Technology

Japan’s Financial Services Agency is preparing legislation allowing the government to relax restrictions on fintech investment, promising a technological jolt to one of the world’s biggest financial markets.

The new year started with unusually negative intensity and uncertainty in the financial markets and the global economy.

The $5 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market is changing rapidly, as electronic execution platforms control the bulk of trading and bank dealers streamline operations in response to growing pressure from regulators to cut trading risks and boost capital. 

Steady revenue streams make transaction banking attractive during times of volatility. But tech and upstart competitors are remaking the business.

Q+A
David Newns, global head of State Street’s Currenex, says the diversity and liquidity provided by ECN (electronic communications networks) trading are keenly important to banks.
 

FinTech | Trends
The launch of the blockchain-enabled asset trading platform Nasdaq Linq, Goldman Sachs’ filing of a patent for a securities settlement system based on a new virtual currency called SETLcoin, and the continued rise of blockchain banking consortium R3 all point to a race by financial institutions to harness the power of the blockchain.

Q+A
Richard de Roos, global head of foreign exchange, Standard Bank, says a deep understanding of client needs comes over time, with continuous engagement and constant feedback.

Tom Manning, affiliate partner at Waterstone Management, has been advising global companies on China, and vice-versa, for years. The onetime CEO of Ernst & Young Consulting Asia, Capgemini Asia, Cerberus Asia and Indachin, and former senior partner at Bain, sat down with Global Finance to discuss the nation’s quiet innovation revolution.

Q+A
Michael Curran, head of foreign exchange, BNY Mellon Markets Group, sees blockchain technology as the FX market’s key innovation.
 

The Full Listing Of Global, Regional, and Country Awards Winners for The Best Digital Banks of 2015

Q+A with Hubert Jolly, Managing Director, Head of Channel & Enterprise Services, Treasury & Trade Solutions at Citi

Q+A with Alex Chen, Executive Vice President of Ctbc Bank

Country Report | Israel
Chinese investors flock to the nation’s cutting-edge tech sector.

As digital banking transformation becomes a key competitive tool, Global Finance recognizes those banks making the most-effective and most-innovative changes.

The World’s Best Digital Bank Awards was preceded this year by the inaugural Global Finance Digital Bank Conference, held in London. Three panels of digital banking experts shared their experiences of competing against nontraditional providers in the financial technology space.

Q+A with Juraj Bojkovský, Director Of Electronic Distribution Channels At Tatra banka

Q+A with Asit Oberoi, Senior President And Chief Operating Officer, YES Bank

Trends | Fintech
China’s Big Three Internet and e-commerce companies—Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent—are so big they are referred to collectively as BAT, and all three have received banking licenses and scaled up their e-commerce and finance platforms.

In the province of Imbabura in northern Ecuador, approximately a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the capital, Quito, and close to the border of Colombia, sits Yachay, the country’s first planned “city of knowledge.”

Capital Markets | Deal Matchmaking
In this age of social media, even business matchmaking, traditionally the domain of word of mouth and handshakes, could use a little tech facelift.