The FStech Podcast
This podcast brings the best of the FStech website - a leading source of financial services technology news and analysis - to your ears, featuring panel discussions and one-on-one interviews with the most important experts and topics in this rapidly-changing industry.
Episodes
The FStech Podcast #1 - Financial crime doesn't discriminate
How are financial services firms battling fraud and keeping up with new regulations, while continuing to innovate in the current landscape? This podcasts brings together a mix of experts to look at how technology can help with compliance as the threats, costs and competition continue to evolve.
Act like you've been hacked – a new approach to cyber security
As IT teams around the globe attempt to transition towards a new normal, the upheaval has created opportunities that cyber criminals have been eager to exploit. Many financial services firms are starting to think about how they will respond when, rather than if, a data breach occurs.
This podcast features a conversation between FStech editor Peter Walker and Viavi Solutions senior product ma
RegTech and remote working
As many of the world's companies are forced to embrace remote working, new challenges are being met in terms of building trust and developing partnerships virtually. When the task is implementing complex regulatory technology solutions, the problems of no face-to-face contact mean managing expectations and making decisions are all the more difficult.
But for many financial services firms, thi
Money laundering risk in the time of Coronavirus
Digital transformation strategies have accelerated during the Coronavirus crisis across all financial services sectors, but none perhaps more so than those defending against money laundering.
As criminals look to take advantage of increasingly online consumers and disparate workforces, it has never been more important to get a holistic view of risk, with the technology to back that up.
T
Using machine learning to predict fraud with Galvanize
As financial fraud methods evolve, so must the techniques used to detect and defend against them - so as fraudsters automate their hacking, financial services firms are looking to artificial intelligence technology to protect customer data.
Machine learning is one of the most effective ways of combatting such crime, but many businesses don't feel like they have the expertise to implement such
Can you trust the CEO? - tackling the rise of authorised fraud
With everyone from the chief executive to the graduate recruit now working from home, there has been a significant spike in the instance of authorised fraud during the Coronavirus lockdown.
As staff are unable to go through the normal security checks, cyber criminals have been taking advantage of dispersed teams and playing people off one another with scam emails purporting to be from senior
Unlocking the value of Open Banking
Open Banking has been active in the UK since the start of 2018, with consumers starting to realise the benefits of easier account aggregation and data sharing between banking apps. But take-up has been mixed across different areas of the industry and end-user concerns still remain around security and privacy.
Open Banking solutions provider Yolt Technology Services recently researched the top
A busy time to be a CIO
The last six months have been some of the busiest ever for chief information officers, who have had to deal with the challenge and opportunity of one of the largest surges in technology investment in history – with companies spending around $15 billion extra a week on tech.
That's according to the latest research from Harvey Nash and KPMG, which surveyed more than 4,200 IT leaders, who preside
The cost of non-compliance
While the Coronavirus crisis means regulators have taken a step back in recent months, the cost of non-compliance remains high for banks of all shapes and sizes.
Be it Anti-Money Laundering directives, Strong Customer Authentication, the Basel III reforms or General Data Protection Regulation, it is crucial to have the right systems and processes in place.
Data management is the key theme
The ticking time bomb of outdated file transfer systems
Legacy IT systems are still common across financial services, but the recent lockdown-driven shift to online banking has meant many are being stretched to their limits by digital demand.
This, coupled with the fact that most are on-premise - requiring physical maintenance in a time of remote working - means that the scale and complexity of IT upgrade projects has also increased recently.
O
The importance of Internet Exchange Points
The Coronavirus crisis has accelerated the rate of digital transformation within financial services, with companies from incumbent institutions to disruptive startups making sure they have the tech infrastructure to cope with increased online demand.
But one often overlooked factor in these strategic shifts is the role of Internet Exchange Points, with more and more FinTech firms looking to ta
Connecting data assets to get ahead
Now more than ever, having a clear view of customer information can be the difference between success and failure in the modern financial services marketplace.
With teams and technology stretched to the limit, not to mention company budgets, it's crucial to make the most of the data assets you already have. But even for less legacy-burdened firms, this can be distributed across a variety of di
Finding the UX sweet spot for online banking
Financial services firms are increasingly striving to hit that sweet spot between security and usability, giving a seamless user experience (UX) while protecting them from harm online.
As we all spend more time at home during the pandemic - rather than in the office or visiting a bank branch - it becomes all the more important to get the amount of friction right. More than anything, it's cruci
The rise of DevSecOps in financial services
As financial services organisations are forced to accelerate digital transformation initiatives to meet consumer and colleague demand for mobile and remote access to apps and sites, many are moving their tech and culture to DevOps.
Development and operations have never been more crucial to the running of a modern financial firm, then throw in the rising need for cyber security protections and
Can FinTech partnerships get banks to better-serve SMEs?
The Coronavirus recession has made banks increasingly reluctant to provide accounts and finance to small businesses - apparently down to the higher regulatory burden and a perception that SMEs are riskier and more resource intensive.
This presents a huge problem for legitimate businesses, as it disrupts their business continuity and growth. A multitude of FinTech firms are seizing the opportun
How to spot the weakest link in your cybersecurity armour
As the pandemic moves employees as well as their devices and their workloads into remote locations, the cyber criminals have followed them there. As a result, a company is only as safe as the weakest link in its network, and must identify it before the attackers can exploit it.
And as surging demand for online financial services accelerates digitisation across the industry, it is not just user
Data on-demand: how is data governance changing the face of asset management?
With rising demand for digital services and real-time decision making in financial services, there is a renewed focus on properly governed data as the fuel for this transformation - and the world of investment and asset management is racing to catch up. Following the arrival of on-demand culture, with employees able to call up the data, movie or product they need at the touch of button on Amazon o
Earn my trust: Enabling data sharing with identity verification
Rising awareness of data privacy among consumers has made secure identity verification essential for building customer trust, proving to them that the data fuelling a wide range of apps and digital services is securely stored and out of the reach of unscrupulous cyber criminals.
However, for financial services firms, this secure exchange of data goes both ways: companies need to be sure that h
Spotlight on automation and analytics in the data centre
Financial sector firms are already struggling to keep up with the ever-changing performance demands of applications, and the current pressure on firms to improve time to market and scale rapidly is only adding to these concerns.
Automation and object storage can complement core banking applications, which can be difficult migrate to the cloud, and enable better monitoring, management, and opti
Digital threat: can a strong cyber strategy boost competitiveness?
With the coronavirus crisis prompting a vast shift from in-branch operations to online, like most industries, financial services has needed to adapt.
Open Banking is also disrupting the market, with both banks and FinTechs looking to boost customer experience by harnessing data to offer improved services and a wider range of products.
Both the shift to online and the disruption of Open ban
Becoming digital: how are wealth management firms transforming while respecting tradition?
As the demand for digital services skyrocketed during the pandemic, financial services providers had to move faster than ever before to provide continuity for their customers across digital channels and platforms. And while retail banks make headway against the digital challengers, many sectors, notably wealth management, investment and asset management are struggling to keep up with the pace of c
Digital asset anxiety: Is the biggest risk to data security in financial services often the most overlooked?
FSIs continue to spend ever-increasing billions on protecting their data, as high-profile threats such as ransomware fill the headlines, and highly complex supply chain attacks like Solarwinds shock the world. However, taking advantage of how organisations move digital assets remains an evergreen attack vector for cybercriminals.
While insider threat might be associated with vengeful employees
Know Your Customer: Managing evolving risks throughout the customer lifestyle
There have been easier times for customer onboarding. The money laundering industry is currently estimated at being worth around two trillion worldwide, every year, and the challenges posed to FSIs by the introduction of the EU's 6th AML directive, Brexit, and the pandemic are well established.
But these challenges are amplified by the fact many organisations are still unaware of where the dat
6AMLD is your data ready?
With just months to go until 6AMLD is set to be fully enforced in June, organisations are scrambling to adapt to an environment that assigns additional liability for breaches to senior managers and threatens heavier sanctions across the board, with organisations all too aware of the financial and reputational risk should the regulator come knocking.
But with the anti-money laundering risk land
Taking Open Banking one step further
Open Banking is already proving to be a significant disruptor in the current financial services market. It's providing a new way to elevate customer experience by harnessing data to improve services and offer a much wider range of products.
But what if Open Banking could be taken one step further? Imagine an ecosystem that goes beyond the standard format and instead reaches customers outside o
Cracking down on digital communications risks in FS
The shift to remote working has triggered an explosion of digital communications challenges for financial services firms - and a corresponding surge in the data privacy risk. As employees send millions of emails and messages across digital collaboration platforms, financial institutions are in a race against time to protect their systems, employees and reputation from the devastating consequences
Counting the cost of downtime for FSIs
Banks are under immense pressure to undergo rapid transformation and roll out innovative new products and services at the same pace as their competitors, while at the same time ensuring the high-quality customer experiences which consumers now expect.
Attempting large scale digital transformation in a short period of time always carries a degree of risk when it comes to operational continuity,
Bending the risk curve in the hybrid workplace
As the workforce prepares for the long-term shift to hybrid working, financial services organisations are considering how the established operating model should change to maintain both security and agility. But hybrid working comes with its own challenges. Whether it's personal devices accessing corporate data and applications or cybercriminals exploiting vulnerabilities opened up by remote access
How are financial services institutions managing risk in real-time?
The past year has brought unprecedented disruption for financial services providers and their customers.
For many, the pandemic-induced risk landscape has created new challenges for FSIs including balancing disruption detection, digesting information from all over the globe, and managing a co-ordinated response. From local COVID-19 lockdown mandates affecting physical branches to cyber crimina
Fact or friction: What do we really know about consumer banking?
As consumers adapt their habits and increasingly transact online, demand for digital financial services has risen exponentially.
As a result, financial institutions (FIs) are under pressure to provide smooth onboarding processes, featuring the most up to date and easy to use technology combined with security and compliance - or risk losing the customer at the first hurdle.
To delve further
Reality check: monetising Open APIs
In the age of data-driven financial services, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have become the essential building blocks of digital channels such as the apps and online banking services used by millions of customers.
But as the data ecosystem evolves, and Open Banking shifts into Open Finance and Open Data, APIs are becoming far more than just gateways for data exchange between appli
How are banks providing omnichannel customer experience?
In the on-demand economy, customers now expect to be able to engage with their service provider - be it a streaming service, online retailer, or banking provider, at the click of a button and on the channel of their choice.
As a result, financial services providers are under mounting pressure to leverage data, AI and automation to provide a personalised and seamless customer experience, whethe
How are FSIs using their security strategy to elevate consumer interactions?
Over the past eighteen months, the UK financial industry has been forced to react quickly to a rapidly changing fraud landscape. As the nature of fraud activity shifts, banks and other financial institutions are facing a myriad of new risks, threats, and challenges.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on people's lives, forcing the sector to deal with increasingly difficu
Fraud in Focus: Shifting from fraud detection to fraud prevention
The rapid rise in digital and online activity has opened up a new battleground in the fight against fraud for financial services providers (FSIs), who face a range of emerging fraud vectors and increasingly sophisticated scams.
And while customers moving online provides the perfect cover for criminals looking to carry out authorised push payments (APP), synthetic ID and transaction fraud, othe
How can technology improve trading workflows?
Trading has traditionally always been an office-based activity. However, the demands of the pandemic didn't make many allowances for tradition or for company culture. Firms had to adapt their trading operations to a work from anywhere model practically overnight regardless of their circumstances.
In response, many FSIs are turning towards voice-based technology and biometrics to replicate the
How is data driving customer value and business decision making for FSIs?
In the last 12 months, a digital tidal wave has hit the financial services industry, leading to a corresponding surge in data volumes. But as the data landscape becomes more complex, many financial services providers are buckling under pressure to ensure that more data translates into greater value for the customer and better business decision making.
With data locked in silos across disparate
Why financial services firms need an open hybrid cloud
Financial services institutions are increasingly turning to hybrid cloud solutions as they modernize their organizations and look to meet customer demand for digital services. But what does this actually look like?
Taking an open source approach to cloud can also help to overcome some of the key pitfalls many FSIs fall into when it comes to cloud transformation, such as cloud-vendor lock-in, g
Modernizing Insurance: A reality check
In today's world of digital platforms, the insurance industry is racing to catch up with customer demand for real-time, personalised services across a range of channels and apps.
But as the InsurTech competitors step up the speed and ease of access to insurance and begin to build the Open Insurance ecosystem, more established players are struggling to prioritise and orchestrate the cultural,
Data platforms: How are FSIs transforming the customer experience?
The tidal wave of digital financial services driven by the pandemic has put data and analytics squarely at the centre of growth strategies for FSIs.
But as customers demand ever-more personalised and efficient services many firms are struggling to keep up, with vital data stuck in silos and legacy systems making it a near impossible challenge to draw out key insights.
To tackle this challe
Can we stop criminals using corporates to launder money?
Despite the best efforts of regulators, organised crime continues to represent a huge part of the global economy. Criminal groups are funnelling billions of dollars of revenue every year through accounts, which needs to appear to be legitimate. With the large transactions involved, criminals are favouring companies as convenient fronts to launder money at scale, because consumer accounts simply ca
How is data helping companies fight evolving fraud risks?
The face of fraud is changing. Whether you look to the rise of romance scams, purchase scams, or the emergence of new types of crypto and investment fraud, novel strands and variants are emerging almost every day. And with many UK workers still working remotely, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the increased attack surface which the shift to remote working can offer.
Though financial ins
Prevention vs cure: What are the best cyber security approaches for FS companies looking to control the cost of cyber liability insurance?
Research shows that organisations with compromised user credentials (normally through data breach) are many times more likely to fall victim to a ransomware attack. And when you consider that the rate of ransomware attacks has more than doubled in the past year, it's no wonder that the cost of cyber liability insurance - which is designed to support a business in the event of an attack or a breach
How can FSIs ensure compliance as channels of communication evolve?
There has never been a time when FS firms didn't have to deal with monitoring illicit employee communications. But the introduction of ever more channels of communication, with new apps appearing seemingly every month, means there are more ways than ever for mishaps - and malicious activity - to fall under the radar.
Organisations now need to shift through unprecedented volumes of metadata to
Digital workers: How is AI changing the rules for sanctions and compliance teams?
Compliance teams in financial services companies are currently battling a perfect storm of new and complex challenges; a rise in global regulatory action combined with new sanctions on entities and individuals following Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to an exponential increase in workload for employees.
Alongside this, employees are also shouldering the burden of staff shortages as finan
Data streaming: unleashing the value of data in motion in financial services
For many financial services institutions (FSIs), data is a critical part of their operations. However, the millions of accrued datapoints that traditional finance institutions hold are only as valuable as they are accessible.
For traditional FSIs, accessibility is often a sticking point. All too often, useful data that could be meaningfully deployed is stored in legacy data repositories and is
The next big leap in cloud for FS
The shift to cloud in financial services is now well underway, with large institutions at various stages of their cloud journey in a bid to keep up with the rapid digitization of products and services, and the need to access and leverage data from multiple locations.
However, for most firms what they have done so far is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the potential of cloud to transform
Fighting fraud-disruption, regulation and the UK's ongoing battle with cybercrime
In mid-2021, UK Finance revealed that banking customers in the country lost a record 1.3 billion pounds in 2021 to cyber fraud, arguing that the country is experiencing an 'epidemic of fraud' and that 'collaborative action' is required in order to regain control.
Not even the government is insulated from this-it admitted that as much as 4.9 billion pounds of the 47 billion pounds lent by banks
How to remain resilient on your cloud journey
Financial Services organisations are expanding their services and moving an increasing number of vital applications to the cloud.
Almost half of FSIs use a multi-cloud strategy, using an average of three cloud providers, and this number is set to rise.
At the same time, the regulators want to add a layer of protection. The European Union's incoming Digital Operational Resilience Act, or DORA
Evolving opportunities for digital leaders in financial services
There are a number of key challenges facing organisations looking to establish themselves as digital leaders in the financial sector, but fundamentally it boils down to two key factors: technology, and mindset.
The first is a question of how FSIs can excel and exploit the opportunities in the market if you don't have the right equipment. The second comes down to a wider shift in approach and at
Tackling cybercrime at the root – the importance of prevention in financial cybersecurity
While cyber crimes are a reality that cyber professionals in the financial sector have had to and will continue to live with, bank fraud teams have long been focusing on analysing instances of fraud after they happened. There is however now growing momentum for financial institutions to take a more proactive approach to preventing cyber threats before they can take hold.
In this podcast, Dr. Tr
Future-proofing CX in finance: Trends, technologies, and strategies
The role of a financial institution's approach to customer experience (CX) is something which should never be underestimated. With the wealth of options available to customers in 2023 - whether they are consumers or enterprise - banks, insurers and other financial institutions need to look for ways that they can stand out from the crowd.
The latest State of Customer Experience Europe report fro
The impact of rising costs on affordability for small businesses in the UK
After a long period of low interest rates, we've recently seen unprecedented rises in the Bank of England base rate to levels not seen in more than a decade causing significant concern for consumers which is being compounded by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
While the implications of current economic uncertainties are grabbing headlines for how household finances are being affected, underre
Confidential Computing in finance: Bridging innovation, security, and regulation
Increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats from malicious actors are targeting financial institutions more and more, while ever-growing regulatory commitments - including the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) introduced earlier this year - are compounding the number of issues which security professionals are having to keep on top of to ensure smooth operations.
It is for these reasons that
Safeguarding economies: DNFBPs' role in AML and CTF compliance explained
Join FStech editor Jonathan Easton and Adam McLaughlin, global head of Financial Crime Strategy & AML SME at NICE Actimize and Graham Mackenzie, head of AML at the Law Society of Scotland as they look at the role Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) play in the financial sector, and the challenges they face in complying with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finan
Data Streaming and Consumer Duty: Transforming customer experience in banking
Introduced at the end of July, the Consumer Duty is a game-changing new set of rules and guidance for financial services institutions in the UK, and companies must look to modernise their systems in adherence with it in mind to create the best customer experience possible.
Event Driven Architecture (EDA) is a powerful tool that can help firms meet the requirements of the Consumer Duty. EDA is
Exploring DORA: What the landmark regulation means for financial institutions
In this FStech Podcast, Michael Bratton, Principal Consultant at Riskonnect, joins FStech Editor Jonathan Easton to examine the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) - what it is, its impact on the financial services sector, and what financial institutions should do to ensure their compliance.
In an in-depth presentation on the subject, Bratton drills into the details of why the European C
Unlocking the future of banking: Building unified omnichannel customer journeys
Financial services institutions in 2024 face immense pressure to deliver seamless digital banking experiences across all channels.
Customer expectations have reached an all-time high, with a recent McKinsey survey revealing that 89 per cent of consumers now engage in mobile banking and demand a consistent experience across physical, web, and app interactions.
But while consumers demand exc
Beyond greenwashing: How FSIs should approach their ESG strategy
Consumers are increasingly aware of their carbon footprint and are making purchasing decisions based on the perceived ethics of firms they deal with. This also applies to their banks, insurance companies and pension firms.
The financial services industry cannot escape this demand for greener services and pressure is growing on FSIs to be fully transparent with their data and reporting. Should
The human firewall: Activating employees to safeguard financial data
As financial services increasingly embrace SaaS and cloud-based technologies, they face emerging threats to safeguard sensitive customer data. While comprehensive IT security measures are essential, the active involvement of employees across organisations is pivotal in ensuring the protection of sensitive data.
In this insightful discussion, FStech editor Jonathan Easton engages with Rich Vibe
Cyber Security essentials: Steps to keep your organisation safe
Despite improvements in technology, financial service institutions (FSIs) still need to keep their systems safe from a range of threats including cyber hacks, malware data breaches.
With a spate of high-profile outages and cyberattacks, financial services companies need to make sure their systems are as secure as possible and ensure all their employees are on the same page when it comes to r
Banking on innovation: navigating challenges and strategic partnerships in financial services
The banking sector is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by economic pressures, evolving regulatory demands and the growing need for technological innovation and strategic partnerships to navigate a rapidly changing landscape.
To meet these challenges, banks are accelerating their modernisation efforts while ensuring compliance. By adopting innovative strategies, they aim to address
Beyond Payments: the benefits of Open Banking
Open Banking is changing the payment industry and the adoption of Open Banking is increasing with over 11 million consumers and small businesses using the technology.
Retailers are increasingly implementing Open Banking as a payment method offering it alongside more traditional methods.
In this FStech podcast Lynsey Hunt, Head of Product at Payit by NatWest, takes a closer look at some o
Banking's GenAI evolution: Beyond the hype, building the future
In an era where AI promises to reshape banking's fundamental operations, how do institutions separate genuine transformation opportunities from temporary trends? In the first episode of a three-part podcast series sponsored by HCLTech, FStech explores how financial institutions can navigate the transformative potential of Generative AI while building lasting foundations for innovation.
In this
Data trust in the AI era: Building customer confidence through responsible banking
Trust has always been the cornerstone of banking, but in today's AI-driven landscape, how do financial institutions balance personalisation with privacy whilst maintaining customer confidence? In the second episode of FStech's three-part video podcast series sponsored by HCLTech, Sudip Lahiri, Executive Vice President & Head of Financial Services for Europe & UKI at HCLTech examines the critical r
From compliance to competitive edge: Rethinking operational resilience with DataOps and AI
How are leading financial institutions turning regulatory demands into strategic advantage? In this FStech podcast, sponsored by BMC Software, we explore how DataOps and AI are reshaping operational resilience across the sector.
Drawing on the new report, "Shaping the future: The strategic role of DataOps and emerging technologies in enhancing operational resilience for modern financial servi
Deploying $1 Billion – What's Next for Early-Stage FinTech
Early-stage FinTech is entering a new era. Macroeconomic headwinds, rising consumer expectations, and tighter capital markets are reshaping how innovation is funded and how success is defined. For founders and investors alike, navigating this landscape requires a sharper focus on fundamentals, smarter capital deployment, and a deeper understanding of where real opportunity lies.
In this FStech
Creating value together: Strategic partnerships in the age of GCCs
As Global Capability Centres reshape the financial services landscape, one question stands out: how do leading banks balance in-house innovation with strategic partnerships to drive real transformation?
In this compelling FStech video podcast, Bouke Hoving, Global CIO Wholesale Banking, ING and Sudip Lahiri, Executive Vice President and Head - Europe & UKI, Financial Services, HCLTech reveal h
From challenger to mainstay: Revolut's licence and the closing gap in UK banking
On 11 March, Revolut was granted a full UK banking licence after a four-year process. Revolut's cofounder and chief executive, Nik Storonsky, described the decision as the culmination of "a long-term strategic priority".
In the short term, the bank has said nothing will change for customers. This raises a key question: if Revolut could already offer lending without a full UK licence, why go th
