IT for financial services

HMRC CEO denies it is ‘deliberately misleading’ public over loan scheme promoter arrests

HMRC CEO Jim Harra has “strongly rejected” claims made on social media by the Loan Charge All Party Parliamentary Group of cross-party MPs that it is “deliberately misleading” the public about its recent loan scheme-related enforcement activities Continue Reading

Nordic lessons on digital transformation

Swedish financial services firm reports a successful IT outsourcing project with India-based IT services company Continue Reading

Gove warns EU that UK sovereignty is non-negotiable on eve of trade deal talks

The UK and the EU have published their divergent mandates for trade talks due to start on Monday 2 March 2020, and digital may emerge as a long-term terrain of dispute Continue Reading

IR35 private sector reforms: Treasury review concludes no delay needed to April 2020 start date

Contracting groups describe HM Treasury’s highly anticipated review into the implementation of the IR35 reforms as “recklessly inadequate” as it concludes roll-out should proceed as planned Continue Reading

Thousands of UK entrepreneurs register businesses in Estonia since Brexit referendum

UK entrepreneurs are registering businesses in Estonia to make sure they can continue to trade freely in the EU Continue Reading

Mastercard creates 1,500 tech jobs in Ireland

New roles at tech hub in Dublin will include professionals with expertise in artificial intelligence, cyber security, blockchain and user experience Continue Reading

IR35 private sector reforms: First year of enforcement won't be ‘heavy-handed’, claims chancellor

New chancellor Rishi Sunak has moved to assure business leaders that HMRC will not be heavy-handed in enforcing the new IR35 rules Continue Reading

Refinitiv uses Google Cloud to revolutionise delivery of huge datasets

Financial data giant is expanding delivery of its services in the cloud, removing the need for customers to use hard disks and trucks to transport large datasets onsite Continue Reading

Swedish consumer-protection legislation will hit fintechs

New financial regulation to protect consumers from agreeing to unnecessary credit will force financial technology companies to make changes to their products Continue Reading

Mastercard opens European security resilience unit

Mastercard’s European Cyber Resilience Centre will bring together its partners and other industry bodies to support enterprise resilience Continue Reading

Brexit cited as reason for German digital bank’s UK exit

German challenger bank N26 leaves the UK, saying Brexit is the reason behind the decision due to the removal of passporting rights Continue Reading

Chinese military personnel accused of Equifax hack

A US federal grand jury has indicted four Chinese army personnel over the 2017 Equifax breach Continue Reading

Two-thirds of workers at risk of robot-driven redundancy are unaware of the threat to jobs

People who do jobs that are most likely to be automated through technology are unaware and unprepared of the impending threat to their livelihoods, with Nesta calling on the government to do more to up-skill those at risk Continue Reading

Australian government to roll out SAP S/4 Hana

Australia’s finance department earmarks S/4 Hana as its ERP system to provide common financial and HR services across government Continue Reading

IR35 private sector reforms: HMRC confirms last-minute tweak to incoming off-payroll rules

The government is rolling out a tweak to the IR35 private sector reforms that it claims will give businesses more time to prepare, but stakeholders are unconvinced Continue Reading

Goldman Sachs considers building cloud service to sell to other finance firms

Internal memo reveals that bank could provide an Amazon Web Services-like cloud service to financial services companies Continue Reading

Scammers using fake PayPal emails stole over £1m in the UK in last quarter

Fraudsters tricked Brits into sending over £1m worth of goods to them that they hadn't paid for Continue Reading

Azimo gets loan from European Investment Bank to build cross-border payments infrastructure in EU

UK fintech gets validation from EIB through €20m loan which will contribute to building its smartphone app-based payments infrastructure Continue Reading

New jobs in Ireland as Brexit forces Revolut to migrate work from London

Brexit has pushed the financial technology firm into moving London jobs to Ireland Continue Reading

Estonian CIO gives UK IT professionals hope as Brexit removes rights

Tech chief says Estonia’s door is open to UK IT professionals if they want to continue enjoying an EU lifestyle Continue Reading

UK police arrest three over Maltese cyber bank robbery

The NCA has made three arrests in Belfast and London following an investigation into money laundering linked to a cyber heist on a bank in Malta Continue Reading

Fintechs fear deepfake fraud

New research reveals the majority of CISOs working in the financial services sector are increasingly concerned about the potential use of deepfakes Continue Reading

LV= rolls out smart speaker skill

General insurance firm says customers will receive answers to commonly asked questions by invoking the skill on Alexa or Google Home Assistant Continue Reading

IR35 private sector reforms: Bank of America IT contractors await verdict on future employment terms

Despite notifying staff of its intentions to phase out contractors from its workforce in December 2019, IT contractors at the Bank of America are still awaiting clarification about what their future at the firm will look like, Computer Weekly has learned Continue Reading

Singapore updates model AI governance framework

Second edition of Singapore’s artificial intelligence governance framework includes new guidance, use cases and a self-assessment guide Continue Reading

IR35 private sector reforms: Blanket bans ‘devalue’ IT contractor contributions to digital projects

James Poyser, CEO of contractor-focused online accountancy firm InniAccounts, claims large firms that are failing to assess contractors fairly will lose out in productivity, reputation and talent retention Continue Reading

Lloyds Banking Group to create digital workplace with Microsoft

Bank is transforming how its staff work as part of a multibillion-pound digital transformation Continue Reading

TSB signs up IBM Services and announces Edinburgh tech hub

TSB has contracted IBM to provide hybrid cloud services as part of its £120m digital transformation plans, which will see more tech jobs in Scotland Continue Reading

Travelex warns customers to be alert to phone scams

Under-fire forex provider warns that criminals may try to take advantage of its predicament to scam customers Continue Reading

Gates Foundation mobile money projects in developing world to go live this year

Mobile money projects aim to give millions of the world’s poorest people access to financial services Continue Reading

Government distances itself from Post Office decisions in Horizon IT litigation

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy says it did not make decisions in the Post Office’s recent court battle Continue Reading

Royal Bank of Canada gives Mencap a ‘leg-up’ in automating processes

UK charity gets help from Canadian bank in a collaboration aimed at creating a robotic workforce Continue Reading

Travelex to begin restoring foreign exchange services two weeks after ‘Sodinokibi’ attack

Travelex says it is making “good progress” in its recovery and is to begin restoring electronic foreign exchange services, but is silent about whether it has agreed to pay hackers a $6m ransom to decrypt computer files Continue Reading

Learning from the Travelex cyber attack: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail

The key lesson to take from the Travelex breach is that an effective response to a breach is a critical business function and no longer the sole province of the IT department Continue Reading

Travelex hackers threaten to sell credit card data on dark web

Sodinokibi cyber gangsters have threatened to sell Travelex customers’ private data on a Russian underground cyber crime forum if it fails to pay a $6m ransom Continue Reading

Don’t become the next Travelex: Get ready for ransomware

With Travelex’s IT still in disarray and banks and travellers left without access to funds more than a week after it was hit by a ransomware attack, we ask what others can learn from the foreign exchange services company’s response to the incident Continue Reading

PowerTrick backdoor used to target high-value businesses

Threat actors are exploiting a PowerShell-based backdoor called PowerTrick to go after high-value targets, warns SentinelLabs Continue Reading

Can fintech succeed where schools and parents have failed?

Young people in Britain are unprepared to manage their finances when they leave home and, as a result, many run into serious problems Continue Reading

Why the banking industry needs an IT makeover

UK banks face huge challenges keeping their service availability levels at 99.99% Continue Reading

Cyber gangsters demand payment from Travelex after ‘Sodinokibi’ attack

Cyber criminals are demanding payment to decrypt Travelex’s computer files after a devastating malware attack. New questions have been raised about the security of Travelex’s computer network after it emerged the company waited eight months to patch vulnerable VPN servers Continue Reading

Holy grail of digital banking is, at first glance, a new channel, not a new concept

Details of Google’s plans in the financial services sector have emerged with nothing groundbreaking so far, but the sector is guessing what comes next. Continue Reading

Suspected ransomware attack causes worldwide disruption for Travelex

Travelex switches off computer systems and resorts to cash-only currency sales after malware attack. Insiders claim the currency exchange chain has been hit by ransomware which has left critical files containing customer data encrypted Continue Reading

How to optimise remote workforces while tackling loneliness

Remote working is very common in tech companies and IT departments. How can it be managed to optimise productivity and keep employees socially connected to their companies? Continue Reading

Top 10 enterprise IT in the Benelux region stories of 2019

Here are Computer Weekly’s top enterprise IT stories from the Benelux region over the past year Continue Reading

Top 10 financial services IT stories of 2019

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 financial services and fintech stories of 2019 Continue Reading

Top 10 enterprise IT in the Middle East stories of 2019

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 enterprise IT in the Middle East stories of 2019 Continue Reading

Top 10 enterprise IT in the Nordics stories of 2019

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 Nordic enterprise IT stories of 2019 Continue Reading

Top 10 storage deployment stories of 2019

Here are ComputerWeekly’s top 10 storage deployment stories for 2019, which see quite a move away from traditional SAN and NAS to hyper-converged, software-defined storage and object storage Continue Reading

Has Y2K windowing been addressed by banks or is Y2.02K a risk?

Big banks that haven't replaced legacy systems or fixed temporary windowing solutions to Y2K could have problems at the beginning of 2020 Continue Reading

How Saudi Arabia plans to become the Silicon Valley of the Middle East

With its young and educated population, Saudi Arabia has the potential to become a hub for tech innovation Continue Reading

CW Europe: Deutsche Bank creates innovation division

German banking giant Deutsche Bank is opening a division focused on innovation which will be led by former SAP executive Bernd Leukert. It will create agile teams with business and infrastructure divisions leading teams of technologists, using agile principles. Also read why China’s Huawei has offered governments an anti-industrial espionage commitment, and how software robots are helping social workers in Sweden. Continue Reading

Lloyd's of London secures £300m for digital transformation

Lloyd's of London has secured funding for a modernisation programme that will start next year Continue Reading

How can CIOs in Europe turn innovation into a competitive advantage?

CIOs across Europe are under pressure to innovate to help businesses grow and must think differently as a result Continue Reading

Building enterprise-grade AI: Sberbank and AI Telekom

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are growing beyond adolescence to prove business value. Practical applications at Sberbank and AI Telekom suggest getting machine learning data in one place, where data scientists can experiment Continue Reading

Cloud computing surges in the UAE in 2019

Cloud computing take-up saw a significant acceleration in the Middle East throughout this year Continue Reading

Barclays opens large tech operation in India, hiring thousands

Barclays opens tech centre in Pune as part of its global delivery network Continue Reading

Dutch government must facilitate and coordinate a broad eID system

The Dutch government should push for an electronic ID system for its citizens that works across the public and private sectors, according to a report Continue Reading

Two Russians indicted over Dridex and Zeus malware

The US Department of Justice has indicted two Russian citizens over their alleged role in the distribution of the virulent Bugat, or Dridex, and Zeus banking trojans Continue Reading

UK financial services regulators tell banks to own their IT disasters

Financial services regulators propose tighter rules for firms to reduce the adverse effects of operational problems, such as IT outages Continue Reading

Cyber Girls First volunteers encourage girls to think high-tech

More than 80 schoolgirls spent a day learning about computer hackers and rocket science – Cyber Girls First hopes they will become the next generation of technologists Continue Reading

Survey finds most firms don’t respond to GDPR requests in time

Most organisations do not respond to requests for GDPR data in the one month allowed, while many return incorrect data. The education sector does best, but the public sector lags behind Continue Reading

Insurtechs help traditional players differentiate

Traditional insurers are harnessing the agile development techniques of the tech startup community through partnerships with insurtechs Continue Reading

Klarna uses AWS cloud as it moves from startup to global fintech force

Swedish fintech cements its relationship with Amazon Web Services to speed up product development and support its global expansion Continue Reading

Private sector warned off delaying IR35 reform prep as Conservative Party promises review

The Conservative Party has followed in the footsteps of the Liberal Democrats, The Labour Party and the Scottish National Party by committing to a review of the IR35 reforms Continue Reading

Goldman Sachs reins in cloud-based retail challenger in UK

Bank does not want rapidly expanding Marcus to breach deposits threshold at which UK banks have to ring-fence their retail operations Continue Reading

TSB neglected to assess capabilities of main IT provider in its failed system migration

TSB failed to properly assess and manage the internal service provider that lead its botched IT migration Continue Reading

NatWest digital bank goes live

NatWest has announced the availability of its standalone digital challenger bank, known as Bó Continue Reading

Finnish tech firm aims to create scalable general-purpose quantum computer

University spin-off is attempting to take quantum computing capabilities to multiple business sectors Continue Reading

Finland’s OP Financial Group accelerates open banking push

Finnish banking group is working with a Danish fintech to add open banking functionality to its offerings Continue Reading

Tandem and TrueLayer partnership shows how fintech can support fintech

TrueLayer and Tandem partnership demostrates the power of collaborative ecosystems Continue Reading

The super-resilient IT function

IT functions don’t have to continue taking the blame for organisational failures, they can take the lead in transforming the business Continue Reading

Revamped HMRC IR35 status checker tool still lacks key functionality, contractor groups claim

HMRC releases an updated version of its IR35 tax status checker tool, CEST, to accommodate the onset of the tax avoidance reforms being rolled out to the private sector, but contracting stakeholders claim it still lacks basic functionality Continue Reading

Nationwide building society opens up systems through mortgage API

Nationwide Building Society is trialling an application programming interface that will enable its mortgage brokers to link directly to some of its systems Continue Reading

TSB tech woes continue with overnight systems failure

TSB customers have experienced problems receiving money into their accounts due to an IT error, just days after the bank was slammed in a report on its IT problems last year Continue Reading

Some 29,000 UK web domains suspended for criminal activity

Domain suspensions for criminal activity over the past year has dropped for the first time since 2014 Continue Reading

Labour pledges review of NCSC in UK security overhaul

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre may get expanded powers under a Labour government Continue Reading

Has Amazon dropped its plan for a bank account?

Has Amazon decided against launching a bank account? Continue Reading

Life under the loan charge: An IT contractor’s story

Thousands of IT contractors are being pursued by HMRC for “life-changing” tax bills for work they did up to 20 years ago, as part of a disguised remuneration clampdown known as the loan charge policy. One of those affected anonymously shares his take on what it’s like to live with a six-figure tax demand hanging over you Continue Reading

Western Union transfers to AWS cloud

Western Union is the latest financial services form to set out a future in the Amazon Web Services cloud Continue Reading

HSBC builds API digital platform with MuleSoft to forward open banking

At Dreamforce 2019, HSBC announced the building of a digital platform with Salesforce MuleSoft to forward open banking opportunities Continue Reading

CW Nordics: Automation pays off for Sweden’s social workers

Software robots are freeing up time for social workers in Sweden to help benefits claimants find employment and to receive the money they are entitled to. Also in this issue, read how Sweden’s SEB bank is using a Google-inspired, cloud-native core banking platform, and why India is leading the pack when it comes to IT outsourcing from the Nordic countries. Continue Reading

Sweden’s SEB explores core banking in the cloud

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Mimecast blocked 99 billion suspicious emails in third quarter

Latest threat intelligence report reveals the scale of the threat posed by malicious emails, with the transport, legal and financial sectors hit hardest Continue Reading

Massive increase in fraud attacks on TSB customers during IT meltdown

There was a massive spike in attempts by fraudsters to steal from TSB customers when the bank’s IT systems failed in 2018 Continue Reading

Holy grail of digital banking is, at first glance, a new channel, not a new concept

Details of Google’s plans in the financial services sector have emerged with nothing groundbreaking so far, but the sector is guessing what comes next Continue Reading

Macy’s Magecart breach presages Christmas fraud spike

US retailer Macy’s admits some customer data was accessed by unknown actors during a week-long Magecart attack Continue Reading

Azimo opens doors at Brexit-proof Dutch arm

Cross border payments fintech Azimo has opened the doors to its European headquarters in Amsterdam Continue Reading

TSB programme pulled apart in report on IT meltdown

City law firm tears into TSB’s management of botched core banking platform migration Continue Reading

Australian bourse to overhaul technology infrastructure

The Australian Securities Exchange is embracing digital ledger technology, microservices and DevOps to modernise its core systems Continue Reading

Loan charge under review: The 20-year retroactive tax policy pushing IT contractors to the brink

Thousands of IT contractors are at risk of financial ruin as HMRC pursues them for tax it claims they owe on work they did up to two decades ago and were reimbursed for via loan remuneration schemes. Computer Weekly investigates Continue Reading

Cyber criminals tool up for Christmas fraud season

Organised criminals are trying to cash in on the festive retail boom with both brand new and tried-and-tested techniques Continue Reading

Google to launch bank accounts in 2020

Google is launching bank accounts in the US in 2020 as tech giants continue to deepen their activities in the financial services sector Continue Reading

Wagestream gives staff alternative to payday lenders: Fintech interview 30

Wagestream is enabling workers to access their pay in real-time, reducing the need for overdrafts and payday loans Continue Reading

PCI DSS payment security compliance drops again

Worldwide, barely one-third of companies are maintaining full compliance with the PCI DSS security standard – and the numbers are falling Continue Reading

Major report on TSB IT disaster expected soon

A damning report into the 2018 IT disaster at TSB is expected to heavily criticise executives when it is published in November Continue Reading

Goldman Sachs probed over alleged Apple Card gender discrimination

US financial services regulator is investigating allegations that Goldman Sachs’ credit decisions for its Apple Card offering show gender bias Continue Reading

GoCardless and TransferWise create global network for direct debits

Fintechs’ network will make it easier for small companies to expand their customer bases internationally Continue Reading

Zopa opens testing for its banking products to customers

Zopa's move into the banking sector is gathering pace as customers test out its savings product Continue Reading

Co-operative Bank extends mortgage service deal with Capita

Co-operative bank has extended a contract to outsource its mortgage platform in a deal with Capita Continue Reading

Dutch banks to work together in fight against money laundering

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