Agenda

2025 Full Agenda to be announced shortly. 

Confirmed Topics: 

10:10 - 10:40: Panel: One month in: Realising the impact of DORA on operational resilience in financial services – Sponsored by Riskonnect 

With the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) having come into effect at the start of 2025, financial services firms across Europe are now grappling with its practical implications. As organisations enter the initial stages of compliance, questions remain about the act's long-term impact on digital resilience strategies. 

This panel will examine the challenges and insights firms have faced in the first month of DORA compliance, exploring real-world responses, early lessons learned, and how organisations are adapting their risk and operational resilience frameworks to align with regulatory demands. Bringing together experts across financial services, this discussion will provide timely guidance on translating DORA requirements into sustainable resilience practices.  

Panellists:
Adam Avards, Principal for Cyber and Third Party Risk, UK Finance
Sam Reason, Head of Operational Resilience and Continuity (inc Third Party Assurance/Governance), Zurich Insurance

See below for the 2024 agenda

08.30 - 09.05: Registration and refreshments 

09.05 - 09.10: Chairman’s welcome
Jonathan Easton, Editor, FStech

09.10 - 09.40: Keynote speaker - Making sure payments are working well for everyone
Kate Fitzgerald, Head of Policy, Payment Systems Regulator

In this keynote presentation, Kate Fitzgerald, Head of Policy at the Payment Systems Regulator, provides insight into key areas the regulator is working on in this fast-paced, ever-changing industry. The session will examine how to unlock Open Banking for more users, APP scams from a user protection perspective and how the market is working.

09.40 - 10.10:  Getting your data regulation ready
Joe Lichtenberg, Global Head of Product and Industry Marketing, InterSystems

In this session Joe Lichtenberg, Global Head of Product and Industry Marketing at InterSystems, explores how financial services providers (FSIs) can get their data regulation ready. While timely responsiveness to regulation is imperative to avoid fines and reputational risk, a survey from InterSystems found that 56 per cent of firms struggle to maintain data consistency and usability when it comes to compliance. This is often driven by the fact that many processes are still manual, which means firms are hampering their ability to meet regulatory mandates like the Consumer Duty. Lichtenberg will look at how introducing a smart data fabric could help FSIs eliminate the data errors and latencies that are holding them back.

10:10 - 10.40: Panel - Exploring DORA: The landmark regulation’s impact on financial services - sponsored by Riskonnect
Panellists: 
Alex Coleman, Global Chief Architect for Risk and Compliance, HSBC
Daniel McCatty, Principal for Cyber and Third-Party Risk, UK Finance
Sam Reason, Head of Operational Resilience and Continuity (inc Third Party Assurance/Governance), Zurich Insurance

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a landmark piece of legislation that aims to strengthen the operational resilience of financial institutions in the European Union. DORA will require financial institutions to implement a range of measures to improve their ability to withstand, respond to, and recover from ICT-related disruptions and threats. DORA is expected to have a major impact on the financial sector, and it is important for financial institutions to understand the requirements of DORA and to start taking steps to comply. In this session, expert speakers will discuss DORA and its implications for RegTech, along with examining what financial institutions should look for in solutions to address the requirements of the game changing regulation. 

10.40 - 11.10: Coffee break

11.10 - 11.40: Operational resilience in financial services: Data, testing, and recovery strategies
Patrick Smith, EMEA Field CTO, Pure Storage

Financial services firms face a complex and evolving threat landscape that makes operational resilience more important than ever. New regulations such as DORA are raising the bar for operational resilience, requiring firms to identify their most important business services, and set impact tolerances. Robust data and testing will only become more key to meeting these new requirements as threats continue to evolve. In this presentation, Patrick Smith field chief technology officer for EMEA at Pure Storage will explain the essential components of an effective operational resilience program that enables financial institutions to withstand and recover from worst-case disruption scenarios. Patrick will examine leading practices for business impact analysis, mapping interconnections between critical business services, setting impact tolerances, and testing recovery plans.

11.40 - 12.10: The financial cybercrime pandemic: Developing resilience against weaponised AI attacks
Philip Treleaven, Professor of Computing, UCL, Director, UK Centre for Financial Computing

With losses to cybercrime rising to an estimated $27 billion in 2023, many financial institutions and regulators are ill prepared to deal with the emergence of new technologies being used by cybercriminals. We have already seen generative AI platforms and other new technologies start to ‘industrialise’ cybercrime within its own ecosystem, while the potential of Algorithmic Superintelligence (ASI) which far surpasses even the most gifted human minds should ring alarms for banks and regulators alike. In this session Philip Treleaven, Director of the UK Centre for Financial Computing and Professor of Computing at UCL, will argue that a key issue that must be addressed by the financial sector is awareness of this criminal ecosystem and its methods of attack. He will discuss the need for financial institutions to require awareness training, and challenge FSIs to radically restructure their operational model to detect, block and prosecute emergent and previously unseen cybercrimes.

12:10 - 12.40: Panel - The AI revolution: The convergence of communications data and machine intelligence to transform compliance - sponsored by Smarsh
Panellists:
Fatima Abukar, Data, Algorithms and AI Ethics Lead, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Shaun Hurst, Principal Regulatory Advisor, Smarsh
Dizem Ozalp-Sari, Head of Data Services, BNP Paribas
Andy Thornley, Head of Financial Services, techUK

The ability for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to process and analyse large swathes of data presents a revolutionary means of maintaining oversight of electronic communications. New technologies like generative AI (GenAI) and large language models (LLMs) are also opening new ways for financial institutions to transform compliance in this area. In this session, expert speakers will discuss why and how financial institutions are converging AI and ML technology with communications data to evolve their compliance strategy, and how financial institutions can leverage that data to quickly identify and minimise risks, illuminate new business opportunities and improve operational systems. The panellists will also examine the potential pitfalls and regulatory implications of these technologies in plain language, along with the impact of GenAI and LLMs in compliance. 

12.40 - 13.10: From Open Banking to Open Finance
Andy Millar, Head of Strategy & External Engagement, Global Open Banking, HSBC

The Data Protection and Digital Innovation Bill (DPDI) is expected to pave the way to Open Finance in the UK. The European Commission has published its Financial Data Access (FiDA) draft proposal which will enable Open Finance in the EU bloc. What does this mean, how ready are we, and what do we need to do to bring Open Finance to reality for our customers?

13.10 - 14.10: Lunch break

14.10 - 14.40: Panel - Fighting FinCrime: How FSIs are using technology to simplify financial crime compliance - sponsored by SmartSearch
Panellists:
Gareth Brett, Financial Crime & Risk Specialist
Zowie Lees-Howell, VP of Enterprise Sales, SmartSearch
Andranik Mnatsakanyan, Director, Visa Consulting & Analytics
Riccardo Tordera-Ricchi, Head of Policy & Government Relations, The Payments Association

As regulation and compliance duties expand, financial institutions face increasing pressure to fulfil obligations efficiently and cost-effectively. This session explores how leading firms are turning to next generation RegTech to simplify know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), and sanctions screening processes for efficient and cost-effective compliance. Panellists will discuss the current RegTech landscape, including how leveraging data and technology strategically can optimise compliance productivity, and the transformative potential of automation through machine learning. Attendees will gain actionable insights on how they can enhance their approach to compliance through strategies that align them with their FinCrime regulatory obligations, intelligent automation, and making the most out of their data. 

14.40 - 15.10:  Keynote - Cracking the Code: Harnessing Innovation in the Era of Evolving Regulations
Nathalie Lowe, Accountable Executive for Transforming Data Collection, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

In this keynote speech, you will hear from the FCA’s Accountable Executive for Transforming Data Collection. Nathalie Lowe will set the stage of the current emerging technologies impacting the financial services industry and delve into the evolution of regulation. In this session, you will gain insights, inspiration, and actionable lessons, such as hearing about how the FCA uses Technology and Policy Sprints as an innovative tool for regulation, as well as its work on Sandboxes to assist innovation in the market.

15.10 - 15.15:  Chairman’s closing remarks and end of the conference

15.15 - 16.15: Networking drinks reception