•Natixis successfully completes transaction on FundsDLT blockchain platform
•Best app award goes to Bank of America
•Brown Brothers Harriman creates fintech position
•Aussie regulators rule on non-bank ‘bank’, non-bank fights back and wins
Natixis Asset Management announced on Wednesday that investors have successfully purchased shares on its blockchain-based fund distribution platform, FundsDLT.
FundsDLT was developed with help from InTech, KPMG Luxembourg and Fundsquare, a subsidiary of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
Investors can purchase shares through the FundsDLT mobile app, which transmits the order to the platform and all involved parties. The transfer agent, CACEIS, approves or declines the transaction, which initiates the clearing and settlement process.
Blockchain can be particularly useful for asset managers in Europe, where cross-border fund transactions must comply with the Undertakings for the Collective Investment of Transferable Securities framework, Moody’s wrote in a sector note on July 4. Furthermore, as of January 2018, European asset managers will have to comply with the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II, which requires that they make sure investment products meet their clients’ needs.
“The common repository of identities shared among market participants will facilitate compliance in areas such as Anti-Money Laundering (AML)/Know Your Client (KYC), and will remove the duplication of work between the entities carrying out these tasks,” Moody’s wrote.
(Related: Synaps Successfully Tests Blockchain Loan Servicing: Tech Roundup)
S&P Global Market Intelligence ranked Bank of America’s mobile app as the best among 28 retail banks’ offerings based on the number of features offered and their popularity among consumers.
Features like balance and fraud alerts, person-to-person payments and fingerprint login were common among all the apps in the ranking. Bank of America distinguished itself by being one of only a few banks to offer budgeting tools, credit score tracking and cardless ATM access in the app.
One feature it doesn’t offer (along with all but three of the other banks) is picture bill pay, which lets consumers add payees to their account by taking a picture of a bill. BBVA Compass was the only bank in the top five to offer that feature.
Wells Fargo’s mobile app was the second best, according to S&P’s ranking. Ally Bank, which only operates online, came in ninth.