Why does the tech behemoth want to provide current accounts for users? It’s the data, stupid.

BayanPay, a digital payments company owned by London-listed Finablr, has received regulatory approval to operate its mobile money platform in Saudi Arabia, as the Kingdom looks to a future without cash.

Origin’s simple, scalable technology solution to the inefficiencies of generating final legal documents for MTNs shows the path to success for fintechs in capital markets.

The benefit of banking digitally is that customers have an immediate record of their spending, but they don't want an app that judges them at the same time.

As the number of financial technology startups in Brazil balloons, there is a growing sense that the pin to puncture their growth is one critical area of operation: credit.

Facebook has come in for some robust criticism since the announcement of its Libra digital currency.

The political and regulatory backlash has driven leading payments companies out of the Libra association, but a new version of the revolutionary stablecoin may yet appear.

The SoFi co-founder’s second act involves eliminating ‘rent seekers’ from the capital markets.

The Trade Club Alliance, a new 14-bank partnership to match SME exporters and importers, reflects greater willingness among banks – especially in Europe – to work together against low-cost newcomers, while relinquishing their own global ambitions.

VTB has long lagged state-owned rival Sberbank in terms of profitability, but with sanctions limiting access to capital the pressure is on to close the gap – chairman Andrey Kostin explains why digital transformation and aggressive retail growth hold the key to success for Russia’s second-largest lender.

Driven by changes in technology and many new entrants to the business, transaction banking is no longer a boring, old, but stable revenue earner, chugging along in the background.

Korea’s first two digital banks have had very different starts: one, kakaobank, is a clear success story; the other, K Bank, badly needs funding but is caught up in a problem around its would-be-biggest shareholder.

The winners in M&A advisory are supposed to be the firms with the best-connected and most-knowledgeable industry experts to advise chief executives, but Lazard’s CEO wants more data scientists to help advisers upgrade their tools for predicting how shareholders will respond to takeover deals.

As in financial advisory, so too in asset management: data scientists are the new talents Lazard is seeking to bring in alongside its portfolio managers and analysts.

As entrepreneurs seek to improve institutional-grade custody and security for trading in crypto assets, conventional financial market participants remain suspicious.

Fintechs, banks and government are working together to build clever new digital services and boost financial inclusion in a country where millions are unbanked.

Corporates' increasing need to use treasury resources more efficiently has persuaded BNP Paribas to partner with fintech Kantox to offer a new dynamic hedging solution to clients.

Is Timo a café or a bank? VinaCapital’s Don Lam reckons his popular Vietnamese neobank can profitably be both – and more.

This financial institution was the first in the country to put its money where its mouth was regarding a digital transformation – making it one to watch as it brands itself a disruptor too.

One to watch in China is this transformed financial institution, which claims not only that it knows what its customers want – but how to give it to them, too, in a digital world.

Of all the financial institutions to watch in Asia, when it comes to digital banking, DBS is the one to focus on, having set the template for banks across the world to follow.

As well as investing heavily in digital in-house capabilities, this Taiwanese financial instiution is keeping an eye out for acquisitions – and, in turn, Asia and international banks should keep an eye on it.

With 10 million-plus customers and only two years under its belt, this purely digital bank is one to watch in South Korea – and beyond.

This Chinese financial institution should be on everyone's digital radar, not just for being one of the world's largest unicorms, but for also trying 'to make the world flatter' – via tech.

With one billion customers and beyond, Alibaba’s payments engine is disrupting the financial system in Asia – and it's one to keep an eye on globally too.

The company is expanding its UK-tested platform through an agreement with Euronext to bring the retail bid into follow-on offers from listed SMEs across Europe.

Automation and artificial intelligence are transforming the payments industry into one of the most dynamic sectors of transaction banking.

Despite being a global leader in IT and semiconductors, Taiwan has long been a digital laggard.

Europe’s banking sector’s investment in fintech and ESG merits more confidence than their exposure to negative European Central Bank rates might suggest.

To date, the transformation of financial services through new technology has been a success story, but regulators are becoming more nervous.

A lack of regulation and standardization creates opportunities for businesses that can create a one-stop shop for all blockchain trade finance needs.

Regulators, politicians, competition authorities and central bankers have all been outlining objections to the Libra project from the first day Facebook announced plans to let its 2.4 billion users exchange payments in a new virtual currency.

Banorte CEO says market will be 'surprised' by what comes next for the bank; fintech growth unlikely to impact bank growth in the short-term.

Any market sell-off in advance of coming recession will raise the cost for banks of holding their customers’ cash and make them look again at open banking.

Israel has become one of the world’s most important fintech hubs, attracting millions in investment from some of the biggest global brands and venture capital funds.

A reluctance to dispense with legacy technology, combined with heightened regulatory oversight and changing liquidity provision from banks, has seriously complicated the execution management system (EMS) selection process for FX traders.

Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize trade finance, but a lack of standardization will hinder its adoption.

Bradesco’s digital bank start-up has grown rapidly and is already looking to leave the bank’s existing corporate structure.

Digital-obsessed chief executive Ralph Hamers has pushed ING towards what is perhaps the biggest bank transformation in Europe.

For 22 years, he has led banking in Austria and across CEE at the helm of Erste Bank.

Email was not designed for business yet bank back offices rely on it heavily while struggling to manage increasing volumes intelligently.

Europe’s economy depends in large part on 25 million SMEs, most of them unrated, that will suffer reduced availability and higher cost of credit thanks to Basel III output floors.

Bank software developers are desperate to outsource their data storage to the likes of Amazon and Google, but top management – and regulators, especially in Europe – are understandably wary.

A new bookbuilding platform is at the heart of an attempt to unbundle a process that some feel is no longer able to serve growth companies in need of capital.

For now, the world’s banks are nervously watching Facebook’s move into payments, but one day they may even come to depend on it for their funding.

The FCA’s live market test facility has enabled a variety of capital markets-related fintech companies to test their business models and technologies in a controlled environment.

Libra is designed to improve on the slow, costly and painful process of transferring money across borders through the banking system, but Facebook faces a long fight to launch it.

Digital overhauls at ING and Nordea will not tempt others to follow.

Front End enjoys the fallout from the 'Tangle in Taipei'.

Almost 10 years into his role as chief executive of Singapore-based DBS, Piyush Gupta has spent the last six of them on a mission to make an institution that looks more like a tech company than a bank.

The Bank of England and Federal Reserve begin to build the bulwarks against Facebook's cryptocurrency Libra.

Arthur Hayes felt the golden days of finance had gone by the time he got started in investment banking in Hong Kong – until cryptocurrency gave him the opportunity to establish platform BitMEX, now one of the most successful bitcoin exchanges in the world.

Ex-Citibanker Simon Loong is playing a long game – he has assembled some powerful backers for his Hong Kong fintech and now, armed with a new virtual banking licence, he wants WeLab to take on the territory’s established banking incumbents.

The much-needed conversation around fintech and responsible finance just got amplified by a power of 10.

The central bank’s new ideas for how to modernize Britain’s financial system could eat into banks’ revenues, while helping them cut costs.

Some big names are lining up to back Zuckerberg’s new cryptocoin, but why? Potential investors should be wary.

The technology pioneer of the 1980s.

As technology spending escalates, financiers now face a temptation to reframe costs as an investment in future growth, safe in the knowledge that it is extremely difficult to check their assertions.

Taking blockchain proof of concepts into production is a slow process, but a new loan-servicing platform shows how banks could cut costs and improve service.

A great amount of effort from the buy and sell sides goes into analysis of the statements of executives on conference calls, but can’t machines do that for us, these days?

This is the region where fintech disruption has been most potent.

As part of Euromoney's 50th anniversary coverage, we profile some of the biggest names that we interviewed for our May Asia focus.

As part of Euromoney's 50th anniversary coverage, we profile some of the biggest names that we interviewed for our May Asia focus.

Data security company Krypti claims the microtoken exchange security system used in its new digital wallet for storing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies offers the most sophisticated protection against hackers on the market.

OakNorth shows that SME lending need not be unduly risky and can be highly profitable, and other new banks are following its example.

Bank of America is reportedly excited about the potential of a tool it calls the Predictive Intelligence Analytics Machine, or Priam.

New regulation would see top-12 banks adopt open banking second half of next year; central bank hopes better risk management will lower cost of credit, spur growth.

The phony war has been long, but the first real battle has now begun in Brazil’s fintech space.

Expectations of the valuation investors are likely to put on Uber when it lists are falling in line with the shares of its closest competitor that beat it to public ownership.

Few things age as ungracefully as technology, and the pages of Euromoney’s archives are a treasure trove of the weird and wonderful gizmos that banking has embraced.

Capital markets banks are investing heavily in technology, partly in response to the threat from fintech disruptors but also just to keep their businesses running.

Capital markets bankers have spent much of the last five decades dreaming up products to help clients and themselves make money, but is process, which has largely taken a back seat, now becoming the battleground?

Pricing new issues on intuition and market feel is ancient history – artificial intelligence and algorithms are setting the market price for credit, using factors and correlations humans can guess but not follow.

Cash will be around for a long time – but its role will change.

Launched in January, Fuliza has already attracted more than four million customers, and Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, hopes the product will reach all 21 million M-Pesa customers in Kenya.

New chief executive says ‘smart simplicity’ hold key to success for Russia’s largest privately owned bank.

RBL Bank has been transformed over the last decade, from parochial local lender to a second-tier bank with genuine national scale.

Its local banks have invested heavily in technology, but many customers still prefer the old-fashioned ways: paper ledgers and physical tellers.

The country’s fintech sector has enormous potential, but it is being hobbled by a host of factors, from inconsistent regulations to a damaging credit crunch affecting local non-bank finance companies.

A new chief executive is busy rolling out a bold strategy to make it the country’s biggest lender, with the help of some of the savviest names in the business – bKash, Grameenphone and China’s Ant Financial Services.

The region is near perfect for such an accolade, so why the digital dawdling?

New data collected by business intelligence provider Coalition show that in 2018 global transaction banking recorded the highest revenues since 2010 – and bankers believe this is largely down to the fact that investment in tech is finally paying off.

The performance of the share price in Sea was unusually strong; part of the reason is the magic name Tencent on the shareholder register.

The region’s leading banks produce some of the best numbers in the global industry, and success in retail banking – and a hard-learned approach to risk management – are core; could the growth of digital banking bring a new era of change?

Euromoney's latest coverage.

JPMorgan is trying to advance its master plan for global fintech domination with a discipline that is often lacking in a sector better known for wildly over-promising than actually delivering practical solutions.

Automating debt and equity new issues comes a step closer with $20 million funding round for a new regulated platform.

Features Analytics applies artificial intelligence developed for medical use to spotting capital markets manipulation.

JPMorgan says that its new dollar stablecoins are collateralized against client dollar deposits but it also emphasizes its own strong balance sheet as surety.

Some digital finance firms are taking liberties with client data.

Can the combination of core banking system replacement and a pioneering fintech programme help re-privatized lender MKB Bank leapfrog its rivals in the Hungarian market in the race for technological supremacy?

Banks in emerging Europe have long outperformed many of their western peers in the race for digitalization – now a handful of pioneers are taking it to the next level and using technology to transform the banking landscape across the region.

Banks talk a lot about being technology providers, but while concrete examples are rare, ING has built something useful for bond investors.

If there was ever a risk of client advisers being replaced by robots, that danger has now passed.

Digital innovation has the potential to transform international trade, yet many argue that banks are lagging in replacing antiquated systems for trade with smart solutions.

The ability of AI to help retail FX brokers is quickly moving from the theoretical to the practical; the result should be better operational efficiency and better trader services.

R3 believes distributed ledger technology (DLT) could be the answer to overhaul the necessary infrastructure.

The face of wealth management in India is changing, as vast fortunes are made by young digital disruptors and as private banks venture out of the main commercial hubs in search of untapped profit and potential in second-tier cities.

Greenfield start-ups embedded within the core business might be the best way for banks to address their legacy infrastructure problem.

The operators of FX platforms deny that credit management has failed to keep pace with the development of automated trading – but they do acknowledge that the process could be more efficient.

The rules of engagement between incumbents and fintech suppliers of new products, which banks then white-label to their customers, need review.

Having tested HSBC FX Everywhere on internal payments, the bank now aims to provide it as a platform service to clients.

Euromoney's latest coverage of the distributed ledger technology.

From payments to full retail banking services, tech companies are encroaching on the banking space.

The deadline looms for SEC-regulated investors to report on the liquidity of individual bond positions, but the more pressing question is the accuracy of fund valuations.