You are in:
- Archive » 2004 » March
Adobe augments protection
The financial services sector needs secure document management to deal with large volumes of personal and confidential information. Adobe Systems’ new enterprise document control software aims to enable organisations to apply consistent confidentiality, privacy and accountability to electronic documents inside and outside the firewall.
Adobe Policy Server, the latest addition to Adobe’s Intelligent Document Platform, is designed to allow organisations to protect intellectual property, and comply with regulations to protect individual and corporate information. It aims to reduce communication costs by diminishing the need to send sensitive information on paper via physical delivery.
Barclays brings in new radar
As pressure for regulatory compliance continues, Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, has selected the raft radar solution, from Raft International, a credit risk and operational risk management provider, to assist in managing operational risk and complying with Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley regulatory requirements.
Standard goes with Atos Origin
Standard Chartered Bank has signed a seven-year international outsourcing agreement with IT services company Atos Origin.
The agreement, which is worth $200m, will cover the managed operations of the bank’s data centre infrastructure and is poised to transform the services in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
Atos Origin is aiming to deliver an improved level of performance and cost of operation to the bank through deployment of new technology, standardisation of processes and opportunities for consolidation.
Algorithmics talks up Linux
Linux is especially suited to processing intensive risk management, according to Algorithmics, the enterprise risk management solutions provider. Algorithmics now offers a distributed computing version of its flagship Algo Suite product, which uses its Mark-to-Future framework to leverage the computing power provided by a heterogeneous grid of machines running both the Linux and Solaris operating systems.
The cost of compliance
TowerGroup estimates that total IT spending on compliance reporting in the global financial services industry will reach nearly $1bn in 2004 and should rise to $1.7bn in 2006.
SWIFT cannot afford to be slow
Banks’ transition to SWIFTNet may lead to SWIFT’s role being called into question as it could become just another software vendor competing with others. It will have to change its culture quickly if it wants to survive, says Chris Skinner.
Two way street
A potential trade spat between the US and Indian governments could threaten the bright future of offshore outsourcing, says Kala Rao.
One-stop mentality drives consolidation
‘Many chief information officers would rather have a relationship with someone who can provide multiple product sets’
The desire to source technology solutions from one vendor rather than several is on the rise among banks and this is helping to feed an M&A trend, believes Jim Wilson, president of the international division at Fidelity Information Services. Interview by Michael Imeson.
It is not so much an acquisition trail as a voyage of conquest. Fidelity National Financial (FNF), number 326 in the Fortune 500, has picked up five US banking technology companies in the past 12 months and is on the look out for more.
Branches aim for efficiency
The design of the modern bank branch is worlds apart from its more traditional predecessor in terms of layout, operational effectiveness, equipment and decor, says Michael Imeson.
Latin American banks court low income segments
José María García: Bancomer is trying to tap into the unbanked segment of the population
Some of the big Latin American banks are concentrating on new retail products to attract the unbanked segment of the population and thus grow market share. Monica Campbell reports.
Now that many big foreign banks play a major role in Latin America’s financial system, the race is on to capture a bigger chunk of the market, including its evolving commercial marketplace. Although most banks still thirst for wealthy clients, they are also slowly recognising the potential of Latin America’s enormous unbanked population.
Legislative confusion muddies free market path
As signs of economic recovery appear in Kenya, banks are being hampered by the government’s unwillingness to let go of market control. Gill Baker reports.
Panama leads first Central American listing
The Banker’s first Central American ranking sees continued growth, thanks to services sector expansion.
Reconstructing confidence
Monica Campbell on the steps Nicaragua is taking to lose its status as one of the region’s most corrupt countries.
Party time in the Latin quarter
Even the weakest governments and newest companies have found issuing debt easy, writes Sophie Roell.
Riding India’s growth wave
Foreign investors are bullish on India’s banks and ICICI especially. By Kala Rao and Stephen Timewell in Mumbai.
Tortuous path to pensions reform
Kala Rao reports on India’s timid yet nevertheless genuine attempts to overhaul its pension system – and on the global players licking their lips in anticipation.
Preparing for the competition
China’s barriers to foreign banks will soon be coming down but their expertise will also be useful to local institutions, says Louise do Rosario.
Russia indicates change of lanes
Is Russia’s aim of doubling its economy by 2010 through special economic zones realistic? Ben Aris reports.
Challenges mount
With falling GDP and possible government regulation, Croatia’s banks must find new growth areas as well as preparing for the competitive shock of EU accession.
The tourist trail
A carefully planned tourism industry will provide Croatia with jobs and economic growth.
Building bridges
Croatia’s new government has its work cut out preparing for Nato entry and EU accession negotiations as well as strengthening the country’s external trade balance in a slowing economy. Istvan Lengyel reports from Zagreb.
The ratings game
Russia’s straddling of the investment grade and high-yield ratings is an illustration of the contradictions within the country. Ben Aris reports that its macroeconomic success story is not yet fully supported by the political foundations it requires.
Market forces
Alexander Popov: retail is a top priority
Since its collapse in 1998, Russia’s domestic bond market has made a spectacular comeback. Rosbank chairman Alexander Popov talks to The Banker about its future.
Pension plan stalls
Marina begs for help after losing her pension
The Kremlin has shifted emphasis away from encouraging growth, which is now strong, to tackling pressing social problems like pension reform. Ben Aris finds out that, although a good plan has got off to a bad start, there is hope for the future.
Marina is standing outside the Valentino shop in tears. She received her monthly Rbs400 pension ($15) yesterday but lost her avoska, the occasional shopping bag that all Russians used to carry, along with her purse.
Moscow’s muscle
Moscow City continues to dominate Russia’s regional bond market. With its infrastructure in need of rebuilding, the issue pipeline is looking promising. Ben Aris reports.
Banks join party
The rise of the rouble against the dollar and falling bond yields have encouraged some banks to issue Eurobonds for the first time. Ben Aris reports.
Full of promise
Russia’s bond market got off to a magnificent start in January with Gazprom’s record-breaking issue and it looks set to continue in a similar vein. Ben Aris asks if anything can hold it back.
Consumers run for cover
Root and branch reform of the Saudi insurance sector beckons rich pickings for underwriters and banks, writes James Gavin.
Market road to project finance
The Gulf region has become a focus of attention for global project financiers. Saudi Arabia has come late to this, but could yet prove the biggest draw of all, writes Kevin Godier.
New heights for Saudi’s banks
Rocketing profit levels in 2003 have given the kingdom’s banks a healthy start to the year. Expectations are high for the growth of financial services.
Stock market flying high
Foreign investors are excluded, but Saudis have made fortunes on the fast-rising Saudi Stock Market in the past year, writes Mark Wallace.
Open for business
The dismantling of barriers to investment could result in foreign banks playing a bigger role in the economy, writes James Gavin.
A clearer path for investors
Dr Nahed Taher discusses the necessity of corporate governance and potential impact of the new Saudi Capital Market Law.
Laying macro foundations
Saudi Arabia had a bumper year in 2003 and the economic outlook remains good. Jon Marks considers where opportunity lies for both the government and investors.
Springboard for growth
Hopes are high that laws passed, but not yet implemented, will reshape the financial sector and open up business opportunities for banks in the kingdom. By Stephen Timewell in Riyadh.
Overcoming the past
Romania has come a long way since 1999, says Matei Paun. With hyperinflation just a memory, its banks are now the targets for big European players looking for dramatic growth.
Top players seek fan base in Europe
The big, profit-hungry banks that have emerged from consolidation in Iceland are now hoping to gain a following abroad, reports Michael Imeson.
Istanbul takes centre stage
Turkey’s finance minister Kemal Unakitan talks to Stephen Timewell about involvement in a new development bank and the country’s privatisation strategy.
The inevitability of outsourcing
Politicians may berrate firms outsourcing to lower cost countries, but in the end there’s little they can do about it, says Brian Caplan.
How David faced down Goliath
Dennis Dutterer: ‘BOTCC never left the CBOT’
Jim Kharouf explains how The Clearing Corporation lived on despite being dumped by the mighty Chicago Board of Trade.
Dennis Dutterer is seen as the gutsy player who stood up against the bullying tactics of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and helped forge a new era of US futures competition in which Eurex US began trading last month. “I don’t mind that,” chuckles Mr Dutterer, president and CEO of The Clearing Corporation (CCorp) – formerly the Board of Trade Clearing Corporation (BOTCC).
When will the dollar change direction?
Opinions on the future fate of the dollar differ in the extreme. Will the bulls or the bears win out? William Essex reports on factors weighing against the currency and those that could boost it.
Seamless electronic Swaps trading
Swaps have not proved the easiest sector of the market to take electronic. Vast as the market is, the main counterparties are a handful of international banks who know each other well and are used to dealing with each other by phone. But this has not stopped players such as independent trading platform Swapstream attacking the market.
But will they be successful? The danger is that Swapstream wins the war but loses the peace – that is the market converts but not by using a third-party provider.
Accountancy rules set to spoil party
Still being negative, and with big deal plays like Comcast/Disney and Cingular/AT&TW dominating the headlines, few investment bankers or analysts may have noticed or even care about a tiny accounting detail that could undermine their work. While IAS32 (International Accounting Standard), IAS39 and the vexed question of marking derivative positions to market are firmly on the radar, who is worrying about changes to IAS 36 (impairment of assets) and ZAS38 (intangible assets), and the proposals on business combinations, Exposure Draft 3, due to be formalised at the end of this quarter.
Trouble brewing for leveraged firms
In the “it all ends happily ever after” view of capital markets, companies have spent a couple of productive years lowering debt levels and restructuring, and are now ready to grow, issue and acquire. Hence there is lots of work for everybody and mega bonuses are back.
Nice scenario but one that is not completely true if you believe Barclays Capital’s research team, who, being detached eggheads, think they will stay in a job whether the European corporate bond market’s golden 2003 continues into 2004 or not.
Exchanges open up to credit
Credit contracts are about to be listed for the first time as exchanges compete for potentially lucrative licensing deals, reports Natasha de Teran.
Cingular wins bid for AT&T Wireless
UK’s Vodafone loses out to American competitor in a mega mobile phone deal that should represent a ‘clean, one-stage transaction’ – it also pleased the markets and the unions. Geraldine Lambe explains.
Leap of faith opens up a new market
Cutting edge deal making: (clockwise from left) Robin Lumsdaine, Sarah Salih, Steve Lazarus, Ralph Segreti, Sarah Pinneo and Jeanmarie Genirs
With hindsight, Deutsche’s foray into the unknown – a joint venture with Fannie Mae to market an inflation-linked bond to institutional investors – seems as if it could not have failed. But it did not always look that way. Sophie Roell reports.
When Jeanmarie Genirs, managing director for US agency trading at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York, left for work on the morning of February 4, she did something she never does: she asked her husband to wish her luck. “I need good luck, because today is either going to be a really good day or a really bad one,” she told him.
Is M&A emerging from
Does new acquisition activity signal a revival of M&A? Some bankers believe so but others are cautious. Joanna Hickey reports.
Piero Overmars
Since ABN AMRO announced structural changes, it has posted good figures and is climbing the league tables. The bank’s global head of Financial Markets tells Geraldine Lambe that the two developments are closely related.
IDB is a rudderless ship in a sea of controversy
Monica Campbell examines the Inter-American Development Bank’s record and finds it has little to show for its 45 years of existence but it is taking small steps to strengthen standards.
Ready to face the music in Malaysia
Even though almost one in four Malaysians bank with Maybank, Mr Aziz wants to increase the bank’s market share
Maybank CEO Amirsham Aziz believes Malay banks are ready to face foreign competition, he tells Karina Robinson.
A grey-haired man wearing a grey shirt and grey trousers is not a promising subject. But Amirsham Aziz, the unassuming president and CEO of Maybank, Malaysia’s banking behemoth, turns out to be a fan of the Havana-based Tropicana nightclub. He goes on about “the trees, the music, the sound, the acoustics, the colours”. (My emphasis would have been on the three dozen gorgeous mulatas (mixed race girls) who form the chorus line of probably the oldest outdoor cabaret show in the world, but perhaps only women can say these things nowadays.)
Brain dead
Technology spend by financial institutions continues to rise despite an apparently poor track record of producing value for money. Parveen Bansal explains why success can only occur when technology, processes and people share the same goals and objectives.
When Albert Einstein was asked how his brain worked differently from the rest of us, he replied: “I just use more than the 10% that most people use”.
More reform is key to sustaining growth
Financial sector reform must continue and deepen across Asia for prosperity to be sustainable in the region, says Tadao Chino.
Israel determined to sell off two top banks by 2005
Israel’s finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prioritising the sale of the banks in which the government has controlling interests. He is intent on selling off Israel’s largest banks, Leumi and Discount, within the coming year and a half.
Costa Rica leads the pack in 2002 trade rankings for Latin America
This month, The Banker publishes its first ranking of trade conditions for Latin America based on 2002 data.
Romania’s $200m syndicated loan gets enthusiastic welcome
Austria’s leading banks have arranged a successful $200m syndicated loan for Romania’s largest bank, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR).
Three international banks gain Iraqi licences
The central bank of Iraq (CBI) announced in early February that three foreign banks, HSBC Holdings, National Bank of Kuwait and Standard Chartered Bank, had been selected to proceed to the final stage of the foreign bank licensing process.
Europe debates supervision for rating agencies
The European Banking Federation (FBE) is working with the European Commission to assess whether any EU legislation is required for the rating agencies industry.
Strong Banorte fuels outside interest
Banorte is now the bank to watch in Mexico. It is the only 100% Mexican-owned institution left in a market that is receiving a strong vote of confidence from outsiders, most recently shown by Spain’s BBVA offering $4.1bn for the 40% of Bancomer it does not already own.
Foreigners gear up for Malaysian liberalisation
Foreign banks are already checking out local acquisitions in the run up to the full liberalisation of the Malaysian banking market in 2007. Bank Negara, the central bank of Malaysia, will then allow foreign banks to buy local ones, although in the next few years it will gradually allow some foreign banks to open more branches and have off-site ATMs.
China and India: the new powerhouses
Mervyn Davies, group chief executive of Standard Chartered, shares his vision of Asia with The Banker.
Lack of bancassurance regulation is an oversight
Concerns remain that double-counting of assets is a disaster waiting to happen.
Showing some self-control
Europe and the US banking systems may have money to spare – but banks appear to have learned not to merge just for the sake of size.
Saudi’s new laws set to send
Imminent changes in capital markets and insurance legislation will give the kingdom’s banks the chance to expand their capabilities.
Barclays Bank latest to jump on outsourcing money-go-round
Outsourcing between banks is the latest development in a trend that politics is unlikely to arrest.
Over-egging the pudding: the folly of excessive IT investment
Are banks’ IT systems providing value or are they effectively brain dead? This month our technology editor, Parveen Bansal, considers how little banks get back from their huge investment in IT and what can be done to improve it. Financial sector reform is also high on the agenda of Asian Development Bank president Tadao Chino who insists it is key to sustaining high growth across the region. And in Malaysia, Maybank’s chief executive, Amirsham Aziz, discusses corruption, Havana nightclubs and the upcoming elections.
