Avaloq Blog

For the foreseeable future, instant payment (IP) models will exist side by side with traditional payment schemes. Person-to-person (P2P) transactions constitute the most common and talked-about IP use case today. But with businesses recognizing the potential of IPs, further use cases for real time payments have begun to blossom. 

Forget the world — robots are more interested in taking over our wallets. This year, the amount of assets under management by robo-advisors is projected to reach $1.4 trillion USD [1]. By 2025, that figure is expected to double. As the industry evolves and the amount of money pouring towards robo-advisory grows, so should our understanding of three key questions: Who uses robo-advisory? What factors influence its adoption? And might it share more with human advisory than we expect?

The day is fast approaching when the payment your clients make for an e-bike, or any other good or service, could be deducted from their account and processed by your bank instantly. The person or entity they transact business with would receive immediate confirmation of the payment in the form of, say, a text message. In fact, that day has already arrived in many countries, including EU member states. As processing systems evolve and proliferate, instant payments (IPs) will make lightning-quick settlement of transactions possible worldwide, around the clock. Considered the closest equivalent to cash now available, IPs are changing the payment experience of clients and becoming fundamental to what they expect their financial services provider to deliver. 

A traditional wealth management portfolio typically consists of shares, bonds and funds. These are, by definition, financial assets and therefore “bankable”. Other things that make up personal wealth may be of value as well, but are often excluded or managed independently from more traditional assets in a wealth management portfolio. Think of direct investments in companies or private equity funds, the purchase or co-acquisition of primary or secondary residences, pieces of art and rare collectibles, and the like. These items do not appear on your bank's portfolio report and are, by definition, non-bankable assets. In saying that, they have a current value, an expected value development, and an inherent risk – just like any other asset. 

The Operations teams of the financial industry are looking back on a turbulent year, dominated by topics of resilience, remote working and the handling of huge transaction volumes. For us as a business-process-as-a-service (BPaaS) provider, as well as for the back offices of our on-prem and software-as-a-service (SaaS) clients, it is time to refocus on the future again - a future full of new technologies and digital transformation.

Data-driven insights are a real supercharger for a wealth advisory business. And the main ingredient, the data, is already inhouse and waiting to be uncovered. However, most banks and wealth managers are confronted with the complexity and incalculable difficulties of the task early on in their data science journey. With this blog, we help you bring your high-flying expectations into alignment with the sometimes-harsh reality of data science implementation.

Simple works; what's more, it wins. A 2019 study from Deloitte revealed that 36% of US banking consumers chose their primary bank because of its ‘simplicity’ [1] – a concept that organizations should reflect not only in the products and services they offer, but also in the language they use to speak about them. As we learned from industry experts in our latest research report, The Front-to-Back Office Report, clients speak in benefits.

It is my pleasure to let you know that all the regulatory approvals have been granted and thus Avaloq’s acquisition by NEC has been completed as per 22 December 2020. With this step completed, we can now start to focus on our joint value proposition together with NEC.

The financial industry should listen up and recognize voice technology and the opportunities that come with it. As with other innovations, the retail industry is paving the way. Market leaders are busy equipping consumers’ homes with smart speakers and educating them on how to use voice-operated services, ensuring that Siri, Alexa or one of their friends are there and ready to listen as soon as consumers drop their last reservations towards voice technology. Will you have an ear close by your clients, when they are ready to talk to their bank account?

Over the past few years, people working in a bank’s Front, Middle, and Back Office have grown skilled in navigating the choppy waters of changing tides. But how do they plan to cope with the swells of new technology and waves of increased challenges that will hit these functions in the years to come? That’s what we wanted to find out with the first edition of Avaloq’s Front-to-Back-Office Report.