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News and resources on cyber and physical threats to banks and fintechs worldwide.

[Impact Study] 2024 Fraud Trends in Banking, Insurance, and BeyondFinextra Promoted[Impact Study] 2024 Fraud Trends in Banking, Insurance, and Beyond

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Expert opinions

Anand Naik

Anand Naik CEO at Sequretek Inc

How Community Banks and Credit Unions Can Strengthen Their Cybersecurity Strategies in 2025

2024 was rough; why should 2025 be any different? This question lingers among community banks and credit unions as they brace for another year of evolving cybersecurity threats. With cybercriminals becoming more sophisticated and financial institutions under constant pressure to enhance security measures, understanding what lies ahead is crucial. ...

/security /inclusion Fintech

Erica Andersen

Erica Andersen Marketing at smartR AI

The Hidden Heist: How Outsourcing is Stealing UK Jobs in Tech and Financial Service

While the UK media is flooded with stories of migrant crossings, a more insidious threat to the nation's economy is going largely unreported: the massive outsourcing of jobs in the tech / artificial intelligence and financial services sectors to overseas companies. This phenomenon is not only costing the UK billions of pounds in lost tax revenue

/ai /security Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

Erica Andersen

Erica Andersen Marketing at smartR AI

From SLMs to Superpowers? Decoding the Agentic AI Hype

The new buzzword in the AI hype machine is Agentic AI and CTO's and data professionals are right to be cautious! The shift in terminology from "Small Language Models (SLMs)" to "Agentic AI" does seem like a bit of a marketing makeover. While there are some genuine advancements behind it, it's important to see through the hype.

/ai /security Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

Perry Carpenter

Perry Carpenter Chief Human Risk Management Strategist at KnowBe4

5 Cyberattacks that Rocked Financial Services in 2024

More than 90% of 2024 breaches were financially motivated. No surprise that the banking and financial services industry and insurance (BFSI) is a top target for cybercriminals. Let’s explore five major attacks that rocked the industry in 2024, exploring methods used by threat actors, the resulting impact on affected organizations, and key sec

/security /crime Information Security

Richard Kalas

Richard Kalas Client Solutions Director for Retail Banking at GFT Group

How IT resilient are banks?

There has been in recent months a considerable focus on consumer attitudes towards specific elements of digital banking, whether that be the digitisation of savings and investment products, travel services or fraud protection. This time, however, let us examine a more holistic view on how consumers feel about the security of their bank, thei

/security /retail Banking

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Research

Impact Study

Cross-border payments: How is the market addressing G20 targets?

This impact study explores how far along the G20’s cross-border roadmap firms have travelled; why cutting-edge technology platforms are imperative in today’s instant payments world; as well as how financial leaders can go beyond the G20’s objectives, in order to ensure prosperity for the coming decade.  The cross-border payments market is one of the fastest growing money movement markets in the world. It reached $150 trillion in 2017, and by 2027 is expected to reach $250 trillion – a rise of over $100 trillion in just ten years. There are several factors that have led to the increase in global remittances, be they wholesale or retail in origin, including expanding supply chains; globalised investment flows; international trade and e-commerce; as well as the increased global movement of people, resulting in more money being sent across borders.  While cross-border payments are booming, many financial institutions are still struggling to keep their technology platforms up to speed, and the drive toward real-time is having deep ramifications for organisations’ operations. To address these challenges, a gathering of some of the world’s largest economies, known as the Group of Twenty (G20), set out a roadmap in 2021 to improve cross-border payments.  Also providing impetus for widespread modernisation are mandated initiatives like new, and continually evolving, ISO 20022 message and data standards and the European Union (EU)’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) – forcing players in the highly-competitive payments space to invest in smarter services, customer centricity, and on top of that, become the engines of growth.  This Finextra impact study, produced in association with Temenos, explores:   A status update on the G20 cross-border targets;  The need for modernisation - an overview of other factors affecting cross-border payments;  A roadmap for change beyond G20;  Real-life case studies. 

2 downloads

Event Report

AI strategies for scalable, secure and compliant banking

Delving into effective strategies and tools for secure and compliant AI integration in banking, emphasising the importance of open-source models, the role of generative AI, the advantages of synthetic data, and the influence of regulatory frameworks. Integrating AI in banking involves more than just adopting new technologies; it requires aligning these technologies with specific banking use cases to maximise benefits and mitigate risks related to data security and compliance. Open-source models facilitate this transformation by offering a collaborative platform for innovation and transparency, essential for building trust and ensuring the safe use of AI in banking.  The journey from proof of concept (POC) to production in AI and machine learning is often lengthy and complex. This extended timeline highlights the challenges organisations face in integrating AI into their operations. Embracing new tools and technologies and learning to utilise them effectively is crucial for overcoming these challenges and applying AI to day-to-day operations, leading to significant benefits in efficiency and innovation.  When looking at other markets, the United States has become a hub for tech giants, focusing on fostering innovation, while regions like Japan remain cautious, reflecting their unique regulatory landscapes and societal risk appetites. This diversity in regulatory approaches presents both opportunities and challenges for firms operating globally, necessitating a nuanced understanding of each market’s unique dynamics.  This webinar report summarises the discussion of a Finextra webinar, hosted with Red Hat, by a panel of industry experts. Discover:  How AI is enhancing innovation, efficiency, and security;  Synthetic data and regulatory impact;  What factors are holding organisations back from fully adoption AI-driven services;  Balancing innovation and regulation;  And more. 

107 downloads

Impact Study

Bank Legacy Transformation: Exploring the Solutions

Where do banks stand with legacy transformation today? What are the market factors and changing consumer demands that make transformation increasingly crucial? Legacy transformation is not a new challenge for banks. However, as technology capability continues to advance, along with it the potential for innovation and new business models serving a digital customer base, the pressure of no longer being constrained by legacy infrastructure intensifies. Despite being the central nervous system for banks’ operations for decades serving a business purpose, legacy systems have become inadequate, and those trained to use them may lack the skills needed to meet sophisticated demands for real-time and seamless experiences. Here’s how banks can decouple their systems from each other to evolve and grow, untangle technology challenges to drive digitisation, and invest in technology and employees to ensure obstacles to rapid and gradual modernisation are removed. This impact study, produced in association with Veritran, will: Consider frameworks that prioritise initiatives based on their impact; Explore specific recommendations for each of these challenges; Propose strategies on how to integrate systems that will address data silos; Highlight clear ROI examples, efficiency gains, and enhanced customer outcomes; and Emphasise that there is no need for legacy system abandonment and modernisation can be conducted gradually without disruption.

308 downloads

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FinextraTV

How Can AI and Collaboration Combat Rising Financial Crime?

In a conversation ahead of Sibos 2024, Laura Quevedo, Executive Vice President of Financial Crime and Resiliency at Mastercard, highlights the growing threat of financial scams in the digital age, with cybercriminals increasingly using AI to exploit consumers. Companies are stepping up their investments in cybersecurity and AI technology to stay ahead of evolving threats, as AI-powered tools like real-time fraud detection solutions become critical in preventing financial crime. Quevedo emphasises a three-pronged strategy: leveraging AI for fraud prevention, collaborating across industries to share insights, and educating consumers on emerging scams.

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Long reads

Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Where’s the first stop for financial trust? Our guts!

As we outlined in a previous Finextra story, financial services ‘schemers’ and ‘scammers’ can come in many different shades. Indeed, victims of online fraud and illegal schemes lose money every day to not just criminals and nefarious enterprises, but also to supposedly ‘above-board,’ legitimate products and their purveyors. To help avoid non-crim...

Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

How to avoid online scams and hype: Is reading the ‘fine print’ enough anymore?

Why do people keep losing money from schemes, scams, and ‘too good to be true’ offers in what is probably one of - if not the most - heavily regulated sectors of the economy? 2024 saw a continuing increase in fraudulent scams and a parade of disappointing (or damaging) online product offerings, including in the financial services marketplace. As...

Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Cyber-attack case studies: Data, costs, and solutions

Invite 165 or so treasury managers and other financial leaders and practitioners in a room, tell them you’re going to put them through a cyber-attack simulation, and advise that their actions will directly influence the exercise’s ultimate outcomes. Will they agree to do it? Of course they will! Especially since, according to an IBM study cited...