Latest Innovation News: Finextra Research

Bank of Ireland welcomes first eight startups to new incubator

Bank of Ireland is welcoming eight technology startups to a six-month accelerator programme at its newly-launched StartLab Galway incubator.

18 February 2016

News/Innovation

Icici preps APIs for virtual mobile app development challenge

India's Icici Bank is hosting a virtual mobile app challenge, inviting developers to tap a set of over 50 APIs to build tools for the chance to win cash prizes.

17 February 2016

News/Innovation

Curve bids to bridge the gap between cards and mobile payments

Curve, a London-based startup that aims to bridge the gap between card-based and mobile payments by replacing multiple cards with a single piece of plastic and a mobile app, has launched with support from a group of notable fintech investors, including Taavet Hinrikus of TransferWise and Ricky Knox of challenger bank Tandem.

17 February 2016

News/Innovation

Mizuho turns to blockchain for financial record keeping

Mizuho is to use distributed ledger technology from Cognizant to secure record-keeping of documents passed across the group globally.

17 February 2016

News/Innovation

ItBit poaches SocGen's Nabi to lead European blockchain business

US-based capital markets blockchain outfit itBit has hired Jason Nabi, SocGen's post-trade services lead, to head up a new London office as it seeks to expand its services in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

16 February 2016

News/Innovation

Swift role in Target2 up for grabs; ECB ponders blockchain prospects

Interbank payments network Swift may lose its status as the sole network supplier to the European Central Bank's Target2 real-time gross settlement (RTGS) platform as the Eurosystem enters consultation on the future for payments and settlement across the eurozone.

16 February 2016

News/Innovation

Standard Chartered hires Capital One's James Dolphin as retail CIO

Standard Chartered has hired James Dolphin from Capital One as chief information officer, retail banking, to help kickstart the bank's digital transformation initiative.

16 February 2016

News/Innovation

Japan Exchange Group and IBM to run proof-of-concept blockchain test

Japan Exchange Group is to run proof-of-concept tests of the use of distributed ledger technology in low volume markets in conjunction with IBM.

16 February 2016

News/Innovation

Mondo invites customers to become investors with £1 million crowdfund raise

Mondo is looking to turn prospective customers into investors by ring-fencing £1 million of a £6 million financing round at crowdfunding site Crowdcube.

15 February 2016

News/Innovation

ASX wavers over future of Chess platform as it begins work on blockchain settlement

The Australian Stock Exchange says it plans to hire more staff as it lays the groundwork for the introduction of of a new post-trade platform based on distributed ledger technology.

12 February 2016

News/Innovation

Nasdaq to pilot blockchain for proxy voting in Estonia

Nasdaq is to use blockchain technology to streamline proxy voting on companies listed on the US Exchange-held Tallinn Stock Exchange.

12 February 2016

News/Innovation

FinLab puts down $3 million to find ways to address financial shocks

The Financial Solutions Lab (FinLab), an innovation programme created by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and founding partner JPMorgan Chase, has opened applications for a £3 million, two-year challenge to address financial shocks.

12 February 2016

News/Innovation

Challenger banks and established players line up for Finextra NextGen debate

A strong line-up of challenger banks, established banks and government and regulatory officials will take to the podium at Finextra's forthcoming NextGen banking event at London’s Level39 in Canary Wharf to debate the disruptive forces reshaping the banking sector.

12 February 2016

News/Innovation

BBVA increases newly independent fintech venture fund to $250m

BBVA is shaking up the way it invests in fintech startups, closing its $100 million in-house fund and pumping $250 million into a new independently managed outfit called Propel Venture Partners.

11 February 2016

News/Innovation

RBS prepares to open executive wing to startups

Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to welcome 100 entrepreneurs and ten startup support organisations to the executive wing of its Scottish HQ following a year-long refit of the former symbol of big bank excess.

11 February 2016

News/Innovation

Absa alert warns customers of future spending shortfalls

South Africa's Absa Bank is piloting a new predictive spending alert that warns customers if they are about to go into the red and offers customised options to help them better manage their finances.

10 February 2016

News/Innovation

City grandee Rich Ricci joins fintech revolution at freemarketFX

Rich Ricci, formerly CEO of Barclays Corporate and Investment Banking, is the latest in a growing list of financial services grandees to lend their business heft to a disruptive technology startup, joining currency exchange freemarketFX as chairman.

10 February 2016

News/Innovation

Deutsche Bank calls for co-operation with fintech firms on B2B services

Deutsche Bank has become the latest financial services giant to call on its industry to hug the hoard of upstart fintech rivals close, concluding that co-operation, not competition, is the wisest approach in the business-to-business payments arena.

10 February 2016

News/Innovation

Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Project boasts new members and code contributions

The Linux Foundation-led Hyperledger Project has signed up 30 founding members from the technology and financial services sectors, with several donating code to the effort to build a cross-industry open standard for distributed ledgers.

09 February 2016

News/Innovation

Switzerland needs to become more fintech friendly or risk irrelevance

Switzerland's potential as a European fintech hub is being damaged by lack of Government and bank support and a shortage of investment capital, according to a new report by Ernst & Young and Swiss Finance + Technology Association.

08 February 2016