Don’t Break the Bank: Run IT, Change IT

In this captivating conversation, we have the pleasure of hosting Joy Macknight, the first female Editor of the prestigious publication - The Banker. Join us as we journey through Joy's illustrious career, starting from her double major in biology and environmental studies to leading a team of editors and reporters covering the international banking industry. She shares intriguing insights into the challenges and innovation within the banking sector and talks about her journey to becoming the first female Editor of the Banker.We explore the ever-evolving landscape of sustainable banking and finance. We discuss how banks are redefining their reporting, the challenges of comparisons, and the need to include new criteria such as biodiversity and social aspects. We then venture into the realm of Open Banking and Open Finance, whose potential in the UK is yet to be fully tapped. We also discuss the revolutionary potential of open banking and digital identity, touching on the significant role banks could play as trusted sources of digital identity certification.Our conversation then shifts to the importance of gender focus in designing financial services and products, highlighting the potential for products tailored specifically for women. We examine the need for diversity in banks, the sobering reality of gender parity as per the ANF Gender Balance Index, and the various dimensions of diversity. Finally, we delve into the potential impact of quantum computing on banks and how banks need to gear up for this technological advancement. Listen in as Joy shares her thoughts on all these topics and invites everyone to join the Banker Publication community.3 Takeaways:Importance of Gender-Inclusive Design: Joy highlighted the significance of designing financial services and products with women in mind. By considering the different needs and life journeys of women, banks can create more inclusive and tailored offerings. Designing with a gender focus can also empower women and drive financial inclusion.Long Road to DEI: While progress has been made, there is still a long way to go in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the financial services industry. Achieving gender parity alone is estimated to take around 140 years, highlighting the need for continuous efforts to foster diversity and equality in all aspects of banking, including leadership positions. 3. Quantum Computing as a Game-Changer: Joy discussed the potential impact of quantum computing on the banking industry. While it poses risks to current cryptography systems, it also presents opportunities for improved market intelligence and algorithmic capabilities. Banks should invest in understanding quantum computing and build the necessary talent to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.Quantum Computing as a Game-Changer: Joy discussed the potential impact of quantum computing on the banking industry. While it poses risks to current cryptography systems, it also presents opportunities for improved market intelligence and algorithmic capabilities. Banks should invest in understanding quantum computing and build the necessary talent to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.Key Quotes:Some of the really interesting and quite innovative and new instruments that they're bringing to the capital markets, I think is really fascinating. And again, I think, the pressure of the impending climate crisis is just what we're facing at the moment really necessitates the banks to act, and what I feel is that they are doing that right so they're taking it very seriously they're moving into actually into the whole supply chains of their of themselves, but also of their corporate clients, and this is what we need to actually make a huge change.​​When you think of banking as a service, a lot of banks are already starting to think about that. They're thinking about embedding their services and other platforms or other apps.Then they're also thinking about creating their own super apps so that everyone can, you know, work through the banking app to access other lifestyle activities that you want to do, et cetera.Looking at gender data and actually unpicking that, and then finding out what makes sense, not just male customers, but also female customers, because a female's life journey can be very different, right?And if you're just designing products for men, with men in mind, then you're actually missing out.So why not design a pension for women specifically.It comes to financial inclusion, but also female empowerment, etc. And then getting funding to women entrepreneurs is also a big thing that they're working on, which I think is really important.When you look at it from a gendered lens you can really see that there has been some impact, but at the same time it hasn't been enough in terms of all the different levels within the banks.And I think that's really important when we talk about designing financial services products for women. What you really want is to have women as part of that designing culture, etc. But also, you know, working at all the different levels of the bank.What you want to have in any bank, is you want to have those diverse communities represented, so that you're actually serving those communities in the broader sense. And when you have a default design, you're designing for  just one aspect, whether it's, it's men or whatever. When in actual fact you want to be designing products and I think technology is there that you can do that personalization. BIO:Joy Macknight is the Editor at The Banker. She joined the publication in 2015 as Transaction Banking and Technology Editor. Previously, she was features editor at Profit & Loss, editorial director at Treasury Today and editor at gtnews. She also worked as staff writer on Banking Technology and IBM Computer Today, as well as a freelancer on Computer Weekly.LinkedIn link to JoyTwitter link to JoyLink to The BankerHere is the link to the Womens World Banking conferenceLink to the 2018 article, Will the digital world solve the identity crisis?About the HostsMatthew O'Neill is a husband, dad, geek, and Industry Managing Director, Advanced Technology Group in the Office of the CTO at VMware.You can find Matthew on LinkedIn and Twitter.Brian Hayes is an audiophile, dad, builder of sheds, maker of mirth, world traveler and EMEA Financial Services Industry Lead at VMware.You can find Brian on LinkedIn.

In this episode, our podcast host, Matthew O’Neill takes us on a deep dive “Exploring DORA”, Europe’s new Digital Operational Resilience Act which is being suggested, will be as significant for Financial Services as GDPR has been to the rest of us.Matthew discusses the key provisions of DORA and how it aims to ensure the robustness and resilience of the financial system in the digital age. We'll uncover Matthew’s take on the motivations behind the act, its implications for financial institutions, IT service provider partners, and even the regulators, all with the aim of providing protection for consumers. From cyber threats to operational disruptions, DORA's framework addresses a wide range of risks and sets new standards for digital operational resilience. Matthew makes it clear that regulators from other jurisdictions are watching with interest.In addition, we learn of Matthew’s unprecedented journey in the financial sector; from an office junior at a local bank in the UK to becoming the Head of Infrastructure and Operations in Asia and then the Global Head of Data centres and IT Service Management at one of the world’s largest banks, and then on to his landing here at VMware. Matthew’s take on DORA gives you a true insider’s perspective. It’s a must-listen!3 Takeaways:DORA emphasizes that operational resilience is not limited to financial services firms alone. The entire ecosystem supporting critical services must be considered. This means mapping out end-to-end processes, understanding who and what is involved, and ensuring full observability to keep things running optimally.DORA introduces a significant shift in regulatory testing. Supervisors will now conduct tests on production systems especially where these are sharing cloud infrastructure with multiple firms. Stress testing operational resilience will become a priority, moving away from a mere tick-box exercise.To comply with DORA's requirements, both financial service providers and their partner firms should invest in regulatory risk professionals and banking risk specialists. The act will challenge existing assumptions and practices. It might reveal whether claims of regulatory constraints are genuine or merely used as an excuse for avoiding technological advancements. This suggests that firms will need to navigate a potentially uncomfortable period of reevaluation and adaptation.Key Quotes: It's not just about the financial services firm.It's also about, the whole ecosystem that supports you in the provision of what are deemed as critical or important services. So, if you have one of those types of service, you've really got to map out end to end, how that operates, who operates through, who's touching what part of it and making sure that you're not just monitoring it, but you've got like full observability as to what's going on, who's doing what, where, when, and why, and if anything goes wrong, how quickly you can bring that back.The big differences now though, is that there will now be testing performed and you've got to perform tests, but it's also the supervisors are likely to be performing tests and they'll be performing tests on production systems that are potentially running on the same cloud infrastructures as many other [financial service] firms and many other firms. So, there's going to be much more stress testing of that operational resilience than it ever being a kind of a governance, tick box exercise. So I think that's one thing that's got folks concerned.What's going to happen here is there's going to be an increased level of transparency. I can kind of say maybe an implicit increase in levels of trust between FSI firms and their supplier partners, because the supplier partners are going to be held to account for what's running. And if they don't know what's running,that's a little bit of a hard position to be in. So, I think an unintended consequence of this is actually going to be a greater amount of visibility. for the firms that are uncomfortable with that, and there will be some, then their risk appetites might take them back to, ‘Oh, actually now we need to be doing more on prem or we now need to move some of that workload away from public clouds and into colo facilities or back into data centers.’ Or vice versa, ‘actually, we've got such a great relationship with this.Hyperscaler, we need to put more with them.’”The more critical service providers and partner firms that we work with need to seriously think about employing some banking risk managers and regulatory risk professionals to help them navigate the potential of where this could go. I think it's going to be a little bit uncomfortable for a little bit of the time. One of the objections that often comes up talking with a customer about implementation or the potential to, to consume more technology is, ‘Oh yeah, the regulator won't let me do that’.or, ‘that's against our regulatory stance’. Or ‘the regulator is used in that way.’ We and our supplier partners are about to experience, well, what does that, what does that really mean? Is that something you're literally hiding behind or is it something that there is, um, there's a lot of truth in?About the HostsMatthew O'Neill is a husband, dad, geek, and Industry Managing Director, Advanced Technology Group in the Office of the CTO at VMware.You can find Matthew on LinkedIn and Twitter.Brian Hayes is an audiophile, dad, builder of sheds, maker of mirth, world traveler and EMEA Financial Services Industry Lead at VMware.You can find Brian on LinkedIn.BIO:Matthew is a Financial Services Industry thought leader, helping VMware customers and partners get the most from their technology investments. He is one of the senior leaders in VMware's GTM Strategic Ecosystem & Industry Solutions team. He works with customers, partners, the media and industry analysts to differentiate VMware's capabilities.  Matthew works closely with the Strategic Ecosystem of partners, ISVs, Hyperscalers and Global Systems Integrators to develop industry-specific solutions to fulfil Financial Services customers' requirements.Within the Industry Solutions team, Matthew is at the forefront of the new ways of working, driving delivery of industry solutions from ideation through GTM to adoption and improving VMware's industry relevance.Matthew is a former Managing Director from HSBC, where he was the Global Head of Data Centres & IT Service Management. he spent five years in Hong Kong running IT Infrastructure & Operations across the Asia Pacific region and, before that, was responsible for HSBC's EUC & Telecoms globally.Matthew brings this extensive Financial Services Executive expertise to share lessons, insights and opportunities with customers, partners and colleagues on their Cloud Journeys, Employee Experience and Digitisation/Digitalisation Transformations. He is called upon to provide opinion and actionable insight on the breadth of Financial Services, from the role of Artificial intelligence to Operational Resilience and even emerging regulations.

Episode Description:In this episode, we’re joined by Paolo Sironi, who shares his unique journey from banking to FinTech entrepreneurship and to his current role as  global research leader in banking and financial markets at IBM, the Institute for Business Value. In our discussion, he emphasizes the need to understand the human being when innovating in the world of FinTech and banking transformation. He recounts his career-defining moments where he had to choose between doing research and working in customer service, and how this experience shaped his understanding of the behavior of finance and customer interactions with services.We explore banking and Fintech in platform economies. Paolo discusses his experience of creating the risk management architecture methodology for a large Italian bank and how this knowledge influenced his approach to tech innovation.He talks about his proudest moment of writing books, the feedback he received from the community, and how these experiences have helped him make more grounded judgments in financial services. We also discuss platform strategies that can help banks generate more value for their clients, as highlighted in Paolo's latest book, Banks and Fintech on Platform Economies.Discover how digitalizing value can positively impact society, why bankers are still needed, and the challenges of running a payment platform at scale. Paolo also highlights the role of AI in banking and how technology can empower customers to make informed decisions. In addition, we touch on the potential of quantum computing in revolutionizing financial services, the power of language, and the importance of mentorship. Paolo's unique perspective on these topics makes for a must-listen episode.3 Takeaways:The importance of understanding human nature and behvaior when adapting AI platforms and services into services like bankingEmphasizing of transparency with technology and AI to embolden trust with the publicBanking and Bankers are very much alive despite the Bill Gates proclamation of 1994.  Banker / Customer relations are imperative for high value Investments and Insurance products.Key Quotes:The economy is a platform. We should not forget that. Society is a platform where we operate, even politics is a platform. Financial services are a platform. So all of these platforms need to interact. But typically we don't think platforms, we think very narrow or very linear models. And it is that change in perspective that enables us to understand why the financial services platform is not working as it should, and the economy is not working as it should.If you think about money, money is there for the survival of the individual. If we didn't have money, I would be in Germany growing potatoes. You would be in the UK still growing your potatoes. Some of my Italian friends would be growing their tomatoes. It would be difficult for us to interact. But now that we have money, I can have work. I can move around easily. I can meet you. And we lost that understanding of the real reason for money to be there. But understanding that enables us to identify the value of money and financial intermediation. And if we identify the value correctly, we can digitalize that value.You need to identify what is the value for the consumer. And then once you identify that, you can define how technology enables you to generate that value. Because effectively, without technology, it's difficult to still work on good relationships because they become very expensive in terms of training, in terms of deployment, in terms of execution.Every time you need to make a decision in life, typically there's a financial transaction involved. Meaning paying or getting credit where I borrowed my money in order to make it happen. And sometimes that is a complex decision and you have to go back to the bank. You have to think about it, you have to supply a lot of information. If the bank can reduce the friction, that is part of a journey outside banking where banks participate in the journey just by enabling individuals to complete the process, they will unlock new value because the economy, the ecosystem around them will work more efficiently, right, and more seamlessly.Now the problem with this is that how do you get paid for the elimination of friction? In fact, the definition of the contextual banking platform strategy is that the opportunity to eliminate the friction makes banking contextualized, that means embedded, to unlock new value.The role of technologies like AI and data, again, is to unlock that value of the relationship that is dishomogeneous, is not even, because many people talk to [too] many clients. So you need to figure out how to help everyone.To get into better conversations where the value is positioned for the decision making process. And that will allow these people to see the value and pay the fee for accessing the advisory platform. So it's a transformation of banks towards trusted advisory institutions. So you will have embedded finance on one side, trusted advisory institutions on the other side.Paolo Sironi:Paolo Sironi is the global research leader in banking and financial markets at IBM, the Institute for Business Value. He is a former start-up entrepreneur – focused on digitalisation of wealth and asset management. He started his career as a quant, leading risk management organisations in investment banking. Paolo is the author of business literature about finance, banking, and digital innovation. His latest bestseller “Banks and Fintech on Platform Economies” explores how platform theory, born outside of financial services, will make its way inside banking and financial markets to radically transform the way firms do business.  For more information:You can follow Paolo on his  LinkedInFor more information, thePSironi.com“Banks and Fintech on Platform Economies” http://relinks.me/1119756979About the HostsMatthew O'Neill is a husband, dad, geek, and Industry Managing Director, Advanced Technology Group in the Office of the CTO at VMware.You can find Matthew on LinkedIn and Twitter.Brian Hayes is an audiophile, dad, builder of sheds, maker of mirth, world traveler and EMEA Financial Services Industry Lead at VMware.You can find Brian on LinkedIn..

Episode Description:In this episode, we delve into a conversation with Dr. Leda Glyptis, an accomplished fintech leader and former banker. With over two decades of experience driving transformation and technology across diverse financial sectors, Leda explores the inherent ties between banking, fintech, and the current technological surge. Discover how these domains can seamlessly integrate into the tech revolution by aligning with the established systems of traditional banks and corporations. Tune in to gain insights from this seasoned fintech veteran, as she guides us through the pivotal juncture where digital innovation and banking converge.Join us for a compelling discussion on the evolving landscape of finance in the digital age.3 Takeaways:The lagging adaptation of digital tech in banking and FintechDoing the right thing over doing the thing right and embracing failureLearning from a company’s legacy and the technical debt Key Quotes: “You need to make sure that you fail fast and fix it, but you also need to make sure that you fail small and fix it.”“So increasingly who gets it for me, the people who start talking about their end customer, their data strategy, and their overall cost to serve ahead of showing me wireframes of their UX. They're the people who get it.”“Leave aside the business model and how certain players in that space make money. What happens to all the systems that need to know what happened in real time for liquidity management? For everything that happens downstream, and we've been talking about, um, real time clearing and settlement for years.We know it's coming.”“There is no such thing as an organization that doesn't have technical debt. There just isn't. There will be corners that are cut because Bobby has a date and has to ship and go out and freshen up to meet his date.There's corners that will be cut 'cause money's short, or there's a deadline looming, or because you didn't think of something. And there will always, always, always, either because you didn't think something was important or because something else was more important, or 'cause you had a blind spot. So there is no such thing as no legacy and there is no such thing as no technical debt.”Leda Glyptis:  Leda is a seasoned fintech executive and former banker, with a career spanning two decades working int transformation and technology functions across a variety of financial services verticals.Leda works as an advisor to boards and executive teams for companies of all sizes, from young startups to globally significant financial institutions, supporting leadership teams in transition: be it a process of transforming themselves, their business or their software infrastructure. Leda served as the Chief Client Officer of 10x Banking and the founding CEO of 11:FS Foundry (both in the cloud-native core banking space); she was the Chief Innovation Officer of Qatar National Bank and held a variety of innovation and transformation roles at BNY Mellon.Leda sits on the board of Flagstone IM. Over the years, she has held a number of NED positions in fintech firms in Europe and the UK including chairing the Board of Geophy (now a Walker and Dunlop company) through its successful exit. Leda is a frequent keynote speaker at flagship industry events globally including Sibos, M20/20, Finovate as well as specialist regional events; she is the author of the highly acclaimed #LedaWrites column on Fintech Futures and the book ‘Bankers Like Us: Dispatches from an Industry in Transition’ published by Taylor and Francis in 2023. Leda completed her undergraduate studies at King’s College Cambridge and holds an MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.For more information:You can connect with Leda on her LinkedInFollow her on Twitter  @LedaGlyptisOrder her book “Bankers Like Us” HEREAbout the HostsMatthew O'Neill is a husband, dad, geek and Industry Managing Director, Advanced Technology Group in the Office of the CTO at VMware.You can find Matthew on LinkedIn and Twitter.Brian Hayes is an audiophile, dad, builder of sheds, maker of mirth, world traveler and EMEA Financial Services Industry Lead at VMware.You can find Brian on LinkedIn.