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CEP goes mainstream with CME

The largest exchange to apply CEP across the board

Citi Japan rapped for AML flaws

Citibank Japan has been prohibited from sales activities in its retail division because of regulatory problems with its compliance and governance framework.

Profile zOS version launched

Fidelity National Information Services’ (FIS) Profile core solution is finally available on the IBM z-Series operating system, something that has been promised off and on for a number of years.

Unisys switches to Dovetail for payments

Unisys has changed horses, switching from Clear2Pay in favour of Dovetail to underpin its Open Payments Platform (OPP), with an official announcement expected shortly.

Westpac NZ live on fraud system

Westpac New Zealand has gone live on Proactive Risk Manager (PRM), the fraud detection and prevention system from ACI Worldwide, on IBM’s System z mainframe.

Kuwait breakthrough for Sage

Sage, the Swiss IT vendor, has revealed the identity of its second customer in the Middle East as the implementation project at the first sites winds up.

Java-based iMAL heads for pilot

Path Solutions claims to be nearing completion of the Java rewrite of its iMAL core system.

IMF takes grid tech from Platform

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has selected the Symphony grid-computing solution from Platform Computing.

T24 hits first Sumitomo milestone

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) has gone live with Temenos’ core system, T24, in Labuan in Malaysia.

Agile FT targets microfinance with new product set

Agile Financial Technologies, a UAE-based software provider for the insurance, banking and financial services sectors, has added a new offering to its product set – a core microfinance suite from an Indian vendor, Theme Technologies.

C&W gains first deal in CIS

Callataÿ & Wouters’ (C&W) Thaler core banking system has finally gained a first taker in the CIS region – Kazakhstan-based Eurasian Bank.

Clearstream signs Target2-Securities MOU

Clearstream Banking Frankfurt, the central securities depository (CSD) for Germany, and its Luxembourg equivalent, have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) presented by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Target2-Securities (T2S).

Swift approves easier corporate access

At its AGM on 10th June, Swift gained approval for a significantly simplified joining process for corporates.

T24 ousts Bankmaster at Capital Bank of Jordan

Capital Bank of Jordan has selected the T24 core banking system from Temenos to replace its current Bankmaster solution from Temenos’ rival, Misys.

Barings adopts ISO20022 for STP

Baring Asset Management, the international investment firm, has started using the Calastone Transaction Network to connect to fund distributors in Asia.

EuroCCP and Omgeo pioneer Europe’s CCP service for hedge funds and brokers

EuroCCP and Omgeo have joined forces to develop Europe’s first processing solution offering central counterparty (CCP) services for hedge funds, prime and executing brokers.

Citi ICG consolidates data with WSI

Citi’s Institutional Clients Group (ICG) accounts control division has gone public with its use of XceptorR from Web Services Integration (WSI).

Yieldbroker automates RBA’s open market ops

Australia-based Yieldbroker, an electronic trading software provider, has implemented its auction solution at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the country’s central bank, for open market operations in long-end semi-government securities.

First Ringgit trader live with Thomson Reuters

CIMB Bank, the commercial banking arm of CIMB Group in Malaysia, has become the first Ringgit market-maker to go live on Thomson Reuters’ RTFX (Reuters Trading for Foreign Exchange) platform.

Gresham gains first taker for SCF initiative

Citi has signed as the first bank to offer finance via supply network, Quadrem. This has been facilitated by Gresham, which has integrated its supply chain finance technology with Quadrem as a result of a tie-up last year.

Editor’s Note - July/August 2009

Will the credit crunch cause banks to add prepaid cards to their product portfolios? If the almost complete lack of delegates from financial institutions at last month’s Prepaid 09 show in London was anything to go by, then the answer is no.

This month's news in brief stories

Who’s Bought What? - July/August 2009

Including Hwang DBS Commercial Bank, Bakhtar Bank, First East Export Bank and American Savings Bank amongst others.

Islamic Banking: Taking the Shari’a route

IBS looks at two banks whose decisions to become fully Shari’a-compliant necessitated a re-evaluation of their IT solutions. One decided to implement a new system, and another decided to build Islamic functionality into its existing set-up.

OTC Derivatives Clearing: Clear thinking

Derivatives currently have about as much public approval as a British politicians expenses claim. But can forcing these much-maligned products through clearing be the way to reduce risk?

Permanent TSB: Permanent wave

Irish retail bank, Permanent TSB, is riding the crest of a wave now that it has found a way to cut mainframe costs and handle its increasing MIS demands. But was it a rough ride?

Rand Merchant Bank: The thick of it

Rand Merchant Bank has been putting in place a new finance and risk architecture for its domestic and international operations. Not everything has gone to plan but a great deal has been achieved and there are well-defined business goals.

Penson Financial Services Limited: STARS in their eyes

When Penson Financial Services Limited (PFSL) selected Syn, the clearing and settlement solution of a relatively small software vendor, Coexis, in 2005, ‘some people thought we were mad’, says Alan Philpot, CEO of PFSL. It was, he believes, among the riskier of the options PFSL was considering at the time, but it appears to have reaped the benefits since.

Bear necessities

When needs must, how do you successfully automate the state treasury operations across a country the size of Russia? Tanya Andreasyan talks to Alexei Popov, deputy head of the Treasury of the Russian Federation.

Lending dilemma

Banks have more choice than ever about the systems to manage their lending operations. James Ling looks at the different options available.

Restoring Trust

Commercial loan origination at many banks is still plagued with inefficiencies, poor data control and manual processes. Atlanta-based SunTrust Bank, with nearly $39 billion in commercial loans, attempted to reverse this trend with its long-time partner, Automated Financial Systems (AFS).

On The Move - July/August 2009

Swift, Euroclear, SAP, Avaloq and others announce new appointments.

Backchat - July/Augst 2009

All of the gossip from around the industry.