South Africa’s automated clearing house, BankservAfrica, has chosen a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) project management solution, Post Vision Technology’s Project Portfolio Office (PPO), to provide it with an enterprise project management tool that will enable efficient and effective tracking of projects and facilitate management reporting.

More than 40-million South Africans are now mobile phone users, and most are becoming increasingly comfortable with a wide range of functionality that phones enable.  One such capability is the ability to have an interactive relationship in real-time with a financial institution.

Lee Kuyper, commercial development executive at SDT, is to speak at the Microinsurance 2010 Masterclass, to be held on 24 and 25 August at the IIR Conference Centre in Rosebank.

Fundamental Software has recently completed development on Version 3 of its Portfolio Manager, which has benefited from a complete technology rewrite. The Fundamental Portfolio Manager (or FPM) allows asset managers to focus on their core competencies, with administration support being provided by FPM throughout the asset management lifecycle.

Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) has upgraded its Accpac accounting software solution with the installation of a Stock Module and Norming Asset Management Tracking software installed and implemented by Lorge Botswana.

Global financial services provider Barclays is using SAS to consistently improve standards in how economic and regulatory capital is calculated and reported.

Absa Group, one of South Africa's largest financial institutions, is using Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus (OBIEE), as a strategic tool to measure its performance and make better business decisions.

Strate, the licensed Central Securities Depository (CSD) for the electronic settlement of financial instruments in South Africa, has worked closely with Obsidian Systems to roll out an open-source strategy that has helped it to reduce operational costs in its technology environment with no compromise to reliability and availability.

Hollard, one of South Africa’s largest private insurance businesses, has converted half its direct life policy book to MIP’s administration system to garner the benefit of reduced costs and improved service for its users and clients.

Noticed how automated teller machines deliver ever-more advanced functionality? From merely dispensing cash, these devices have become ubiquitous multiple service centres, offering a wider range of services and transactions to drive convenience for customers and value and differentiation for banks operating in a competitive environment.

South Africa’s financial services sector is highly rated in around the world, but the question on everyone’s lips at the moment is whether new technologies are being used to transform the sector in line with international trends, or whether the great and the good alike are just in a holding pattern, writes Luizet Ruzow, head of financial services at FeverTreeConsulting.

Retailers, financial institutions, data processors, and any other vendors who manage credit card holder data today must adhere to strict policies to ensure that data is secure at all times, writes Jorina van Rensburg, CEO of Condyn.