Hamish Monk - Community Author: Finextra Research

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is predictive analysis?

Predictive analytics is a method of data analysis used within the financial services industry – and beyond – to forecast business-related outcomes. It sits on a spectrum, beginning with descriptive analytics, the most basic form of data analysis, then moving to diagnostic analytics, predictive analytics, and finally prescriptive analytics – the mo...

01 July 2025 /ai

Mounting geopolitical tensions underscore the need for public cloud diversification

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

Mounting geopolitical tensions underscore the need for public cloud diversification

Today’s industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, is characterised by smart systems, artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), advanced robotics, and automation. If these innovations are the locomotives of Industry 4.0, then their fuel is data. Be it customer behaviour, engagement, attitudes, or personal information, data – ...

24 June 2025 /cloud

To ESG or not to ESG? Britain’s ‘Big Four’ banks buck the trend of DEI retreat

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

To ESG or not to ESG? Britain’s ‘Big Four’ banks buck the trend of DEI retreat

A counterbalance to claims of trans-Atlantic ESG de-prioritisation, Finextra’s investigation into the UK’s top financial institutions prove that some industries are keeping ESG front of mind. On Sunday 6 June 2025, The Observer published an article in its business and economics section which revealed how leading British firms had “re-written” thei...

17 June 2025 /inclusion

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is natural language processing?

The term natural language processing, or NLP, describes a computer’s ability to understand, interpret, or generate human language. It is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) which uses algorithm-backed machine learning (ML) to recognise both the written and spoken word. Testament to its utility, in 2023 the market size of NLP in finance was valu...

10 June 2025 /ai

What happens when money thinks for itself?

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What happens when money thinks for itself?

This is an excerpt from The Future of European Fintech 2025: A Money20/20 Special Edition. The evolution of financial technology is characterised by increasing levels of simplicity, efficiency, and integration. We saw this in 2016, when Europe’s second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) encouraged financial institutions to open up their data and i...

04 June 2025 /payments

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is AI bias?

The term ‘AI bias’ refers to situations whereby an artificial intelligence (AI) system produces prejudiced results, as a consequence of flaws in its machine learning process. Often, AI bias mirrors society’s inequalities, be they around race, gender, class, nationality, and so on. In this instalment of Finextra’s Explainer series, we ask where bia...

03 June 2025 /ai

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is quantum computing?

Developments in quantum computing are edging the technology ever closer to real world, industrial application. So what is quantum computing exactly, and how might it be applied to financial services? The journey to quantum theory The history of physics can be characterised by successive scientific revolutions that deepen humanity’s understanding o...

27 May 2025 /devops

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is deep learning?

Artificial intelligence (AI), a concept once confined to the realms of science fiction, has in the last several years entered the mainstream – with the release of OpenAI’s inaugural ChatGPT model, and other competitor engines subsequently, transforming innumerable industries. Often uttered in conjunction with ‘AI’ is the term ‘deep learning’, thou...

20 May 2025 /ai

How to meet the G20’s cross-border payments targets

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

How to meet the G20’s cross-border payments targets

At a November 2020 summit, a coalition of the world’s largest economies, the Group of Twenty (G20), tabled a roadmap aimed at enhancing international retail, wholesale and remittance transactions. By 2021, working alongside the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the G20 issued a set of qualitative targets – across access, cost, speed, and transparen...

22 April 2025 /payments

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

How to leverage T+0 settlement

In February 2025 it was announced that the European Union (EU) will switch to single-day settlement (known as T+1) of stock and bond trades by 2027. Settlement is the act of transferring securities and funds between buyers and sellers after a trade is executed. The shorter the settlement cycle, the faster investors have access. This is just on...

15 April 2025 /markets

How to meet the ISO 20022 deadline: A five-step strategy

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

How to meet the ISO 20022 deadline: A five-step strategy

To meet the November 2025 ISO 20022 deadline for cross-border payments and reporting (CBPR+), financial institutions should: Conduct an impact assessment; Develop a migration plan; Leverage rich data elements; Conduct industry testing; and Adopt official definitions and prioritise readiness. This article provides a breakdown of each step fina...

08 April 2025 /payments

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

Understanding the ISO 20022 deadline

The deadline for ISO 20022 – the new standard for electronic data interchange between financial institutions – has been notoriously changeable. Back in March 2020, Swift delayed the original migration date for cross-border payments by 12 months (from November 2021 to the end of 2022) as banks struggled with decommissioning and preparing existing ...

01 April 2025 /payments

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