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FinTech Trends Newsletter Week 9th April – 13th April 2018
Financial services and the great cloud conundrum
For all financial institutions, Cloud adoption has changed the business landscape, causing a seismic shift in how organisations operate. Depending on your source, UK cloud adoption rates are currently anywhere between 78% and 84%, and whilst cloud is no longer a new phenomenon, its importance to not only the CIO but also the full c-suite of decision makers such as CEOs, CMOs, CTO’s and CFOs, is paramount as they jostle to gain a competitive advantage over competitors. It has been argued that cloud adoption heralds the largest disruption in enterprise computing since the advent of the PC, with many industries embracing cloud-based platforms to not only cut costs but also drive efficiency.
Despite this, there has been a certain amount of trepidation from the financial services sector to make the transition and fully embrace cloud and its many advantages. At the mere utterance of the word ‘cloud’ a plethora of reasons why financial services organisations could not make the leap are shrieked. There were concerns over regulatory compliance as well as the complexity of functional replacement, security and control. And, in an era where financial institutions are more highly regulated than ever before, one could forgive these organisations for a tentative approach to change – especially when it came to new technologies that cloud put compliance at risk.
To further validate this hesitance, financial services firms are reportedly hit with security incidents 300% more frequently than other industries. However, over the past few years, the UK financial services sector has taken a more confident and proactive approach to cloud computing. In mid-2016, following the publishing of the FCA’s final guidance for UK regulated firms outsourcing to the cloud, it was made clear that there is no fundamental reason why financial services firms cannot use public cloud services, like Microsoft Azure, so long as they comply with the FCA’s rules. This statement and the guidance provided was certainly welcomed by those UK financial institutions that have been hesitant to embrace cloud due to the lack of regulatory certainty over its use.
This also serves as good news for cloud providers too, providing a boost in the uptake of cloud services in the sector. Certainly, there are many examples of financial services firms using cloud while remaining in compliance with FCA regulations. Regulatory compliance and managing cyber risk do not need to be the enemy of innovation. In fact, taking a risk-avoidant approach to experimenting with new business models, technologies or user experiences will be a fast path to obscurity in today’s business landscape, where innovation and competition can come from anywhere. Banks, hedge funds, wealth managers, asset managers and other players in the financial services ecosystem should seek out technologies that meet compliance and security needs but also enable agility and flexibility.
By embracing cloud computing services, companies in the financial sector are able to add vast efficiency to their operations. As long as the risks can be managed, and with the right cloud service provider, they can, there are many benefits. Cloud services – ranging from Production to Dev/Test to Disaster Recovery and backup – can help financial firms reduce setup and operating costs related to installing new IT infrastructure and negate the need to invest in more data centre space by making the necessary infrastructure resources available on demand, eliminate much of the hassle associated with procuring hardware and software and reduce costs in the process by moving IT CAPEX to OPEX. Perhaps most importantly for such a regulated industry, cloud services can help financial services firms gain IT innovation while protecting them against cyber-attacks, ransomware as well as maintaining compliance. If your financial services firm has been hesitant about a migration to cloud computing, it may be time to reconsider. Enjoy stronger security, lower your maintenance costs and unleash the productivity potential of employees by migrating to the cloud.
For further advice and assistance about, Cloud (Public & Private) & Data Management, contact Storm IT Financial and find out more information on Hedge Fund, Asset Management, Private Equity & Alternative Investment, Regulatory & Compliant Solutions, back up, disaster recovery, cyber security & firewall solutions, security education seminars, data storage, helpdesk support & IT Services.
Storm IT Financial FinTech News & Trends picks: Week 9th April – 13th April 2018
EU financial regulators warn against risks for EU financial markets, Brexit, asset repricing and cyber-attacks key risks
The securities, banking and insurance sectors in the EU face multiple risks, report by European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) shows:
Investor spending on risk analytics soars
Institutional investors increased their annual spending on risk and analytics platforms to $700 million, calling it “risk tech”:
https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/73441/investor-spending-on-risk-analytics-soars
Speculative interest in cryptocurrencies may have peaked – Barclays
The cryptocurrency mania of late 2017 spread like an infectious disease but we may have already reached the immunity threshold says Barclays:
Microsoft Azure: GDPR offers one more reason to focus on your disaster recovery strategy
Has your organisation failed to devise a business continuity and disaster recovery plan because of the perception that it’s complex or expensive?:
Verv executes the UK’s first energy trade on the blockchain
Machine learning startup Verv, executes the UK’s first physical trade of energy on the blockchain:
George Soros Prepares to Trade Cryptocurrencies
George Soros called cryptocurrencies a bubble in January. Now his $26 billion family office is planning to trade digital assets:
JPMorgan takes stake in post-trade startup AccessFintech
JPMorgan takes stake in AccessFintech, a post-trade startup created to help buyside and sell-side firms manage vendor and operational risk…:
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/31928/jpmorgan-takes-stake-in-post-trade-startup-accessfintech
Fintech’s success will be measured by how wide its reach is, not by flashy IPOs
The disruption that financial innovation brings to industries is to be welcomed and any benefits that….:
Aurum Funds: MiFID II: The Rise and Rise of Regulation
So did the final roll out of the new rules on Jan 3rd 2018 have the huge impact that the industry had anticipated?:
UBS Suspends Access to Research Data for SomeExternal Providers
UBS suspends research data feeds to data provider Bloomberg & other third-party platforms due to MiFID II:
RBS planning digital-only bank
Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland is working on plans to create a standalone digital bank:
Another Goldman exec dumps Wall Street for crypto world
Mike Novogratz hired Richard Kim from Goldman Sachs as the new COO of his crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital:
