The rise of the Fintech sector

The UK’s Fintech (Financial Technology) sector is on the rise – despite Brexit uncertainty investors have put $16bn into the UK fintech market in just the first-half of 2018, a level of investment surpassing that of both the US and China. The UK remains the main hub in Europe for financial technology start-ups, providing over 60,000 jobs.

Cloud Computing & The Foundations of Banking:
In a highly competitive market, high-street banks are in pursuit of digital transformation with business models changing from being product-centric to customer centric. With this change in approach, it is increasingly clear that the foundation of modern banking is cloud computing.

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After an initial hesitancy amongst banking firms to adopt cloud-based solutions due to concerns that there could be leakage of financially sensitive data, traditional banks such as the Royal Bank of Scotland are now choosing to keep pace with the revolution that is taking place within Financial Technology. The cloud’s ability to support users anywhere at any time on any device is a key factor in a growing mobile-app driven landscape.

GDPR Compliance:
Cloud technology has assisted banks and financial technology companies to achieve compliance in an era where GDPR allows customers the right to access their personal data and have it removed if required. Previously, the server infrastructure in banking made it cumbersome and difficult to access all customer data, but with the cloud, banks have greater insight and can quickly identify and address data breaches at a time when there has been questionable handling of customer data.

Internal threats:
With the rise in online banking and mobile apps, Identity Access Management (IAM) has become essential for financial services security. External threats such as hackers are usually associated with theft and fraud but often the internal threat is ignored. According to research carried out in 2016 62% of breach incidents reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) were as a result of staff members.

For financial services companies the best approach to addressing this issue would be to make sure that employees only have access to apps and platforms they need, adopting a data-first mindset and stronger authentication so that employees only have access to the information they need.

The challenges ahead:
As digital banking becomes increasingly popular, consumers are placing more personal data and information in the hands of financial services providers.

Consumers and businesses feel safer when their bank has an ethical approach to its customers and their data, find out more in our eBook, Winning the Data Game, which looks at how banks should see fintech and data security as stepping stones – not obstacles – to improving customer experience.