NatWest has selected fintech Icon Payments Framework to modernize its payments capabilities.  

Icon Payments Framework (IPF) is a low-code, cloud-native platform that allows financial institutions to enhance their payments technology, according to the fintech’s website. 

“The low-code element of the framework empowers our business community to continuously review and enhance our payment flows in addition to providing our engineers with a rich set of API to extend functionality and thus creating new intellectual property,” Ian Povey, chief information officer of payments technology at NatWest, told Bank Automation News.

IPF allows $28 billion NatWest to leverage a Single Euro Payments Area and align with ISO 20022 payment messaging standards, according to a release from the bank last week. 

“In modernizing the payments capabilities, it was important to ensure we selected a framework that not only allowed us to re-platform our current offerings but, in addition, create a solid foundation that enables experimentation as our customers’ needs change,” Povey said.  

IPF’s cloud partners include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and IBM, according to its website.  

BNY Mellon’s Pershing, bondIT launch research management tool

BNY Mellon’s wealth solution team, Pershing, and fintech bondIT on Tuesday debuted a research, management and trading tool, BondWise.  

The data-driven tool gives advisers access to research and the ability to trade bonds in real time, according to a Pershing press release. 

BondIT participated in the BNY Mellon Accelerator Program in 2021, according to the release. BNY Mellon also led a capital round for bondIT, investing $14 million into the fintech. 

“Yields on bonds and other fixed income securities are at highs that haven’t been seen for years, but the marketplace has lacked intuitive and robust technology to manage these investment products,” said John Goodheart, head of trading services for Pershing, said in the release. “That’s why we created BondWise, to empower our clients and help them more easily navigate the fixed income marketplace.” 

Oakworth Capital Bank, Baker Hill team up to streamline loan origination

Alabama-based Oakworth Capital Bank and loan origination and risk management fintech Baker Hill are teaming up to streamline commercial and consumer loan origination at the bank, the pair announced last week.  

The $1.4 billion bank selected Baker Hill’s NextGen solution, which enhances origination and portfolio monitoring, according to the tech provider’s release. 

“We were impressed that Baker Hill’s financial institution clients have experienced a 42% reduction in input errors [on average] by eliminating unnecessary manual data entry,” Sonia Blumstein, director of communications and marketing at Oakworth Capital Bank, told BAN. “Other clients have experienced a 75% decrease in the time to create a credit memo and an overall 50% decrease in application-to-closing time. Oakworth expects to see similar benefits for our associates and clients.” 

Baker Hill’s loan origination technology is fully integrated into the bank, allowing for increased loan volume, better customer experience and less time on manual tasks, according to the release. 

Visit Bank Automation News’ Transactions Database which lists the technology selected or acquired by companies in the financial services industry, with a specific focus on technology that enhances automation.

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