beyer (Jan 28, 2010). The yearly report analyses the data warehouse DBMS market, vendor vision and execution capabilities. The report specifically highlights the... more

Talisman Energy implements ALBACS as a flexible multi-user Bacs payment solution to streamline administration processes Albany Software, a pioneering developer of electronic payment software solutions, has secured a contract for its ALBACS system from Talisman Energy (UK) Limited. ALBACS allows customers to establish a secure payment environment whilst updating and simplifying payment procedures. All account details are automatically verified and email notifications ensure that the payment... more

Delta Informatique, a major player in strategic banking software, has just been selected by CREDIT LIBANAIS for the supply and implementation of a banking software suite in its new Senegalese subsidiary, Crédit International. Senegal is the first African country where the Lebanese banking group has decided to implant itself. The group then plans to expand into other countries in the UEMOA zone, and very probably in other regions in Africa. Delta has committed itself to the Credit International... more

First National Bankers Bank (FNBB) has recently upgraded to the most recent version of Weiland’s Commercial Account Analysis System (CAA) after investigating the additional efficiencies the newer system provides. “There are things that we can do now that we weren’t able to do before, says Brandy Wheeler, FNBB Operations Manager. We can upload an Excel spreadsheet of waivers into the system each month, choose to have an end date or not, reducing redundancy and time spent keying in data. The... more

Goldman Sachs has issued a lengthy rebuttal of claims by the New York Times that the bank's behavior in 2008 played a major part in American International Group's (AIG) near-collapse.According to the article, in January 2008 Goldman Sachs became involved in a dispute with AIG related to complex mortgage security insurance.AIG had paid $2 billion to cover potential default losses and its executives wanted some money back, stating that Goldman Sachs had overestimated how much could go... more

 

Private equity firms in the US could be forced to pay higher taxes if recent proposals by President Barack Obama are ratified, it has been warned.Last week, the president outlined plans to increase tax on "carried interest" – the percentage, normally around 20 per cent, that private equity executives take from the profits made by their funds.Under Obama's proposal, carried interest would be classified as ordinary income, raising taxes from 15 per cent to as high as 35 per cent and potentially... more

 

Standard Chartered is planning to increase the size of its wealth management unit in Hong Kong by hiring 500 new employees, it has been confirmed.The plans were first reported in Hong Kong's Oriental Daily and have been confirmed by Standard Chartered spokeswoman Chamila Hewapathirana, who told Bloomberg that the company is looking for "frontline" staff.With many Asian economies predicted to grow over the next few years, several firms are moving bankers to Asia and expanding their existing... more

 

Neonet, the global agency broker and trading technology provider, has won World Finance’s award for Best Service Provider of the Year 2010. World Finance recognises that Neonet represents the future of high-speed services and sophisticated trading functionality. The award, which pinpoints organizations that represent the benchmark of achievement and best practice in the business world, is determined by a distinguished panel of judges gathered by the financial publication World Finance. Neonet... more

With the opening of the new office in Warsaw, the Group continues with its strategy of expansion in the Central-Eastern European countries The objective is to strengthen SIA-SSB’s presence in the Polish market: currently the number of payment cards managed is over 5 million out of a total of around 32 million circulating in the country The new representative office in Warsaw will also enable theGroup to pursue new business opportunities in Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic states SIA-SSB has... more

Fidessa group plc (LSE:FDSA), provider of the award-winning trading, portfolio management, compliance and global connectivity solutions for the buy-side and sell-side, today announced that ID's RFQ-hub, the bilateral multi-dealer platform for listed and OTC Derivatives for fund managers, has joined its global connectivity network. RFQ-hub’s clients can now interact with their universe of derivatives brokers across Fidessa’s global FIX network. RFQ-hub’s platform enables its clients to... more

HSBC selects Reporting to Clients for Client Money Manager 3i Infotech, a global provider of IT solutions, announces that it has signed a deal with HSBC Bank Plc (HSBC), to implement Reporting to Clients for its Cash Management and Payments division. Reporting to Clients will be used in conjunction with Client Money Manager (CMM), HSBC’s third party fund management system.As part of HSBC’s strategic plans to expand its CMM offering, it is investing in the service, with one of the areas... more

The rapid growth of the global Islamic banking market over the last five years has boosted the demand for specialised Islamic banking and finance software solutions, reports Misys plc (FTSE: MSY.L), the global application software and services company. With the influx of mainstream banking institutions, particularly leading Western brands, into Islamic banking throughout the world, the support from specialist solution vendors has become a necessity to ensure a smooth transition to Shariah-based... more

Accuity, the leading worldwide provider of payment routing data, AML screening software and services, is pleased to announce that it has acquired a significant minority stake in World Compliance, Inc., the Miami, Florida-based Open Source Intelligence company.Accuity has been a certified reseller of WorldCompliance® solutions since February 2004 offering the company's Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) data as part of Global WatchList®, Accuity's industry-leading collection of regulatory and... more

John Thain, the former chief of Merrill Lynch, has been named as the new chief executive officer and chairman of commercial lender CIT Group.He is to replace the interim postholder Peter Tobin, who is to remain as a director at CIT.In November, CIT Group applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an attempt to cut $10 billion worth of debt and four executives have stepped down from the company since that date, reports Bloomberg.Speaking after his appointment was announced, Mr Thain said he was pleased... more

 

The ongoing economic downturn both in the country and in the whole world has a great impact on the activity of institutions that offer financial services. Banks more often seek for new and effective ways to optimize work, which would help achieve the greatest efficiency of the activities performed. Since banks’ cash operations are characterized by extremely high level, usually last longer and require employees with especially high qualification degree, banks demonstrate an increasing interest... more

Leo Apotheker's Contract Will Not Be Extended Based on Mutual AgreementSAP AG (NYSE:SAP) announced today that the SAP Supervisory Board has reached a mutual agreement with CEO Leo Apotheker not to extend his contract as a member of the SAP Executive Board. Leo Apotheker has resigned as CEO and member of the SAP Executive Board effective immediately.The SAP Executive Board, in agreement with the SAP Supervisory Board, has appointed two Co-CEOs: Bill McDermott, head of field organization and Jim... more

The London Stock Exchange’s new retail bond market, gone live on the 1st of February, has selected GATElab’s traderpath as the front-end technology for trading and quoting. The GATElab’s traderpath platform, built in response to buy-side and sell-side needs, is a new generation brokering platform with professional high-end trading, quoting and algorithmic support.In 2004 traderpath technology was ‘white-labelled’ to BIt Systems, part of the Borsa Italiana Group, for whom GATElab... more

London - February 8th 2010, Caplin Systems Ltd. is pleased to announce Caplin Trader 2.0, a major new version of the Web client framework for its Caplin Xaqua single-dealer platform that makes it even easier for banks to create compelling and highly differentiated e-commerce portals.The new release of Caplin Trader includes a range of functional, user experience (UX), performance and implementation enhancements including new "themes" that serve as starting points for building a rich internet... more

 

Teleinvest group has been successfully certified for Euronext’s new UTP direct and UTP MD connections. Being on the official ISV list of Euronext, testifies once again to Teleinvest’s international dimension.Recently, Teleinvest group also integrated the new SWXess Maintenance Release 1 in order to guarantee the best possible service to its numerous clients of PREDATOR – The Fatal Weapon. more

Two senior traders at Citigroup have resigned from the company over fears that President Obama's new proposals to split up the banking sector will make their current roles untenable, it has been reported.People close to the matter told Reuters that Matt Carpenter and Matt Newton, who ran a proprietary trading unit for Citigroup, have now left the firm to join a hedge fund.Their division has already come under increased scrutiny from regulators as a result of Citigroup taking government bailout... more

A Goldman Sachs executive has warned that President Obama's recent proposals to separate areas of the banking industry could impact upon ten per of the company's net revenues.Speaking to a Senate committee, Gerald Corrigan, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, said proposals to bring about an end to proprietary trading and hedge fund investments at retail banks could have serious repercussions for the firm."If you took net revenues associated with ... proprietary trading and hedge fund and... more

Bank of America's former chief executive officer Kenneth Lewis and its former chief financial officer Joe Price have been charged with fraud in relation to the firm's buyout of Merrill Lynch in 2008.The civil lawsuit against the pair was launched by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo and alleges that the duo deliberately misled shareholders about the size of Merrill Lynch losses before a vote on whether a takeover should go ahead was made.It is also said that Mr Lewis and Mr Price failed to... more

SpeechStorm, the specialist provider of phone self-service solutions, has today announced that it will be showcasing its IVVO Video IVR service at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, February 15th through 18th. SpeechStorm is exhibiting on the Northern Ireland Mobile Excellence stand (IE61, Hall 1) which is sponsored by Invest NI, the economic development organisation for Northern Ireland. SpeechStorm’s award-nominated Video IVR or IVVR (Interactive Voice and Video... more

DataArt, a high-end software development company with headquarters in New York and R&D centers in Eastern Europe, and MP Capital, a London, UK based financial services consultancy, today announced that they formed a strategic partnership.The partnership aims to deliver end-to-end technology solutions to the capital markets industry in EMEA and brings together the best of two worlds: global software engineering capabilities of DataArt, strengthened by years of delivering complex systems to... more

A new report from the US Senate has revealed how ineffective regulations at US banks are allowing money to be laundered into the country. “Politically exposed persons” (PEPs) are being aided by banks as well as other professionals and organisations in moving money into the US, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed. Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, is being investigated by the senate after their research found he was able to move $110... more

Technology provider Cisco’s financial results are an indication that the global economy is entering its “second phase” of recovery, the chief executive has claimed. John Chambers made the comments following the publication of the company’s financial results for the three month-period to January 23rd, which showed the organisation’s second fiscal quarter profits reached $1.9 billion or 32 cents a share. The figure is 23 per cent higher than the $1.5 billion recorded during the same... more

A tax on financial transactions has been opposed by 90 per cent of finance professionals and corporations, a new study has revealed. Research from Greenwich Associates showed that support for a global tax on transactions is at its highest in Europe with 12 per cent of respondents supporting its implementation. However, the majority of respondents in both Europe and the US said that the levy would have a negative impact on investment returns, liquidity, pricing and the ability of companies to... more

Companies working in the technology and financial industries have been the quickest to implement cloud computing services, a new study has revealed. Findings from the report by Mimecast showed that 53 per cent and 40 per cent of organisations within the sectors have been using the service. Nearly three-quarters of companies currently using cloud-computing are planning to move more applications to the cloud, a new report has revealed. Almost two-thirds said they had considered using the service... more

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's chief executive officer, has taken $10 million in shares after exercising stock options that have accrued over the course of ten years.He has taken on an additional 250,000 shares – a move he had to make before the stock expired in March.The windfall comes on top of his 2009 pay packet, which is set to be revealed in the next few days and is estimated to stand between $15 and $20 million, reports the Financial Times.JPMorgan Chase shares have increased in value by... more

DST Global Solutions has announced the launch of its new Retirement Options™ solution. Developed by its Investment Management Solution (IMS) business in conjunction with retirement specialist Billy Burrows of William Burrows Annuities, Retirement Options is designed to help advisers and clients identify suitable products in an ever increasingly complicated retirement market. Key features of Retirement Options include:• An innovative Retirement Signature tool matching clients to products• A... more

FMO, the online Portfolio Management System for global hedge funds with industry leading reporting and attribution analysis, announced the opening of their Hong Kong office today. “We already have a number of key clients in Hong Kong who have successfully been using FMO”, said Paul Lemphers, Director-FMO Asia. “FMO originates from Asia-Pacific and has been developed for hedge funds in Asia, trading in global markets. FMO’s base in Hong Kong will support clients in Hong Kong and Singapore... more

International Cards Company (ICC), a public shareholding company providing comprehensive payment solutions, announced that it has launched a new spectrum of services in partnership with OpenWay, a premier international payment processing software vendor. ICC has become the first user of OpenWay's WAY4 software solutions in Jordan. Having migrated its issuing and acquiring to the WAY4 platform, ICC now becomes the first fully EMV-compliant company in Jordan. This partnership is a key factor for... more

 

Sword FircoSoft, the leading global provider of watchlist filtering solutions and Allied Engineering Group (AEG), their partner in the Middle-East region, are proud to announce the successful deployment of Sword FircoSoft’s best-in-class watchlist filtering solution at Kuwait Finance House.Kuwait Finance House, based in the city of Manama in Bahrain and one of the leading financial institution in the Middle-East is also recognised as a pioneer in the Islamic Finance and Shari’a compliant... more

Credits and Best Practices Workshop Offered to Assist Sybase-Aleri-Coral8 Customers Migrating to StreamBase StreamBase today announced that customers of Aleri-Coral8 or Sybase-RAP can now register to trade-in their products and migrate to StreamBase’s Complex Event Processing (CEP) software under the StreamBase Amnesty Program for Sybase-Aleri-Coral8 Customers. This follows the announcement today that Sybase (NYSE: SY) has acquired Aleri.“Although we applaud Sybase’s recognition of the CEP... more

INETCO identified as one of the top 25 private technology companies in British Columbia best positioned for revenue growth in 2010INETCO™ Systems Limited, a thought leader in business transaction management solutions for the banking and financial sector, is pleased to announce they have been named for a second year in a row to Rocket Builders’ “Ready to Rocket”list. This annual list names the top 25 privately held, BC companies best positioned to capitalize on technology and market... more

Firm58 replaces BOX's in-house billing system and provides exchange participants with online access to trade details and balancesFirm58, a financial management software provider, today announced The Boston Options Exchange Group, LLC (BOX), an all-electronic equity options market, has selected Firm58 to automate its billing processes.The Boston Options Exchange Group is using Firm58's Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to manage bill calculation, invoice presentation and delivery, and revenue... more

Hanse Orga’s Treasury Workstation is a specialised, independent solution for Treasury Managers. Its powerful functionalities are integrated in SAP. This new treasury system stands out - it is very lean and only requires little customizing effort. Companies can manage and post their loans, FX and money market transactions in a user-friendly, quick manner. The data are immediately incorporated in the cash management. The in-house banking helps to reduce the number of cash flows in a company and... more

US food giant Kraft is planning a $4 billion bond sale to help pay for its $19 billion takeover of British chocolate manufacturer Cadbury, it has been claimed.A company insider told the Financial Times that the offering would be done in four tranches of $1 billion each, with different maturity dates attached to each one.It was also suggested that Kraft will be seeking to sell off more debt in foreign currencies as part of its fundraising efforts.In order for its takeover bid for Cadbury to be... more

 

Deutsche Bank had a successful end to 2009, reporting net profits of €1.3 billion ($1.8 billion) for the fourth quarter.The figure took its net income for 2009 to €5 billion, a dramatic recovery from 2008's net loss of €3.9 billion.Dr Josef Ackerman, chairman of Deutsche Bank's management board, said it had been a pleasing year for the financial institution."We delivered very substantial profitability, while simultaneously reducing risk and balance sheet leverage," he stated.He added that... more

 

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that Fiserv clients can update attorney communications via a new Loan Servicing Platform interface with the ISGN LenStar default attorney communication network. The interface expands even further the comprehensive default management tools offered by the Loan Servicing Platform from Fiserv.The interface is designed to integrate loan-related data and legal-action milestones into the... more

Company Extends Its Ability To Meet Real-Time Analytics Processing Needs Of Enterprises, in Financial Services and BeyondSybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY), an industry leader in enterprise and mobile software, today announced that it has finalized an Asset Purchase Agreement with Aleri Inc. Aleri is a leading provider of enterprise-class complex event processing (CEP) technology and CEP-based solutions. “With this transaction, Sybase positions itself as a clear market leader in CEP. We have... more

Financial results fueled by product innovation and new market penetrationTriple Point Technology®, the leading provider of multi-market commodity and enterprise risk management software solutions, announced today that in 2009 it achieved record financial results. Record revenues, profits, and software sales were fueled by the company’s continued focus on product innovation, new market penetration, and customer satisfaction. Financial highlights reported by the company include:- Total... more

Xtrakter, the fixed income specialist, released the following figures today: End of year fixed income new issuance was valued at USD 3.7, Euro 2.6 trillion for 2009, representing an 8.2% (USD 280, EURO 195 billion) rise on 2008 figures. During the same period asset backed new issuance accounted for 12.6% (USD 469, EURO 289 billion) of all issues and the size of the international capital market rose by 14.8% (USD 2.0, 1.4 EURO trillion) to a total of USD 14.7, EURO 10.3 trillion. Yannic Weber,... more

The Bank of England voted to keep rates on hold today at 0.5 pc and paused quantitative easing at £200 billion pounds.Sterling rose in response to the announcement, moving nearly half a cent against the dollar to a high of $1.5871 from a pre-announcement low of $1.5806. Against the euro it rose to €1.1470, from €1.1429 before the release.Mark Bolsom, Head of the UK Trading Desk at Travelex, the FX Payments Specialist, said, “Although this was widely expected by the markets, the fact that... more

DST Global Solutions has announced that Absa Life, a member of the Barclays Group, has become the first company in the world to utilise the new Version 3.4 release of DST Global Solutions’ BPM software, AWD®. The software has been implemented to support Absa Life’s new outcome-based remuneration (OBR) application, which went live on 2 November 2009.Collaborating with Value Consulting, and working closely with Schoeman Rudman, Chief Consultant to Absa Life, the implementation team started in... more

Open Text(TM) Corporation, a leading provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software, today announced unaudited financial results for its second quarter ended December 31, 2009. (1) Total revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 was $247.8 million, up 19% compared to $207.7million for the same period in the prior fiscal year. License revenue in the second quarter was $72.7 million, up 12% compared to $64.9 million in the second quarter of the prior fiscal year. Adjusted net income... more

Hedge fund Paulson & Co has been sent a request for information from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). The company is to provide the SEC with data relating to collateralised debt obligations (CDOs), which it profited from during the subprime crisis, sources close to the matter have informed the Financial Times. In the months prior to the real estate crash, which pre-empted the global economic volatility, the company made $15 billion from investments in subprime deals. However, the... more

 

Increasing numbers of businesses will use social networking rather than email as their preferred method of communication in the future, a new study has revealed. Technology consultancy firm Gartner predcited that up to a fifth of organisations will utilise social networking services as the main method of interpersonal communication within business by 2014.More than half of companies are expected to utilise activity streams such as an "enterprise Twitter”, which would allow employees to receive... more

 

A hedge fund manager has been fined more than £100,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for deceiving investors by mis-marking funds.According to the regulator, Simon Treacher carried out the deception when working for BlueBay Management between August and October of 2008. He deliberately priced broker quotes incorrectly, which were then used to provide a valuation for the assets managed in his funds. The action led to the valuation increasing by $27 million and left investors up to... more

 

A number of bankers at Credit Suisse are to receive bonuses in excess of £1 million as part of a long-term performance plan. The Performance Incentive Plan (PIP) was instigated by the organisation between 2004 and 2005 and may lead to more than 300 staff members receiving payouts from a bonus pool worth more than £1 billion, the Times reported. The plan was launched by the bank as part of a bid to retain top talent and senior executives while average payments are expected to be approximately... more

 

... implements prebuilt solutions for account opening & deposits, payments, check processing and treasury services Polaris Software, a leading Financial Technology company, announced that CRDB, the second largest bank in Tanzania, has centralized its banking processes using prebuilt solutions available in Intellect Business Process Studio* (BPS). CRDB Bank centralized country-wide business operations in Dar-es-Salaam with the twin-objective of enhancing branch services and reducing operational... more

RIMES Technologies, the benchmark data management provider and recent winner of the Buy-Side Technology Award for Best Data Provider to the Buy-Side for the third consecutive year, announced the opening of its new Paris office, further increasing its presence in Europe. Frédéric Mancuso, a co-founder of RIMES, will lead the new office which is located on Avenue de l’Opéra in the financial district of Paris. Renaud Larzillière joins him as Senior Program Manager to head the research and... more

Dutch private equity firm selects UK software solutions provider, to manage private equity portfolio Dutch private equity firm, Friesland Bank Investments (FBI), has become the latest organisation to select 3i Infotech-Framework (Framework), the leading UK provider of software solutions to the global private equity community, to manage its private equity investment portfolio.As the private equity industry shifts its focus to investment monitoring having historically been predominantly... more

Travelport one of the world's largest travel conglomerates has selected the leading treasury management system eTC form City Financials for all of its treasury system requirements. The system will used by Travelport for its treasury operational areas in Langley in UK and Atlanta plus globally by its diverse community of business affiliates. “We are very pleased that our system has been selected by a corporation that powers much of the worlds travel industry” said Steve Whalley of City... more

Citigroup is planning to extend its operations across Asia, the bank's chief executive officer Vikram Pandit has said.The Asian market has been one of the few bright spots in recent times for the troubled bank, which recently reported fourth quarter losses of $7.6 billion.Its Asian operations have bucked the overall trend, delivering $4.5 billion in profits for Citigroup across 2009.Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Pandit said that Citigroup plans to expand its retail banking operations... more

 

Algorithmics, the leading provider of enterprise risk management solutions, today announced that BMO Financial Group has signed a subscription agreement for access to the Algo FIRST database of case studies, covering more than 9,000 operational risk events. BMO, a global, highly diversified financial institution, is also an early adopter that developed operational risk best practices more than a decade ago. After evaluating available content sources and databases on the market, BMO selected... more

Latest version exploits web based technologies to deliver greater banking functionalityInternational Private Banking Systems, the specialist provider of wealth management software for the private banking sector, today announced the launch of an enhanced e-Banking module. The software allows wealth management providers to deliver a superior user experience to their customers with enhanced banking and investment facilities using state of the art secure online access to data. The platform supports... more

Razor Risk Technologies Limited [ASX: RZR], a leading Sydney-based provider of risk management technology and consulting solutions to financial institutions worldwide, today announced that Franklin Robinson has been appointed Unit President Americas of Razor Risk Technologies. Franklin will report directly to Andrew Wood, the company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, and will lead the organisation’s continued growth in the Americas. In this role, Franklin will be responsible for overseeing... more

SunGard has announced a new release of its AvantGard Quantum treasury solution. The new release provides enhanced international treasury capabilities including localization for the Chinese market. Advancements also include full support for non-deliverable forward (NDF) foreign exchange contracts and the ability to create a workflow for the real-time monitoring and dual approval of credit limit breaches. These enhancements support customer requirements for growth in international capabilities,... more

SunGard has announced a new release of its AvantGard Integrity treasury solution, helping customers drive best practices and straight-through processing related to counterparty risk, bank communications, payment processing and regulatory compliance. The new version of SunGard’s AvantGard Integrity offers FAS 157 compliance with the ability to automate the tracking, reporting and accounting in accordance with the standard, providing: • Valuations based on credit risk adjustment for FX, debt,... more

Heritage Insurance, Zimbabwe, one of the top 5 insurance carriers in terms of profitability in Zimbabwe have signed an agreement with Agile Financial Technologies, the leading player in Banking, Financial Services and Insurance to implement its software, AGILIS Core Insurance. The selection of the core insurance software from Agile FT was made after an extensive evaluation process that included detailed workshops and site visits to existing clients of the software. Heritage Insurance is poised... more

Advent Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADVS), a leading provider of software and services for the global investment management industry, today revealed what it predicts will be the top five trends for the trading and order management industry for 2010.Based on Advent’s deep expertise in the industry and ongoing feedback from its 850-plus trading and order management clients, the Company anticipates that the trading environment will be shaped by increased regulation and investment oversight, greater... more

CGI Group Inc. (NYSE: GIB ; TSX: GIB.A), a leading provider of information technology and business process services, today announced a 5-year partnership with Comerica Bank to implement CGI’s Proponix360 global trade platform software which will help the bank reduce costs and enhance customer service. Comerica was looking for a cost-effective solution to replace its traditional legacy, trade- focused systems, while meeting its ongoing business and technology objectives in a changing market.... more

To verify their system capacity when moving from a single-node to multi-node system, Bank of Hawaii needed to conduct performance and regression testing. Based on 10 years of positive experience with solutions from Paragon Application Systems, Bank of Hawaii chose Paragon FASTress for stress testing and Paragon FASTest for regression testing. When Bank of Hawaii chose FASTress, they also gained the expertise of Bob Collins, VP of Technology and Services at Paragon, whose more than 20 years of... more

Mastek, a high-end IT solutions player with global operations providing new technology and intellectual property (IP)-led enterprise solutions, today announced plans to tour Scottish Life and Pensions offices. The tour – which will continue throughout February - is designed to help providers to prepare for the new challenges raised by the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) and is intended to gain a sense of provider’s plans pre-RDR and the solutions they intend to implement after the... more

Pricing Partners, the independent revaluation expert and a world leader in mathematical models and analytics for derivatives and structured products, announced the release of a new module providing VaR and Stress Tests calculations today. With the recent unpredictable market movements, the accurate calculation of VaR, risks and stress tests on complex products has become a crucial issue for banks, risk control departments, asset managers and hedge funds. This new module, called Price-it VaR,... more

Concuity, A Healthcare Division of Trintech, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTPA), and a leading provider of Revenue Cycle Management technology and services, announced today that it has secured a contract to provide its Revenue Recovery Services to one of East Texas' preferred health care providers. This new customer has been providing healthcare services to East Texas for over 70 years through its two hospitals and multi-specialty physician group. The provider organization is also a national leader in patient... more

Secures Global Leadership in Derivative Risk Management and Hedge AccountingIn 2009, its tenth-year anniversary, Reval.com, Inc. secured its position globally as the leading derivative risk management and hedge accounting solutions provider, maintaining 50 percent year-over-year growth in subscriptions and doubling the number of its clients to 400. Reval also grew its client base by over 50 percent outside the U.S., winning big-brand contracts in Hong Kong and Frankfurt, where it opened new... more

RIMES Technologies, the award-winning financial data integrator and performance solutions provider for the investment community, today announced that ERSEL Sim S.p.A, the Italian and Luxembourg domiciled asset manager has selected Barra Performance on RIMES (BPR) to fulfil its performance measurement and attribution requirements. Ersel represents development and tradition, with over 70 years of experience in asset management. Since 1936, the company capital has been held entirely by the family... more

Fair Value Insight Addresses Credit Adjustment Needs in Financial RegulationsICAP (IAP.L), the world's premier interdealer broker and provider of post trade services, and FINCAD, the leading global provider of financial analytics, announced today the addition of Credit Value Adjustment (CVA) to Fair Value Insight.Credit valuation adjustments are required to meet fair value and mark-to-market regulatory requirements (FAS 157/IFRS 7). Fair Value Insight now includes the ability to calculate CVA... more

Complex fee structures and increasing client volumes more easily managedFiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that Mondrian Investment Partners has successfully implemented Advantage Fee™, Fiserv’s client billing and revenue management solution. Mondrian, an international investment management firm with more than $60 billion in assets worldwide, selected Advantage Fee from Fiserv to handle complex fee structures... more

Bank of America is set to pay its investment bankers an average bonus of $400,000 each, it has been claimed.A company insider told the Financial Times that top performers in Bank of America's global banking and markets unit can expect to receive up to $5 million per head, while managing directors at the firm are in line for between $2.5 and $3 million.But a range of conditions will be attached to the payouts – with the majority of the bonuses coming in the form of stock spread out in payments... more

 

Lord Myners, the UK's financial services minister, has written to 50 of the country's top fund managers to warn them that banks must not continue to put staff remuneration ahead of the interests of shareholders.In a strongly worded letter, Lord Myners stated that profits made via bond market trading, often using funds from state bailouts, should be put towards bolstering balance sheets rather than going towards large staff bonuses.He added that companies that have invested in bank shares in... more

 

Staff in American International Group's (AIG) financial products unit have agreed to reduce their bonuses by as much as 20 per cent in return for early payment.The agreements, made by the vast majority of employees working in the division, will save AIG around $20 million – but it will still be paying out about $100 million to 200 employees.Those who have agreed to the deal, which has seen many accept ten to 20 per cent cuts in how much they will get, will now receive payment this week rather... more

 

CMA the leading Market Data, Order Management and Connectivity provider of Latin America has announced its Ultra-Low Latency Proximity and Collocation offering for local and international financial institutions and vendors looking to participate in the explosive Brazilian Exchange traded market place. Connectivity is generally seen as an invaluable asset a trading infrastructure can posses with the capabilities to branch out to as many clients, counter parties and resources as possible. The... more

 

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has dropped charges against Madoff Securities on the grounds of “insufficient evidence”. An investigation was launched into the British arm of the company after Bernard Madoff, owner of the group, was jailed last year for 150 years.He was imprisoned after pleading guilty to running a Ponzi scheme worth $65 billion. The SFO investigation into the UK offshoot and its directors began in January 2009 after the investor was arrested in December 2008. In a... more

 

The benefits of Software as Management (SAM) technology are not being harnessed by the majority of UK businesses, a new study has revealed.More than 90 per cent of respondents need to work on realising the cost benefits and savings of SAM, the report by the Software Industry Research Board (SIRB) recommended. Almost a fifth of businesses questioned said they have no programme in place while 16 per cent use an informal SAM programme. The main barrier to the implementation of SAM was found to be a... more

 

Senior professionals at many of the biggest global businesses are nervous about the market recovery despite improvements seen in business conditions during the last 12 months, a report has claimed. Findings from a study by Ernst&Young (E&Y) showed that 34 per cent of respondents are looking to pursue business opportunities in 2010 compared with 19 per cent in January of last year. However, as many as 53 per cent of the organisations questioned said that remaining in business during 2010 will be... more

 

The Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon has confirmed it is to acquire processing technology provider PNC Financial Services Group for $2.31 billion. According to the organisation, the price will include $1.57 billion worth of stock and repayment of PNC’s intercompany debt. The group provides back office solutions for asset managers and financial advisors across the globe. As part of the deal, the bank is planning on raising $800 million in equity. It will add $855 in assets under administration... more

 

The financial deficit the US has acquired in surviving the global economic crisis can only begin to be reduced once the markets and the economy have fully recovered, the US Treasury Secretary has claimed. Timothy Geithner made the comments to the Senate Finance Committee. The remarks follow the unveiling of US President Obama’s budget plan, which predicts a $1.6 trillion deficit for the year - the equivalent to 10.6 per cent of the US’s GDP.Mr Geither told the committee that although the... more

 

Bolsom says investors are ‘reminded of the economy’s fundamental weakness’ Sterling slipped against the euro and US dollar this morning, after data revealed that Britain's services sector had slowed more-than-expected last month. Many businesses blamed the 2 point decline on snow-induced disruptions.Sterling dropped to $1.6019 against the dollar from around $1.6052 and against the euro fell to a day low of 87.53 pence, compared with 87.37 pence before the announcement. Mark Bolsom, Head of... more

Cognotec, the technology innovator that delivered the first automated foreign exchange dealing system, as well as the first hosted e-commerce enabled trading platform is being acquired by First Derivatives plc (AIM: FDP.L, IEX:GYQ.I), a global technology and service provider to the capital markets industry. This will secure continued investment in the Cognotec product portfolio, which includes RealStream, the award winning product suite for managing FX margins, rates and liquidity, as well as... more

- The Payment Services Providers Equens and Cellent Finance Solutions initiate a Cooperation- Financial Sanctions Monitoring as a Leasing Model- Pilot Phase Start in December of 2009The international payment services provider Equens SE with headquarters in Utrecht (NL) and the Cellent Finance Solutions AG are offering transaction monitoring, which has become mandatory with the ratification of the third EU-money laundering regulation, in the form of a future-oriented and SMARAGD TCM-based... more

Eka Software, the leading provider of commodity trading and risk management software, announced today that Superior Essex has selected Eka for its risk management activities for its operations across North America and Europe.Superior Essex is a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of wire and cable products. From their plants located globally, they produce and supply a broad portfolio of wire and cable products for the Communications, Energy, Automotive, Industrial, and Commercial... more

Initiative helps improve utilisation of 500 servers and improve energy efficiencyUnisys Corporation (NYSE:UIS) today announced that its UK subsidiary has collaborated with Nationwide Building Society to virtualise 500 servers as part of Nationwide's Data Centre Transformation Programme. The programme is a multi-year effort to further enhance the Building Society's IT architecture while also reducing operational and energy costs.Nationwide estimates it will benefit from a saving of more than UK8... more

XSP, the leading global provider of Corporate Actions software, announced today that it has been named ‘Company to Watch in 2010’ for Corporate Actions by Financial-i Magazine. The Financial-i ‘Leaders in Innovation’ and ‘Company to Watch in 2010’ award winners are chosen by an advisory panel comprised of analysts, consultants and market practitioners. The awards identify global transaction banks and financial hardware and software vendors that in the last 12 months have excelled, in... more

Lucsan Capital, an innovative consulting services and advisory group specialising in system implementation and data migration for the financial services sector, has announced the appointment of a General Manager for its newly established business division, Lucsan Technology, to look after its software products.Imelda Newton has been appointed General Manager of Lucsan Technology and brings to the group a wealth of experience in the financial services software industry. Prior to joining Lucsan... more

Research into transaction banking trends carried out by Misys, the global application software and services company, shows that an alarming proportion of banks have yet to simplify their payments businesses, something they need to do if they are to succeed in improving levels of customer service. The Misys Transaction Banking Survey reveals that 65% of those canvassed stated they needed a simplified process for making changes to payment standards and rules across their multiple payment systems. ... more

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) employees are to be paid 2009's bonuses in stock options – but will be able to convert many of their shares into cash after a 12-week period.Stephen Hester, chief executive of RBS, wrote to shareholders to inform them of the decision and claimed it was a necessary compromise designed as a "well-intentioned attempt to reach an acceptable position for most parties".RBS admitted that the move was "unlikely to please everyone" – the bank is 84 per cent owned by the... more

 

Fourth quarter adjusted internal revenue growth of 2 percent; Record full year free cash flow of $668 million and adjusted EPS of $3.66; Company expects 2010 adjusted internal revenue growth of 1 to 3 percent; Company expects adjusted earnings per share of $3.96 to $4.07 in 2010 Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2009. Total GAAP revenue in the fourth quarter... more

Liberty Bank, Connecticut’s oldest mutual bank with more than $3 billion in assets, has chosen SunGard’s Ambit BancWare Risk & Performance Management solution to help enhance its risk reporting and analysis. The solution will help Liberty Bank access its data more quickly and efficiently, helping it achieve a clearer view of risk levels and an improved understanding of performance drivers across all aspects of the bank.Following a review of all its existing IT systems, Liberty Bank decided... more