Blogs

Adventures in AI: Addressing a Fundamental Challenge Facing…

In this blog, Jamie Packham, shares his own experiences deploying generative artificial intelligence (AI) models and explores the potential for AI to help accelerate banks’ migration to the ISO 20022 messaging standard….

Jamie Packham

19 April 2024

Blogs

Modernise Payment Reconciliations and Investigations to reduce operational…

It is critical for financial institutions to have an efficient Reconciliation and Investigation (R&I) capability to minimise financial risk by identifying potential payment errors, discrepancies, or irregularities promptly and fixing them early…

Sandeep Tolanur

25 March 2024

Blogs

Hype, hope or holy grail? Unlocking new opportunities…

A recent independent survey conducted by Celent found that 73% of corporate banks have reported clear revenue benefits from investment in advanced data analytics. Looking ahead, analytics, intelligent automation, and artificial intelligence…

Toine van Beusekom

18 March 2024

Blogs

Core banking transformation: Key considerations for success

The banking industry is going through significant transformation across its various business domains and core banking has been one of the key areas of focus for many banks in recent years. Most…

Babukumar Valaguruvan

1 March 2024

Blogs

The Future of Payments – Will I Need…

Back before Christmas, at the same time as the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, a new report by HM Treasury was released – the Future of Payments Review report [1]. This report proposes a set…

Adam Richardson

5 February 2024

Blogs

How Can Banks Take Control of Their Payments…

In the first blog of our two-part predictions series, we explored the key technological and regulatory trends shaping the payments landscape in 2024. In this second blog, we explore the practical strategies…

Mady Dyson

30 January 2024

Blogs

2024 Predictions: Payments Trends to Watch This Year

2023 put the traditional processing model for account-based payments to the test, as evolving customer demands, intensifying competition from fintechs and shifting regulatory requirements continued to intensify margin pressures. And although 2024…

Arjeh van Oijen

19 January 2024

Blogs

Customer-centric innovation – why our IPF Client Days…

Last month Icon hosted its final IPF Client Day of 2023. The event brought our clients together in London to explore the latest business trends in the payments market and technologies shaping…

Arjeh van Oijen

20 December 2023

Case Studies

Automating account closures to enhance customer experience and improve operational efficiency

Icon’s expertise was needed when a Tier 1 global bank wanted to introduce an automated self-service customer journey for account closures. We did not only bring our strong architecture capabilities and banking…

Cindy Heidebluth

4 December 2023

Blogs

It’s time to revisit the order management concept

Where is your bank on the order management (or pre-processing, or initiation management – whichever you prefer) maturity scale? Are you running your order management on legacy technology as a routing/integration layer…

Toine van Beusekom

3 December 2023

Case Studies

Helping a Tier 1 UK bank enhance and scale its payments and customer data platforms

This case study is about Icon providing a Tier 1 UK bank with expert solution and data architecture capabilities to augment the bank’s own teams across three areas: 1 Payments – Creating…

Cindy Heidebluth

27 November 2023

Case Studies

Defining the strategic roadmap for a major African bank’s payments transformation journey

This case study is about a South Africa-headquartered pan-Africa bank that engaged Icon to determine the bank’s overall capability to deliver their target architecture and make prioritised recommendations for transforming the bank’s…

Cindy Heidebluth

21 November 2023

Blogs

AI can help your business, but only once…

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) being part of the Zeitgeist and almost every newspaper containing an article on AI, it is reasonable to want to ensure that your business can gain competitive advantage…

Tamsin Crossland

21 November 2023

Case Studies

Architecting and executing a real-time payments transformation programme for a global Tier 1 bank

This Tier 1 bank was looking for a payments infrastructure that would allow them greater flexibility, speed and innovation. The bank recognised Icon’s proven track record in delivering payments transformation strategies for…

Cindy Heidebluth

9 November 2023

Case Studies

Charting a strategic path towards a microservices-based core banking architecture

When a Tier 1 UK bank was facing numerous challenges with its core banking system, typical to monolithic and legacy platforms, the bank turned to Icon. This case study describes how we…

Cindy Heidebluth

4 November 2023

Case Studies

Supporting an ambitious technology transformation by delivering the strategy, roadmap and architectural support

This case study demonstrates Icon’s expertise and understanding of how enterprise architecture supports effective transformation and that it must encompass people, processes and technology. It’s about work we recently did for a…

Cindy Heidebluth

30 October 2023

Blogs

A transformative year for Icon Solutions

Icon Solutions was founded in 2009 with the desire to be different and simplify banking transformation, using technological expertise and deep experience to fight complexity, promote transparency and put the needs of…

Mady Dyson

25 October 2023

Blogs

The value of a “Payments Reference Architecture” in…

With the Payments IT landscape frequently changing due to regulations, customer needs, and innovations, Financial Institutions (FIs) face challenges of high cost, slow pace of change, operational complexities, and a constant struggle…

Ranga Natraj

19 October 2023

Case Studies

Designing an anti-financial crime roadmap for a Tier 1 UK bank

This Tier 1 UK bank was keen to benefit from a more efficient use of its fraud and financial crime technology and data, while decreasing operating costs. Read about Icon’s work to…

Cindy Heidebluth

19 October 2023

Blogs

Collaboration is the Key: Takeaways from Sibos 2023

By all measures, Sibos 2023 in Toronto was a great success. The event brought together more than 9,000 attendees to discuss this edition’s theme – ‘Collaborative finance in a fragmented world’. Rich…

Arjeh van Oijen

18 October 2023

Case Studies

Designing and delivering a solution for ISO20022 migration for a global Tier 1 bank

When this Tier 1 UK bank was facing a strict industry timeline for compliance with ISO20022 messaging standards, Icon helped the bank in a number of ways. One was that we proposed…

Cindy Heidebluth

12 October 2023

Case Studies

Supporting a UK challenger bank to transition towards an NPA-compliant payments architecture

Icon’s consultants are recognised New Payments Architecture (NPA) experts and this case study details the work our team has done for a leading UK challenger bank. Specifically, we helped with the implementation…

Cindy Heidebluth

5 October 2023

Blogs

Core banking transformation: key drivers for change

Traditional banking has evolved over centuries into what we have today: digitalized products and services that keep the worldwide economic cogs turning. In pursuit of automation and digitalization banks have accrued sizeable…

Gene Philip

28 September 2023

Blogs

Is low code the answer to higher payment…

As banks continue to grapple with the account-based payments processing model amid seemingly interminable margin pressures, the wider commercial implications of software developer capacity limitations are coming into much sharper focus. In…

Toine van Beusekom

27 September 2023

Blogs

Vertical thinking: Why banks need to decouple their…

The traditional payments processing model for account-based payments is under unprecedented strain amid diminishing profit margins, increasing competition from fintechs, and rising costs. These challenges are only set to compound in a…

Esther Groen

7 September 2023

Case Studies

Transforming a premium finance provider’s technology architecture and strategy

This case study describes Icon’s work for a specialist provider of premium finance solutions to the insurance industry. The business wanted to transform its operations and technology estate because the existing Core…

Cindy Heidebluth

10 August 2023

Case Studies

Re-platforming a Customer Due Diligence solution

This is a case study about Icon’s work for a Tier 1 bank which was looking to derive greater business value from its Customer Due Diligence (CDD) solution. The legacy CDD solution…

Cindy Heidebluth

31 July 2023

Blogs

Three focus areas for European banks

With 2023 emerging as the year of choice for banks when it comes to adopting new strategies and technologies to take control of their payments processing capabilities, many now find themselves at…

Liam Jeffs

7 July 2023

Blogs

EBAday 2023: Asking banks … do you feel in control?

Just over a year ago, my colleagues and I offered a few predictions about developments and trends in global payments and banking, intended to help financial institutions shape their strategy for the…

Arjeh van Oijen

12 June 2023

Blogs

Is ‘Low Code’ the Secret to Payments Transformation?

It’s a transformative time for the payments industry. The development of innovative payments methods and technology has changed marketplace dynamics, pushing new players into the spotlight and shifting the focus of payments…

Arjeh van Oijen

16 March 2023

Blogs

International Women’s Day: How the banking and payments industry can embrace ‘DigitALL’

The critical role of women in computer science has arguably been under reported throughout history. From Ada Lovelace – who developed the first computer software – to Margaret Hamilton leading the development…

Tamsin Crossland

8 March 2023

Blogs

5 predictions to help shape banks’ resolutions for 2023

By all accounts, 2022 was difficult for just about everyone. Continuing economic fallout from the pandemic, geopolitical upheaval, soaring inflation, rising energy costs and a host of other pressures all underscored the…

Icon Solutions

11 January 2023

News

A Year In Review: Icon Solutions 2021 Wrap Up

This time last year, as we wrapped up 2020, we had so many questions and wondered what 2021 would bring. With remote working, lockdowns and travel restrictions, we wondered when life would…

Kate Nelson

5 January 2022

News

A Year In Review: Icon Solutions 2020 Wrap Up

After a challenging year for many, the unprecedented events of 2020 affected us all in some way. We saw entire industries shut down overnight, monumental uplifts in digital volumes as everyone went…

Icon Solutions

6 January 2021

News

Icon Solutions featured in Financial IT winter magazine

24th November 2020 – Icon Solutions, the leading provider of technology solutions and real-time payments expertise, has been featured in Financial IT’s winter magazine ‘Innovations in FinTech‘ (page 28). Financial IT interviewed…

Kate Nelson

24 November 2020

Blogs

4 trends accelerating US payments transformation

The US payments industry is undoubtedly ripe for change. Before the unprecedented shock of COVID-19, digitization and payments transformation initiatives had been organic, piecemeal and predominately the preserve of the largest banks….

Lauren Jones

15 September 2020

Blogs

Supporting Financial Inclusion Beyond Digital

Many of us take it for granted, but accessing basic financial services is fundamental to our economic and social development. It is hard to ‘get on’ if you are forced to hide…

Darren Capehorn

10 August 2020

Blogs

Strange new world: What next for banks in these uncertain times?

What’s next for banks in this strange new world we find ourselves in? Forget the forecasts and predictions, we are in uncharted territory and the honest answer is that no one truly…

Simon Wilson

21 July 2020

Case Studies

Fast tracking digital customer onboarding

Read about how Icon initiated a major transformation programme to dramatically improve customer experience for corporate customer on-boarding for a global Tier 1 bank.

Kate Nelson

28 November 2019

Case Studies

Mobilising digital transformation and enabling the customer journey

Discover how Icon accelerated the delivery of a major digital transformation initiative, covering their Retail Banking and Customer Servicing operations in the UK.

Kate Nelson

28 November 2019

Case Studies

Digital transformation to support business banking

Discover how Icon initiated a digital transformation programme to replace a Tier 1 global bank’s online and mobile applications for its Commercial Banking customers from the UK and Hong Kong.

Kate Nelson

28 November 2019

Blogs

How can banks help ensure financial inclusion?

Financial inclusion is a hot topic within industry press at the moment. In the UK, an influential group of MPs are proposing that banks should have a ‘legal duty for care for…

Farah Yamin

6 June 2019

News

Icon to speak at payments transformation webinar

Icon Solutions is delighted to be speaking alongside BNP Paribas at the InstaPay Webinar: Leveraging instant payments to deliver payments transformation which will share some of the insights gained from the delivery of…

Cindy Heidebluth

14 March 2019

Blogs

Post-PSD2: What Will Banking Look Like?

The revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) has been the cause of much hand-wringing in the banking space, with incumbents foreseeing a future when the new banking giants are Starling, Tandem, Monzo and…

Cindy Heidebluth

31 January 2017

Blogs

How to capitalise on the API banking revolution

Here at Icon we always look to the future on how Banks can improve their service offering. The following  informs you of the criteria that the API platform needs to meet in…

Cindy Heidebluth

2 February 2016

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