Contents 19


22 Making mobile engagement matter Syniverse


Digital banking 24 Tip the balance


While government institutions issue physical currency – the pounds, dollars and yuan we keep in our pockets – commercial banks have traditionally dominated digital currency. But with the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), this delicate balance could soon disappear. Naturally, this would fundamentally reshape global banking, with commercial banks a potential loser. Andrea Valentino talks to Simon Youel at Positive Money and Dr Rashad Cassim from South Africa’s central bank to learn why countries are experimenting with CBDCs, the problems that could cause commercial lenders, and why CBDCs might ultimately force traditional banks to sharpen their own services.


Turn to page 27 for our SmartStream supplement


37 Bank on


From digital self-service solutions to shifting offerings online, Nordea is clearly an institution on the move. But after a chaotic 18 months, do


Future Banking / www.nsbanking.com


established financial institutions really have the money to jump into a fully digital world? And beyond the cliches, what will that world actually look like? Isabel Ellis talks to Tino Kam, Nordea’s head of product management, transaction banking, to learn about the Finnish bank’s new customer-facing digital services, how data analytics is the key to the company’s monetisation efforts – and how working with fintechs might be the key to pushing change forward, even in an uncertain economic environment.


Payments


40 Take the fight to the fintechs The biggest takeaway from Sibos, SWIFT’s global all-digital event held from 11–14 October 2021, is that the fast-growing, hyper-innovative fintechs are not going to eat the incumbents’ lunch.


Governance, risk & compliance


42 Investing in a carbon-neutral future Climate change is on everyone’s lips, but what does it mean for financial institutions? Banks are looking closely at the risks it poses and some, including ING, are taking bold steps to quantify and mitigate them. With a new working group on climate change, yearly progress reports, and a so-called ‘Terra Approach’ to


encourage sustainable banking, ING is seeing a tangible impact on its business. Jim Banks talk to Anne- Sophie Castelnau, the Dutch bank’s new head of sustainability, as well as a representative of the European Banking Authority, to explore the unique nature of climate risk and how it will affect banks’ activities.


46 Ahead in the clouds The power of the cloud to provide a flexible and scalable way of keeping data has led to a dramatic rise in its use in financial services. But a scattershot approach risks exposing banks and their customers to security threats. Furthermore, the eagerness of European institutions to invest in their own cloud offerings leaves them at the mercy of Big Tech companies from overseas. Now, 19 European banks are fighting back by creating the European Cloud User Coalition (ECUC). Jim Banks talks to ING’s chief information security officer Beate Zwijnenberg, CEO of UniCredit Services Daniele Tonella, and David Zeller, Group CTO at Raiffeisen Bank, about what the ECUC means for the industry.


Turn to page 49 for our NTT supplement


Data centres


53 In the face of change Perfectly placed to access markets in Africa, South and North America, Spain is fast becoming an investment hot property and Europe’s data capital. Seen by many as a growing digital giant, the country’s digital ambitions are matched by those of its biggest bank, Santander. Andrew Tunnicliffe speaks with finance IT expert Professor Dr Philipp Brune about the digital challenges banks face in accessing the cloud.


56 For a sustainable data centre, look north Green Data


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