Media-Insert Communications

SD-WAN: Why Banks Need WAN Acceleration Overlays

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a push to speed up digital transformation. There has also been the move to the working from home environment and embracing hybrid working as a concept, whereby employees work from home as well as in branch or at the office. This has led to a transformation in data flows and changes in bank processes to adapt to less face-to-face contact with customers. All of this has inspired the upgrading of IT infrastructure with many banks deploying or upgrading their SD-WANs.

Find out why banks need to WAN Acceleration Overlays by reading the complete article

Client: Trudy Darwin Communications for Bridgeworks Ltd. Byline: David Trossell, CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks Ltd. Published: 12th May 2021 . 

Regtech: watching personal mobile devices in financial services, but why?

Market abuse is a hot topic that the banks prioritise on a daily basis implementing heavy surveillance measures with complex technologies.

However, with the advancement of the technology the new hot topic or one of those “elephant in the room” conversations banks like to avoid is the effectiveness of soft policies for monitoring personal mobile devices on trading floors. To avoid market abuse via personal mobiles and ultimately to help protect the consumer, banks and financial services organisations have to, and now can do, more.

The monitoring of personal mobile devices is carried out through “soft policies” which are based on trust rather than compliance. These are simply ineffective, especially now with traders returning to offices and revised layouts to account for social distancing. This provides a greater challenge for supervisors/spotters to identify breaches. With home working continuing for the foreseeable future, regulators and financial service organisations are not moving fast enough to mitigate this enhanced risk and ultimately protect the consumers.

The penalties for non-compliance aren’t just financial. A 2013 Insider Trading Policy of TherapeuticsMD Inc. reveals that, in the US, it can lead to a prison sentence of up to 20 years, a maximum criminal fine of up to $5 million and, for “non-natural persons” (such as an entity whose securities are publicly traded), the fine is up to $25 million.

Find out how to use regtech to prevent regulatory breaches with personal mobile devices on the trading floor, read the complete article. 

Client: Trudy Darwin Communications for Mobilewatch. Published by Fintech Futures on 2nd March 2021. Author: Graham Jarvis.

 

Automation Allowing Treasurers to Piece Together Balances and Cash Reports

Advances in technologies that allow for automation of processes have “completely revolutionised the forecasting process” for treasurers, according to Brett Turner, CEO of Trovata.

Having a multi-bank application programming interface (API) data platform is “paramount if you are seeking digital transformation.” He points out that many cash-centric workflows in treasury are binary and that if a treasurer doesn’t have all of their banks reporting, “it’s really hard to take action with a high degree of confidence.”

In August, Trovata and ICD launched an integrated corporate treasury solution.

It comes in the midst of a number of high profile announcements involving treasury and transaction services automation, as banks and corporates look to stem problems created by the pandemic: in August, Finastra announced it would be helping CIH Bank automate a number of its trade and supply chain finance services. 

Learn more about how automation is allowing treasurers to "piece together and cash reports."

Client: The Global Treasurer. Published on 7th September 2020. 

Egypt attempts to plug FX hole

Coronavirus exposes cracks in Egypt’s macroeconomic stabilisation. 

The state of Egypt’s security and macroeconomic stabilisation has been further weakened by the global coronavirus pandemic, according to think tank the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI).

The organisation’s August 2020 research paper reported that while the country remains stable on the surface, it continues to have deep structural problems with militarisation of the economy, claims of corruption and a shortfall in remittances from Egyptians working in oil-rich Gulf countries...

Discover more about how Egypt is plugging its FX hole.

Client: The Global Treasurer. Published on 7th September 2020.  

Up To Speed: Latency

Bridgeworks features in African Decisions Magazine to discuss the technology and solutions solving latency issues across global markets.

"Online gamers know what it feels like. You’re playing a fast-paced, fast-clicking game such as Fortnite, and you’re about to eliminate an opponent when the game slows down, there’s no response to your frantic clicking and tapping. And by the time the lagging has ended, you’ve been eliminated and your opponent is doing the old L-finger-on-the-forehead dance. The problem is high latency. It’s a nightmare for gamers, and it’s an expensive handicap for traders and businesses too."

Published by African Decisions in May/June 2020.

Bridgeworks and PeaSoup target the growing BUaaS and DraaS market

Bridgeworks CEO David Trossell speaks to Digitalisation World Magazine about joining forces with PeaSoup to bring award-winning solutions to disaster recovery (DRaaS), backup (BUaaS), replication and business continuity planning.

Is RPA a Stopgap in Automating Complex Banking Compliance Processes?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is proven to deliver cost-savings whenever it is used to automate simple processes. However, for more complex banking processes it comes with a warning to avoid over-utilising it, and, the predominant view is that enterprise architects should focus on using robust, scalable, APIs connected using proven and secure technology. Yet RPA still has its supporters in the banking and financial services world – despite the complexities of Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) processes.

Accenture Consulting’s whitepaper, ‘Evolving the AML journey: Operational Transformation of Anti-Money Laundering Through Robotic Process Automation’, begins by highlighting the cost-benefits of RPA. It also claims that RPA can boost “throughput and improve quality, while remaining compliant across the AML ecosystem.” The introduction of the 2016 report cites other benefits too: they include an implementation period of just 6-8 weeks, higher staff satisfaction by “eliminating monotonous tasks and allowing individuals to focus on higher value work”, reduce incidents caused by human error and – perhaps controversially to some – fewer full-time employees will also work on repetitive tasks...

Learn more about whether Robotic Process Automation is a stopgap for automating complex banking compliance processes.

Published by Arachnys on 7th January 2020. Client: Arachnys. Author: Graham Jarvis. 

 

Addressing the AML Risks of Cryptocurrencies

With the recent explosion in cryptocurrencies, from the early beginnings of Bitcoin back in 2009 through to J.P. Morgan testing their own digital coins for institutional clients in 2019, there still remains serious unanswered questions about the money laundering risks they bring to banks, consumers and regulators.

Ciphertrace’s ‘Q2 2019 Cryptocurrency Anti-Money Laundering Report’ make some stark revelations. It claims that theft, scams and other forms of misappropriation of funds “from cryptocurrency users and exchanges netted criminals and fraudsters approximately $4.26 billion in aggregate.” With the emergent growth of any financial services industry there often comes the risk of both data security breaches and more serious crime. Despite their robust security claims, cryptocurrencies and blockchain aren’t immune as there will also be miscreants who will want to abuse the system. 

Address the anti-money laundering risks of crypto-currencies.

Published by Arachnys on 22nd October 2020. Author: Graham Jarvis. 

Sibos 2019 Day 3: How Banks Should Be Preparing for PSD2

Before arriving at the Excel Exhibition Centre in London for Sibos 2019 Day 3 on 25^th September 2019, a press release detailing some good news from Bottomline Technologies dropped into my inbox.

The press release says that new digital bank Vive is set to deliver real-time payments to its future customers on day one of trading. The faster payments solution is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) based and was launched in July 2019 in partnership with Starling Bank.  It embraces API-led technology, alongside Starling’s banking licence, to create a 24×7 direct connection to the Faster Payments Scheme (FPS). The service will enable Vive to meet customer expectations by delivering a fast, secure, and trouble-free experience. Nick Anthony, CEO at Vive commented “As a new player in financial services, we understand that outstanding customer service is key to our success.”

Published by SmartPayments.com. Author: Graham Jarvis. Client: Bottomline Technologies. 

Sibos 2019 Day 2 - Real-Time Payments: The Need for Speed

Day two of Sibos 2019, 24^th September 2019, very much echoed many of the thoughts expressed during the first day of the conference. The recurring themes talked about artificial intelligence, machine learning, open banking, regulatory compliance and the need to improve the speed of instant, real-time payments. Achieving this goal is no easy feat. There are opposing forces at play, which are affecting the ability of banks to align compliance needs with real-time payments.

The conference’s synopsis for the morning session about this challenge accepted that the payments landscape is rapidly changing. Find out how it's being transformed. 

Published by SmartPayments.com. Author: Graham Jarvis. Client: Bottomline Technologies.