- R3, the blockchain consortium, is close to coming to market with its first commercial pilot product. A group of 11 banks, including HSBC and RBS, are poised to start testing an application that aims to cut costs and inefficiencies in trade financing that has been developed using R3’s Corda technology
- Kenneth Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard University, has said that central banks should start planning now for negative interest rates so they are not caught out when the next recession strikes.
- Cleo, a fintech start-up which operates an AI-based money management assistant, has reported that it has attracted over 50,000 customers worth £400m since its launch in October 2016.
- Monzo has appointed Curve co-founder Tom Foster-Carter as its chief operating officer. Also it has announced that that Android users can now register their interest in its Current Account roll-out
- Tandem has agreed to buy Harrods Bank. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, will bring around £80m of capital into the start-up, which lost its banking licence earlier this year after a funding setback
- HSBC is applying optical character recognition and cognitive technology from IBM to automate the processing of paper documents in trade finance transactions. The bank is currently using the technology to analyse English-language import and export bills in several markets in Asia, Europe, the Americas and the MENA region
- First Direct has again topped the table in MoneySavingExpert’s bi-annual banking customer service poll, while Royal Bank of Scotland dropped to last place. Nationwide retained its place as runner-up
- TSB Bank has urged the CMA to take action to fix the ‘broken banking market’ by making it easier to switch bank accounts. It has also suggested that with the number of people using CASS down 14% in the past 12 months, those customers have missed out on savings of over £10m, based on the average saving of £70 a year cited in the CMA’s report on competition in retail banking. Moreover, research by the bank has found that only 28% of people have heard of CASS
- Royal Bank of Scotland Group has announced that its Board has established a Technology and Innovation Committee with effect from 1 September 2017, which will be chaired by Alison Davis
