IBS Journal February 2016


‘Global fi rst’ as Earthport launches Distributed Ledger Hub for payments


Earthport, a UK-based open global bank payment network, has launched its Distrib- uted Ledger Hub (DLH) to provide a ‘single point of access’. The company describes it as a ‘global


fi rst’ and says the DLH is a service accessed through its Distributed Ledger Gateway, announced in August 2015, that will provide full connectivity into the Ripple protocol (from US-based software fi rm Ripple Labs), including private Ripple


instances, Ripple market makers, and in time, other distributed ledgers. Hank Uberoi, CEO, Earthport, says: ‘It is our belief that there may be diff erent ledgers that gain traction over time – some will have a regional affi liation, and some may be more aligned by industry sector. ‘Banks will need to have access to a


growing universe of diff erent ledgers to serve their own clients, further complicat- ing their technical roadmaps. Earthport,


in consultation with its clients, will grow the hub to encompass diff erent ledgers as needed, all available via a single Earthport API.’


In addition to Ripple, through the


same API, Earthport says its clients can access all payment methods off ered in over 60 countries. Earthport’s services in the DLH are conducted entirely in Fiat currency with no use of cryptocurrencies. Antony Peyton


In brief © Denis Cantrell, Wikimedia


Programbank rebrands core software; signs new takers


Russia-based banking software vendor, Programbank, has recently rebranded its off ering and it is now known as Program- bank.CBS. Previously, it was sold under the Centaur Omega name. There was also another core off ering


The US Federal Reserve has signed on IBM to modernise its ACH payments platform. The ACH system, based in the


Atlanta Retail Payments Offi ce, processes around 100 million transac- tions per day and is responsible for up to half of all US payments on behalf of major retail and commercial banks. The work with IBM is aimed at


improving the inputting, clearing, settlement and accounting functions of the ACH system in all of the Federal Reserve’s 12 districts. Modernising the systems, reckons


senior vice-president Brian Egan, will position the Federal Reserve well for converging ‘existing retail payment operations and payment infrastruc- ture onto a unifi ed platform’. As well as being able to process


payments with more effi ciency, adds Egan, adapting to future change is equally important.


Alex Hamilton


aimed at smaller banks, Gefest, and this has been incorporated into the Program- bank.CBS product portfolio too. A recent taker of Programbank.CBS


is Moscow-based BBR Bank (formerly Baltic Development Bank). The new solution was purchased to cover its core, reporting, lending and front offi ce activities. The bank is a sizeable player in the


domestic market, currently ranking as 85th in the country by net profi t and 112th by assets. Interestingly, in 2011, the bank


embarked on a major core banking software modernisation project with another domestic supplier, CFT. CFT-Bank was set to replace a legacy solution from yet another local vendor, Unisab. Alexander Tutunnik, the bank’s fi rst


deputy chairman and head of retail at the time, told IBS Journal that the bank also evaluated Diasoft (another Russian banking software provider) alongside CFT, as it regarded these two providers


to be ‘the current leaders of the Russian core banking software market’. CFT’s software was going to cover


all main operations of BBR Bank, front- to-back offi ce operations of BBR Bank. Tutunnik admitted that ‘putting all eggs in one basket’ in terms of relying on a single supplier was a concern, but given the size of the bank ‘we simply do not need complicated interfaces and support by multiple parties’. The main challenge, in his view, was


‘the people factor’. Breaking a traditional, historic set-up is hard and there is always resistance to change, he observed. ‘A society largely consists of conservatives while the innovators are in the minority.’ Tutunnik left BBR Bank just eight


months into his tenure. The project with CFT did not work out at the bank, IBS Journal understands, hence the new venture with Programbank. Meanwhile, Programbank.CBS is also


being rolled out at a small regional bank, Khakassky Municipal Bank. The bank signed for the new solu-


tion in November last year. The acquired modules include


core, reporting, loans and deposits, safe deposit boxes and FATCA compliance. Tanya Andreasyan


12


© IBS Intelligence 2016


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