Transaction Banking

A community for discussing technology trends, views and perspective in global transaction banking

George Ravich President at Ravco Marketing, LLC

SibosEye-Opener: Why Can't a Payment be More Like a FedEx?

Sibos was once again a hectic, frenetic week of meetings and eye-opening conversations. Fundtech was fortunate to announce BofA as its first customer for its new SOA payments platform. The explanation by Cindy Murray – EVP of Innovation at BofA of how they plan to use this new technology was worth repeating. As Cindy explained it: When you send ...

25 September 2009 /payments /wholesale

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

High Level Group spot on

EUROPEAN COMMISSION - High Level Group of Independent Stakeholders on Administrative Burdens exerpts from OPINION OF THE HIGH LEVEL GROUP "The VAT Directive explicitly allows the use of electronic means for sending and archiving invoices. The rules however leave too many options to Member States so that national requirements for electronic inv...

18 September 2009 /payments

Retired Member 

Using Card Readers for the Sake of It...?

I had an interesting experience in my local bank branch the other day. I went in to withdraw cash (the ATM doesn't dispense £1 coins and £5 notes), only to find that the process had changed - significantly for the worse. Previously, I'd put my debit card in a POS-type card reader on my side of the counter, type in the PIN, and then I'd get the cas...

16 September 2009 /retail

Retired Member 

It Would Almost Be Funny If It Wasn't So Sad

I guess it would be easy to say that Mr. Bernanke's recent disclosure that he was a victim of identity theft is yet another example of instant karma, cruel (or deserved) irony, cosmic justice, etc, etc. It would be easy, but it wouldn't be particularly helpful and, frankly, not very funny. In an age of bits and bytes, the Secret Service and FBI ar...

31 August 2009 /security

Retired Member 

IT: A True Underdog Story

I found that if you have a goal, that you might not reach it. But if you don't have one, then you are never disappointed. And I gotta tell ya, it feels phenomenal.~ Peter LaFleur Every decade or so, business decides to re-invent itself. And in every cycle of reinvention; there is a new buzz word or "school of thought" that is trumpeted ...

07 August 2009 /wholesale

George Ravich President at Ravco Marketing, LLC

A silver lining with a smile?

Of course the silver lining had to show up at some point – at our recent US client conference, we surveyed 80 mid-sized US banks and 75% agreed that the credit crunch is presenting real and “unprecedented” opportunities for transaction banking business growth. That’s a strong rallying call and perhaps not entirely surprising when we have seen the ...

06 August 2009 /payments /sibos

Bo Harald Chairman/Founding member, board member at Trust Infra for Real Time Economy Prgrm & MyData,

54 Billion reasons in Germany

From Deutsche Bank report: “the bulk of the companies [SMEs in Germany] squander the sizeable efficiency gains that come with the introduction of digital invoices. According to estimates by researchers at the University of Hannover, the German economy offers total cost-savings potential of around EUR 54 bn, mainly in more efficient processes, i.e....

31 July 2009 /payments

Retired Member 

It's not the Mistake, it's the Response that Counts

Everyone makes mistakes; individuals, small businesses, large corporations and even government agencies. ( I made a mistake while drafting this blog and hit publish before finishing it--so if you're reading it and there are only 3 paragraphs--that's why). It's a fact of life and most of us handle it well. We call hoping for a human voice, write...

29 July 2009 /payments

Retired Member 

Is This Thing On? Captain Obvious - Is That You?

News Flash: "US Forest Service Study Determines - Bears ARE Dangerous" "U of M Survey Confirms - Employees Would Be Happy With Shorter Work Hours at the Same Pay" "Department of Transportation Study Confirms for the 1,432nd Time - Seat Belts Save Lives" I love Gartner, truly. Gartner, Forrester and the other research f...

24 July 2009 /retail

Retired Member 

Lost - As Defined by an 11 Year Old

Show of hands, how many of us remember the good old days? You remember those days, when "lost" meant something like: "I came home and set my car keys down and then moved some stuff around - when I got up in the morning, I couldn't find my keys. They were lost." or "My wife and I took a trip with the kids to Washington, D.C....

22 July 2009 /security /regulation