IT for financial services

UK fintech investment exceeds US and China

Financial technology investments in the UK have surpassed those made in the US and China Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Intelligent automation spending to hit $232bn by 2025

Technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and machine learning could help traditional enterprises gain ground on digital-first giants Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IBM and CLS to work on blockchain app store

IBM and foreign exchange settlement provider CLS are using their complimentary expertise to create an app store for finance firms using distributed ledger technology Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Dubai disputes court and Smart Dubai partner to apply blockchain

Organisations in Dubai are working on developing the principal of blockchain-based courts Continue Reading

By

• Edward Banda

Search begins for UK’s cyber security Unsung Heroes

The Security Serious cyber awareness campaign has opened nominations for the third annual cyber security Unsung Heroes awards Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Post-quantum security on Airbus’s radar

With quantum computing on the horizon, multinational aerospace and defence firm Airbus is among those organisations that are looking at evolving their cryptography capabilities to stay ahead of technology Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Five things to consider when joining Open Banking revolution

Open Banking has arrived and will gather pace over the coming tears, but what should organisations consider when they join the revolution Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IT meltdown pushes TSB into loss

Bank is feeling the effects of its recent IT problems, reporting a loss of more than £100m for the first six months of 2018 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Brace for PowerGhost cryptominer, warns Kaspersky Lab

Corporate networks are the target of a new illicit cryptocurrency mining malware that is difficult to detect and eradicate, security researchers warn Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Software development remains insecure

The prevalence of common and well-known web-based vulnerabilities underlines the need for better education around secure software development Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Cyber security vulnerability concerns skyrocket

Security professionals are more worried about data breaches and cyber attacks than they were a year ago, with most fearing that Meltdown-Spectre attacks are becoming the norm Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

ERP applications are under cyber attack, research confirms

ERP applications are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals, hacktivists and nation-state actors, a report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Capital markets firms to ramp up public cloud spending

Companies in the investment sector are increasingly using the public cloud to improve access to business-critical data Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nordnet drops AI assistant while SEB deepens collaboration

One Nordic bank decides to stop using cognitive agent Amelia to focus on other AI technologies, but another widens the use of the software Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Commerzbank creates Hadoop-based platform for business-critical insights

German bank creates an entire new department to build and support a platform to provide business-critical insights Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Zero trust security model boosts business confidence

Organisations that combine the zero trust security model with next-gen access are more confident about meeting access control challenges, a study shows Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Barclays to open tech hub in Glasgow

Banking group’s campus in Glasgow will host technology and operations teams using the latest technologies Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Brussels aims to become an insurtech hub

Belgian capital is calling on startups as it eyes up the huge opportunities in the insurance technology sector Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cloud sales stoke Microsoft’s strong growth

Microsoft says cloud-based Office products made a huge contribution to sales growth Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Interview: Dan Phelps, chief architect, Travelex

Travelex is changing the way it works by combining people, processes and technology to transform the company and by setting up a digital platform Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Global trading infrastructure firm opens office in Ireland because of Brexit

Financial services firms are attracted to Ireland as the UK prepares to leave the EU, leading to the creation of IT jobs in the Emerald Isle Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

London Fintechs: Could Saudi Arabia be your next stage growth opportunity?

Saudi Arabia is selling itself as a fintech hub with an environment for startups to flourish, but are fintechs ready to set up there? Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Saudi Arabia entices UK fintechs to its shores

Saudi Arabia is offering fintechs from other countries the opportunity to access its large internal market Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Matching disaster recovery to cyber threats

While it is important to take steps to prevent cyber attacks, they can still happen. That is why disaster recovery practices are equally critical Continue Reading

By

• Nicholas Fearn

Venture capitalists fears for London’s fintech future is the starkest of warnings

Fintech is nothing without VC funding and the UK risks losing a significant share Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber attackers cashing in on ‘hidden’ attack surface

Cyber attackers are cashing in on organisations’ lack of visibility into all online interactions that can involve multiple third parties, a report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Three-quarters of consumers have interacted with artificial intelligence

Capgemini survey finds 55% of people prefer a mix of AI and humans when they interact with organisations Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The sacking of a robot revealed the need for robot probation periods

Businesses need to give robots a probabtion period for different roles andd must be prepared to bring out the P45 Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

White-hat hackers find record number of vulnerabilities

White-hat hackers are finding more vulnerabilities than ever before, with crowdsourced security testing continuing to gain popularity, a report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK firms too confident about cyber security

Three-quarters of UK companies say their cyber protection is above average, and nearly half think they are a “top performer” despite the growth in data breaches Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK fintech industry fears Brexit-induced talent squeeze

London’s financial technology community warns of problems ahead as the reality of the UK leaving the EU unfolds Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Hidden costs of data breaches difficult to manage, study finds

The full cost of “mega breaches” can be up to £264m, with the average UK data breach costing £2.69m, a study has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Infosec community welcomes bank sector focus on cyber resilience

The information security community has welcomed regulators’ call on the banking industry to demonstrate their capability to respond to cyber attacks because it highlights the importance of cyber resilience for all businesses Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Investment flows into Nordic startups from all directions

The Nordic tech startup scene is attracting funding from a variety of sources, with private equity firms, banks and traditional IT companies all keen to put money in Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

HSBC previews the banking staff of the future

The digital revolution in banking is set to create previously unknown jobs, and HSBC has outlined three of the job roles that will be created in the future Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Banks given three months to report on how they respond to outages

UK financial services regulators get tough on banks over their ability to recover from IT outages Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How changes in retail law could affect customer experience

New payments regulations could increase the amount of times customers will need to use two-factor authentication to make a purchase, potentially putting a strain on customer experience, according to MasterCard Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Beware blockchain security blindspots, warns RSA

Companies need to ensure that rushed blockchain and other new technology projects are not introducing security vulnerabilities by gaining granular visibility of network activity, according to RSA Security Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

DevOps done right: Securing grassroots support for a top-down DevOps enterprise push

As more and more enterprises rush to join the DevOps movement, practitioners share details of how they secured grassroots support for their senior leadership team's top-down agile adoption mandates Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

London fintechs managed by Oracle's Brussels arm: a shock a few years ago, but not today

Not that surprising in this day and age that a large software company puts its European fintech resources in a city other than London Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

European banks need to balance fintech strategies

European Banking Authority highlights the risks of banks taking up fintech too quickly, and of ignoring it Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK financial services firms up tech investments to fuel new services

Driven by the need to offer new services, as well as meet industry regulations, UK financial services firms are increasing spending on IT Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HMRC deactivates record number of fake websites

HM Revenue & Customs has removed more than 20,000 malicious websites in the past year, but warns people to stay alert to the threat from online fraudsters Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

GDPR exposes breach reporting flaws

In the month since the GDPR compliance deadline, it has become clear that many organisations are not well prepared for personal data breach notifications, says PwC’s data protection lead Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Nationwide Building Society to fund tech startups to the tune of £50m

With an available fund of £50m, Nationwide Building Society is the latest traditional financial services provider to support tech startups Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber criminals 'infect and collect' in cryptojacking surge

Illicit cryptocurrency mining offers cyber criminals lower risk, higher efficacy and greater ease of making money, adding passive exploitation to ransomware extortion, data breach theft and fraud, a report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Technology key to keeping staff happy

Giving employees access to the latest technologies will improve their satisfaction and increase productivity, survey shows Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IBM early findings on disastrous TSB core banking system migration released

Report released by Treasury Committee criticises lack of rigour in preparation for core banking system migration, but TSB says report’s content is out of date Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lloyds Bank cuts 450 jobs to make way for digitisation roles

Lloyds Banking Group has axed 450 jobs to create 255 digital-focused roles as it adapts to changes in customer banking habits Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Need for speed: designing a modern campus LAN

Just like datacentres before them, campus LANs are increasingly being defined by virtualisation and software-based controls. Next to this shift, the hardware also continues to improve as network owners look to keep pace with user demand Continue Reading

By

• Christian Annesley

Banks already looking for EU-based IT staff for post-Brexit operations

UK banks already have plans to move some of their operations to the EU, with the search for EU-based IT professionals under way Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nine out of 10 enterprises will use robotic process automation by 2020

Robotic process automation take-up expected to reach 92% of European enterprises within two years, finds ISG survey Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Dutch organisations must unite to fight DDoS attacks

Experts in the Netherlands call on Dutch corporations and institutions to work together to help prevent distributed denial of service attacks Continue Reading

By

• Tijs Hofmans

Fintech takes headlines but Insurtech is a huge opportunity

Insurtech doesn't have the ring of Fintech but the opportunity to personalise insurance through tech is huge Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Debit card payments surpassed cash for first time in 2017

For the first time, UK customers used debit cards to make more payments than cash in 2017, a change which has come a year earlier than expected. Continue Reading

By

• Zach Emmanuel, Computer Weekly

Visa reveals 'rare' datacentre switch fault as root cause of June 2018 outage

Visa has offered a retrospective analysis of what went wrong in its datacentre during its UK-wide outage on Friday 1 June, in response to a request from the Treasury Select Committee for more detail about the downtime Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Surface web used in private data sales

The surface web plays an integral role in the selling of personal information, a report on identify fraud has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Young generation tempted by Amazon bank-like services

Tech firms offering banking services will be inevitable in the future as more than half of young people are tempted by such a prospect Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Bank uses AI to select job candidates

Singapore’s DBS Bank is using artificial intelligence to automate parts of its recruitment process Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IPsoft’s digital worker is part of a shift in human productivity

IPsoft used its annual user summit to allow customers to update themselves on the career of its cognitive digital agent Amelia Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber attack warnings highlight need to be prepared

Fresh warnings about the vulnerability of national infrastructure to cyber attacks show the need for securing and monitoring associated control systems connected to the internet Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

CW Europe: Lufthansa’s HR IT project takes off

Lufthansa says it is confident of landing a company-wide HR IT project after having to go back to the drawing board. Also in this issue, read about the ComputerWeekly/TechTarget IT Priorities survey’s findings that many European technology leaders are expecting to increase IT spending through 2018, and how a major report has reassured Swedish society that artificial intelligence will be a positive force for change despite fears of job losses. Continue Reading

Bank of England to set minimum service requirements after TSB and Visa outages

The Bank of England is planning new rules for the minimum service levels that financial service providers must offer, even during IT outages Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Mayor Khan bids to make London the world’s smartest city

At London Tech Week, mayor Sadiq Khan launched a city-wide initiative to harness the capital’s technology talent to address London’s most pressing problems Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Insurer Beazley meets global challenge to secure mobile workforce

Beazley has stolen a march on other London-market insurers by implementing a versatile global digital workspace with improved security Continue Reading

By

• Christian Annesley

BT announces “unhackable” quantum-secured network

In the face of the threat that quantum computers could crack many of the encryption methods used to protect highly sensitive data, BT has developed a “quantum-secured” network Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Coinrail cyber heist highlights need for exchange security

A cyber heist at South Korea’s Coinrail has prompted fresh calls for industry regulations to drive better cyber security at cryptocurrency exchanges Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Thriving fintech, AI sectors give boost to UK tech funding

British technology businesses have received £5bn worth of venture capital funding since June 2016 – more than France, Germany and Sweden put together – with fintech and AI startups standing out Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

IT spending reaches 10-year high as CIOs struggle with digital technology strategy

IT leaders have seen their budgets and headcounts rise for the first time in 10 years, but face challenges implementing their digital strategies Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Financial Conduct Authority raises questions over TSB's IT regression testing

The FCA will look at whether TSB carried out sufficient regression and user acceptance testing before migrating to a new IT platform Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

HMRC puts numerous IT projects on hold to focus on Brexit

Nearly 40 technology projects and changes are being put on the backburner because of Brexit priorities, including improving HM Revenue and Customs’ data-sharing capabilities and parts of the Maxing Tax Digital programme Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Understanding is key to security awareness, says specialist

Only if people understand why cyber security matters will they change their behaviours as a result of awareness training, according to a human behaviour specialist and cyber security consultant Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Big data skills shortages – and how to work around them

Businesses are finding it hard to recruit enough people with big data and analytics skills, but for CIOs there are alternative strategies to consider Continue Reading

By

• Shamus Rae, KPMG

The bumpy ride to digital transformation

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at the lessons to be learned from General Electric’s bumpy ride to digital transformation. We assess the use of software-defined networking in corporate IT infrastructures. And we find out how Royal Bank of Scotland approaches digital and business innovation. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Visa blames hardware failure for UK-wide card payment system outage

Credit card payment processor moves to assure customers that last Friday afternoon’s downtime was not the work of hackers Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Visa card payments system goes down across the UK and Ireland

Millions of businesses across the UK and Ireland are unable to accept VIsa card payments because of a "service disruption" Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Huge rise in TSB-themed mobile phishing attacks after IT meltdown

Scammers have used bank’s IT problems as an opportunity to target its customers with mobile phishing attacks Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ethical hacker, 86, rises to Santander’s challenge

Elderly hacker with little computing experience was able to hack WiFi and create phishing attack Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Security community urged to prepare for quantum computing

A top European chief information security officer is urging the security community to prepare for quantum computing to ensure their encryption processes are ready in time Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Tier 2 visas – a challenge for the tech sector

With staff shortages already being reported in the technology sector and Brexit potentially adding to the problem, tech departments need to get their Tier 2 visa applications right Continue Reading

By

• Kerry Garcia and Jackie Penlington

US issues warning about North Korean malware

US government has identified more than 85 networks compromised by two malware families believed to be North Korean in origin Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Firms step up spending on digital tech, but struggle with strategy

Businesses and the public sector are stepping up their spending on digital technology, but many business leaders are struggling to keep pace with what it means for their business Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

GDPR puts people first, says ICO

The day of 25 May 2018 marks the biggest change to UK data protection law in a generation, with benefits for businesses and consumers, according to the UK privacy watchdog Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Commitment is the watchword on GDPR D-Day

New rules for protecting European citizens’ personal data are now enforceable by law, and organisations are being advised to focus broadly on commitment rather than narrowly on compliance Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

New UK Data Protection Act not welcomed by all

Legislation makes the UK one of the first countries to implement the GDPR in local law, but some have criticised it as a “lost opportunity” Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Mobile fraud up 680% since 2015, RSA reports

Fake profiles and throw-away devices are transforming social media into a cyber criminal marketplace, a fraud report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Singapore to adopt European e-invoicing standard

The city-state is the first country outside Europe to embrace the Peppol e-invoicing standard to speed up business transactions and lower operating costs for SMEs Continue Reading

By

• Kimberly Chua

Taking the quantum leap: What is quantum technology for business?

Quantum computers are many years away, but the first applications of quantum technology will arrive in only one or two years – so businesses need to be ready Continue Reading

By

• Paul Martin , PA Consulting

The UK fintech economy will create different pockets of excellence all over the country

London should not be seen as competition for fintechs in the North and they should not try to emulate London's fintech model Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Legit tools exploited in bank heists

Cyber criminals attacking the finance and other industry sector are continuing to exploit legitimate administration tools to hide their activities, highlighting the need for threat hunting, a report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

A third of people would buy insurance from Google or Amazon

Consumers are increasingly likely to buy insurance from tech giants as the insurtech industry hits the mainstream Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Pen testers find weaknesses in banks’ cyber security

Humans are the biggest weakness in banks’ cyber defences, but there are several others that also need attention, penetration testers have revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

One-fifth of global banks think AI will boost customer experience

Economist Intelligence Unit survey shows nearly three-quarters of businesses think retail banking could be mostly automated by 2020 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Blockchain technology lacks enough use cases to be disruptive, says Worldpay

Worldpay's Jason Scott-Taggart says although the company is looking at blockchain, there are too few strong use cases for the technology at present Continue Reading

By

• Zach Emmanuel, Computer Weekly

European cyber attacks up nearly a third in first quarter 2018

The volume of cyber attacks hitting digital transactions in Europe was up by almost a third in the first quarter of 2018 compared with same period a year ago, a report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Morgan Stanley uses Amazon Alexa to inform customers

US investment bank Morgan Stanley is giving customers important information about the market via Amazon's voice assistant Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nordic banks plan major digital transformation of operations

Banks in the Nordic region are set to accelerate their spending on technology as digital services take-up accelerates Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

SMEs more worried about GDPR’s threat to reputation than fines

SMEs are more worried about the damage GDPR non compliance will do to their reputations than their wallets Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Higher interest rates would tempt me even though TSB has just had an IT disaster

I would be tempted to move to a bank that offered higher interest rates even though it had just had an IT disaster Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

TSB refused help from Lloyds as IT meltdown began

TSB turned down an offer of help from Lloyds Banking Group as the migration of customers accounts to its new banking system went wrong Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA