September 2010

By Sophie Baker

Swedish personal and corporate banking group, Svenska Handelsbanken, has chosen Platform Computing’s Platform Symphony software to provide a single grid, delivering distributed compute capacity for multiple business-critical applications. The bank will benefit from more risk simulation, reduced operational costs and improved hardware utilisation.

Banking giant Santander has enlisted Trusteer to offer its retail banking customers its Rapport complimentary web browser security service. Trusteer protects web communication against financial malware and phishing attacks, preventing online fraud. Mick Paisley, head of information security and business resilience for Santander, claimed this was one of the largest free offers of online banking security by a UK bank.

DataFlux has been chosen by QBE to help improve the quality of data within its European data warehouse, and to enhance its data migration process for systems consolidation. QBE will use DataFlux technology to standardise, improve and control data relating to its network of partner brokers, policies, claims and direct enterprise customer base. The business insurance specialist has operations in 18 European markets.

Demand from the hedge fund and prime broker sectors has seen provider of margin and financing software to these areas, Syncova, establish a New York office. The expansion follows an increase in demand for the group’s products and services as the sector gets to grips with an impending regulatory burden and ongoing investor demand for greater operational and cost efficiency.

Bluecoat Software and Assureweb have announced a commercial partnership, providing improved integration opportunities for Bluecoat’s customer relationship management system, FinPlan. Advisers will have access to comprehensive and competitive quotations for a range of products, including Term Assurance, Income Protection and Annuities.

Financial supply chain provider Accountis Ltd has changed its name to Fundtech FSC Ltd. The global transaction banking solutions provider has fully integrated Accountis Ltd into a new operating unit with other Fundtech subsidiaries, focusing on financial supply chain products and services.

Voice Commerce has formed an agreement to provide payment and mobile money services to mobile operators through Alcatel-Lucent’s Mobile Wallet Service. The financial services group’s agreement will see mobile service providers now deliver fully regulated end-to-end financial services.

Core banking software provider Temenos is to acquire Odyssey Group S.A., a Luxembourg-based provider of application software for the Private banking and Wealth Management market. Funded through a combination of existing cash and existing facilities, the consideration is USD81.0million, although Temenos will take on Odyssey’s existing debt obligations of around USD20.3million. This translates into a total enterprise value of USD101.3million, or €77.7million.

Cross-asset, front-to-back portfolio and risk management solutions provider Sophis has formed a partnership with Platform Computing, a provider of cluster, grid and cloud management software for the financial services industry. Sophis now offers an integrated solution with Platform Symphony for users in the banking, insurance and investment management sectors to distribute resource-hungry calculations, such as P&L and sensitivities calculations, instrument pricing, risk simulations and value at risk (VaR).

Q1 Labs has introduced the latest version of its security information and event management (SIEM) product, QRadar 7.0. The global provider of total security intelligence solutions has developed the product with the ability to monitor activity on social media platforms and multimedia applications, such as Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, LinkedIn and Skype. The product’s anomaly detection and configurable content capture via deep packet inspection (DPI) facilitate detection of web-based malware, what vulnerabilities are introduced when applications are accessed and the types of information users are making public – in real-time.

Azlan has been chosen to distribute Oracle systems and software in seven European countries – Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Customers will also be able to take advantage of the specialist support that Azlan’s Mid-Range team offers, and its logistics and financial resources.

Monitise plc has launched the first iPhone mobile banking app in the Republic of Ireland, in partnership with Ulster Bank. The app uses Monitise’s iPhone app platform, and will enable the bank to deliver mobile banking services to its customers in the Republic of Ireland.

Thomson Reuters has created a new business dedicated to serving customers across the span of governance, risk and compliance (GRC), bringing together Thomson Reuters GRC brands including Complinet, Paisley, Westlaw Business, West’s Capitol Watch, Oden and Westlaw Compliance Advisor. Former chief strategy officer, David Craig, has been named president.

Cinnober and Borsa Italiana have announced the extension of the license and support agreement for the real-time market data system DDM Plus. The agreement has been extended for a further year until the end of 2011. Borsa Italiana is part of the London Stock Exchange Group.

China-based IT services outsourcer VanceInfo Technologies is to launch in the UK and EU region with the opening of a London office. The company chose to enter the UK market as it has outstanding opportunities, and is a good time to “provide UK-based companies with unique and high-quality, cost effective outsourcing solutions,” said David Chen, president of VanceInfo.

CyberTech has launched a new audio search tool in partnership with Nexidia. CyberTech FAST enables users to locate and replay specific content contained in voice recordings with a high degree of accuracy in over 30 languages. The product uses Nexidia’s phonetic indexing and search technology, and automates the whole process, eliminating the need for manual, time-consuming and labour intensive investigations.

VASCO Data Security International’s new DIGIPASS 831 will be deployed to Swiss financial institution PostFinance’s e-banking clients in spring 2011. The new edition of VASCO’s most popular smart card reader has been improved with replaceable batteries, a larger display and an improved user interface.

Visa Europe has released the latest addition to its security guidance series on system vulnerabilities, Device Skimming: Attacks and Defence, which is based on industry best practices to help retailers protect payment systems and limit the likelihood of them being victims of skimming attacks.

Idappcom has launched Traffic IQ V2.0, enabling organisations to test their security systems to ensure they are effectively protected. The product also optimises and often extends the life of their investment in security equipment. The automated auditing and vulnerability assessment testing tool has an extensive traffic library that includes thousands of real threats, as well as corresponding security rules for the latest threats.

Barclaycard has launched Barclaycard SmartPay, a secure online payment processing system designed to deliver greater success for European retailers competing with domestic retailers in international markets. This, Barclaycard said, reduces fraud and data security risks and enhances the consumer experience. The solution was built for PCI DSS compliance, said Stewart Roberts, business development director, Global Payment Acceptance.

Mastek has delivered its first project using the data migration capability acquired from Kognito earlier in the year. The Data Factory Tool Kit (DFTK) and data migration methodology that the IT solutions player acquired has been used to deliver the migration of over 30,000 live monthly household insurance policies or PlusOne Services, an insurance administration company.

AboveNet has expanded its key European markets to allow customers in the US, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris to connect seamlessly over a dedicated, high-bandwidth network. The expansion provides high-bandwidth customers with connectivity between and within top business hubs in the US and Europe.

PEER 1 Hosting has launched the industry’s first large-scale, hosted graphics processing unit (GPU) Cloud in the UK. The system, which runs the RealityServer® 3D web application service platform is a wholly owned subsidiary of NVIDIA. By hosting the software and GPUs within the cloud, customer implementation is simplified and provides an inexpensive entry point for new users. It also minimises internal IT pressures so businesses can focus talent on core business operations.

Colt’s partnership with Infinera has resulted in the completion of its first European field trial of 100 Gigabit Ethernet over a live network. The trial, which marks an important step forward in the development of 100Gbps technologies to support increasing bandwidth demand across Europe, consisted of transmission over the 861km route on Colt’s low latency fibre network between London and Frankfurt, using Infinera’s DTN optical platform.

FIS has agreed a three-year outsourcing agreement to provide ING Direct France with extended outsourced application management services for the FIS Profile® core banking suite. The agreement includes maintenance, support and application development services, which will enable ING Direct France to continue to benefit from Profile’s robust functionality and real-time availability.

Ingram Micro EMEA has acquired interAct BVBA, a value-added distribution company headquartered in Belgium. interAct serves customers in Belgium and Luxembourg, and delivers solutions, including hardware, software and services that help resellers to transform their customers’ IT infrastructure of data centres.

Finnish financial services company, Pohjola Bank plc, has licensed Misys’ trade finance processing and internet-based delivery solution to aid volume growth of its trade business. Pohjola is part of OP-Pohjola Group, the leading financial services group in Finland.

Tapiola Bank has chosen OpusCapita to deliver a modern IT2 treasury system. The appointment aims to maximise automation in trading transactions and to provide flexible and timely reporting, including accounting and risk management.

NetApp and Oracle have agreed to dismiss their pending patent litigation, which began between Sun Microsystems and NetApp in 2007. The two firms plan to have the lawsuits dismissed without prejudice, but the agreement terms are confidential.

NYSE Technologies has announced its partnership with Eze Castle Integration to provide the hedge fund industry with enhanced access to their global community of trading counterparties. Direct connectivity is now available to NYSE Technologies’ Marketplace™ community of over 630 broker-dealers and execution destinations globally from Eze Castle Integration’s Private Network, which serves as the communications gateway for more than 300 buy-side firms.

ACI Worldwide has entered into a new, multi-year global enterprise relationship with First Data Corporation. The electronic payments software and solutions provider’s solutions will be combined with First Data’s offerings to provide customers with payment and transaction processing services.

Brocade® has made enhancements to its Brocade Alliance Partner Network (APN) Professional Services Partner (PSP) and Support Delivery Partner (SDP) programs. The new version of the PSP program will allow partners to retain all potential revenue generated from the sale of professional services offerings, and the enhanced SDP program will transition to a value-based model on a pay-for-performance scale.

SentryBay has teamed up with Managed Services Centre (MSC) to target financial services and government sectors, addressing risks of online fraud and malware. The partnership, which marks SentryBay’s first service partnership with MSC, will provide a proactive managed data and fraud protection service to the financial services and international government sectors.

Atrium Network has implemented more than 300 network end points using Juniper Networks’ switching, routing and security solutions. The provider of smarter connectivity for the global financial community’s new network provides an ultra low-latency, high-performance platform for a wide range of trading and market data applications, plus Extranet access for global clients across Europe, North and South America.

UK retail bank Metro Bank has enlisted Equifax to provide it with a range of risk management and fraud prevention services. The provider of consumer credit information and decision solutions was chosen by Metro Bank to ensure it has robust risk assessment and anti-money laundering procedures in place.

General Motors has chosen GlobeOp Financial Services as its service provider for daily collateral management, valuation and reconciliations across its over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives portfolio. General Motors’ Treasury department will be supported with the management of foreign exchange, commodity and interest rate derivatives.

Fidessa group’s Software as a Service (SaaS) sell-side trading platform has been chosen by BHF-Bank, a German private bank. BHF will use Fidessa’s fully managed solution to underpin its growing equity trading business.

The Norwegian Tax Administration has entered into a NOK 120 million contract agreement with Nordic software company EDB for mainframe operating services. The contract runs to 2017.

SmartStream Technologies has partnered with Longtop, a software development and solutions provider targeting the financial services industry in China. Longtop will integrate the financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM) specialist’s suite of TLM solutions to complement its existing technologies and services.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published its book on the payment system and role of the Eurosystem in this field, The payment system – payments, securities and derivatives, and the role of the Eurosystem. The book provides a comprehensive insight into the handling of financial transactions and functioning of the related financial market infrastructure, and looks at the Eurosystem’s role and policies.

Euroclear Bank has eased tax relief and reclaims management with the launch of its new service, TaxGenixTM. The development aims to help market participants automate the filing for, and processing of, tax relief and tax reclaims involving international and domestic securities from 28 markets worldwide.

Finnish card payments service provider, Luottokunta, has signed a four-year contract with business and technology service company, Logica, whereby Logica will manage Luottokunta’s IT operating and infrastructure services. The contract terms will see 16 payment specialists transferring from Luottokunta to Logica in October 2010.

Danish full service banking group, Sydbank, has gone live with Eurobase Banking Solutions’ Siena Rate Manager and Siena eTrader solutions, enabling its new generation of FX eTrading services. Sydbank has deployed the products from Eurobase’s e-solution product suite, and the Bank is provided with a pricing engine and a thin client, single bank platform.