Erik Bogaerts

Over the last couple of years I’ve had the opportunity to look at a variety of core banking solutions. What strikes me is that more and more these solutions are similar, not only in coverage – which we can assume they have to be to support the variety of banking functions needed – but also… Read more: Flexibility is killing

A bit overdue, but here’s the final installment of the 4 C’s of core banking. Finding the best way to tackle legacy core systems has re-emerged as a key topic of debate among banks, from top tier global players to smaller, domestic institutions. With their vast, fragmented architectures, banks’ legacy systems are typically cumbersome and… Read more: The 4 C’s of core banking – Part 4

A bit overdue, but here’s the third installment of the 4 C’s of core banking. Finding the best way to tackle legacy core systems has re-emerged as a key topic of debate among banks, from top tier global players to smaller, domestic institutions. With their vast, fragmented architectures, banks’ legacy systems are typically cumbersome and… Read more: The 4 C’s of core banking – part 3

A bit overdue, but here’s the second installment of the 4 C’s of core banking. Finding the best way to tackle legacy core systems has re-emerged as a key topic of debate among banks, from top tier global players to smaller, domestic institutions. With their vast, fragmented architectures, banks’ legacy systems are typically cumbersome and… Read more: The 4 C’s of core banking – part 2

A bit overdue, but here’s the final installment of the 4 C’s of core banking. Finding the best way to tackle legacy core systems has re-emerged as a key topic of debate among banks, from top tier global players to smaller, domestic institutions. With their vast, fragmented architectures, banks’ legacy systems are typically cumbersome and… Read more: The 4 C’s of core banking – part 1

2011 is the year of mobile aka near field communication (NFC) payments. Again? Well this year it definitely looks more promising. According to analyst firm Juniper Research, mobile phone payments will reach a critical mass this year thanks to the creation of eco systems uniting hand set vendors, loyalty providers, trusted service managers, retailers and… Read more: The 10 centimetre revolution

The first ever FinovateEurope took place this Tuesday morning at the beautiful London Business Design Centre. Chris Skinner kicked of the show by placing the focus on four themes: mobile, customer experience, security and data mining. An exciting and promising starting point, however things turned out a bit different.

Next Tuesday, FinovateEurope will showcase the best new innovations in banking, payments and financial technology in London. The event, like all Finovate conferences, will mix fast-paced demos (no slides allowed) from handpicked financial technology companies with high-quality networking. It’s a blend that has won rave reviews from thousands of bankers, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, analysts, and… Read more: A prelude to FinovateEurope 2011

Ever since I started working in the banking space – and that is, despite my young looks, quite a while ago – customer relationship management has been the holy grail for many a customer or prospect. Remember that period around the dotcom crash when everyone was implementing the latest CRM system? I can’t even remember… Read more: Tribe relationship management

When new technology gets launched we always think about how it will replace existing technology. Take Near Field Communication (NFC) chips for example and the replacement of bank cards by mobile phones with NFC chips. How will that work? Well, you walk around the shop, pick up the items you want to purchase, go to… Read more: About new technology

Too much turkey? Too much eggnog? Yes, indeed, it was that time of the year again. 2010 is behind us, so what will 2011 bring us? Is it going to be the year of mobile? Is it going to be the year of the cloud? Well, let’s fast forward to 2011 and find out thanks… Read more: Fast forward to 2011

It’s that time of the year again. The time for optimistic New Year’s resolutions. Don’t worry, I won’t have you commit on going back to the gym. No, we’ll keep it simple. So here we go, read this out aloud – again and again:

Saab, yes, the car company, has seen quite a bit of turmoil over the last few years. First, there was the takeover by GM and then more recently the sale to Spyker, a Dutch sports car manufacturer. Then, lately there was an announcement that for their new 9-3 model they will be using BMW engines.… Read more: Saab, BMW and Banking

Ovum’s recent report, ‘A Change for Good in Core Banking Systems’, is an interesting read. It suggests that banks’ core systems will assume greater prominence from 2010 as they continue to adjust to the altered competitive landscape and a revised set of priorities. For me, this report hits the nail on the head, particularly given… Read more: Are your core systems ready for the new era in banking?

A while ago, I skimmed over a news update mentioning that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) planned to shake up its complaints handling rules after revealing that more than 7,000 gripes against retail banks are lodged every day. Whilst on holiday in Newquay last week, this did cross my mind again. It’s one of those… Read more: The difference between a Newquay hotel and ING?

You have to admit, the Innotribe sessions at Sibos 2010 had the vibe, energy, soundtrack and dialogues of Hollywood blockbusters this year.  Good storylines, happy endings and one-liners that would put Sly and Arnie to shame. Anyway, if you haven’t been, here’s a summary.

Interestingly, the cloud computing keynote and panel sessions at Sibos didn’t approach cloud computing from an IT angle as it is often done but truly from a business perspective. Why are we interested in cloud computing in banking? Is it because of the economies of capital expenditure that we can achieve through virtualisation? Or is… Read more: Where’s my IT department?

Is it a sign of economic recovery that people at Sibos 2010 have such a good sense of humour? Like this speaker at the Mobile Keynote who stated that “mobile banking is about small screen real estate”. Hilarious! In case you didn’t know yet, mobile is not just a new channel and should certainly not… Read more: Mobile banking is about small screen real estate

This was a very unexpected statement from one of the speakers at the Mobile Keynote at Sibos 2010. Next time you do a presentation, try the following with your audience. Ask how many people have a mobile phone. 100% show of hands. Ask how many people have a smart phone. 50% to 70%. Ask how… Read more: Mobile banking quickly reaching maturity in Europe, really?

Swift’s message yesterday morning at the Innovation opening keynote was clear. This week all our problems will be solved. They were referring to banking and IT problems of course, otherwise we’d be here a bit longer. Cloud computing, mobile and smart data are the main topics but through The Long Now initiative, topics such as… Read more: Swoosh!

TowerGroup, a financial research company, projects that mobile banking users will quintuple in the next four years, going from 10 million active users this year to more than 53 million in 2013. Have things really changes that much over the last years? Is mobile banking really up and coming? Well, there is some strong evidence… Read more: What about mobile banking?

Read an interesting blog by Chris Skinner at TheFinanser on customer service in banking and raising the question whether banking has become a utility. Do customers really want utility banking? For some aspects like payments, I would say yes. You don’t need to go to a bank to make a payment these days. The payment… Read more: Does customer service in banking matter?

Every year in autumn Gartner invites CIO’s and leading players in the IT space to attend its symposium, where they give an outlook on the main trends affecting CIO’s for the coming year. At the latest symposium of November 2-5, 2009, Gartner gave some interesting insights in the way customers will interact with their banks.… Read more: Consumerization