Retail Banking Systems Insights

It’s been a tough year for financial market participants in the UK, with the pandemic causing turbulence and uncertainty around Brexit undermining future strategy-building. Next year looks set to be almost as chaotic, as the country looks to rewrite its rulebook while maintaining its stake as a global financial powerhouse. For fintechs, it... read more

The UK is a leader in the field of open banking. 2019 was a mammoth year for the country’s open banking ecosystem, when UK open banking hit one million users, regulated providers grew to 204 and there were 1.25 billion API calls. There is no doubt open banking has helped lift London into a position of global leadership in the fintech... read more

The pandemic has forced banks to accelerate digitisation programmes and permanently changed working habits according to Gerald Walker, CEO of ING Americas. Walker made the comments at BAFT’s 2020 Virtual International Convention and was speaking alongside Anne Clarke Wolff, chairman of global corporate and investment banking, Bank of... read more

As countries across Europe return to lockdown, the world’s global banking giants are sending their staff home. Many of the top banks have publicly announced plans to return workers to the kitchen table or the bedroom desk after a brief period of allowing the option to work in the office. And some people are not happy about it.  ... read more

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) newly issued true lender rule for bank-nonbank lending relationships faces potential Congressional Review pending tomorrow’s US election results. “This [true lender] rule coming out now and going into full effect between the election and the inauguration is something that... read more

Lack of sustainability threatens challenger bank longevity, according to a panel at Money 2020 Moneyfest yesterday. “Of course companies have to be profitable, but most of all they have to be sustainable. This is the point, and to be sustainable you can’t always reach out to the market and do fundraising,” said Paola... read more

While bigtech acquisitions may hurt B2C fintechs, B2B startups will continue to grow through bank partnerships, a Money 20/20 Moneyfest panel argued yesterday.   “Bigtech firms and card networks recently have been on a buying spree. We’ve seen a lot of mergers and acquisitions in the last few years and economists refer to the... read more

Despite having registered over two million users in the UK, Open Banking is still failing to meet its objectives of creating a more competitive retail banking landscape. “Everything that it's looking to achieve in terms of improving competition and transparency amongst the incumbent banks, and diluting a little bit the reliance on the... read more

As financial institutions adapt to the pandemic, business continuity planning (BCP) has emerged as a key area of improvement for banks of all sizes. While small banks have previously had less regulatory pressure to demonstrate liquidity management and stress testing, this fact is now changing. “I can see smaller institutions trying to get... read more