Latest news headlines: Finextra Research

Upaid seeks deposition of Satyam executives

Mobile payments firm Upaid has requested depositions from Satyam executives regarding last week's aborted attempt by Satyam to buy up companies related to its chairman, Ramalinga Raju. Upaid claims this was an attempt to siphon cash out of the business in advance of a US Federal Court jury trial scheduled for June 2009, in which Upaid is seeking up to $1 billion in damages for fraud, forgery and breach of contract by the Indian IT giant.

22 December 2008

/wholesale

Deutsche Börse to buy financial news agency from Xinhua

Deutsche Börse is to acquire the US-based financial news agency Market News International (MNI). A purchase agreement was signed last Friday. Market News International will become a 100 per cent subsidiary of Deutsche Börse for US$10 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close by the end of January 2009, subject to approval of the German competition commission (Bundeskartellamt).

22 December 2008

/retail

NatWest launches mobile remittance for Polish expats in the UK

NatWest, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland group, has become the first UK bank to launch a mobile phone based international money transfer service for UK customers. The service is initially being launched for the bank's Polish Welcome Account customers via a partnership with PKO Bank Polski. But the bank says it will look to extend the service to other countries.

22 December 2008

/retail

Korean telcos and banks replace debit cards with mobile phones

South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reports that telecom provider KTF is launching a service called UbiTouch. This will allow customers of 16 of Korea's domestic banks to register multiple accounts to a USIM chip and use the phone to withdraw money just by touching it to one of the 39,000 ATMs nationwide that bear the UbiTouch mark, and entering a password.

22 December 2008

/retail

Finextra50 up 7% driven by Thomson Reuters and SEI Investments

The Finextra50 Financial Technology Index closed Friday at 58.09, rising well above general market indexes.

22 December 2008

/retail

UK prepaid card vendor Tuxedo closes £17m funding round

UK prepaid card programme service provider Tuxedo Money Solutions has completed a significant funding round with all major shareholders participating.

22 December 2008

/retail

Tesco wins approval for RBS buy-out; poaches Rowe to head marketing

UK supermarket Tesco has received full approval from the Financial Services Authority for its takeover of the chain's personal finance arm, and poached retail banking chief Paulette Rowe from former partner Royal Bank of Scotland to head its marketing operations.

19 December 2008

/retail

Majority of Canadians banking online

The Canadian Bankers Association reports that for the first time, a majority (53%) of Canadian consumers are now banking online, and that the Internet has become the primary contact point for more than a third (35%) of consumers.

19 December 2008

/retail

US Federal agency urges authentication of all consumer accounts

The Federal Trade Commission is calling on the US Government to extend two-factor authentication standards deployed by banks to all private sector organisations that maintain consumer accounts, in a bid to combat rising levels of ID fraud.

19 December 2008

/retail

Barclays pilots Microsoft Surface in new flagship concept branch

Barclays Bank has become the first bank in Europe to pilot Microsoft's Surface technology at a groundbreaking new branch in London that takes its inspiration from leading retailers such as Apple and Nike.

19 December 2008

/wholesale

Nyse Euronext to manage exponential data growth with Greenplum

Nyse Euronext has selected a Greenplum Database to quickly process the high volumes of data produced by its exchanges on a daily basis. The transatlantic exchange will be using Greenplum technology to enable strategic reporting and other business intelligence applications.

19 December 2008

/wealth

Northern Trust chooses Bravura platform for move into Australia

US custodian Northern Trust has selected technology from Bravura Solutions to support its move into the Australian superannuation investment accounting market.

19 December 2008