Latest long reads: Finextra Research

Deferred Prosecution Agreements: Who benefits?

It was just over a decade ago that a strange new beast entered the UK’s legal scene. Introduced in the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (CCA), Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) were an innovation designed to adopt a pragmatic approach to economic crimes, including those of corruption and bribery (and in relation to criminal conduct that occurred pri...

31 January 2025 /regulation

Two weeks into DORA: What are the main industry concerns and opportunities?

Henna Cheema Researcher at Finextra

Two weeks into DORA: What are the main industry concerns and opportunities?

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has officially come into effect on 17 January 2025. In light of the changes now in effect, financial institutions, fintechs and other players in the sector are voicing a mix of optimism, concern, and frustration. Finextra has gathered and analysed industry commentary from Capgemini, Tribe Payments, Fo...

31 January 2025 /regulation

How to use AI to get a new job this year

Aoibhinn Mc Bride Content Editor at Jobbio

How to use AI to get a new job this year

Finding a job used to require a lot of manual searching through multiple job boards and the tedious task of sitting down in front of a blank white page to list out your professional and academic achievements in order to secure an interview. While much has been made of the threat AI poses to jobs, it’s also an incredibly useful tool when trying to f...

31 January 2025 /people

Liam Xavier Media Producer at Finextra

What happened at Santander?

UK exit rumours, regulatory tensions and market instability; a short-lived rumour about Santander’s future on the UK high street emerged recently. Despite a rebuttal from its executive chair Ana Botín, the saga revealed a bubbling weakness under the surface of retail banking. Here’s everything you need to know. Santander UK performance The story b...

30 January 2025 /retail

How microservice architecture can revolutionise real-time payments processing

Michael Engel VP Software Banking & MS at Diebold Nixdorf

How microservice architecture can revolutionise real-time payments processing

Real-time payments processing has revolutionised the banking landscape in Europe. As new fintech firms emerge, legacy banks are looking to move towards a more agile, scalable, and configurable payments infrastructure. In the transition away from monolithic architecture, financial institutions are looking for a cost-effective, efficient, and proact...

30 January 2025 /payments

Davos 2025 roundup: AI, crypto, and the energy transition

Sehrish Alikhan Reporter at Finextra

Davos 2025 roundup: AI, crypto, and the energy transition

This year’s annual World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting set in the picturesque Alpine views of Davos, Switzerland, brought together international world leaders to discuss trade, global economy, climate change, and political tensions. There was a dark cloud hovering over the conference this year, encapsulating the geopolitical turmoil waging i...

29 January 2025 /markets

Starting the ISO 20022 countdown: The clock is ticking, but is the industry ready?

Dominique Dierks Senior Content Manager at Finextra

Starting the ISO 20022 countdown: The clock is ticking, but is the industry ready?

We’re just a few months out from the ISO 20022 CBPR+ deadline, and financial institutions globally are starting the last sprint towards readiness. By December 2024, only 32.9% of organisations had adopted the new messaging standard, showing the hurdles that are still ahead for many. Crucially, Swift has made it clear that the timeline will not...

29 January 2025 /regulation

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

How can banks automate effectively?

Automation in financial services encapsulates a range of tools and techniques which have the effect of reducing human intervention in business and information technology (IT) processes. On the business side are repetitive tasks that hobble workflows. It is estimated that companies lose 20-30% of their revenue to such inefficiencies every year. Au...

28 January 2025 /ai

The current state of inclusive instant payments in Africa

Sabine Mensah Deputy CEO at AfricaNenda Foundation

The current state of inclusive instant payments in Africa

Many of us take for granted the ease with which we can make and receive digital payments directly from or into a bank account or e-wallet, and the host of economic benefits it brings. Digital payments are not universally available in Africa, however, in part because the payments infrastructure on the continent is not yet fully inclusive—neither in...

28 January 2025 /payments

Open banking: 4 application-specific recommendations for industry players

David O'Neill COO at APIContext

Open banking: 4 application-specific recommendations for industry players

Our recent report analyses the performance of open banking APIs from 29 UK-based bank brands, grouped into CMA9 banks, neobanks, and traditional banks. APIContext monitored Financial-grade API (FAPI) compliant consent endpoints for each bank brand using its active monitoring platform, with around eight million API calls made between 1 July 2023, ...

27 January 2025 /devops

How to avoid online scams and hype: Is reading the ‘fine print’ enough anymore?

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

How to avoid online scams and hype: Is reading the ‘fine print’ enough anymore?

Why do people keep losing money from schemes, scams, and ‘too good to be true’ offers in what is probably one of - if not the most - heavily regulated sectors of the economy? 2024 saw a continuing increase in fraudulent scams and a parade of disappointing (or damaging) online product offerings, including in the financial services marketplace. As...

23 January 2025 /security

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

$Trump: The new presidential meme coin

Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20th January was followed by a salad of executive orders, including the ejection of the USA from the Paris climate accord, the termination of birthright citizenship, the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, withdrawal from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the enforcement of a two-sex gender poli...

22 January 2025 /crypto

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