IT for financial services

CW Europe – July 2015 Edition

The economy in central and eastern Europe (CEE) is starting to recover, which means investment in IT across the region is also starting to return. This issue of CW Europe investigates how the boost in IT is changing the role of the CIO, from supporting the business to driving its growth. Continue Reading

Barclays expands cheque imaging service

Barclays extends the ability to pay cheques into accounts via a smartphone to more customers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The legacy IT challenge for CIOs

In this week’s Computer Weekly, CIOs in financial services hoping to fight off challenger banks face a huge hindrance from their legacy IT – we assess the difficulties and reveal a diagram that shows the scale of the problem. We look at how to prepare for information security audits and why they are so vital. And we ask if HM Revenue & Customs’ plan for online tax accounts will make tax more taxing for the digitally excluded taxpayer. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Norway’s DNB was inspired by Danish bank for new app

DNB in Norway has taken inspiration from Danske Bank in Denmark when creating its latest payment app. Continue Reading

By

• David Nikel

Legacy systems holding back 90% of businesses

Most businesses are being held back from making digital advances by their reliance on legacy applications Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The diagram that scares the next generation of banking IT professionals

The next generation of IT professionals in the banking sector will face the same legacy headache as their predecessors Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Royal Bank of Scotland goes back to 1970s values with big data

RBS, once the world's largest bank, is using analytics technology to go back to the era of personal customer service Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

DD4B cyber extortion gang ramps up operations

Cyber criminals using DDoS attacks to extort funds from victims are carrying out more attacks despite a $26,000 bounty Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government preparing to let private sector companies use its Verify identity scheme

The Cabinet Office is talking to banks, insurers and retailers to establish Gov.uk Verify identity assurance as a national scheme Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

International police operation arrests cyber fraud gang

Police in six countries have arrested 49 people suspected of committing financial fraud involving email account intrusions Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Nationwide quick off the mark with Apple Watch banking app

Nationwide claims to be the first high street finance firm to offer an Apple Watch app Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Potential Apple Pay security weakness revealed

Fraudsters could gain access to personal details of Apple Pay users, research reveals Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Sourcing must adapt to digital business goals, says Gartner

Businesses need to change their sourcing strategies if they are to keep pace with the digital revolution, says analyst organisation Gartner Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Top six enterprise IT priorities in the Nordics

The future of enterprise IT looks bright in the Nordic region, with growing focus on datacentre investments, national cloud and automatisation Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

Social engineering attacks more complex than ever, says expert

Expert warns attackers are starting to use increasingly sophisticated ways to get people in organisations to help them circumvent security controls Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

St Louis Federal Reserve Bank not target of DNS hack, say experts

The hacking of a domain name server (DNS) for the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis is more likely to be aimed at customers than the bank itself, say security experts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Barclays adds extra security through domain name switch

Barclays Bank and Barclaycard are moving away from using .com and .co.uk domain names in a move that will add extra security for customers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Global banking IT group completes standardised IT architecture

The Banking Industry Architecture Network (Bian) has announced its standardised global IT architecture for banks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Santander launches 'Boris bike' app

Santander has released an app that allows people to book a 'Boris bike' via their mobile phone Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Wearable technology to transform laggards in insurance industry

Wearable and other smart technologies set to transform the insurance industry in the next three to five years Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Use of Halifax mobile banking app doubles

Halifax customers logged into their bank accounts 40 million times in March 2015, double the amount in the same month in 2014 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

EU revamp of payment services draws nearer

The EU cannot afford to continue with costly payment services if it wants to be globally competitive, says MEP Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Time to embrace a new level of IAM, says Martin Kuppinger

A new level of identity and access management is at hand, yet many businesses still rely on usernames and passwords Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Nordea Bank announces digital hire and Apple Watch app

Nordea Bank hires expertise to strengthen its digital banking team and promotes its digital ambitions with an app for the Apple Watch Continue Reading

By

• David Nikel

Captive IT centre boosts competitiveness at Danske Bank in Denmark

In 2014, Denmark's Danske Bank announced plans for its own captive centre in Bangalore and is now finalising the move to in-house IT delivery Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

The National Trust's great IT renovation

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to the CIO of the National Trust, Sarah Flannigan, about her £40m IT strategy to transform one of the UK's favourite charities. We examine best practice in how to set up applications on Amazon Web Services. And we talk to a UK challenger bank about how technology will shake up the sector. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Poor customer engagement at banks opens door to competitors

Customer experience levels at banks have failed to improve for the second year in a row and customers are more likely than ever to leave their bank Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Changing IT trends power banking in Norway

Norway's banking system is undergoing a seismic shift in technology as the country aims for a fully digitised society Continue Reading

By

• David Nikel

Mobile malware overhyped, says security company Damballa

Mobile internet users are 1.3 times more likely to get struck by lightning than infected by mobile malware, research by security firm Damballa finds Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Zurich Insurance turns to augmented reality to train 10,000 managers

The £74bn turnover company aims to harness the capabilities of augmented reality to train 10,000 employees in 170 countries Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

HSBC website mistake guides customers to porn

HSBC’s Hong Kong website accidentally featured an out-of-date link that directed people to a porn site Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nationwide extends video link service to 100 more branches

Nationwide Building Society has expanded the use of video conferencing equipment for customer consultations Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

SAP core banking platform will ease Deutsche Bank split following strategic retail review

Deutsche Bank plans a major IT project as strategic review advises spinning off its retail operations – but its SAP platform will ease the split Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

NCR promises 40% annual savings with thin-client cash machines

NCR has developed smart thin client cash machines to replacing ageing Windows XP-based ATMs Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Liberal Democrats promise to double innovation spend and 99.9% broadband roll-out

The Liberal Democrats’ general election manifesto promises to double innovation spending and roll out high-speed broadband to 99.9% of homes Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Banks hide cyber crime losses, says City of London Police

Banks obscure the amount of money lost to cyber fraudsters – preferring to write off cyber theft as operating losses – says the City of London Police Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security risk potential linked to young, mobile users

A study conducted by wireless supplier Aruba Networks has identified a distinct cohort of high-risk, security-agnostic workers Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Lintel bank steers clear of traditional bank IT development

Lintel Bank applies for a UK banking licence and plans to join a growing number of new banks taking on the high street incumbents Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Juniper Networks goes after finance market with switch-integrated compute

Juniper launches a compact compute-integrated network switch to boost performance of sensitive applications for financial institutions Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

'Bored' RBS investment chairman Rory Cullinan resigns after daughter's Snapchat message goes public

Royal Bank of Scotland’s investment bank chairman Rory Cullinan leaves after a Snapchat message to his daughter appeared in Instagram Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Vodafone adds banking capability to mobile wallet

Mobile operator Vodafone is enabling its customers to add banking functionality to their Vodafone Wallets Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IT is more important than marketing for banks

IT spending will grow at the expense of other areas such as marketing as optimism in financial services increases Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

DDoS losses potentially £100k an hour, survey shows

DDoS attacks could expose 40% of businesses to losses of £100,000 or more an hour at peak times, a survey shows Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK attacks on crypto keys and digital certificates endemic

All UK security professionals polled in a global survey have responded to attacks on keys and certificates in past two years Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Santander launches ISA mobile app

Spanish banking giant Santander launches a mobile app to help consumers navigate the ISA market Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Identity fraud still top UK fraud threat

Identity fraud continues to be the single biggest fraud threat, according to the latest report by UK fraud prevention service Cifas Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Monitise no longer up for sale

Mobile banking software company Monitise to continue as an independent company rather than seek to be taken over Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Dutch bank ING puts HR services in the cloud

Finance company ING is using cloud-based software from ServiceNow to deliver HR services to its 25,000 staff in the Netherlands Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Women have a big part to play in the future of the fintech industry

International Women’s Day sparks debate around the lack of females holding board-level positions in the fintech sector and elsewhere Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Sabadell to migrate TSB IT to proprietary banking platform with £450m sweetener

Spanish bank Sabadell will move TSB IT systems to its own in-house core banking platform Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Current account comparison from Gocompare announced in Budget 2015

The government used the Budget to announce changes in the banking sector that will increase consumer and business choice Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lookout bets on big data analytics to secure enterprise mobiles

Mobile security SaaS provider Lookout is betting on its cloud-based big data analytics capability to attract enterprise customers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IBM could create blockchain-based digital payments infrastructure for central banks

IBM has held informal talks with some central banks about building an infrastructure that can provide them with bitcoin-like digital payments systems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HSBC names replacement CIO for investment bank

HSBC has named the replacement for the departing CIO of its global banking and markets division, with an internal promotion filling the gap Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HSBC seeks new investment banking CIO as Sumeet Chabria leaves

HSBC is looking for a new IT head in its investment banking arm after Sumeet Chabria decided to leave after 21 years at the bank Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Latest new UK bank launches virtually

Challenger financial services firm Charter Savings Bank has been launched, taking advantage of the lower cost of a virtual presence Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Google to launch Android Pay

Google is expected to launch a payments application programming interface at its I/O conference in May Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Bank of England considers issuing digital currency

The Bank of England could issue its own digital currency in the future, in the same way that it does with bank notes Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IBM and Oracle named as potential Monitise buyers

IBM and Oracle have emerged as potential candidates to take over British mobile software company Monitise Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

MasterCard to pilot facial, voice and fingerprint authentication

MasterCard will pilot a biometric authentication and verification tool this year as part of cyber security technology investment Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

$1bn cyber heist underlines need for detection, say security experts

The theft of up to $1bn from financial institutions in a daring cyber crime operation underlines the need for monitoring, say security experts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Lloyds Bank launches smartwatch service

Lloyds Bank will send offers to its mobile banking customers direct to their smartwatches Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lloyds Bank accepts ID documents uploaded on social media

Lloyds Bank group customers can upload identification documents on technology used in social media, reducing the need to visit a branch Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Why peer-to-peer lending is such a threat to banks

Consumer trust for finance firms has never been high, and since the financial turmoil at the end of the previous decade it has reached rock bottom Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Former Lloyds bank and Barclays CIO Darryl West joins HSBC

HSBC has appointed Darryl West, who left Barclays in December, as CIO Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Sweeping trend towards digital banking forces RBS branch closures

Royal Bank of Scotland "taken aback" by ever-increasing take-up of digital banking and announces additional branch closures across UK Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Experiment proves banks cannot take digital first for granted

Experiment finds majority of banking customers do not fully understand online statements Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Tesco Bank suffers computer problems

Tesco Bank customers are the latest to suffer as a result of IT problems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Former Capital One data analysts charged with mining customer data

US financial services regulator SEC charges two former employees of financial services firm Capital One with insider trading Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lack of banking app functionality deters users more than security fears

More people are choosing not to use banking apps because of a lack of functionality than those deciding not to because of security fears, according to a survey Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Halifax launches online banking for children

Halifax has launched an online banking service aimed at helping 11 to 15-year-olds better manage their money Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Mobile banking will help the poor transform their lives, says Gates Foundation

Mobile banking can help the poor change their lives and two billion people who don’t have bank accounts store money by phone by 2030 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Case study: Hedge fund AHL Man Group uses MongoDB to feed quants with data

Hedge fund AHL Man Group replaces disparate relational databases with a single data platform built on NoSQL database MongoDB Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Six challenger banks using IT to shake up UK retail banking

The retail banking sector is going through a period of regulation-driven change and IT is playing a key role Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Younger users prefer biometrics to passwords

Younger bank customers would rather use biometrics than PINs and passwords for security, according to Visa Europe Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Google to buy Softcard in latest round of financial services empire building

Google is in talks to acquire mobile phone payments system Softcard as it increases its financial services capabilities Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Barclays creates role to lead transformations

Barclays Bank has appointed a group chief operating officer (COO) to lead it through transformations, including major IT investments Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Barclays bank launches kids' coding site

Barclays bank launches a coding app for children and offers weekly classes to increase its credentials in IT-based service provision Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Atom Bank could be first real threat to traditional banks

Digital-only bank could be the first real challenge to high street banks if it turns its low-cost operating advantage into better rates for customers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Services provider Tech Mahindra adds banking IT expertise to its portfolio

Indian IT services supplier Tech Mahindra adds consultancy skills and gains finance customers after buying banking services firm Sofgen Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Sainsbury's Bank IT system problems a warning to new banks

Sainsbury's Bank has experienced IT problems that left customers unable to use their credit cards for a day Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Alibaba bank and WeBank show Google and Facebook the way

Technology can drive traditional banks to reform, says Chinese premier Li Keqiang at the launch of China’s first online-only bank Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Online money transfer provider Xoom suffers multimillion-dollar fraud

Digital money transfer provider Xoom has admitted to suffering a $30.8m loss at the hands of fraudsters Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cool and funky bank to launch in UK soon

The UK launch of a web 2.0 and social media-based bank in the UK is imminent as Germany’s Fidor Bank applies for UK licence Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Deal between RBS and CA over IT failure will remain secret

The details of the financial settlement between RBS and CA Technologies in relation to a massive IT failure will remain secret Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Top 10 CIO interviews of 2014

The top technology chiefs in the UK shared their opinions and experiences of modern IT leadership Continue Reading

By

• Computer Weekly Staff

Digital technology to open up core banking market

The challenges of digital banking will open core banking software market to more suppliers as banks attempt to keep up Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Fears over the IT security of new banks are overblown

Challenger banks such as PayPal are perceived to be less secure than traditional banks when protecting personal data. But is this the case? Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

MPs give Post Office the cold shoulder

In this week's Computer Weekly we revisit sub-postmaster grievances with the Post Office's IT. Despite years of allegations that the Horizon transaction processing system was at fault for many accounting shortfalls, the Post Office unrelentingly defended it. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Banks are opening up IT to third parties, as hackathon demonstrates

National Australia Bank (NAB) opened its IT to its internal tech team and independent developers to access innovation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Barclays expands cheque payment technology

Barclays is expanding a pilot to enable a million customers to pay in cheques online by taking a picture of them Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Virgin money invests in mobile money firm

Virgin Money has partnered with mobile money provider Monitise to provide customers with mobile banking solutions Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

UKtech50 2014 - The most influential people in UK IT

Computer Weekly has announced the fifth annual UKtech50, our definitive list of the movers and shakers in UK IT Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Danske Bank latest to take offshore IT in-house

Danske Bank is the latest company to transform its offshore IT strategy by setting up a captive centre in India next year Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

ABN Amro re-signs IBM for 10-year, multibillion-euro IT contract

ABN Amro has extended its multibillion-euro outsourcing deal with IBM by another 10 years Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Barclays bank launches mobile video banking

Barclays Bank has launched a 24-hour video banking service that will enable customers to receive face-to-face service from anywhere Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Germany and the UK - Europe’s technology pioneers

Stephen Georgiadis, managing director at investment bank Altium, explores the thriving technology sectors in the UK and Germany Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Georgiadis

Goldman Sachs invests in analytics startup

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has invested in a financial analytics startup as part of a $15m funding round Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Finance regulators overlook offshoring in RBS IT failure statements

UK financial services regulators made no mention of the role of offshored IT in the problems that led to the ₤56m fine for RBS Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HSBC launches Paym for business

HSBC launches Paym capabilities to allow business customers to receive payments using mobile phone numbers Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor