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Archive for: March, 2007

Elton Cane - Independent - Brisbane | 22/03/2007 | 3755 views

Bank branch technology and the leapfrog effect

I was talking today to Andreas Andreades, CEO of core banking system vendor Temenos, about the company's tie-up in the US with Metavante (more on that in my next post). Something he said as an aside particularly caught my attention: "Bank customers in Thailand get a better in-branch experience than bank customers in the UK." The conte... Tags: Retail bankingGroup: Trends in Financial Services

Elton Cane - Independent - Brisbane | 19/03/2007 | 1960 views

ABN AMRO carve-up: the IT implications

The business pages over the weekend featured coverage of the merger talks between Barclays and ABN AMRO. Whether or not Barclays succeeds, the pressure from hedge fund investors and the number of other suitors interested in parts of the Dutch bank’s global business means that a break-up of the group is increasingly likely, though not certain.... Tags: Retail banking, Wholesale bankingGroup: Trends in Financial Services

Elton Cane - Independent - Brisbane | 16/03/2007 | 2588 views

Trouble in India, and its impact on outsourcing

Finextra received some interesting feedback from a reader today about this story, which covered NAB considering further Indian outsourcing. Our reader pointed out that with Maoist insurgents having slaughtered 40 Indian policemen this week, moving operations there now requires a hard second look. “Forget the weather issues, training, infrast... Tags: Risk & regulationGroup: Trends in Financial Services

Elton Cane - Independent - Brisbane | 14/03/2007 | 1864 views

Algorithmic trading adoption on the buy side

I've noticed a trend among recent conferences I've attended: a growing number of sell-side firms sending along their business development and product managers to speak about algorithmic trading. While these guys are far too smart to engage in an unadulterated sales pitch, and for the most part their presentations have been insightful, there... Tags: Dealing rooms, Wholesale banking

Elton Cane - Independent - Brisbane | 09/03/2007 | 2007 views

MiFID compliance burden as a catalyst for M and A

At an event this week I heard an interesting opinion from the compliance head of German bank WestLB. His view was that in the German market, no-one saw any strategic benefits arising from MiFID - only cost and hard work. In fact, he said, with Germany's fragmented financial industry, many would be overburdened by the cost of compliance and this... Tags: Trade executionGroup: MiFID