The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP

WALLDORF — SAP today announced that it will work closely with Citi and The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to co-innovate a cloud-based services platform. (more…)

There aren’t many bankers among the world’s billionaires  - but Sir Richard Branson is betting he can revolutionize UK retail banking. Branson and his fellow investors bought Northern Rock from the UK government last year to turn hisVirgin Money venture into a high street lender. The deal fulfilled Branson’s ambition to shake up the financial world in the same way he disrupted transatlantic air travel. (more…)

SAP today announced it has been positioned by Gartner Inc. in the leaders quadrant of the 2011 “Magic Quadrant for International Retail Core Banking” report. SAP was recognized for its “ability to execute” and its ”completeness of vision.” Read the newsbyte.

SAP today announced an update of its industry-specific banking software, including planned enhancements to help banks excel in today’s financial climate. The forthcoming 8.0 release of banking services is planned to include analytics tailored to the latest compliance regulations as well as accommodation of mergers and acquisitions through highly flexible transactional banking. Read the press release.

SAP today announced that the leading UK bank Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has chosen to invest in core banking solutions from the SAP for Banking portfolio. RBS will replace an in-house legacy system with a deposits liquidity engine for the corporate bank, which will offer sales operations a better view into customers’ deposit accounts. Read the newsbyte.

SAP today announced that Commerzbank, Germany’s second largest bank, has implemented the SAP Bank Analyzer set of applications. With lean processes and high security standards, the software helps customers meet the current International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and German accounting standards. Read the press release.

Real-time data analysis, collaboration à la Facebook, and forecasts thanks to BI features – SAP Business Suite has received a number of interesting new functions. We’ll show you what Innovations 2010 offers to SAP users. Read the full SAP.info article.

According to Banktech blogger Art Gillis, SAP is faced with a three-pronged challenge. While Fiserv and FIS have been in the core software business for 43 years, SAP has been invested in core for only a couple of years. Now, though, Gillis says it appears that SAP is gearing up for a five-year plan that will overturn its “past five-year dud.”

“This situation and its corresponding plan could look very appealing or very risky depending on who is managing the pro forma spreadsheets, and the rationale behind the business case,” writes Gillis, adding that every vendor wants a piece of the IT pie in banking.

Read the article: “SAP Finally has a Plan for Core Banking“.

HSBC, SAP and SWIFT have teamed together to create  the next generation of HSBC Connect to SAP, HSBC’s corporate-to-bank integration and treasury solution catering to HSBC’s corporate customers that use enterprise resource planning (ERP) software from SAP. Addressing the potentially high costs associated with maintaining multiple system interfaces for conducting electronic transactions, these three global industry leaders aim to create a flexible multi-bank solution based on SWIFT’s open standards. Read the press release.

SAP customer General Mills was recognized for having the “Supply Chain Finance Project of the Year” and also received the “Gold Award” at the inaugural gtnews Global Corporate Treasury Awards. Sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the awards were held at Sibos 2010 in association with SWIFT. Judges acknowledged the General Mills project team, comprising members from across the organization, who collaborated to successfully realize the company’s objectives to implement a supply chain finance project. Read the newsbyte.