During interactions with banks it is becoming more frequent the request to organize regular internal workshops to talk about IT innovation and future programs The purpose of these workshops is to create a discussion forum among banking stakeholders, by injecting items for discussion on how, and when, will new technologies affect the banking business I [...]

I seem to be hearing a lot about Twitter these days. Maybe it’s because I cover Web 2.0 and social media at Celent. Or maybe Twitter is just getting a lot of press/media coverage. It’s probably a bit of both. For those who are in the dark, Twitter is a tremendously popular micro blogging site. [...]

Open source in banks? HSBC and BofA say yes.

I recently attended an credit union roundtable session that focused on the health savings accounts (HSAs). This was my first professional exposure to the credit union industry, which introduced me to an entirely new lingo including “SEGs” (Select Employer Groups), “dividends” (interest) and “CUSOs” (Credit Union Service Organizations). By talking with the roundtable participants, I [...]

In its fourth quarter 2008 results presentation, ING Group, the European banking and insurance conglomerate, has clearly identified that reducing its operational complexity was key to weather through the crisis and reduce dramatically its operational cost. However, ING is certainly not an exception in the market, and the issue of complexity reduction is core to [...]

Wesabe announced today that they will start to sell their PFM offering (dubbed Springboard) to banks and credit unions. Wesabe is not the first vendor to start selling directly to banks. Earlier this year, Geezeo made a similar announcement. These are win-win moves for both the banks and the software companies: – Bank PFM tools [...]

Lest there be any thought about cash going away, use of cash in the US continues to increase despite the rapid growth in the use of electronic payments. The Federal Reserve reports the dollar amount of currency in circulation has grown 88% in the past 10 years to US$770 billion in 2007 and US$889 billion [...]

Islamic banking has become a major global industry with a growth of 10% to 15% per year over the last decade, to reach between USD 700 and 750 billion of assets worldwide nowadays. Currently, Islamic Banking is particularly developed in the Middle East, is definitively on the rise in the Asia-Pacific region, and is currently [...]

Indian banks enjoyed a competition-free era, operating under a protectionist regime, till 1991. The competition from private and foreign banks was hardly noticeable till the government liberalized the Indian economy in 1991. Ever since, the number of foreign banks has grown considerably and currently India has 29 foreign banks operating with around 277 branches and [...]

With the election of Barack Obama, there was much discussion about the overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, a conversation which continues in earnest today and will likely go on for months, if not years. Many policy and industry analysts stated that under the Obama administration, the U.S. would move to a European-style single-payer system [...]