News

Thomson Reuters today announced it has successfully completed a Statement on Auditing Standards No.70 (SAS 70) Type II examination of its leading full-service investment management business process outsourcing solution (BPO). The audit provides assurance that Thomson Reuters PORTIA employs uniform and reliable operational controls to safeguard the data of its outsourced services customers worldwide. Thomson Reuters PORTIA delivers a BPO solution which allows asset managers to outsource some... more

Comprehensive Study Shows Overwhelming Consumer Interest; Yet Few Providers Articulate and Capitalize on Their E-Delivery Capabilities and OffersAccording to a new study commissioned by NewRiver, Inc. and conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, there is strong appeal from variable annuity (VA) and variable universal life (VUL) policy holders to receive prospectus and related compliance documents electronically via e-delivery. More than half of the respondents who were not offered electronic... more

FRSGlobal cited as overall winner in the regulatory reporting categoryFRSGlobal, the only global provider of risk reporting and regulatory reporting compliance solutions on a unified platform with coverage for over 40 countries, today announced that it has placed eleventh in the annual Chartis RiskTech100TM ranking of the top 100 risk technology vendors worldwide. Chartis also cited FRSGlobal as the overall winner in the regulatory reporting category.The Chartis RiskTech100TM is recognised... more

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that IDC Financial Insights, a leading independent and global provider of research-based advisory and consulting services, has identified Fiserv as a leading vendor of Payments Fraud Management Solutions. The December 2009 report provided a detailed assessment and comparison of the payments fraud solutions provided by six vendors. The report, Vendor Assessment: Industry Short List... more

Europe’s fastest growing payments provider announces a deal with award winning online Casino and Poker room.Realex Payments announced today that they have signed a deal with award winning gaming operator, 32Red, to support its card processing requirements.32Red prides itself on delivering superior service to its players and was recently awarded Online Casino of the Decade. The Company needed to source a new payments partner who could meet the same level of service that they commit to providing... more

MSCI Barra’s (NYSE: MXB) acquisition of RiskMetrics (NYSE: RISK) unites two market leaders in systems used by the asset management industry to calculate their Value at Risk (VaR). Once the firms are merged, it is possible that the majority of the global asset management industry will be calculating VaR using models and systems produced by just one company. This will make it more likely that these firms will take similar positions, which will increase systemic risk in the financial... more

Strengthens F&A Capabilities; Adds Domain Expertise in End to End Accounting Services and Business SolutionsAditya Birla Minacs, a global business solutions company, today announced the acquisition of UK-based Compass BPO Ltd, a leading pure-play end-to-end Finance and Accounting (F&A) services provider. Compass BPO has appeared in the top 15 upcoming F&A BPO players in a recent Gartner(TM) report. It was also cited in the Top Offshore BPO providers by FAO Today magazine(TM), and in the 'Global... more

Dubai World's proposals on how it wishes to restructure its debts to creditors will be presented to banks owed money this month, it has been confirmed.Newspaper reports had suggested that a plan would be put forward as early as this week and Dubai World have confirmed that the process will occur before April."A formal proposal will be presented by Dubai World to creditors in March," a government spokesman told AFP.Last November, the state-owned company announced it was seeking to restructure its... more

 

European Parliament politicians are in the process of debating tough new restrictions on banking bonuses across the continent.A new piece of legislation has been proposed by MEP Arlene McCarthy which suggests that bonuses should not be higher than 50 per cent of total annual remuneration.Half of bonus payouts should be paid in the form of shares which would not be divested for three years under the proposals, reports the Financial Times.Up to 60 per cent of bonuses could also be deferred for the... more

 

Apollo Insurance Company of Kenya, a leading financial powerhouse, has selected Agile Financial Technologies’ Agilis Investment Management solution to manage their Wealth Management, Mutual Fund Management, Investor Services, Pension Fund Management and Pension Fund Administration businesses for its wholly owned subsidiary Apollo Asset ManagementAgilis IMS is a straight-through, front-to-back, web-based, multi-entity, multi-asset class investment management solution covering treasury and... more

David Sear, Divisional Managing Director of Travelex Global Business Payments, will be speaking on 10th March 2010 at the International Payments Summit (IPS) in London. Following his speaking engagement at SIBOS last year, Mr. Sear will focus on how social networking is facilitating the rise of the payment institution and predict that innovation in business-to-business payments will follow this trend.Using the evolution of social networking as an example, Mr. Sear will show how payment... more

BOCI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of China Limited specializing in investment banking, has implemented SunGard’s Global One securities finance solution to help support its securities lending operations. BOCI uses Global One’s Lender module to help support its new stock lending business for Hong Kong stocks and mainland Chinese companies that are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. SunGard’s Global One is a suite of application modules that create an integrated solution to help... more

The Federal Reserve (Fed) will retain control of regulatory powers for banks with more than $100 billion in assets, the Financial Times reported. Congress has been debating whether to hand this responsibility to a single regulator as one of a number of reforms planned for the industry. However, according to sources close to the matter, proposals to strip the Fed of these powers have fallen through. Timothy Geithner, secretary and former president of the New York Fed, was one of the most vocal... more

 

Prudential has announced it is to speed up the process of seeking a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The insurer is looking to ensure the listing is active before it launches a rights issue as part of a bid to raise $20 billion from its shareholder-base. Prudential is undertaking the issue after announcing details of its planned acquisition of the Asian arm of American Insurance Group’s (AIG) business, AIA for $35.5 billion. In a statement, the company said: “Prudential has made an... more

 

JPMorgan was the richest hedge fund manager working in the industry at the close of 2009, a new report has shown. Figures from Pensions & Investment revealed that the financial services provider managed a total of $53.5 billion of hedge fund assets. By the end of 2009, JPMorgan Asset Management had $32.5 billion in assets while Highbridge Capital Management looked after $21 billion worth of funds. The total was 18.9 per cent higher than the figure in its portfolio at the end of 2007, the survey... more

 

The UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) will not be tightening “quantitative standards” until the economy becomes more stable. According to the industry regulator, the recovery of the markets needs to be guaranteed before any further pressure is put on firms. The changes were originally announced in October 2009 to enhance liquidity risk management processes and prevent a future financial crisis from taking place. In a statement, the body said: “The FSA believes that it would be... more

 

US President Barack Obama’s budget proposals would leave the US $1.2 trillion more out of pocket during the next decade than predicted, a new report has claimed. A study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed that budget plans would result in a total deficit of $9.8 trillion over the period. CBO also forecasts a deficit of $1.43 trillion for 2011, a figure $75 billion higher than the projected sum. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, a Republican on the House Budget Committee, was quoted by... more

 

Cornerstone OnDemand Inc. (Stand B19) today announced that two of the company’s premier clients, Kelly Services France and Barclays France, are among the organisations presenting at this week’s Solutions Ressources Humaines E-Learning Expo 2010, being held 9-11 March at Paris Porte de Versailles, Hall 5.1. The companies will present case studies highlighting their learning management strategies and discuss how they are using Cornerstone’s learning and talent management software to support... more

Netik LLC, a global leading provider of financial data management and reporting services and products, announced that Colin Close, President, Netik will present at the TSAM 2010 event taking place today at the Brewery in London. With more than 450 participants, TSAM is one of Europe’s largest buy side technology and operations events.Close will participate in a panel session titled ‘How to get the message across internally that investment in data management should be done’. In his... more

DST Global Solutions, a leading provider of business solutions and services to the global investment management industry, has appointed Geoff Harries as Global Head of Asset Servicing for its Investment Management Solutions (IMS) business. Geoff will report to Phil Hogan, IMS’ Global Head of Solutions Management, and will be responsible for providing strategic direction across a number of the company’s solution areas around investment accounting and recordkeeping. Geoff will manage the... more

American International Group (AIG) has announced the details of the sale of ALICO, its foreign insurance unit, to fellow US insurer MetLife.News of a potential deal was leaked late last week after company insiders told Reuters an agreement on the sale was close.It has now been confirmed that AIG will receive $15.5 billion for the overseas division, with $6.8 billion being paid in cash and $8.7 billion coming in the form of shares and stock options in MetLife.It means that AIG will take a 20 per... more

 

Patricia Pittomvils joins Clear2PayClear2Pay, the international technology provider of next generation payment solutions for financial institutions announces that it has appointed Patricia Pittomvils as Vice-President Sales to spearhead large global account development in the UK and other European countries. Pittomvils, who previously worked for Swift and most recently VocaLink, will focus on new accounts in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In addition she will develop global accounts in other... more

- Firm continues global expansion by closing two acquisitions and opening two new offices- 34 companies go live with Calypso in 2009Calypso Technology Inc., a global application software provider of an integrated trading, risk and processing platform to financial institutions and corporate treasuries, today announced that the company experienced its ninth straight year of revenue growth in 2009. The firm made several milestone achievements: adding 21 new customers, increasing staff by 12%,... more

· January 2010 saw a 36% drop in Japanese trading costs compared to the previous month – this is the largest month on month % drop in Japanese trading costs in over a year and a half. This differed from trading cost trends in other Asian markets over the same period – for example Hong Kong saw a smaller 17% drop and Korea saw an increase in average costs between December 2009 and January 2010.· This equates to an average cost saving of $18,000 for every USD $10million of Japanese equities... more

Neptune Software plc today announces the establishment of Neptune Financial Software Pvt. Ltd. in Chennai, India. The new wholly owned subsidiary is the focal point of Neptune’s strategy to expand its own Rubikon development capacity, provide an international support centre, as well as sales and pre-sales capacity for the Asia region.The new operation will include a strong team of 60 developers, many of whom were transferred over to Neptune from Cordiant Technologies as part of the conclusion... more

SunGard has launched two new Stream Gateways for the Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) and the London Stock Exchange (EDX). SunGard’s Stream Gateways are a series of clearing gateways for listed derivatives markets. The new Stream Gateways will help SunGard customers improve clearing performance and efficiency on the SGX and EDX. SunGard’s Stream Gateways are integrated with its post-trade derivatives processing solutions, including Stream Clearvision, Stream Ubix, Stream GMI and Stream... more

The London Stock Exchange has today increased the number of securities available for trading on its new Order book for Retail Bonds. From this morning, bonds issued by Marks and Spencer, Unilever, Safeway, Kingfisher, National Grid Gas, Compass Group and Imperial Tobacco Finance are available for trading on the book in retail-sized denominations, bringing the total number of corporate bonds on the platform to 18. One gilt has also been migrated to the order book, bringing the total number of... more

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that technology industry veteran Chris Capdevila has joined the company as vice president of Product Management and Strategy for Risk and Compliance Solutions. Capdevila comes to Fiserv from Oracle Corporation, where he served as vice president of GRC Strategy responsible for driving the strategic direction and roadmap for Oracle’s Governance, Risk and Compliance applications.... more

The creation of a European Monetary Fund is being planned by Germany and France, two of the leading countries in the eurozone, a senior German politician has revealed.Wolfgang Schauble, the German finance minister told Welt Am Sonntag that the introduction of such a body would be closely modeled on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – but would not be a competitor to it."We do need an institution for the internal equilibrium of the eurozone that would have at its disposal both the... more

 

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is planning to expand its operations in China via the creation of a new joint-venture securities unit, a company spokesman has said.Hui Yukmin, a spokesman for the bank's Hong Kong office, told Bloomberg that RBS is looking to "enhance its existing platform" in China through the creation of such a division.She said that RBS is currently holding talks with an unnamed Chinese company about setting up a joint venture.If the deal goes through, the bank will join other... more

 

Icelandic voters have overwhelmingly voted 'No' in a referendum on whether the country should pay back British and Dutch investors who lost a combined total of billions of dollars when Landsbanki collapsed at the height of the financial crisis.Around 93 per cent of those who voted stated that they do not support a deal to repay a total of around $5 billion from the state's funds.About 340,000 people in the UK and Holland had accounts with Icesave, a subsidiary of Landsbanki, at the time of its... more

 

2010—Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced the winners of the Morningstar UK Fund Awards. The awards recognise funds and fund groups that delivered the greatest outperformance, on a risk-adjusted basis, in 2009 and over the longer term. “Discipline and a time-tested investment approach are the common themes among many of this year’s winners,” said Jackie Beard, director of fund research for Morningstar UK. “The... more

Thomson Reuters today announced that Eric Frank, President, Investment & Advisory, Thomson Reuters Markets, has relocated to Hong Kong from New York. Mr. Frank’s move to Hong Kong strengthens Thomson Reuters commitment to growing its business across the Asia Pacific region. While in Asia Pacific, Mr. Frank will lead the business in developing localized solutions to complement Investment & Advisory’s market-leading global product and content set. With US$ 2.2 billion in annual revenue,... more

Financial-i Leaders in Innovation Award 2009 awarded IPC for its state-of-the-art European VoIP network and flagship trading turret systems IPC, a leading provider of indispensable trading communications solutions to the world’s top financial services firms, announced it has won the Financial-i Leaders in Innovation Award for best and most innovative use of Voice Over IP (VoIP). The prestigious award was announced as part of Financial-i’s Q4 print publication.IPC delivered several key... more

BI-SAM today announced that Anthony Howland has joined the company as strategic advisor. Anthony will be based in London and will be advising BI-SAM in several strategic areas such as Business Development, UK operations growth strategy and GIPS® Composites module enhancement. BI-SAM will be issuing a GIPS module in its next product release in June and Anthony will be working closely with Product Management Director, Ian Thompson, in strengthening the team’s expertise in this key area.Anthony... more

LSEG sells nine per cent stake taking its holding to 51 per centLondon Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has today sold nine per cent of its stake in the holding company for the merged Turquoise and Baikal businesses, to three global banking clients. Barclays Bank plc, J.P. Morgan Cazenove and Nomura have each bought three per cent stakes for £1 million in cash each.This brings the total number of shareholders in Turquoise to twelve global investment banks and LSEG which will retain a 51 per cent... more

Many of London’s top bankers may leave the city if taxes on bonuses continue, a leading City headhunter has claimed. Robert Walters, chief executive officer at the recruitment company, explained that the 50 per cent tax introduced by the Labour government and the introduction of the bonus tax could force many of the best bankers to work for companies outside of the UK. Chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling outlined the bonus tax in his pre-Budget report in December of 2009. The 50 per... more

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a couple in Miami of running a $135 million ponzi investment scheme. Gaston and Teresita Cantens, the owners of Royal West Properties, sold a series of promissory notes to investors, which promised returns of up to 16 per cent. The couple, who are both in their seventies, conducted the fraud between 2002 and 2009 and used investments to reimburse earlier investors and fund new projects. Up to $20 million worth of money is thought to have... more

 

Deutsche Bank has had its rating downgraded two places by credit agency Moody’s.The financial institution’s rating was reduced from Aa1 to fourth highest Aa3 while its financial strength was lowered to C-plus from B, the agency announced. According to the body, the rating was downgraded following delays in the acquisition of Deutsche Postbank AG. A lack of transparency surrounding the bank’s activity in the capital markets and subsequent concern over the organisation’s exposure to risk... more

 

JPMorgan, Washington Mutual (WaMu) and an industry regulator may strike a deal over the ownership of a $4 billion bank deposit during the coming days, an attorney has claimed. WaMu was declared bankrupt in September 2008 and was sold by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp to JPMorgan for $1.9 billion. The funds were seized as part of the transaction and now all three parties are disputing which one has the ownership rights. Brian Rosen, a partner at law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York,... more

 

Michael Geoghegan, HSBC chief executive officer (CEO), is to receive an additional £800,000 a year for relocating from London to Hong Kong. The banker will receive £300,000 as part of a cost of living allowance and a further £500,000 for housing, travel and the education of his children. HSBC is providing the money “in recognition of the relocation to Hong Kong and the associated fixed costs of living that will be incurred”. A spokesperson for HSBC told the UK’s Daily Telegraph: “This... more

 

Neptune Software plc, a leading international provider of banking and finance systems, today announced that its flagship banking solution – Rubikon, achieved a top six universal banking system ranking in the IBS Sales League Table of banking system vendors. Rubikon was launched in 2008 and in that year Neptune signed 3 banks for implementation, which is a momentous achievement in its own right. To move from the 18th place in the IBS Sales League Table in 2008 to the 6th for universal banking... more

Landmark Deal Spearheads QuIC’s Entry into Global Insurance Market; Builds on Track Record of Regulatory Approval Excellence QuIC Financial Technologies, a market leader providing the world’s financial organisations with risk management, pricing and analytic solutions, is pleased to announce that Lloyd’s, the world’s leading specialist insurance market, has selected QuIC as part of its Solvency II solution to ensure its risk infrastructure meets formal FSA regulatory approval for setting... more

Fidessa group plc (LSE: FDSA), provider of award-winning trading, market data and global connectivity solutions for the buy-side and sell-side, has announced today that Quant Broking, one of the leading brokers in India, has joined its global connectivity network. Quant will now be able to receive CARE and DMA flow from over 2,400 buy-sides and 530 brokers that connect to Fidessa’s network around the world. Jean-Pierre Baron, Managing Director for Fidessa Asia-Pacific, comments: “Despite... more

Leading Industry Analyst Firm Analyses Tagetik and UniCredit Group Longstanding Corporate Performance Management ProjectsTagetik, a global provider of Corporate Performance Management (CPM) and Financial Governance software solutions, today announced the availability of a new piece of research published by Gartner, Inc (NYSE:IT), "Case Study: CPM is a solution for managing the fast growth at UniCredit Group" through the Tagetik website.UniCredit Group has implemented Tagetik 3.0 to unify... more

Basware Connectivity Integrates the Entire Purchase-to-Pay Process Including Cataloguing, Procurement, Fulfillment Reporting and e-invoicingBasware, the global leader in purchase-to-pay solutions, today announced the addition of e-procurement functionality to Basware Connectivity services.Basware Connectivity covers the entire purchase-to-pay process from cataloguing and procurement to e-invoicing, providing crucial integration with an organisation's existing stock and resource management... more

Equipos today announces that Fairbairn Private Bank, a multi award-winning private bank with offices in London, Jersey, Isle of Man and South Africa, has upgraded its client communications processes with the addition of Equipos Coric Straight Through Reporter (STR). Fairbairn Private Bank is a long-standing Equipos client, having deployed the company's Coric Document Manager solution to generate client valuations across its business more than eight years ago.Equipos Coric STR is an advanced... more

After a less-than-spectacular start to the year in January, Canadian investment funds that focus on domestic equities posted strong returns in February. Moreover, sector-specific funds in three categories that hold predominantly Canadian content also outperformed last month, according to preliminary performance data released today by Morningstar Canada.Thirty-four of the 43 Morningstar Canada Fund Indices posted gains in February, led by the Morningstar Precious Metals Equity Fund Index with its... more

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield has implemented SunGard’s iWorks BPM solution to help the company gain greater transparency and efficiency throughout its claims management process. SunGard’s iWorks BPM is a business process and electronic content management solution that helps insurance companies streamline, standardize and centralize information, and manage high-volume workflows for claims, enrollments and other business processes. Using iWorks BPM, Arkansas Blue Cross has achieved a... more

American International Group (AIG) is close to a deal that will see the company sell ALICO, its foreign life insurance unit, to MetLife for a figure believed to be in the region of $15 billion, insiders have said.An agreement may be reached as early as this weekend, one source told Reuters.The proposed deal follows hot on the heels of AIG's sale of its AIA unit to Prudential Insurance for $35.5 billion, which was announced earlier this week.AIG is carrying out the divestment of its assets as... more

 

A stake in UBS is set to lose the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) more than $5 billion, it has been reported.GIC invested $10.18 billion into the Swiss bank two years ago in the form of a mandatory convertible bond but is set to lose in the region of $5.1 billion on its share, reports the Financial Times.However, GIC has stated it remains confident in the future of UBS and plans to hold on to its stock in the financial institution for "two or three decades".UBS and Citigroup... more

 

A survey of 16 global banks has suggested that the British Treasury is set to boost its coffers by more than £2.5 billion ($3.75 billion) as a result of the banking bonus tax.Last December, chancellor Alistair Darling announced that a one-off levy of 50 per cent was to be introduced on bonuses of more than £25,000 – with banks rather than employees footing the bill.The intention of the legislation was to encourage financial institutions to cut the amount they were going to pay staff in... more

 

The US Treasury announced it raised $1.57 billion in an auction of warrants held following the bailout of the Bank of America (BofA). According to the government, the completion of the sale means it is now divested of any investment in BofA. It is also the highest amount taken from a warrant sale of securities in one institution.The A and B class warrants sold in the auction were priced at $8.35 and $2.55 respectively. Bernard Chriqui, a New York-based trader at Nomura Securities International... more

 

Greece should consider selling some of its islands to pay off its debt, a pair of German politicians has claimed. Josef Schlarmann, a member of chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats party, and Frank Schaeffle, a finance expert, made the comments in an interview with German newspaper Bild. The former was quoted by Reuters as saying: “Those in insolvency have to sell everything they have to pay their creditors. Greece owns buildings, companies and uninhabited islands, which could all be... more

 

Lee Sachs, a senior member of the US Treasury and close advisor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, is to step down from his role. Mr Sachs is thought to have been one of the key figures in developing banking system tests and policies that helped stabilise the US economy after the global credit crash. According to an official from the body, the financial advisor is leaving the role as he believes his main goal of stabilising the financial system has been achieved. It is not yet known what Mr... more

 

Investment bank Morgan Stanley has found a buyer for its 34.4 per cent share in China International Capital Corp (CICC). Li Jiange, chairman of the acquired investment firm, announced that the sale is now progressing but was unwilling to provide the name of the interested party or the price the stake was being sold for. Mr Jiange was quoted by Reuters as saying: “The deal has been proceeding very smoothly and has developed into a new stage. The next step for us is to apply for approval from... more

 

Vikram Pandit, chief executive officer (CEO) at Citigroup, has thanked taxpayers in the US for providing financial support to the organisation during the global financial crisis. The banking group head’s comments were part of a prepared statement due to be given to a Congress panel responsible for reviewing the program of financial aid given to banks. Citigroup, which is 27 per cent owned by the US government, received $45 billion from the government as part of the Troubled Asset Relief... more

 

The US Treasury has released further details of the Obama administration’s proposals to overhaul the banking industry. In a five page briefing, the body outlined proposals to prevent commercial bank-owning firms and institutions from proprietary trading. In a summery, the US government stated: “These firms will be under tough, consolidated supervision, more stringent capital and liquidity requirements, and be required to provide more information to the market about their risks.“Moreover,... more

 

Victims of Ponzi fraudster Bernard Madoff who invested in the LuxAlpha fund have been told they can not sue UBS, the bank which helped set up the investment vehicle, a court in Luxembourg has ruled.The ruling was made in a test case involving ten claimants following the filing of more than 100 lawsuits against UBS alleging that it neglected its duties in the management of the fund.It was ruled that victims must instead seek claims via the liquidators of the fund.Tatiana Togni, a spokeswoman for... more

 

Partnership aims at bringing modern, flexible and cost-effective insurance software suites through a best of breed delivery model to customers. Hexaware Technologies, a leading global provider of IT & BPO services and consulting, today, announced a global partnership with eBaoTech, a leading provider of a complete suite of new generation core application software and services for life and general insurance industries. This strategic alliance will enable Hexaware to implement and maintain... more

FINCAD, the industry standard for financial analytics, announces the launch of its next generation derivatives analytics solution for software developers, F3 SDK. F3 SDK is a software development kit that provides developers with the ability to embed FINCAD’s most flexible analytics solution into new and existing systems. Suitable for software developers working in banks, hedge funds or application providers that need to respond to rapidly changing market and regulatory requirements, F3 SDK is... more

Distribution Technology, the UK’s leading provider of financial planning and sales software, has deployed its Dynamic Planner® application to provide independent risk profiling and financial planning support in the front office for advisers using Verbatim, the new investment firm from Simply Biz. Launched to help advisers meet the demands of RDR and TCF legislation for a more compliant investment process, Verbatim will provide free access to Dynamic Planner’s powerful profiling and planning... more

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, announced today that Bank Ayudhya Public Company Limited (BAY) has selected KRM from Fiserv to help the Thailand-based institution develop internal ratings based models for its Corporate and small/medium enterprise businesses. Used to manage credit risk, liquidity risk and interest-rate risk, KRM incorporates advanced risk concepts developed by Robert A. Jarrow, an originator of the Heath-... more

The London Stock Exchange will host five free seminars in cities across the UK next week to promote the benefits of its new Order book for Retail Bonds. Launched on 1 February 2010 in response to strong private investor demand for greater access to fixed income, the new order book offers simple, transparent access to 60 UK gilts and corporate bonds all tradable in easily manageable sizes. Bonds currently available for trading include securities issued by Tesco, BT, National... more

A Morgan Stanley executive has stated that five times as many hedge funds are being launched at the moment than at this time last year.Alex Ehrlich, head of Morgan Stanley's prime brokerage business, told the Reuters Private Equity and Hedge Funds Summit in New York that as many as 100 new hedge funds could start working with his company this year."We are seeing very, very strong hedge fund formation right now," he said. "We are as busy as we have ever been."He added that clients are returning... more

 

Barack Obama's plans to split up retail and investment banking operations have come under fire from Peter Mandelson, the business secretary in the British government.Lord Mandelson claimed the plans to stop banks from engaging in proprietary trading and owning hedge funds were too ambitious and difficult to regulate."Trying to apply sweeping rules about the structure, content and range of activities of banking entities is too difficult to do," he stated.He added that regulation should be focused... more

 

Bolsom says “recovery too fragile for them to exercise traditional methods of inflationary control”For the twelfth month in a row the Bank of England left interest rates on hold today at 0.5 per cent and maintained their asset purchasing programme at £200 billion.Mark Bolsom, Head of the UK Trading Desk at Travelex, the world’s largest non-bank FX Payments Specialist, commented, “We’re not surprised by this. I stand by my forecast that the Bank of England will keep rates at 0.5 per... more

The reputation of Goldman Sachs could be damaged by the “negative publicity” it has recently attracted, the bank admitted. Goldman Sachs has faced criticism for overcompensating bankers through its payments and bonus system and due to its involvement in providing credit default swaps to Greece’s government. In a recent filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the bank listed the potential impact of “negative publicity” alongside market volatility and regulatory... more

 

The European Commission (EC) is calling on banks and regulators to meet to discuss new regulations surrounding credit default swaps (CDS). According to sources familiar with the matter, the meeting is to discuss pricing surrounding the swaps and how they are connected to the sale of sovereign bonds, Bloomberg reported. Financial supervisors will meet in the morning and participants in the CDS market in the afternoon of March 5th to debate the products and their place in the market. Chantal... more

 

The value of shares at Prudential has dropped by 20 per cent following the news of its proposed takeover of the Asian arm of AIG’s insurance business. Plans to purchase American International Assurance , AIG’s Asia life unit, were unveiled by Prudential earlier in the week. However, since the $35.5 billion acquisition was announced, the value of its shares fell by 12 per cent on Monday and a further eight per cent on Tuesday. Concerns have been raised over the size of the takeover bid and... more

 

Financial services provider Barclays Wealth is planning on investing an estimated £230 million in upgrading its technology infrastructure, reports have claimed. The group has committed £350 million worth of funds to developing its wealth business with two-thirds of the figure expected to be invested in its technology platform, the Financial Times reported. According to the article, funds are expected to be spent on improving services to its global client base. A “state-of-the-art IT... more

 

Stuart Gulliver, head of investment banking at HSBC, has been awarded an estimated £9 million bonus for 2009. The banker is thought to be the highest earner at the firm and will receive the figure on top of his £800,000 annual salary. News of the sum emerged after Michael Geoghegan, HSBC’s chief executive officer, donated his £4 million bonus to charity as part of a bid to diffuse public anger over banker bonuses. However, Stephen Green, HSBC chairman, claimed that Mr Geoghegan was... more

 

Misys plc (FTSE: MSY.L), the global application software and services company, today announced that QNB, the leading national bank in Qatar, has licensed Misys BankFusion™ Equation to ensure it has the most modern technology platform available to underpin its business strategy.QNB has the largest distribution network in Qatar, comprising 44 branches in addition to eleven Islamic branches and offices operated by its Islamic banking subsidiary QNB Al Islami, and more than 160 ATMs. QNB’s... more

Risk measurement and analysis have come under increased regulatory and public scrutiny as a result of the economic downturn, with firms searching the market for the most advanced and integrated solutions available. To meet this growing demand, DST Global Solutions’ Investment Management Solutions (IMS) business has launched a broad range of risk consulting services to address various aspects of companies’ risk management challenges.Edward Dumas, DST Global Solutions’ Head of Risk Solutions... more

A new wave of democratic engagement will be the ultimate legacy of social mediaGovernments around the world will have to rethink and reinvent themselves from the perspective of the citizen as the direct result of the social media revolution currently taking place. This was the key message in a speech made this week by Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada Emeritus, made on behalf of Open Text, lead sponsor of the Kable ‘Managing Public Sector Information’ event held in London.... more

Independent research released on top 52 companies The PLUS stock exchange is pleased to announce the launch of the first PLUS half yearly review*, a report which for the first time provides coverage of the leading companies on the PLUS market. The research has been compiled by Edison Investment Research, Europe’s leading independent investment research company.This first edition covers the top 52 companies on PLUS by market capitalisation, including companies such as Arsenal Holdings, the... more

Greece may seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if financial backing is not forthcoming from its European neighbours, the country's prime minister has suggested.George Papandreou and his government have just announced the country's third austerity package in three months – with debt-cutting measures including increases in VAT and taxes on alcohol, fuel and cigarettes, as well as pay cuts for public sector workers."We have shown we can take difficult decisions," said Mr... more

 

Odyssey Financial Technologies, a global provider of front- and middle-office software for the Private Banking, Private Wealth Management and Asset Management industries, is pleased to announce that it officially opened its new office in Glasgow on the 1st ofMarch. The new office, which is dedicated to Odyssey’s private wealth management products, Triple’A Plus™ and WealthManager™, greatly extends the company’s development capacities.Complementing the three main development centres in... more

 

• Combined best of breed solutions will use ISO20022 (ViaNova) standards to achieve greater STP and lower operational riskSMA Financial, SWIFT Regional partner for UK, Eire, Channel Islands and the Nordics today announced that Equiniti, the leading provider of shareholder and employee services, is implementing SMA Financial’s SWIFT Service Bureau alongside the administrator system from aquilaheywood. It will enable Equiniti to employ ISO20022 messaging standards for transmission over... more

Lucsan Capital, an innovative technology, consulting services and advisory group specialising in system implementation and data migration for the financial services sector, is pleased to announce Treasury Corporation of Victoria (TCV) has selected the LMIG® product for the control and migration of data from its legacy back-office system to Wallstreet Suite from Wall Street Systems.TCV and Lucsan today signed a licence agreement for LMIG® to address the data acquisition, enrichment, output and... more

The GFG Group goes live today with the launch of a new and innovative website. The fully dynamic and interactive site has been designed to deliver rapid access and easy download of up to date product information for GFG Groups Cadencie Card Management system, Simfonie - the Mobile Payments solution and GFG’s Payment Tools products. The site architecture has a clear navigation system that will enable visitors to quickly view:- Industry Updates and a compilation of global best practice sharing-... more

Translation Module facilitates compliance with global mandates.Accuity, the leading provider of global payment routing data, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) screening software, and services, has introduced a Translation Module for Compliance Link, its modular, enterprise-wide interdiction screening solution. The module enables companies to manage entity records in multiple languages and character sets within their AML, Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF) and Know Your Customer (KYC)... more

Barrington Partners announces the release of the final questionnaire for the biannual US Transfer Agency Cost Survey 2010. This is the fifth time Barrington Partners has conducted this analysis. Beginning with this year’s survey, we will produce a PowerPoint Results Document customized for each participant. The firm’s responses will be labeled, but the information for all other participants will be presented in a non-attributed manner. The Results Document will include three sections: 1.... more

Increased trading opportunities for Thomson Reuters commodities customers Thomson Reuters today announced that is has signed an agreement with Genscape, the leading global provider of proprietary energy information for commodity and financial markets, to provide Thomson Reuters commodities customers with exclusive redistributor access to Genscape’s unique mid-week oil storage report for America’s top oil storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma.Cushing, Oklahoma boasts one of the largest... more

With the shift in focus by top investment executives towards mitigating risk and increasing efficiency in the front office, SimCorp is now introducing a new front office suite within SimCorp Dimension, its seamless enterprise solution for investment management organisations. The suite features fully scalable front office support for portfolio managers, compliance managers and traders. It is included in the latest release of SimCorp Dimension, version 4.7, which has been developed over the past 6... more

Pricing Partners, the independent valuation expert and a world leader in mathematical models and analytics for derivatives and structured products, announced that the Price-it Library now supports the Multi Curves Method on yield curves to account for market dislocation in interest rates.This announcement comes at a time when the spreads between EONIA, EURIBOR 1M, 3M, 6M and 12M have become major concerns, diverging from a few basic points to about a hundred during the climax of the crisis and... more

The time has come to evaluate technological advances from a functional and strategic viewpoint. Comarch has been invited to The European Banking Forum (EBF 2010), which takes place on March 18th-21st in London. The aim of the conference, which is celebrating its 8th edition, is to discuss the most effective means of driving revenue through innovative customer solutions with the retail bank executives. The discussion will focus on improving operational efficiency and advanced risk management.EBF... more

Banco Continental BBVA ("Banco Continental"), headquartered in Lima, Peru, has licensed the Spectrum Treasury System from Financial Software Systems to manage its Treasury, Capital Markets, Private Banking, and Mutual Fund activities. Banco Continental is Peru’s second largest bank, and one of the fastest growing financial service providers in South America. Banco Continental has assets of approximately USD 11 billion, and has over 230 branches throughout Peru. The bank is about 46 percent... more

MDSL, the leading provider of international telecom expense management (TEM) solutions, announced today that it has been selected by a top-ranked securities and investment firm to help manage its multi-million dollar telecommunications spend worldwide after an initial six-month sourcing and vendor management project for the Americas yielded savings in excess of $1 million.“Over the last 15 months, many organizations have been charged with reducing costs. As a result of using our expense... more

The US Justice Department has launched an investigation into several hedge funds over allegations they have been working together in an attempt to lower the value of the euro.People close to the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the department has sent a letter to several funds, including well-known names such as Soros Fund Management and Paulson & Co, asking them to keep hold of their records relating to trading on the euro.SAC Capital Advisers and Greenlight Capital have also received... more

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) decision to bring in tougher regulation of short selling practices has been criticized by a professor of finance.Under the new rules, which were approved last week, restrictions will be imposed on short selling when stock falls by more than ten per cent in the course of a day.If that occurs, then short selling may only take place at a price above the best bid for that stock.According to SEC estimates, around four per cent of the market is affected... more

 

Standard Chartered increased its profit margin to $3.38 billion last year, the British bank has revealed.The figure is a slight improvement on the $3.24 billion figure recorded for 2008.Its operations in India and Hong Kong both posted profits of more than $1 billion last year – results that delighted Peter Sands, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered."There is a race for which will be our biggest market by profits this year," he said."We have built a superb franchise in... more

 

Bottomline Technologies, a leading provider of collaborative payment, invoice and document process automation solutions, today announced that the company has achieved the UK Government Standard for Customer Service Excellence.Bottomline Technologies is one of the few private sector organisations to achieve this standard and the first and only one in its industry sector. The UK Government Standard for Customer Service Excellence was launched by the Cabinet Office of the UK Government in March... more

The London Stock Exchange announced today that Standard Chartered, a major international bank, has selected UnaVista as its global repository for reference data. Standard Chartered recently became the first bank to benefit from the Exchange's partnership with FactSet Research systems, and are now receiving counterparty and issuer linkage data from FactSet through UnaVista. Standard Chartered will use UnaVista's Reference Data portal to perform its market data matching and assist with compliance... more

Delta Community SA, providers of the Delta Dealing System to the financial and energy trading markets, announces the successful roll out and adoption of a functionality rich electronic trading platform for the automatic execution of trades in electricity by Wallich Energy in Prague, Czech Republic. It is currently installed in 27 sites across 5 countries in Europe.The new platform is highly specialized and has been specifically developed for electricity trading. Originally, the Delta Dealing... more

Latest Update to Advent’s Award-Winning Solution Introduces Complete Flexibility in Reporting, Expanded Access to Data and CRM Enhancements Advent Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADVS), a leading provider of software and services for the global investment management industry, today announced the release of Advent Portfolio Exchange® (APX) 3.0, its most extensive release of APX to date. With this release, Advent continues to set a new standard in comprehensive portfolio management for asset managers... more

Marlin & Associates ("M&A"), the boutique investment banking and strategic advisory firm, today announced that M&A client Strategic Analytics, a leading provider of credit risk and capital management solutions to consumer and mortgage lenders, was acquired by Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ: VRSK), a leading provider of risk assessment solutions to professionals in insurance, healthcare, mortgage lending, government, risk management, and human resources. Verisk (formerly known as ISO) will make... more

Barclays Capital has appointed an ex-employee of Goldman Sachs to lead its corporate finance department in the Asia-Pacific. Johan Leven, former head of Asian mergers and acquisition at the investment bank’s rival, will be employed as managing director and co-head of corporate finance at Barclays Capital, Asia-Pacific. He will work with Richard Gallivan on leading the unit. Matthew Ginsburg, head of Investment Banking, Asia-Pacific, said: “I am delighted to welcome Johan to the team. He... more

 

The UK banking industry supports the need for regulatory change but not at “the expense of recovery and future growth”, a banking industry organisation has claimed. According to the British Bankers Association (BBA), many of the institutions operating from the UK have already acted to improve liquidity and strengthen balance sheets following the global credit crisis. Angela Knight of the BBA, said that firms now believe that proposals to prevent future problems within the banking industry... more

 

Outsourcing to third party suppliers and data breach risks are among the main IT security concerns for firms working within the financial services industry, a new study has shown. Research conducted by the Ponemon Institute on behalf of Compuware revealed that many respondents do not deploy sufficient IT security to ensure complete protection from potential threats to their data. Many of the overlooked areas include identity compliance, data loss prevention (DLP) and intrusion detection, the... more

 

The UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) was seduced by the “boom years” of the 20th century into believing that banks were too big to fail, the regulator’s chairman has said. Lord Turner made the comments in reply to questions from the Treasury Committee. The FSA’s chairman said: “Everyone was seduced by the long boom. We were often led astray in the past by complicated mathematical rules. Regulators failed to notice the inherent weakness in that position.” However, he argued... more

 

The Greek government is expected to unveil a number of initiatives including cutting public sector pay as part of an attempt to reduce the country’s financial deficit. An unnamed source has said that the plan could save the country as much as $6.5 billion, Bloomberg reported. Prime minister George Papandreo stated that an announcement confirming the proposals will be made following a meeting of the country’s cabinet. Greece’s debt management agency is also planning on launching a bond... more

 

Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), has stated that regulators must concentrate on fixing the banking system rather than punishing individuals.In an interview with Reuters, Ms Bair said that while she would personally be ashamed to be drawing a large salary for a company that was performing poorly, regulation needed to focus on larger problems. "I don't think it should be about punishing somebody," said the FDIC chief. "It should be forward-looking and... more

 

Eka Software Solutions, the leading provider of Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) software, announced support for the new Cobalt and Molybdenum contracts which commenced trading today on the London Metal Exchange (LME).The LME, already the world’s premier non-ferrous metals exchange, now adds the world’s first exchange-traded forward minor metal contracts. Eka’s support for these contracts will allow its customers to engage in futures trading in these minor metals through the... more

Further Ten-Year Commitment to Misys and its RoadmapMisysplc (LSE: MSY.L), the global application software and services company, today announces that Amsterdam Trade Bank has signed a licence for Misys BankFusion Equation, the very latest ground-breaking version of Misys' core banking system. With this further investment in Misys, the bank will be able to bring new products and services rapidly to market and have the best solution available to meet its international expansion goals.Amsterdam... more

SEI Advisor Network will use REVPORT for Wealth Management BillingBonaire Software Solutions, LLC, a leading provider of Revenue Management, accounting and Business Intelligence solutions to investment managers, mutual funds, wealth managers, broker dealers and RIAs, announced that its REVPORT™ platform has been selected by Oaks, PA based SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC). SEI’s decision provides another key ‘win’ in the wealth management area for Bonaire and provides further evidence of the confidence... more

PriceMetrix is pleased to announce that Scott & Stringfellow, a Richmond, Virginia based brokerage firm and wholly-owned nonbank subsidiary of BB&T Corporation (NYSE:BBT), has again renewed a multi-year commitment to the PriceMetrix ValueOne Program. Scott & Stringfellow was PriceMetrix’ first U.S. client and this renewed commitmentrepresents a partnership spanning almost a decade.The patented ValueOne Program delivers systematic and scalable practice management tools and services that enable... more