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 how they're co-creating value through a hybrid model that goes far beyond traditional partnerships. Discover how ING is modernising its wholesale banking platform whilst maintaining customer centricity at its core. Learn why strategic partners are now seen as true collaborators, not just service providers, and how shared ownership drives innovation at scale. From AI and automation to talent strategy and core modernisation, this conversation explores the practical realities of digital transformation - including how organisations are evolving from GCC 1.0 cost centres to GCC 3.0 innovation hubs. Whether you're navigating cloud migration, platform standardisation, or building future-ready teams, this episode offers actionable insights on creating partnerships that deliver lasting impact. Listen now to understand how collaboration, not competition, is shaping the future of banking.

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 podcast senior reporter Silvia Iacovcich speaks with Thomas Cuvelier, partner at early-stage venture capital firm RTP Global to explore how the firm is investing its $1 billion early-stage fund to back the next wave of FinTech startups. The venture capital specialist will examine where the firm is placing its bets, how it's thinking about risk, and what it looks for in founders in today's cautious funding environment.

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 services, " our discussion explores why a third of firms now place DataOps at the centre of their resilience strategy, and how barriers such as poor data quality, limited automation, and cultural resistance are being overcome. Listeners will discover practical steps for building a data-driven culture, overcoming implementation challenges, and using automation to transform compliance into a true and lasting competitive edge.

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 relationship between data trust, transparency, and responsible AI implementation in financial services. Sudip joins FStech to explore how banks can transform data trust from a compliance requirement into a strategic competitive advantage. As customers become increasingly informed and cautious about their personal information, institutions must navigate the delicate balance between leveraging data for enhanced services and maintaining the highest standards of privacy protection. Moving beyond theoretical frameworks, we delve into practical governance structures that enable responsible AI deployment. From establishing centralised AI governance offices to implementing explainable AI systems that demystify decision-making processes, discover how leading financial institutions are building transparent, accountable AI capabilities that strengthen rather than compromise customer relationships.

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 first episode, Sudip Lahiri, Executive Vice President & Head of Financial Services for Europe & UKI at HCLTech cuts through the noise to examine the cultural, technical, and organisational bedrock required for meaningful GenAI adoption in banking. Moving beyond proof-of-concepts and pilot projects, we explore how banks can build sustainable AI capabilities that align with their strategic vision while maintaining operational resilience. From fostering AI literacy across organisations to establishing governance frameworks that enable innovation, discover how leading financial institutions are laying the groundwork for a future where technology enhances rather than replaces human capabilities.

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 of the challenges involved with the adoption of Open Banking and how the technology covers much more than payments. She also talks about how Open Banking compares to other payment methods, such as Buy Now, Pay Later and addresses concerns around security and customer adoption.

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 operational hurdles, meet rising customer expectations, and shape the future of financial services through collaborations, partnerships and cutting-edge advances. In this FStech podcast, senior reporter Silvia Iacovcich is joined by Mike McGovern, global head of technology engagement for investor services at Brown Brothers Harriman, to discuss how banks are navigating today's complex environment, the challenges they face and the rising need for strategic bank partnerships and technology integration to help them remain competitive.

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 remaining vigilant against bad actors. In this FStech podcast Hadi Ghanbari, Assistant Professor of Information Systems at Aalto University School of Business, takes a closer look at some of the challenges facing FSIs when dealing with cybersecurity issues. He also looks at some of the ways in which FSIs should approach their cybersecurity strategy and what steps they need to take to keep themselves and their customers safe.

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 Vibert, co-founder and CEO of Metomic, to delve into strategies empowering financial firms to encourage their employees to champion robust data security. The conversation explores the synergy between technology and human involvement to establish a human-centric approach to data security, ultimately enhancing the most powerful and scalable prevention mechanism: the employees. Rich sheds light on the advantages of achieving clear visibility, discovery, and classification of risks, coupled with the implementation of automated security policies. This approach enables the human firewall, fortifying financial services firms with a defence-in-depth data security strategy. This conversation was originally recorded as a video interview, which can be watched in full on the FStech website.

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 their ESG credentials fall short of the mark, they risk losing the trust of customers or coming under scrutiny from the regulator. In this FStech podcast Shipra Gupta, Investments Stewardship lead at Scottish Widows, talks about some the challenges facing financial services institutions when dealing with ESG issues. She also examines some of the ways FSIs should tackle their ESG strategy and make sure it makes an impact.

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 excellence, aging infrastructure, data silos, and security risks make this level of omnichannel experience delivery a monumental challenge for financial institutions. In this FStech podcast, Jaspreet Sandhu, solutions engineer for FSI and UKI Healthcare at Riverbed Technology talks about how FIs can unlock the future of banking through seamless digital experiences while ensuring their systems still meet the highest bar for security and compliance. Sandhu also discusses the transformative potential of AI for omnichannel personalisation, while also examining how FIs can overcome obstacles to gaining a unified view of customers, and better compete with digitally native FinTech challengers.

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 Commission is introducing this long-awaited piece of legislation and its proposed benefits for the financial services sector. He also discusses how financial services institutions can and should be using this as an excellent opportunity to review their operational resilience, continuity planning and risk management. The podcast also includes a conversation between FStech and Riskonnect's Bratton looking at the implications of DORA for the way financial institutions manage their third-party relationships, how the regulation accounts for the rapid pace of technological change and its impact on operational risk, strategies for how financial institutions can ensure DORA compliance without sacrificing agility, and much more. This FStech Podcast was originally recorded in 2023 as a webinar which can be accessed in the show notes on the podcast page.

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 a software design pattern that allows applications to communicate with each other by exchanging events - messages that describe what has happened, but not how or why. Data streaming is a key component of EDA that allows businesses to respond to events and changes in their data immediately. This technological revolution can help to improve scalability, performance, and resilience, while also helping to make applications more flexible and adaptable to change. In this FStech Podcast, Peter Pugh-Jones, director of Financial Services at Confluent, joins editor Jonathan Easton to discuss what all of this means for FSIs and how EDA can help them to transform customer experience in the era of Consumer Duty. This FStech Podcast was originally recorded in 2023 as a video Q&A which can be accessed in the show notes on the podcast page.

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 financing regulations.

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 top banks and other financial services institutions (FSIs) are turning to confidential computing - a term which refers to the use of advanced technology and security measures to protect sensitive financial data and computations from unauthorised access or exposure, even when it's being processed or analysed in external or third-party environments. In this FStech podcast, FStech editor Jonathan Easton is joined by Dr. Richard Searle. vice president of Confidential Computing at Fortanix, to discuss why the technology is emerging as a critical component of modernising financial services and its ability to help FSIs strike a balance between innovation and security in an increasingly interconnected and data-driven industry.

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, underreported is the impact these uncertainties are having on businesses which might not be able to absorb these temporary operating cost increases. In this latest FStech podcast John Griffiths, Market Engagement Director, Credit & Risk, Business Information at Experian, discusses the company's latest Affordability Report which outlines how rising costs have impacted small businesses in the UK and that while we may be seeing increasing interest rates, economic performance has been resilient, despite the challenges of the latter half of 2022.

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 from Genesys presents a fascinating and illuminating insight into this area and "uncovers how rapidly shifting customer preferences and declining satisfaction with digital channels are creating mounting business risks for organisations worldwide." In this FStech podcast, David Porter, Industry Director of Global Financial Services at Genesys joins FStech Editor Jonathan Easton to discuss the report's findings, examine where banks are falling behind in CX and answer how they can set themselves apart by prioritising the wants and needs of their customers.

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. Trevor Human, Director of Professional Services at HID Global, joins FStech Editor Jonathan Easton to discuss how financial institutions can be proactive in their approach and how can they prevent cyber attacks on their infrastructure.

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 attitudes to truly disrupt the market. In this podcast, FStech Editor Jonathan Easton and Hector Arias, Banking Sector Global Lead, at enterprise open source software leader Red Hat discuss the findings of company's recently published report, Evolving Opportunities for Digital Leaders in Financial Services, and how FSIs can champion innovation in the industry.

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, aims to improve the digital resiliency of the entire financial system. To delve further into these challenges and find possible solutions for FSIs, FStech was joined by Armin Warda Chief Technologist FSI - EMEA at Red Hat. The podcast looked at how FSIs can overcome issues that prevent them satisfying consumer expectations and the demands of regulators.