Financial IT Connect Newsletter

Tech industry's biggest M and A deals of 2009

Jon Brodkin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The top 10 mergers and acquisitions in the network industry in 2009 all cracked the billion-dollar barrier, and involved vendors in hardware, IT services, collaboration, storage, wireless infrastructure and other segments. IT behemoths such as Oracle, Cisco, Dell, HP, EMC and IBM were among the biggest spenders.

Finally, the Supreme Court takes up Sarbanes-Oxley

Jim Kim — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:00:00 GMT

After a whole lot of angst, punditry and hand-wringing, we have finally arrived at the beginning of the moment of truth: The Supreme Court was scheduled to finally take up the issue of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and its very constitutionality on December 7.

Risk Priorities for Financial Institutions in 2010

Dana Wiklund — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Looking through the holidays into 2010 there are four clear priorities for risk management that cut across all tiers of financial institutions. Over the last year the pendulum has swung from the exotic to the pragmatic, from the chaotic to a new order within financial services. The four priorities for risk in 2010 can be derived from the word DATA. DATA can be broken down into data, analysis, transparency and accuracy.

Just Made My First Deposit From Home...

Marc DeCastro — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:00:00 GMT

A local credit union here in the Boston area recently announced the ability to deposit checks from the comfort of my home - in essence, branch capture for consumers. Being one who loves a technology challenge, I gathered the family around to show them this great new technology. Now, there was a pre-registration process that does take a few days that I had already completed, so now it was time to get down to business.

The future of the NYSE

Jim Kim — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:00:00 GMT

We've noted that data centers in many ways are the future of Wall Street firms. You cannot be successful without state-of-the-art data center services, which have been sprouting fast. Just look at Citigroup's much-publicized green data center efforts, PNC's big green wall, and HSBC's data center just outside Chicago.

Diminishing Returns in Risk Analytics?

Dana Wiklund — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

What could this quote from the "Pogo" comic strip by Walt Kelly possible have to do with analytics and risk innovation? The battle that risk managers constantly fight is that risk analytics often brings diminishing returns. The major components of risk analytics are data, methodology and the business problem which the analysts are attempting to solve for. The enemy of analytic innovation is that as the usage frontiers of data and methodologies expand, the result is diminishing returns of predictive findings and solutions that can be implemented.

CIOs fear mass IT exodus following economic recovery

Denise Dubie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

IT professionals asked to do more work for less pay and fewer benefits might be able to forgive their employers' financial choices, but industry watchers say high-tech workers won't soon forget being treated poorly during the most recent economic recession and will look to find other employment opportunities as soon as the recovery gets under way.

Do CIOs flaunt risk?

Jim Kim — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The tension between CIOs and CFOs within organizations is nothing new. People have been talking about this for years. In the Sarbanes-Oxley era, these tensions seemed to reach their boiling point, and then subside dramatically. But it still exists, apparently.

Microfinance goes mainstream in the U.S.

Jim Kim — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

We've discussed the global microfinance trend a bit over at FierceFinance. It's been an idea that has slowly been working its magic in the developing world, where a small loan will go a long way. Now it's going mainstream here in the United States, as well.

FTC: Online check-writing service not authenticating users

Grant Gross — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a civil contempt complaint against an online check-writing service, saying the company continues to allow customers to create and e-mail checks without verification of their identities.

Banks to embrace private clouds?

Jim Kim — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

There's certainly been a lot of talk recently about cloud computing and the financial services industry. The great public cloud vendor Amazon was only too happy to talk up the idea for hedge fund managers recently. While the idea of public cloud computing may not sit well with a lot of financial services firms, the idea of private clouds and public-private hybrid clouds seem more palatable. Still, the transition is hardly in full swing.

The core of risk management: Its the data!

Dana Wiklund — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Over the past couple of weeks, I have had opportunities to sit down and talk with risk management professionals from two perspectives; analysis and data. From the analytical perspective, I spoke with risk management practitioners and, on the data side, it was data warehousing experts. The question I posed was given the events of the last 18 months, what is the one issue that confronts you today in evolving your risk practices?

ERM in spotlight at banks

Jim Kim — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

What exactly does risk management mean when it comes to banks and other financial institutions? There is no one answer really. The term carries a whole raft of connotations.

During the credit crunch, risk management certainly meant management of portfolio risk and counterparty risk and any kind of risk that put banks at risk of an old-fashioned run. But risk also has a wider meaning: The kind of risk that most GRC practitioners think of--the R in GRC. And banks would be wise not to forgot about this aspect. A holistic view of risk is probably the wisest interpretation.

Cisco Lays Out Risks, Rewards in Tandberg Bid

Jeffrey Burt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

With the deadline for its $3 billion bid for video conferencing rival Tandberg approaching and reports swirling that it will drop its offer, Cisco is looking to define the debate in terms of risk and rewards. Acquiring Tandberg can help Cisco build up its video collaboration capabilities, but there are also risks involved, including trying to buy and integrate its first European company, according to a blog by Cisco executive Ned Hooper.

Latest suit against Intel could open doors for AMD

Sharon Gaudin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

The antitrust suit that the state of New York filed against Intel Corp. today, coupled with previous antitrust actions and lawsuits targeting the chip maker, could give rivals like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. room to pick up some steam in the processor business.

Supreme Court and Sarbox update

Jim Kim — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

It looks like the Supreme Court will begin its deliberation of "Free Enterprise Fund and Beckstead and Watts vs. the Public Company Accounting Board and the United States of America" on December 7. Barron's suggests that a decision would come about a month later, so mark your calendars because it will be interesting.

Hedge funds and the cloud

Jim Kim — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Before he founded Amazon, CEO Jeff Bezos, was a green Princeton graduate working on Wall Street. At hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co., he helped build "one of the most technically sophisticated quantitative hedge funds," his bio notes. At Bankers Trust, he led the development of computer systems that helped manage more than $250 billion in assets.

Telepresence videoconferencing saves money and time, says backers

Jackie Noblett — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

On the spectrum of Cisco Systems Inc.'s host of conferencing tools, TelePresence is by far the most real-life - and the most expensive.

At about $1,000 a day for an average deployment of special conference rooms, equipment, bandwidth and network infrastructure to make the systems work reliably, the high-end audiovisual service has been, since its exception, the domain of the global conglomerate looking to cut travel costs from headquarters to branch offices or key partners.

2009 AFP Annual Conference Review: B2B Payments Poised for a Comeback

Aaron McPherson — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

The 2009 AFP Annual Conference was held in San Francisco this year from October 4-7, and was a more subdued affair than last year, as you might expect given the state of the economy. There were fewer attendees (4,000, according to AFP), and fewer major announcements. In fact, the major topic of discussion, as far as payments was concerned, was business-to-business (B2B) electronic payments, one of those opportunities that, like micropayments and mobile payments, seems like it should be huge but never seems to quite get off the ground.

Rocket Software takes first equity dip, of $92M, in 19 years

Galen Moore — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

One of the region's quiet success stories, a closely held software developer with over $150 million in revenue, has gone to the private equity well for the first time - and drawn deeply.