featured posts:

• 5 Key Growth Segments for Banking ITS & BPS in 2019

  Jan 31, 2019, by Andy Efstathiou

    The banking industry cycle has turned towards austerity for 2019 as indicated by recent events, including: Labor cost cutting: State Street announced 1.5k executive layoffs, and Santander will close 20% of its bank branches in the U.K. Both are part of long-term trends incurred by automation and the shift to omni-channel delivery   M&A activity: Cost pressure is driv[...]

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• Wipro Drives Digital & Automation Growth with 4 Big Bets

  Dec 06, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

  The primary purpose of Wipro'ss Digital & Big Bets Analyst Relations day in Boston at the end of November was to outline its digital and automation strategy, including presenting some startup partners Wipro is working with (and has invested in through Wipro Ventures) to help drive forward this strategy. Wipro believes its key technology bets will enable it to help clients reinvent thei[...]

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• NIIT Tech: Tight Focus Key to Successful Banking Services Strategy

  Nov 05, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

  The recent NIIT Tech (NIIT Technologies Ltd.) analyst conference was an opportunity for the current administration, most of whose executives have been at the company less than 18 months, to discuss their strong business success. FY19 (ending March 31, 2019) has so far added 19 new clients. The BFS industry sector added four large clients. NIIT Tech has accelerated its growth under CEO Sudhi[...]

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• Infosys’ Digital Services Strategy for Banking & Financial Services

  Oct 11, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

  I recently attended the Infosys Confluence event in California to look at the vendor’s activities in banking & financial services (BFS). Here are the key takeaways. Under its current CEO, Infosys has taken a new software-agnostic approach to digital business, which is yielding results. Infosys has proprietary platforms, including Finacle, for core banking and NIA for AI. However, [...]

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• Virtusa’s Open Innovation Platform: Enabling Curated Access to FinTech Vendors

  Sep 19, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

  This is the latest in a recent series of blogs on open banking, which is likely to become the biggest driver of change in the banking industry since double-entry bookkeeping swept the industry in Genoa during the 1300s. I recently talked with Virtusa’s xLabs, a digital innovation hub within Virtusa, about their approach to open banking and what their roadmap is for the future. Open In[...]

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• TCS Takes Agile Value Stream Approach to Bank Enterprise Transformation

  Sep 18, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    I recently attended the TCS Business 4.0 conference in Boston to understand TCS’ latest developments in the BFSI sector. Here are the key takeaways. BFSI represented 32.5% of TCS’ Q2 2018 revenues and generated $7.7bn in revenue over the latest twelve months. TCS reports 20% of BFSI revenues are derived from its digital offerings, with BFSI clients adopting digital tec[...]

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• TCS: Advances in KYC Processing Require a Comprehensive Approach to Data Management

  Aug 23, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    Since the financial crisis, regulators have been tightening the KYC processes banks are required to undertake. Enhanced KYC requirements have been applied across many regulations, including MiFID, PSD2, and ultimate beneficial ownership requirements (U.S. CDD Rule). And, as compliance requirements have increased, banks have spent increasing amounts of time and resources on addressing[...]

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• Mphasis’ Strategy for Financial Services Business Growth

  Aug 15, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    NelsonHall recently attended Mphasis’ analyst summit in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Key takeaways are that the company is now focusing on digital and cognitive services applied to legacy systems, and on geographic expansion, specifically in North America and continental Europe. Mphasis is leveraging its industry experience, including BFSI, which accounts for ~75% of revenues, to[...]

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• Avaloq’s Emerging Technology Strategy to Enable Faster Banking Transformation

  Jun 27, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    I recently attended the Avaloq Community Conference in Zurich, where the key themes were cloud delivery, operations ecosystem, open banking platforms, and combined ITS/BPS engagements. Here I take a quick look at Avaloq’s strategy in each of these areas. Cloud delivery Avaloq recently announced a partnership with IBM for a global private cloud delivery capability for cust[...]

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• Capgemini’s Digital Banking Strategy Focused on Tier One Legacy Transformation

  Jun 01, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    I recently attended the Capgemini Financial Services Industry Conference in London, also meeting up with several banks to learn more about where they are spending their digital services money, what they are looking for from digital projects, and where the market is headed. Bank demand for digital services has grown and matured over the past few years. In 2015 and 2016, IT services[...]

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• Infosys Builds Foundations of a Successful Open Banking Ecosystem

  May 16, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    The banking industry is undergoing significant legal and operational transformation, including the move towards open banking, a regulatory requirement whereby banks open their platforms to third-parties for them to transact business with the banks’ customers and suppliers. Here I look at how Infosys, with its Finacle suite of solutions, is working with banks to support the tran[...]

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• How Citibank & Unicredit Are Delivering Digital Loan Origination

  Apr 11, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    Loan originations are a key part of the digital revolution taking place in the banking industry, and banks have two key goals when they replace their legacy loan origination systems (LOS): Enabling omnichannel delivery of LOS services Reducing time to fulfillment (turnaround time). Long-established banks are adopting digital solutions to achieve these goals with the expe[...]

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• The Key Business Outcomes From Digital Banking Services

  Mar 09, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    I am currently working on a global market assessment of digital banking services, and my interviews with banks and service providers alike are showing that technology implementation is less of a concern than how digital services will change the way customers and banks interact. As customer/bank interactions change, the industry’s competitive forces will change, and this will ev[...]

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• Open Banking’s Early Initiatives & Likely Winners

  Feb 02, 2018, by Andy Efstathiou

    Open banking is the concept that banks will open their platforms to third-parties for them to transact business with the banks’ customers and suppliers, and is required by regulations which are coming into force. Many advocates believe that this will spur innovation in financial services and create new business models. Here I look at the open banking landscape and at initial ef[...]

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• Atos Makes €4.3bn Unsolicited Offer for Gemalto; Another Bold but Challenging Move

  Dec 13, 2017, by Dominique Raviart

  Atos has made an unsolicited offer for security, SIM cards, and payment cards technology vendor Gemalto. The offer is sizeable at €4.3bn (plus Gemalto’s net debt of €938m at end of H1 2017) financed in cash. It runs until December 15. Gemalto is another major acquisition for Atos: in its fiscal year ended June 30, 2017, Gemalto generated revenues of ~€3bn, with an EBITD[...]

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• Adventures in Blockchain: Mphasis Focuses on Client Revenue Growth, Supporting Compelling Use Cases

  Dec 12, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

    In this article, I look at Mphasis’ Blockchain initiatives and at the segments they are focusing on for further development with their financial services clients. Mphasis began its Blockchain initiatives in 2016, initiating internal experiments and POCs to understand the technology and how it can be applied to business challenges. Mphasis is working with a global financial s[...]

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• How NS&I Transformed its Digital Banking Customer Experience

  Nov 24, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

    NelsonHall recently hosted a webinar in which U.K.’s National Savings and Investments (NS&I) discussed how it has transformed its customer experience and operations delivery, and in so doing increased the value of assets managed by 245% and annual contact volumes by 660% while reducing delivery staff by 76% and cost of operations, calculated on a per assets under management[...]

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• Adventures in Blockchain: Capgemini Focuses on Helping Clients Develop Their Roadmap

  Oct 25, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

  In this blog, I look at Capgemini’s Blockchain initiatives and what segments they are focusing on for further development with their financial services clients. Initially, Blockchain engagements were focused on:  Using POCs to develop an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of distributed ledger technology (DLT) Developing business use cases, trying POCs to d[...]

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• Digital Services Drive Capgemini’s Financial Services Industry Engagements

  Sep 28, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

    NelsonHall recently attended Capgemini’s financial services analyst conference in Boston, where the company discussed its activities and roadmap for the industry, which is focused on digital services. Here I look at how digital services are now driving Capgemini’s financial services business, with client examples. Capgemini’s shift to digital financial services [...]

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• Adventures in Blockchain: Virtusa Focuses on Security & Privacy Issues in Permission-Based Environments

  Aug 31, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

  Most Blockchain use cases have focused on reducing the need for (and cost of) infrastructure. And in Virtusa’s case, the vendor has focused on engagements where it can combine Blockchain technology with other emerging technologies such as QR codes, IoT, and encryption algorithms to deliver enhanced security and cost savings for environments lacking adequate supporting infrastructure. Her[...]

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• Adventures in Blockchain: TCS Focuses on the Building Blocks of a Successful Blockchain Ecosystem

  Jul 11, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

  Many Blockchain services vendors have observed that up to 75% of proofs of concept for Blockchain fail to meet their goals. Analysis of drivers for such widespread failure indicates that the initial use case was flawed because it was constructed to justify experimentation rather than solve business challenges. However, TCS has focused its Blockchain efforts on developing uses cases that can dr[...]

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• Avaloq Combines Tech & Ops Delivery to Help Wealth Managers Slip the Surly Bonds of Legacy Environments

  Jun 27, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

    I recently attended the Avaloq client conference in Zurich. The conference was well attended, with ~400 attendees. Avaloq is on a roll, adding clients across offerings and markets for the past several years. Here I outline how they are doing it and what their next steps are. Background Avaloq is a privately held vendor of technology-based solutions and services to the financial[...]

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• Adventures in Blockchain: Wipro Focuses on Rapid Innovation with Ethereum & Hyperledger

  May 12, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

  This is the second in a series of blogs on current activities, use cases, POCs, and pilots with Blockchain in the financial services industry. In this one, I look at some of what Wipro is doing to support banks and financial services companies in deploying Blockchain solutions. Blockchain technology & services Wipro has been active for the past three years in offering Blockchain cons[...]

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• Adventures in Blockchain: Genpact Tackles O2C

  May 08, 2017, by Andy Efstathiou

  This is the first in an occasional series of blog articles over the next year on Blockchain initiatives related to the financial services industry. Blockchain is an emerging technology for which there are no current operational deployments, with initiatives still primarily at the consulting and design stage. Pilots have been deployed, but are relatively rare despite the rapid growth in experim[...]

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