IT for financial services

Nordic innovators change emphasis on gender equality in society

Female technology innovators in the Nordics take a different approach to trying to improve opportunities for women Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Bank of Ireland to reduce branch network by almost half

Bank of Ireland is latest bank to pin its future on digital channels as customers change their banking habits Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK contactless payment limit more than doubled

UK increases the amount that can be spent in one go using a contactless payments card to £100 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CIO interview: Laura Dawson, CIO, London School of Economics

LSE’s CIO talks about focusing on team development, her vision of creating a connected network of technologists, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Goldman Sachs CEO comments highlight need for home working balance

The remote working revolution has been prominent in the banking sector and organisations have a balancing act to perform once the pandemic passes Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HSBC offers to help customers transitioning to digital banking as branch closures continue

HSBC is offering its customers training in how to bank digitally in a safe and effective way as it, like many banks, moves customers out of branches and towards using online services Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

It’s now or never for UK fintech, government told

The UK government faces a ‘now or never’ moment if it wants financial technology to play a central role in the economy for years to come Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UKtech50 2021: The most influential people in UK technology

Computer Weekly has announced the 11th annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Tech-enabled hybrid working enables HSBC to cut 40% of its global office space

Bank is making huge reductions in the amount of office space it uses through a global hybrid-working policy Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

BBVA teams up with Google Cloud for IT security strategy revamp

Spanish bank banking giant BBVA is forging even closer ties with long-standing technology partner Google Cloud to bolster the security posture of its IT infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

UK government set to offer fintech visa

The importance of immigrant workers to the UK's fintech sector highlighted by government planned fintech visa Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Pandemic has exposed fractures in cyber fraud strategy

RUSI report urges a bolder and more coordinated response to cyber-enabled fraud as the pandemic lays bear the scale of the problem Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

European Commission proposes UK data adequacy agreement

The publication of two draft data adequacy decisions brings the UK closer to a final positive decision, which will enable the continued free flow of data between the EU and the UK if green-lit by member states Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Fingerprints will help payment cards retain relevance

Biometric payment cards using fingerprint technology could add billions to global banking revenues, says UBS Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Swedish central bank extends digital currency project

Sweden's central bank has extended its pilot of a digital currency for at least another year Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

TransferGo to harness Google-inspired tech capability

Payments fintech TransferGo chooses cloud-native core banking platform to build a digital wallet and expand its services Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Qatar regulator launches platform to monitor human understanding of financial crime

Qatari financial services regulator works with global body to provide digital platform to assess whether financial services workers understand how to prevent financial crime Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IR35 private sector reforms: HMRC reminds firms to use ‘reasonable care’ when applying new tax rules

As the countdown to the IR35 reforms being rolled out to the private sector continues apace, HM Revenue and Customs issues compliance guidance for firms in-scope of the new rules Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Digital investments will add £232bn to UK economy by 2040

The UK economy could grow by £232bn over the next two decades if investments in digital technologies continue Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Post Office to offer digital ID services to customers

Post Office partnership with Yoti is intended to expand customer choice as to how people prove their identity when accessing services Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Goldman Sachs reopens UK digital savings account

US banking giant resumes online account for UK savers after temporarily withdrawing it in response to high demand Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nationwide Building Society kicks off search for tech apprentices

Nationwide is working with local organisations to boost tech skills Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CW Benelux: Is reluctance to report cyber crimes in the Netherlands helping the criminals get away?

According to an academic study in the Netherlands, only one in seven Dutch people report a cyber crime to the police when it happens - feeling it is better to sort the problem out themselves because they don’t think the police will do anything. This is storing up trouble as cyber crime is an increasing problem in the country. Also in this issue, read why Dutch bank ABN Amro is selling its head office. Continue Reading

Société Générale adopts work-from-home policy

French bank formalises remote working policy after discussions with labour unions Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Century-old insurer uses low code as digital demands increase

Lloyds of London insurance and reinsurance broker Miller breaks from the past by adopting low-code software development platform Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Russia’s Sber launches international AI contest for children

Children from across the world invited to take part in artificial intelligence competition launched by Russian bank-turned-tech business Continue Reading

By

• Vladimir Kozlov

Revolut rewrites policy to include permanent remote working

Challenger finance firm Revolut is redesigning its office spaces and introducing permanent remote working policies Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Fraud and cyber crime still vastly under-reported

The scale of digitally enabled crime in the UK is dramatically under-reported, new statistics indicate Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Has Covid-19 made bank branch closures easier to sell?

Big banks continue to close branches and invest more in technology as the Covid-19 pandemic makes a case for digital banking Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Google grows cloud sales as parent’s profits top $40bn

Alphabet announces massive overall profits and increased Google cloud sales Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nordic countries dominate European online banking take-up

Nordics dominate online banking take-up in Europe, but the UK is not far behind Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Financial services giants form EU-focused coalition to boost sector’s public cloud adoption pace

A dozen or so European financial institutions have joined forces to stimulate the pace of public cloud adoption in the sector Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

IR35 private sector reforms: Zurich Insurance under fire over contractor blanket ban

Zurich Insurance is the latest high-profile financial services company to declare contractors can only continue to engage with it via umbrella setups from April 2021, ahead of the IR35 rules coming into force Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Commerzbank announces big job cuts and branch closures

German bank is closing hundreds of branches and cutting thousands of jobs as it reshapes for the digital age Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

JP Morgan Chase hires for UK digital bank launch

US banking giant hires in the UK in preparation for digital consumer bank launch Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Contactless payment limit could rise to £100 as FCA seeks industry views

UK financial services regulator is considering raising the contactless card payment limit to £100 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Yorkshire Building Society migrating application development to improve customer satisfaction

Yorkshire Building Society is moving to new application development platform to support the creation of customer-friendly online services Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Customers turn to cash as IT issue hits card payments at major supermarkets

IT problem at payment processing company has forced shoppers to resort to cash in Morrisons and Co-op stores Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber fraud a national security issue, says Rusi report

A report from the Rusi think tank calls for fresh approaches to how we think about fighting fraud Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Are banks overburdened with responsibility for money lost to online scams?

Bank boss calls for cross-industry cooperation to reduce scams that trick people into making instant payments online Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nine out of 10 UK card payments in 2020 were contactless

Contactless cards payments accounted for around 90% of card payments in the UK in 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UKtech50 2021: Vote for the most influential person in UK technology

Our judges have picked a shortlist, and now we invite readers to tell us who should be chosen as the most influential person in the UK tech scene for 2021 – submit your vote now Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

HSBC closing more branches as customers turn to digital channel

Bank announces branch closures as it reshapes its network for the digital age Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Questions raised by New Zealand central bank boss, following cyber attack investigation

The governor of New Zealand’s central bank said the organisation must answer questions about its security following a ‘significant’ attack Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UKtech50: The 2021 longlist

Each year, Computer Weekly launches its annual search for the most influential people in UK IT, where the tech industry nominates who it thinks should be in the top 50 – here is the longlist for 2021 Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Tech partnership to drive Finland’s quantum computing project

Organisations in Finland are developing quantum computing capabilities through a state and private sector partnership Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Experian calls for less bureaucratic data regulations

Open banking requires cross-industry collaboration, but sharing personal data requires explicit consent, which can become a bottleneck Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Numbers stack up for UK open banking three years on

Three years have passed since open banking regulations came into force and momentum is gathering Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Three-quarters of finance firms report more potentially criminal activity in their networks

Fears of failing to comply with strict regulations grow as financial services firms identify more suspicious financial activity on their networks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

European IT outsourcing spend up in 2020 after cloud boost

IT outsourcing sector growth is an indication that businesses are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic disruption it has brought Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Retail giant Walmart to launch a fintech

Fintech will be geared towards offering the services Walmart’s customers and employees want Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IR35 private sector reforms: Research highlights lack of preparedness ahead of April 2021 start date

As the private sector start date for the IR35 reforms looms large, research suggests some companies are still dragging their feet with their preparations Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Bahrain hopes 5G roll-out will attract more tech firms to its shores

Bahrain has completed its 5G roll-out, which will support its IT infrastructure in creating the right environment for technology firms Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Jobs in fintech bounce back after brief lockdown lull

Fintechs and payments companies need to make staff recruitment a priority as talent pool shrinks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

New Zealand central bank IT system breached in cyber attack

Bank is responding to a cyber attack after hackers breached the system of a third-party supplier Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Which? online banking investigation reveals ‘worrying gaps’ in security

Consumer rights organisation has ranked the security of UK online current account providers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Trump bans Chinese payment apps

US president signs executive order banning the use of Chinese payments app, citing national security risks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

DBS opens tech academy in skills training drive

The DBS Future Tech Academy will focus on training the bank’s technologists in three disciplines for a start – site reliability engineering, data processing and analytics, and application security Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Why Jack Ma might be too good a tech entrepreneur for China's leaders

Tech pioneer Jack Ma is facing new regulatory pressure from the Chinese authorities – is this some ideological spat, or simply that he's too good at what he does compared to the state-owned financial system? Continue Reading

By

• Tim Worstall, Adam Smith Institute

Huawei battles for market access in Nordics

Chinese networking equipment supplier Huawei fights to retain access to potential 5G contracts across the Nordic region Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Banking trade body calls for increased contactless payment limit

UK Finance proposes an increase in the limit on spending using contactless cards Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

AAT calls on government to re-think the Making Tax Digital exemption threshold

The Association of Accounting Technicians calls for improvements to HM Revenue and Customs’ Making Tax Digital programme, and says the exemption threshold, currently at £10,000, should be raised Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

The tech sector cannot build back better from the kitchen table

While technology has supported the lockdown economy by allowing millions to work from home, the in-person collaboration and shared experience on which the tech sector thrives will need to return soon Continue Reading

By

• Amy French, Level39

Pandemic heroes dominate New Year Honours List 2021

The New Year Honours List 2021 is remarkable for its recognition of those who have excelled during the Covid-19 public health emergency, including digital and data professionals Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Top 10 financial services stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 financial services IT stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Top 10 Middle East stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Middle East stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Swedish central bank moves e-krona project to next stage

Riksbank takes digital currency project to the next phase with Accenture building a platform to test the concept Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Top 10 enterprise IT in the Nordics stories of 2020

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Nordic enterprise IT stories of 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Prepare for bringing people back to the office with the Nordic tech startup blueprint

Business can learn lessons from Nordic tech startups to prepare employees to return to the office after Covid restrictions Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Post Office suffers latest court defeat in Horizon IT scandal

Court of Appeal indicates subpostmasters can pursue appeal route that could do more damage to Post Office’s reputation Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How 5G is going to transform digital banking in 2021

Covid-19 has accelerated digital banking this year and 5G promises to have an even bigger impact next year Continue Reading

By

• Evgenia Loginova

Danske Bank fights money laundering with AI

Danske Bank is using artificial intelligence to help it prevent a repeat of the huge money laundering scandal that hit one of its operations in Estonia Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Covid-19 sparks boom in Middle East digital payments sector

Stubborn cash use could fall in the Middle East after an acceleration in the take-up of digital payments amid the coronavirus pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Alicia Buller

Interview: Sudaman Thoppan Mohanchandralal, chief data and analytics officer, Allianz Benelux

The financial services firm is demonstrating the value of the chief data officer role Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Agility key to pandemic recovery, say APAC CFOs

Chief financial officers in the Asia-Pacific region call for financial transformation to bring about the agility that their organisations need to tide over the pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Avanti Kumar

Challenger banks hindered by lack of customer confidence

Despite an acceleration in the use of digital banking services, challenger banks face the obstacle of winning customer trust Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CW Europe: Tour de France fans get a virtual experience

The organisers of this year's Tour de France worked with technology services company NTT in partnership with Amaury Sport Organisation to provide what they described as an “enhanced experience” for race fans who could not be at the roadside because of Covid restrictions. Also read why Deutsche Bank has agreed to sell its retail banking IT operation to one of its main IT suppliers for a token €1. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Societe Generale latest banking giant to cut costs and increase digital investment

French bank Societe Generale is merging two retail brands and increasing investment in its digital offering to meet its ambitious customer acquisition plans Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Singapore government to boost blockchain adoption

Singapore government unveils S$12m programme to promote development and adoption of blockchain applications beyond financial services Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

What next for the now-profitable app-based Starling Bank?

Starling bank is the first of the new breed of UK digital banks to make a profit, so where next? Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Allied Irish Bank prioritises digital services as it cuts workforce

Bank is cutting its operating costs by 10% with job cuts and facility closures, but will continue to invest heavily in technology Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Bank of England enlists development partner to unlock cloud

Bank has agreed a two-year deal with a cloud development platform provider as it seeks to take its cloud journey to the next level Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lax Android app developers putting millions of users at risk

Eight months after Google patched a critical vulnerability, developers have failed to update their apps, putting millions of users of apps such as dating services Bumble and Grindr at risk Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

CIO interview: John Davison, First Central Group

For the last nine years, John Davison has provided an IT strategy to drive business operations. Automation is the next phase of that strategy Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

ABN Amro to sell head office as it focuses on enabling remote working

Dutch bank is selling its head office and redesigning another facility to facilitate increased home working Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

22,000 malicious .uk domains suspended in past year

Nominet has suspended just over 22,000 domains in the 12 months to 31 October 2020, continuing a downward trend, and with less impact from Covid-19 than might be expected Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government covers its ears as complaint by victims of Post Office abuse heads to ombudsman

Government denies responsibility for the abuse inflicted on subpostmasters by the Post Office over faulty IT system Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

$60m Middle East tech fund targets 120 startups

Venture capital fund expects rapid regional technology growth in the post-Covid-19 world Continue Reading

By

• Alicia Buller

CIO interview: Simon Bateman, Allica Bank

Challenger bank has built its entire core banking system from scratch using the Azure public cloud and an API ecosystem Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Data safes will give users control over their data

Belgian computer scientist tells Computer Weekly how people can regain control of their online personal information Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Robots taking jobs, but creating careers

Robotic process automation developers tell Computer Weekly about the job they never expected to be doing Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CW Nordics: Bank branch closures continue as digital banking grows

Sweden’s Handelsbanken is cutting its branch network by nearly half, which means more money will be invested in IT. But it’s not just Sweden and the Nordics – banks across the world are watching the fintech industry demonstrate to consumers what banking can be like if the right technology is in place. Also in this issue, read about the Norwegian government’s decision not to implement an outright ban on the use of 5G equipment supplied by China's Huawei. Continue Reading

Securing UK’s critical national infrastructure is a 2021 priority

Government outlines the UK’s strategic cyber security policies for the coming 12 months, with critical national infrastructure a clear priority Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Swedish bank cuts branches and jobs, increases IT spend

 Continue Reading

Fintechs take stock amid economic shocks

Survey reveals that the top priority for 10% of UK fintechs next year will be to survive the double blow of Covid-19 and Brexit Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Finnish finance giant pilots fingerprint payments

OP Financial introduces biometric security technology to enable higher-value payments to be made safely using contactless cards Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HMRC warns over uptick in Self Assessment tax scams

HMRC issues updated warnings as 2021 Self Assessment deadlines loom Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Financial services data volumes heighten risk of insider breach

Financial services organisations hold so much data that it is becoming virtually impossible to safeguard properly against data breaches caused by malicious or careless employees Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Mastercard: Looks like a tech firm, acts like a tech firm, is a tech firm

Financial services giant finds itself in a prominent position as the volume of digital transactions increases Continue Reading

How Mastercard is taking digital payments into a new era

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to Mastercard about how the credit card giant is using new technologies to take digital payments into a new era. After months of unprecedented uncertainty, we ask CIOs how they are planning for the next 12 months. And we examine how the growth in remote working will affect IT salaries. Read the issue now. Continue Reading