The potential of blockchain to transform traditional banking processes has generated much enthusiasm over the past year. Deutsche Bank’s Paula Roels, head of market infrastructure and industry initiatives, and Bradley Lonnen, market management, institutional cash management, look at the current state of play around adoption, and blockchain’s applicability to correspondent banking.
Cybercrime is not a new threat but the attacks and ‘precise targeting’ by fraudulent parties are becoming more sophisticated. Marcus Sehr, global head of client management and sales for institutional cash management at Deutsche Bank, highlights the seriousness of cyberfraud and the need to foster awareness, and outlines the steps the banking community should take to defend the financial system’s integrity.
The retail payments space has witnessed a great deal of innovation over the past few years. To date, this has not been matched on the wholesale side. Christian Westerhaus, global head of product and strategy, institutional cash management, at Deutsche Bank looks at how developments on the domestic retail side are influencing client expectations in wholesale payments and assesses the steps the industry is taking to enhance the cross-border payments experience.
Following a challenging but robust 2015, the UK experienced a turbulent start to 2016. Eyes have been firmly focused on a range of market indicators: from fragile economic growth in China and ongoing weakness in parts of Europe, to oil price and equity market volatility. Added to the ramifications of geopolitical events, many financial institutions have suggested that conditions have echoed the European sovereign debt crisis of 2011 – or possibly even those of the early days of the global financial crisis.
Though South Africa's economy is cooling, its banks are continuing to perform strongly. For some, growth is coming from operations elsewhere in Africa, while for others its is stemming from the domestic market. James King looks at the strategies being employed to keep the country's lenders buoyant in a slow-growth environment.
Virtu Financial seems to have overcome the controversy surrounding high-frequency trading to achieve growing acceptance as an alternative market-maker at a time when bank dealers are shrinking. The company's senior vice-president, John Shay, explains its strategy.
Last year saw the blockchain hype cycle reach its peak, and its disruptive influence on the global financial services industry continues to be the subject of much debate. But after a year of talking, how far has the industry progressed in turning potential into reality?
The renminbi is now the world's fifth most popular international payment currency, and has the fourth placed Japanese yen in its sights. Financial policy reform and the introduction of new clearing centres have been crucial to this rise, but will the troubles the Chinese economy has experienced in the past few months derail its progress?
The transaction banking environment is complex and constantly changing, writes Michael Imeson. Much of what is happening, such as the growth in real-time payments systems, is for the greater good. But there are dangers lurking in all areas of payments – wholesale, commercial and retail – especially in cyberspace.