Abu Dhabi Bank goes mobile

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) has rolled out a new SMS-based payment service that is expected to allow customers to pay, send, and receive money 24 hours a day, reports Banking Business Review.

These “Arrow” services are the first in an 18-month roll-out that will extend to remittances, salary payouts, merchant payments and bill payments, according to the company.

The bank has said in the first stage of the service roll-out, the system will allow users of the service to make transfers from their NBAD bank account to anyone in the UAE using their mobile phones.

Norkom Technologies won the Best Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions category of the prestigious Annual Banking Technology Readers' Choice awards, in London, on 6 November 2008, says Market Watch.

International readers of the online magazine are asked to name their choice of vendors and products in a range of categories spanning all parts of the financial services spectrum.

Commenting on the win, Brendan Walsh, Norkom's head of sales for UK and Ireland, said: "We're absolutely delighted to win the award for Best AML Solution for the second year in a row.”

The London Metal Exchange and Cinnober have carried out a major upgrade of the commodities exchange's electronic trading platform LMEselect, states Banking Tech.

Since the first delivered system version in 2003, the exchange claims that the total number of trades per month has increased from approximately 6 000 to nearly 180 000.

Exchange volumes were up 44% in October compared to the corresponding period of 2007.