Blogs

Why there has never been a better time…

Currently, only 38 participants are directly connected to CHAPS (Clearing House Automated Payment System), with most connecting through indirect agreements. Many prospective participants choose not to pursue direct participation due to strict…

Scott Culbertson

5 November 2024

Case Studies

Data-driven Architecture Transformation for Commercial Banking

Our client needed an agile and holistic technology architecture fit for a modern digital financial institution. They engaged Icon’s Architecture team to recommend a new model for wider adoption, one that put…

Kate Nelson

30 October 2024

Blogs

Commercial Variable Recurring Payments and its implications

Driving the mainstream growth of Open Banking payments continues to be a key talking point for the UK government, regulators and wider banking industry. With more than 10% of the UK adult…

Andrew Ducker

29 October 2024

Blogs

Regulation, opportunities and accelerating payments transformation – takeaways…

Last month, Icon brought together payments professionals from across Europe and the US for our 3rd IPF Day. Amid regulatory pressures, increasing competition and evolving business needs, the event served as an…

Sumit Puranik

18 October 2024

Blogs

Sibos 2024: Darren Capehorn in conversation with Mark…

In 2024, Sibos is opening its doors in Beijing, marking the first time that China’s capital is hosting the event. Taking place 21-24 October, the event will bring together thousands of senior leaders…

Mady Dyson

16 October 2024

Case Studies

Building a high-value payments platform

Our client’s legacy payments platform was not able to support the ISO 20022 data format, and with the impending Cross-Border Payments and Reporting Plus (CBPR+) transition to ISO 20022, they needed a…

Kate Nelson

8 October 2024

Case Studies

Target Architecture for FATCA and CRS cloud migration

Our client, a Tier 1 UK bank needed to migrate its FATCA and CRS applications to Google Cloud Platform. Icon Solutions was selected to assess the current state of their technology platform…

Kate Nelson

13 August 2024

Blogs

Fighting fraud: How to enhance financial crime prevention…

Financial crime is on the rise, and it is costing billions. New research shows UK financial services organisations are collectively spending £34.2 billion each year on financial crime compliance, up 19% since…

Howard Norman

25 July 2024

Case Studies

Defining the payments strategy for a UK Tier 1 Bank

Our client, a Tier 1 UK bank, approached Icon for support with developing a payments and payment card strategy for its Commercial Banking division. Alongside upgrading its payments product strategies, the bank…

Kate Nelson

10 July 2024

Blogs

EBADay or Groundhog Day? Transforming to end the…

As banks look towards their priorities for the coming year, instant payments – particularly the new European Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) – loom large in the minds of many. A poll of…

Toine van Beusekom

26 June 2024

Case Studies

Integrating a fraud detection solution into a Tier 1 bank

The client had selected a new strategic transactional fraud detection capability – comprising a fraud detection engine, alert management application and model development environment – and wanted to integrate various bank channels…

Kate Nelson

25 June 2024

Blogs

The Future of Payments – Time to Take…

Instant payments, characterised by their speed and availability, are transforming the financial landscape across the globe. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in particular, has emerged as a leader in adopting and innovating in…

Vatsal Bhatt

24 June 2024

Blogs

Upgrading to Java 17, or: how I learned…

Icon recently released IPF 2024.1, which included upgrading all of our components to Java 17 and required Java 17 as a minimum. I was the lead engineer on this piece of work,…

Patrick Altaie

14 June 2024

Blogs

How to future-proof payments: key questions to ask…

Matt Piper, Head of Pre-Sales at Icon Solutions, explains why flexibility is key when it comes to future-proofing payments but, to understand the steps that must be taken, there are fundamental questions…

Matt Piper

11 June 2024

Blogs

Is now the time for real-time payments in…

Following NACHA’s annual Smart Faster Payments Conference in Miami, Arjeh van Oijen, Head of Product Management for Icon Solutions, explores the key trends shaping the rollout and adoption of real-time payments in…

Arjeh van Oijen

23 May 2024

Case Studies

Empowering a Tier 1 bank with an agile and scalable Target Architecture for Payments and FX

This global Tier 1 bank’s payments architecture of the WPB function was constraining their ability to defend its market share, attack new growth opportunities and deliver a consistent customer engagement. They engaged…

Kate Nelson

30 April 2024

Blogs

Understanding the Road to Real-Time in North America…

In the run up to NACHA’s annual Smart Faster Payments Conference in Miami, Arjeh van Oijen, Head of Product Management for Icon Solutions, explains why real-time payments are top of the agenda…

Arjeh van Oijen

23 April 2024

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

Case Studies

Enabling a seamless migration to ISO 20022 for anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions screening

With SWIFT beginning its migration to ISO 20022, our client needed a solution to implement the new messaging standards in line with strict industry timelines. This case study describes how Icon, with…

Cindy Heidebluth

22 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

Case Studies

Transforming a global Tier 1 bank’s payments architecture capability to improve the customer experience

For this bank Icon delivered a target Payments Reference Architecture that met the client’s strategic objectives in terms of resilience, performance, simplification and agility. Icon’s consultants worked within a closely integrated team,…

Cindy Heidebluth

23 February 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

Case Studies

Leading the design and delivery of a foreign exchange payments solution for a Tier 1 UK bank

This case study is about Icon helping a Tier 1 UK bank onboard a Payment Service Provider to expand the number of currencies available for customers to make international payments. We provided…

Cindy Heidebluth

15 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

Case Studies

Streamlining and enriching customer journeys and bank processes through events and insights

This Tier 1 UK bank lacked comprehensive and real-time visibility into customers’ needs and transactions and therefore couldn’t provide on-time responses. Additionally, the bank was planning to provide more of-the-moment insights to…

Cindy Heidebluth

18 July 2023

Case Studies

Transitioning to a microservices-based payments architecture

This Tier 1 UK bank needed to accelerate change to its payments platforms to be more competitive and deliver value sooner. Read what Icon Solutions did to help the bank transition to…

Cindy Heidebluth

16 January 2023

Case Studies

Delivering SCT Inst across Europe

Discover how Icon Solutions enabled BNP Paribas to meet their first challenge on the transformation journey through the fast track deployment of IPF for instant payments, and how the impact of our…

Kate Nelson

29 November 2022

Case Studies

Defining a payments technology strategy and roadmap to…

Icon Solutions was engaged by the bank to assist them with evolving their current payments technology estate. The bank needed to enhance and refine their current payments technology estate in order to…

Kate Nelson

1 November 2022

Case Studies

Designing an enhanced payments proposition to deliver value…

Icon Solutions was engaged by the bank to propose an enhanced payments proposition for small and medium business customers and to recommend the best technical approach for deployment. The project was co-sponsored…

Kate Nelson

27 September 2022

Case Studies

Designing a technology strategy roadmap for payments and…

The bank’s reaction to major changes in the global Payments industry was a new Payments Platform Reference Architecture. Icon Solutions was asked to assess both current and target states, and overall delivery…

Kate Nelson

8 August 2022

Case Studies

Automating the customer due diligence experience

Our client is a Tier 1 bank with £750+ billion of assets and 19 million customers across UK and Ireland. Icon had proven experience at the bank from previous engagements, and were…

Kate Nelson

28 June 2022

Case Studies

Migrating legacy payments platforms to future-proof systems

Our client wanted their in-house payments platform to be used for processing all types of payments and needed to migrate legacy systems to the platform. As part of this programme, they needed…

Kate Nelson

8 June 2022

Case Studies

Transforming payments with IPF

Our client, a major Swiss bank operating in a number of countries across the globe, selected Icon Solutions to assist them on their payments transformation journey and chose Icon’s payments platform, IPF,…

Kate Nelson

10 May 2022

Case Studies

Payments Architecture service in support of ISO 20022…

Our client needed to transform their current payments architecture to ensure scalability and resilience, moving to an event-driven architecture approach. Faced with this significant strategic challenge, the bank needed a trusted third…

Kate Nelson

6 April 2022

Case Studies

Payments data monetisation: unlocking the business value from…

Icon Solutions was engaged by the wholesale banking division, co-sponsored by the Global CIO and the Chief Architect for Payments, Liquidity and Cash Management. In commissioning Icon, the Wholesale division’s business and…

Kate Nelson

22 February 2022

News

Icon Solutions to speak alongside client, BNP Paribas…

  Icon Solutions, the specialist provider of global payment technology solutions and consultancy services, has confirmed its sponsorship of this year’s Annual Payments Forum in London. Toine van Beusekom, Icon’s Global Head…

Kate Nelson

15 January 2019

Blogs

Reactive Systems: Let’s write a TFTP server with:…

  Welcome back! The past two posts in our series on building reactive systems have dealt with the topics of performance and fault-tolerance. In this post I’m going to talk about resilience,…

Patrick Altaie

29 May 2018

Blogs

Leveraging Instant Payments to future proof your payments…

In Germany, many of the smaller banks (for example Sparkasse banks) have opted to use payments as a service via a Technical Service Provider (TSP) in order to deliver Instant Payments.  This…

Aniruddha Maheshwari

27 March 2018

Blogs

Reactive Systems: How to Fail Nicely

  In the previous post in this series, we talked about the performance and scalability benefits that we get from actors and the actor system. I also briefly mentioned fault tolerance and…

Patrick Altaie

20 March 2018

Blogs

The Meat in the Sandwich

  Caught between two regulatory juggernauts I’ve been really enjoying the recent Six Nations rugby: there is some phenomenal skill on show, and some very astute tactics, but you can’t beat the…

Mady Dyson

13 March 2018

News

Icon Solutions appoints new Head of Payments Architecture

  London, 9th March 2018 – Icon Solutions, the leading provider of technology solutions and real-time payments expertise, today announced the appointment of Toine van Beusekom as Head of Payments Architecture. With…

Mady Dyson

9 March 2018

Blogs

Reactive Systems: It’s Actors All the Way Down

  Much of what we write about on the Icon blog is instant payments and instant payment adoption around the world. This blog is part of a series, which aims to bring…

Patrick Altaie

20 December 2017

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