ECB Banking Supervision recently issued a recommendation to banks on their dividend distribution policies for the financial year 2014 as part of its aim to strengthen the safety and soundness of the euro area banking system. The ECB has also notified banks that variable remuneration will be thoroughly reviewed in the coming months.

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SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (“SS&C”) (Nasdaq: SSNC), a leading global provider of financial services software and software-enabled services, and Advent Software, Inc. (“Advent”) (Nasdaq: ADVS), a leading provider of software and services for the global investment management industry, recently announced that the Companies have entered into a definitive agreement wherein SS&C will acquire Advent. Under the terms of the agreement, SS&C will purchase Advent for an enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion in cash, equating to $44.25 per share plus assumption of debt.

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Sharing key payment trends and best practices from a global perspective but with dedicated focus on the EMEA region. The EPCA Payment Summit is a 2 day conference for top delegates from banking and financial, payments industry. Running in its 14th edition now, it is a leading discussion platform for professionals in this space. For more than ten years, over 1500 leading professionals have been gathering together at the EPCA Payments conference. This proves the importance of exchanging innovation and overall payment experience in the wholesale and consumer marketplace. The purpose is to be a top level environment for the exchange of business insight and networking. The conference is completely organized by and for professionals, ensuring the highest level of quality in all aspects.

More information:  www.epcapaymentsummit.com

Velocimetrics, a provider of real-time business performance monitoring and analysis solutions to the global financial community, recently announced its technology partnership with Solace Systems, the leading provider of hardware-based messaging middleware. This partnership demonstrates Velocimetrics’ ongoing commitment to ensuring that TipOff® continues to excel in enabling users to independently monitor and analyse their middleware messaging activities, which form the very fabric on which the industry’s trading systems are built.

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Police analysts forecast the time they spend on cybercrime will treble over the next three years but only 30% believe they have the skills and tools to tackle cybercrime effectively, according to a survey from PA Consulting Group.

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With the launch of euro zone quantitative easing on January 22, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi hopes to have delivered on his pledge to do “whatever it takes” to safeguard the region’s prospects. It was not quite a design classic but it was a feat of engineering nevertheless. The quantitative easing programme unveiled by ECB President Mario Draghi on last Thursday was – save for a few missing components – a pretty impressive machine. Continue reading…

The Swiss National Bank recently scrapped its CHF/EUR currency peg in an unexpected move that roiled financial markets. Here, we explain what may have been behind the move and its implications. What did the Swiss National Bank do and what was the reaction in the financial markets ? The SNB abandoned the CHF’s exchange rate peg against the EUR, which had been set at EUR1.20 since September 2011. The CHF rallied sharply in response to the move, gaining as much as 40 per cent against the EUR at one point, and hitting its highest level against the USD in three years. Such volatility is extremely rare in G-10 currencies. Continue reading…

Today, the ECB announced the so-called asset purchase programme. Mario Drgahi, President of ECB: “ Based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we conducted a thorough reassessment of the outlook for price developments and of the monetary stimulus achieved. As a result, the Governing Council took the following decisions:
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Delta Lloyd NV recently announced the sale of its German life business to Athene Holding Ltd. (“Athene”). Athene is a Bermuda-based insurance holding company and, through its subsidiaries, is a leading provider of products in the retirement savings market in the USA. In 2010, Delta Lloyd’s German life business stopped selling new business and has since been in run-off.

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