Chinese insurance giant Ping An
has rolled out what it states is the country’s first internet-based
financial management service, Ping An One. The service will allow
its customers a single sign-in to over 50 service providers,
including online banking sites, third-party payments and email
accounts. Hugh Fasken reports.

In what is seemingly a first in the fast-developing Chinese retail
financial services market, insurer Ping An is offering Ping An One,
an online account aggregation and financial management tool. The
aim is to offer its customers a single sign-in point to up to 50
other service providers, from banks and insurers, to travel agents,
email accounts, social media sites and other third-party
providers.

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Enoch Tsui, Ping An’s e-Business Division
General Manager, told RBI that with the earnings of
China’s middle-class rising, financial institutions have a “real
opportunity to grow share of wallet and brand loyalty” by offering
sophisticated online financial management services that cater for
the growing consumer demand.

“Ping An believes offering an account
aggregation service is a real market differentiator and an
effective customer acquisition tool, enabling online account
management to become a part of a consumer’s everyday life online.
Financial institutions can leverage this channel to engage with
customers on a personal level as they view their financial affairs
online and make decisions based on their financial position in
real-time.”

Enoch Tsui, Ping An

Asked whether his firm had conducted any
market research on online financial management (OFM) products in
China, Tsui said that Ping An did run an “extensive” pilot enabling
the service to be tailored to the Chinese market – though he gave
no further indication of the results.

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“Ping An is committed to expanding the service
and will continue to use market research to incorporate additional
features and services that would be useful to customers,” he
added.

He did cite statistics from China CCM’s
2008-2009 Annual Report on China’s Online Banking Market which said
that online banking use has grown rapidly in recent years, up 54.7
percent in 2008 while trade volume increased by over 100
percent.

47 million customers

Ping An is the second-largest life
insurer in China. Founded in 1988, the Shenzhen-headquartered group
had, as of 30 June 2009, consolidated total assets and total equity
of CNY885.4 billion ($129.6 billion) and CNY101.8 billion,
respectively.

It offers a range of financial
services, including insurance, investment and wealth management, to
about 47 million customers and over two million corporate
clients.

The OFM service is being run by eWise Systems,
a payments and banking solutions provider based in the UK, US,
China and Australia. It has worked with a number of banks and
financial services companies, including Citibank UK (Egg Money
Manager), First Direct (Internet Banking Plus) and Westpac in
Australia.

eWise Systems’ UK managing director, Mark
Matthews, told RBI that eWise customers report that
aggregation services help consumers better understand their
day-to-day financial position while the banks benefit from
increases in customer satisfaction and longevity of customer
relationships. He cited Egg, the first bank in the UK to introduce
financial account aggregation in 2001, and says their Money Manager
service has generated a 20 percent increase in “the overall value
of the customer”.

In total, he says, eWise customers report that
offering account aggregation increases online customers by 13
percent while increasing revenue per customer by 35 percent.

Ping An One customers can currently choose
from over 50 accounts including Ping An and non-Ping An products,
crossing financial and non-financial/lifestyle accounts including
popular companies such as ICBC, China Construction Bank, NetEase,
Bank of China, China Mobile and Hotmail.

eWise, added Matthews, currently offers access
to over 300 online accounts so Ping An will be able to expand their
service to enable access to additional accounts based on customer
feedback.

Discussing the appointment of eWise, Tsui at
Ping An said: “[We] researched online financial management
implementations around the world and recognised the importance of
choosing the right technology partner to ensure a secure and future
proof implementation. Ping An has a multi-year agreement with eWise
to manage the Ping An One OFM infrastructure, in partnership with
IBM Global Services China.”

He added that while Ping An recognised that
financial institutions in the US, in particular, have traditionally
used server-side account aggregation, where the information is
collected and stored on aggregation providers’ servers, Ping An
itself favoured the security and regulatory advantages of
client-side account aggregation because confidential data, such as
account information, resides on the user’s device and is securely
encrypted.

In addition to the security concerns, some
server-side aggregation implementations have also been criticised
for limited functionality such as an inability to click through and
transact in real time, restricting the user experience, something
that is not an issue for client-side implementations.

Mark Matthews, eWise

“China’s financial institutions are leading
the way in incorporating additional multi-factor authentication
components, both online and physical devices, to ensure the highest
level of security and customer protection for online banking
against increasing threats,” added Tsui.

“The growing trend to incorporate additional
token security as part of online banking authentication
requirements also means that server-side aggregation becomes an
increasingly impractical and unscalable solution for financial
institutions such as Ping An.”

Security via a Digital
Safe

Asked about client-side security,
Tsui said security is “ensured” by using eWise’s patented Digital
Safe, which features advanced algorithms and protocols to protect
customers.

The Digital Safe is encrypted using a 168 bit,
three key triple-DES algorithm, and the transmission of the key
between the eWise servers and the user’s PC is encrypted using
either the service provider’s standard protocol or 128-bit SSL
protocol.

To use the eWise application provided by their
aggregation service provider, users download an application control
to their PCs during a one-off registration process. The component
has two main functions: to maintain the Digital Safe on the user’s
PC; and to perform the aggregation process, using Active Content
Agents.

Ping An One is currently a free service with
registration open to all online users, whether or not they are an
existing Ping An online customer, therefore meeting the needs of
all online financial services users in China.

After a pilot test period, Ping An launched
its OFM service to the Chinese public on 18 August 2009.

The Ping An One launch is being supported by a
creative online and TV advertising campaign featuring Chinese
celebrities Shang Wenjie and Liu Qian, who, said Tsui, have “great
appeal to a new Chinese generation, projecting an innovative image
reflecting the nature of the Ping An One service”.

He concluded: “As it is the first such service
in China the campaign is designed to educate online banking users
about the security and benefits of online financial management
while demonstrating how easy the service is to use.

“Ping An also employs a testimonial approach
to illustrate the convenience and benefits that Ping An One can
bring to real life.”

IT Contracts

RBI Fintech DealWatch
tracks recent major technology contract wins with a focus on the
retail financial services industry as well as fintech mergers and
acquisitions and innovative new product launches

Country

Participants

Type/value

  

Date

Europe

Ingenico, easycash

Acquisition

French eftpos outfit Ingenico has acquired
Germany’s easycash from private equity house Warburg Pincus for
€290 million ($422 million).

25 Sep

Switzerland

Zurich Financial, CSC

Possible outsourcing agreement

Zurich Financial Services has entered into
exclusive negotiations with US tech giant CSC for a $2.4 billion
ten-year IT services deal covering Europe and North America. The
agreement, which will incorporate data centre centralisation and
server virtualisation programmes, will provide for country specific
agreements to be entered into by the parties.

24 Sep

Denmark, Norway

PBS, Nordito

Merger

Danish e-payments outfit PBS and Norwegian
counterpart Nordito – owner of BBS and Teller – have agreed to
merge their operations. Headquartered in Copenhagen, the new
company aims to be the leading Nordic player in payments, cards and
information exchange.

24 Sep

Italy

Teradata, Gruppo Montepaschi

Data warehousing contract win

Teradata Corporation has said that Italy’s
Gruppo Montepaschi, the country’s third-largest financial services
group, has consolidated the data warehouses of its multiple banking
subsidiaries onto the Teradata Active Enterprise Data Warehouse
platform.

24 Sep

Romania

Raiffeisen Bank Romania, Todos

Security contract

Raiffeisen Bank Romania has contracted with
Swedish security vendor Todos for the supply of 190,000 portable
smart card readers which will be rolled out to its internet banking
customers.

23 Sep

Vietnam

Temenos, Orient Commercial Bank

Core banking contract

Switzerland’s Temenos has won a contract from
Orient Commercial Bank, a leading joint stock commercial bank in
Vietnam. The bank has selected Temenos’ T24 to consolidate and
support its entire retail and corporate banking operations,
servicing 300,000 accounts across 70 branches.

23 Sep

US

HP, EDS

Rebrand

HP is rebranding its EDS subsidiary to HP
Enterprise Services. The name change, said the company, marks the
“next major step in a year-long integration of EDS into HP and
emphasises the growing global role of enterprise technology
services in HP’s portfolio”.

23 Sep

Singapore

IBM, RedPill Solutions

Customer analytics

IBM has acquired the business of RedPill
Solutions, a privately-held company headquartered in Singapore.
RedPill provides advanced customer analytics services to businesses
in industries such as financial services, telecommunications and
technology. Financial details were not disclosed.

22 Sep

UK

ING Direct, Fidelity National Information
Services

Outsourcing contract renewal

Fidelity National Information Services, a
leading provider of core processing, card issuer and transaction
processing services to financial institutions, has renewed a
three-year outsourcing agreement with ING Direct UK. It has signed
for extended maintenance, support and application development
services via the FIS Profile core banking suite.

16 Sep

India

State Bank of India, Wincor Nixdorf

ATM contract

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s
largest lender, has awarded Wincor Nixdorf and its local partner
AGS Infotech an order for 1,000 ATMs. The bank will install 300
multifunctional ProCash 2100xe systems and 700 ProCash 1500xe cash
dispensers. This is the first order for Wincor Nixdorf from SBI.
The bank operates an ATM network of approximately 15,000 ATMs and
15,000 bank branches across India, including its six associate
banks.

16 Sep

US

US Bank, IBM Lotus

Software contract

US Bank is rolling out IBM’s Lotus Web 2.0
collaboration technology in a bid to improve staff communication
and promote innovation. When the installation is complete in 2010,
Quickr will help US Bank’s 58,000 employees “find and share
intelligence in the digital haystack”, said IBM.

15 Sep

US

Yodlee, Actimize

Partnership

Yodlee, a leading provider of personal
financial management (PFM) and payments solutions, has selected and
partnered with Actimize, described as the “largest and broadest
financial crimes, compliance and risk management solutions provider
to the financial services industry”, to integrate Actimize’s
real-time fraud monitoring and prevention technology into Yodlee’s
innovative online payments solutions.

15 Sep

Japan

Shinsei, Experian

Credit analytics contract

Experian, the global information services
company, has announced that Japan’s Shinsei has deployed its
Marketswitch Optimization system for assigning customer credit
limits and loan interest. The system will be used for customer’s
applying for Shinsei Financial’s Lake-branded personal loans. It
will provide support in response to new requirements under the
revised Money Lending Business Law, helping Shinsei Financial
“increase revenue in the highly competitive local consumer finance
market”. Shinsei recently merged with Aozora to form Japan’s
sixth-largest commercial bank by assets.

15 Sep

Taiwan

Cathay United Bank, Tata Consultancy
Services

Core banking contract

Cathay United Bank, a full-service bank in
Taiwan, has implemented the TCS BaNCS Core Banking product. “With
over 180 domestic branches and more than 10 overseas offices, the
team at Cathay United Bank required a world class core banking
solution that would deliver outstanding business value,” said KT
Chang, chief information officer at Cathay United Bank, in a
statement.

15 Sep

Taiwan

Ban SinoPac, Temenos

Core banking contract

Bank SinoPac has selected Temenos’ T24 Model
Bank (T24) to centralise its operations and support plans to double
its client base over the next five years. A leading Taiwanese bank
with 131 domestic branches and operations in the US, Hong Kong,
Vietnam and Macao, Bank SinoPac serves 4 million retail and
corporate customers worldwide.

15 Sep

Hong Kong

Bank of East Asia, Clear2Pay

Payments systems contract

Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia (BEA) has
purchased technology from Belgian payment system provider Clear2Pay
that will enable it to connect to the People’s Bank of China’s
Electronic Commercial Draft System (ECDS).

14 Sep

South Africa

Absa, FICO

Credit analytics contract

FICO has announced that Absa, a leading South
African bank and a member of the Barclays Group, has deployed FICO
Blaze Advisor business rules management system.

14 Sep

Nigeria

InterSwitch, Gemalto

Security contract

Bank-owned Nigerian e-payments firm
InterSwitch is deploying Gemalto’s Ezio authentication technology
to secure customer transactions. InterSwitch – which comprises 25
member banks – has signed for the vendor’s Ezio strong
authentication server as well as card readers and unconnected
tokens.

7 Sep

Italy

Accenture, HP, PosteMobile

Security contract

Accenture has teamed up with HP to develop
business solutions for PosteMobile, one of Italy’s leading
providers in the mobile communication market. The solutions provide
security for customer financial transactions, deliver a high level
of fraud protection, and enable mobile handsets to transfer money,
payments, and make purchases. Accenture implemented and maintains
PosteMobile’s fraud management solution, which is based on the HP
CentralView software platform.

3 Sep

Belgium

Callataÿ & Wouters, Banque de La
Poste

Core banking contract

Callataÿ & Wouters, a provider of core
banking and multi-channel distribution solutions, has announced the
signing of a contract with Banque de La Poste to replace its
existing back office infrastructure with Thaler on SAP. Banque de
La Poste is an established Belgian bank with over 1.2 million
customers and more than 650 branches across the country.

2 Sep

Israel

Nice, Fortent

Acquisition

Israeli digital recording firm Nice has
acquired anti-money laundering outfit Fortent for $73.5 million in
cash. The deal creates a powerhouse in the analytics-driven
financial crime and compliance market as Fortent will be combined
with Nice subsidiary Actimize (see above). The combined
group is expected to generate revenues in excess of $100 million in
2010.

1 Sep

Finland

Luottokunta, Accenture

Outsourcing contract

Finnish card payment services firm
Luottokunta has inked a five-year application outsourcing contract
with Accenture. Financial terms were not disclosed.

1 Sep

India

Infosys, MortgageFlex Systems

Joint venture

Infosys BPO, the business process outsourcing
subsidiary of Infosys Technologies, has formed an alliance with
MortgageFlex Systems in the US. The alliance focuses on the support
of US loan servicing loan modification initiatives as defined under
the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) or alternative loan
modification programmes. MortgageFlex Systems is a leading
origination and servicing technology solutions supplier for the US
mortgage industry.

25 Aug

US

BMW Financial Services, Chordiant

Collections contract

Chordiant Software, a provider of customer
experience software and services, has said that BMW Financial
Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW AG, will partner with
Chordiant’s Cx Decision Management solution and predictive
modelling capability to improve its management and treatment of
delinquent accounts. With more than $30 billion in serviced assets
and 800,000 automotive lending customers, BMW Group Financial
Services finances about half of the BMWs sold or leased in the
US.

25 Aug

India

Temenos, Equitas

Core banking contract

Swiss core banking supplier Temenos has
signed its first customer in India – microfinance specialist
Equitas – to the T24 platform. Established in December 2007,
Equitas Micro Finance India signed 300,000 customers in its first
year and operates out of 100 branches. The outfit has selected ‘T24
for Microfinance and Community Banking’ (T24 for MCB) to support
and automate its operations from a single platform.

24 Aug

UK

Monitise, Monilink

Acquisition

Monitise has taken full ownership of
Monilink, the UK mobile banking and payments network. It has bought
out joint venture partner VocaLink to take full ownership of its
business operations in its home market, including all future
revenues. In a statement, the company said the “global mobile money
industry is accelerating”.

24 Aug

Source: RBI