IT for financial services

Is cloud data sovereignty all just a case of ‘Trust me, bro’?

Hyperscaler cloud is inherently global. Does that make data sovereignty unattainable – especially given the powers US courts hold? We grilled the hyperscalers in an attempt to find out Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Datacentre and cloud editor (acting)

EU finance firms urged to get on with anti-money laundering compliance

Two-thirds of finance firms in the European Union are at risk of missing next year’s deadline to comply with anti-money laundering regulations Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Google AI workers vote to unionise over IDF and US military tech

Unions send letter to management requesting recognition for Google DeepMind employees, in particular over the company’s involvement in hi-tech systems used in Gaza and Iran wars Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Datacentre and cloud editor (acting)

Mastering a marathon with the future of healthtech

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at how digital twins of the human body are helping athletes prepare for the London Marathon. We find out how AI is set to deliver new driving experiences in the latest cars. And we speak to a 146-year-old bank about taking an entrepreneurial approach to tackling legacy IT. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Almost half of UK businesses hit by cyber attacks

The government’s annual cyber security report reveals UK businesses are still struggling with the impact of attacks and breaches Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Global study reveals biggest risks of AI in finance sector

University of Cambridge study reveals the risks facing the finance sector as it adopts artificial intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cloud revenues up 35% YoY in a hot market that’s accelerating

Synergy Research figures put Q1 cloud revenues at $129bn. Meanwhile, AWS, Microsoft and Google have 63% of the world market, which shows an acceleration delta of 13% Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Datacentre and cloud editor (acting)

Umbrella companies not working for IT contractors, survey finds

IT skills market impacted as contractors forced to use umbrellas or opt out altogether, while tax compliance remains deeply uncertain, with late payments and payslip inaccuracy rife Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Datacentre and cloud editor (acting)

MPs call on UK government to learn from central bank’s IT project success story

Members of a parliamentary committee want the wider government to learn from success of Bank of England project Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

HSBC collaborates on noisy qubit real-world application

Researchers have demonstrated that usable results for financial modelling are achievable even on current noisy quantum computers Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Vernon Building Society uses AI to amplify human touch

Century-old mutual society is using artificial intelligence to bring mortgage processing onto a single platform Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Vect ransomware actually destructive wiper malware

Analysis of a form of ransomware called Vect has uncovered a serious flaw that breaks its core functionality and turns it from a locker to a wiper Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Lloyds Bank compensates another 1,625 customers after ‘alarming’ data breach

Bank pays out compensation to more customers and reveals expansion of affected group Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UKtech50 2026 – help us find the most influential people in UK IT

Computer Weekly’s annual search for the 50 most influential people in UK technology is on – let us know who you would like to nominate for this year's list Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

AI drives software productivity – and challenges – for Motorway

We talk to Ryan Cormack of used car marketplace Motorway about how AI-driven development increases the speed and productivity of engineering and the challenges it brings Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Datacentre and cloud editor (acting)

AI adoption is rapid but many stuck at basic levels, says AWS

The UK could unlock £35bn of productivity – equivalent to the economy of Manchester – if organisations can move from basic use of AI to productive, often agentic, modes of working Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Datacentre and cloud editor (acting)

Lloyds Register evaluates AI-based nautical navigation

Lloyds Register assessment used a computer vision system to identify and categorise complex navigation scenarios, working in conjunction with human crew Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

UK government beats drum for fintech industry at Fintech Week

UK government announces open banking strategies during London Fintech Week, including regulation and £1m investment Continue Reading

By

• Anna Mahtani

More finance firms join FCA’s AI testing initiative

Barclays, Experian and UBS join the FCA’s live AI testing initiative, exploring cutting-edge technologies like agentic AI and SLMs to ensure safe, responsible innovation in UK financial markets Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Surging CVE disclosures force NIST to shake up workflows

NIST announces big changes to the way it categorises and manages CVEs, which are set to have a big impact on how organisations manage patching and remediation Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

North Korean social engineering campaign targets MacOS users

A MacOS-focused social engineering campaign orchestrated by North Korea-based threat actor Sapphire Sleet has been exposed by Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Unit Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Bank cyber teams on red alert as Anthropic promises them Mythos next week

Artificial intelligence supplier promises UK banks opportunity to review AI model, which has already revealed thousands of security flaws Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CyberUK 2026: UK lagging on legal protections for cyber pros

Ahead of next week’s CyberUK conference, the CyberUp Campaign for reform of the UK’s hacking laws urges the government to keep focus and proposes a four-pillar framework that would protect cyber professionals from prosecution Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Finance regulators to address AI risks after MPs say they are ‘not doing enough’

After a Treasury committee stated that public and finance systems are ‘exposed to potential serious harm’ from AI because regulators are ‘not doing enough’ to manage risks, finance regulators say they will take action to address concerns Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK businesses must face up to AI threat, says government

Technology secretary Liz Kendall urges Britain’s business community to sit up and pay attention to emerging AI threats, following the debut of Anthropic’s new frontier model, Mythos Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Drone strikes show why key military principles apply to cloud data

One key thing every soldier knows is that bunching up under fire is a very bad idea. Here, a retired French general says CIOs need to apply the same principle to data in the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Major General Laurent Boïté (retired)

Danske Bank upgrade error exposed 20,000 customer addresses

Danish bank revealed details of a customer data leak last year which affected thousands of customers Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

April Patch Tuesday brings zero-days in Defender, SharePoint Server

Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday update may be one of the largest in history, with more than 160 issues in scope Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Finance regulator outlines its open finance vision

Financial Conduct Authority wants small businesses and consumers to be able to use their data to get better finance deals Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK financial regulators rush to assess risks of Anthropic AI model

Banks called in by regulators as latest artificial intelligence model identifies thousands of software vulnerabilities Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

In the AI race, a global bank bets on the human touch

Standard Chartered’s technology and security chief, Alvaro Garrido, says AI will transform finance, but the industry’s biggest vulnerabilities lie outside its own walls Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Azure customers up in arms over ‘full’ UK South region

Microsoft customers report being refused capacity, migration projects stuck halfway, and accusations that AI is being prioritised over ‘bread and butter’ offerings Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Datacentre and cloud editor (acting)

Russian cyber spies targeting consumer, Soho routers

The UK’s NCSC and Microsoft have shared details of an ongoing cyber espionage campaign targeting vulnerable network routers, orchestrated by Russian state actor Fancy Bear Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Identity and AI: Questions of data security, trust and control

The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers the intersection of AI and IAM. In this article, learn how AI-driven IAM projects must account for important questions around data protection, user trust, accountability and control. Continue Reading

By

• Ellie Hurst, Advent IM

AI-driven identity must exist in a robust compliance framework

The Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers the intersection of AI and IAM. In this article, learn how while AI‑driven identity solutions offer genuine value, they must be implemented within a robust framework of governance, privacy protection, and ethical responsibility. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Gillespie

AI driving changes in Nordic financial services

Traditional Nordic financial services businesses are reshaping to take on a new breed of competition Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Banning routers won’t fix what’s already broken

America's foreign-made router ban sparked valid debate about supply chains, geopolitics and trust, but the truth is that the ban addresses tomorrow’s procurement decisions far more than today’s security exposure. Continue Reading

By

• Rik Ferguson, Forescout

Stop Scams steps up to online fraud challenge

After years of putting the building blocks in place, Stop Scams is ready and able to react quickly to fight emerging fraud threats Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Lloyds admits coding fault exposed customer transactions

The bank has responded to the Treasury Committee’s request for information on a major data breach in its banking app Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Bank of England IT project offers lessons for wider government

The UK central bank’s core IT system replacement project surprised MPs, who were unaccustomed to reviewing success stories – its achievement could potentially serve as a model for future government IT initiatives Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Platformisation or platform theatre? Navigating cyber consolidation

The Security Think Tank looks at platformisation, considering questions such as how CISOs can distinguish between a truly integrated platform and 'integration theater, and how to protect unified platforms. Continue Reading

By

• John Bruce, Quorum Cyber

Emergency Microsoft, Oracle patches point to wider cyber issues

Emergency out-of-band patches from Microsoft and Oracle signal underlying security issues around update cycles and patching, and identity security and zero-trust, says the community Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

HSBC gets its first artificial intelligence chief

UK bank appoints its first executive position dedicated to artificial intelligence as the technology embeds across the sector Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber platformisation is a skills issue for security teams

The Security Think Tank looks at platformisation, considering questions such as how CISOs can distinguish between a truly integrated platform and 'integration theater, and how to protect unified platforms. Continue Reading

By

• Haris Pylarinos, Hack the Box

Cyber platformisation: Don't fall into the 'integration debt' trap

The Security Think Tank looks at platformisation, considering questions such as how CISOs can distinguish between a truly integrated platform and 'integration theater, and how to protect unified platforms. Continue Reading

By

• Rik Ferguson, Forescout

Interview: Jem Walters, CTO, Vanquis

Having come into the company through the acquisition of his money-saving app, the IT chief is bringing an agile and startup culture to the 146-year-old financial services firm Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Cisa tells US organisations to harden endpoint management after Stryker attack

Last week’s cyber attack on the systems of a US medical services company by Iranian hacktivists has prompted an alert from Cisa, urging organisations to reinforce their defensive posture Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

AI makes debut in Bridewell cyber security in CNI report

Regulation has superseded cyber threats as the main driver of cyber security spending, and AI has made its debut for attack and defence, according to a CNI-focused report from Bridewell Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Zopa Bank continues its transformation with further growth

UK digital challenger bank has 1.7 million customers, five years after it completed its transformation from a peer-to-peer lender Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Apple issues first Background patch for WebKit browser flaw

Apple’s first ever Background Security Update fixes a WebKit browser engine bug that could enable threat actors to see and steal important data from their victims Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Digital IDs edge closer to practical reality for UK businesses

Industries and policymakers are strongly aligned on the need for digital company IDs for UK businesses, as progress is made towards the implementation of a practical standard Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

MPs ask Lloyds Bank for more information about ‘alarming’ breach

Treasury Committee chair requests more information about the IT problem experienced by Lloyds Bank Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Contactless payment limit removal will happen overnight, but change won’t

Banks will be able to set their own contactless card payment limits from 19 March, following rule change by Financial Conduct Authority Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Beyond integration theatre: Building stronger cyber platforms

The Security Think Tank looks at platformisation, considering questions such as how CISOs can distinguish between a truly integrated platform and 'integration theater, and how to protect unified platforms. Continue Reading

By

• Joe Mayhew and Ahmed Tikail, PA Consulting

Nordea to slash 1,500 jobs as AI impact grows

Nordic bank to reduce headcount as it continues to introduce changes to meet its 2030 targets Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Companies House restarts online services following cyber breach

Companies House was forced to pull its WebFiling service offline at the weekend after it emerged that a flawed update was putting data at risk of exposure Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

How CISOs can build a truly unified and resilient security platform

The Security Think Tank looks at platformisation, considering questions such as how CISOs can distinguish between a truly integrated platform and 'integration theater, and how to protect unified platforms. Continue Reading

By

• Vaibhav Dutta, Tata Communications

Lloyds banking app ‘glitch’ shows transactions of strangers

Customers of Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank experienced a glitch this morning, where details of other customers’ transactions were displayed in their online banking apps Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Vulnerability reports: Increase in quantity, decrease in quality?

Bug bounties have become a staple of the cyber security toolkit, offering researchers a way to get paid to find and report bugs and giving businesses a route to fix unknown flaws. However, this model is now facing scrutiny. What is driving these concerns? Continue Reading

By

• Dan Raywood

UK government announces package to get more women in tech

The UK government aims to add billions of pounds to the economy through getting more women into the tech sector Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber industry welcomes women, but challenges persist

Three-quarters of women working in security say they feel comfortable in the field, but women are still much more likely to be laid off and face persistent challenges around career advancement, according to a report Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Salesforce tracks possible ShinyHunters campaign targeting its users

Salesforce warns users of an uptick in malicious activity targeting Experience Cloud customers with misconfigured user settings via an open source tool Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Confidence in AI-powered cyber must be earned, not assumed

In security, familiar testing and validation approaches are not enough when it comes to AI. The question is not just whether an AI-powered tool works but how it actually behaves when it is stressed, manipulated, or forced to operate outside already known conditions. Continue Reading

By

• Haris Pylarinos, Hack The Box

Microsoft patches zero-days in .NET and SQL Server

Zero-days in .NET and SQL Server, and a handful of critical RCE bugs, form the nucleus of Microsoft’s March Patch Tuesday update Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Open banking presents £43bn opportunity for UK economy if warnings are heeded

Open banking has already delivered billions of pounds to the UK economy and has huge future potential, but industry leaders warn against complacency Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK to launch cyber fraud squad in April

The UK’s Online Crime Centre, launching next month, will bring together government, police, intelligence agencies, banks, mobile networks and tech firms to take coordinated action against cyber fraud Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

DBS rewires operating models for AI reasoning era

The bank expects AI tools to evolve from being a copilot to an autopilot as it undergoes organisational transformation to prepare its workforce for agentic AI Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, Informa TechTarget

Platformisation without illusion: Separating integration from theatre

The Security Think Tank looks at platformisation, considering questions such as how CISOs can distinguish between a truly integrated platform and 'integration theater, and how to protect unified platforms. Continue Reading

By

• Aditya K Sood, Aryaka

Lloyds Bank to sell more customer data and cut costs by 35%

High street giant will increase proportion of total staff that work in technology and data Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nordics ally with Baltics to accelerate digital wallet roll-out

Baltic and Nordic countries work together on a common certification system to support digital wallet applications Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

Sweden recommends citizens keep £81 in cash per adult in case of payment system crash

The central bank of Sweden says rapid digitisation could cause vulnerabilities in payment systems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Spyware suppliers exploit more zero-days than nation states

Exploitation of zero-days by commercial surveillance and spyware developers outpaced exploitation by nation-state actors last year, according to a report Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Iranian hacktivists muster their forces but state APTs lay low

Hacktivist activity surrounding the Iran war is sky-high but Iran’s state-backed cyber espionage actors have yet to show their hands, giving security teams a valuable window of time to shore up their defences Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Zero-day in Android phone chips under active attack

Google and Qualcomm have tag-teamed a serious vulnerability in the chipsets used in Android mobile devices, which has been exploited in the wild as a zero-day Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Tycoon2FA phishing platform dismantled in major operation

A Europol-led sting against the infamous Tycoon2FA MFA bypass phishing service has been successful, with operations disrupted and ringleaders and cyber criminal users identified Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Open cyber standards key to cross-platform integration

The Security Think Tank looks at platformisation considering questions such as how CISOs can distinguish between a truly integrated platform and 'integration theater, and how to protect unified platforms. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen McDermid, Okta

Santander and Mastercard complete test of AI-initiated payment

Bank and payments giant complete first payment initiated by artificial intelligence in a controlled environment Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

NS&I’s modernisation programme: A £3bn lesson in how to lose public trust

The UK Public Accounts Committee’s description of NS&I’s digital modernisation as a ‘full-spectrum disaster’ should concern far more than technology teams Continue Reading

By

• Ben Terrett

NCSC: No increase in cyber threat from Iran, but be prepared

While cyber threat levels remain stable following the outbreak of war in the Middle East at the weekend, at-risk organisations in the UK should take steps to ward off potential reprisals from Iran-linked threat actors Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NS&I seeks Bank of England counsel over project disaster

The Bank of England’s successful IT transformation, praised by the National Audit Office, is being used as a model for government departments, including NS&I, which faces a failing IT project Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK has laid track for open banking, but failed to run trains

The UK risks losing its fintech leadership, with open banking progress slow, as countries such as the UAE and India advance rapidly Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Qilin crew continues to dominate ransomware ecosystem

The Qilin ransomware gang remained ‘top dog’ in January 2026, with over 100 observed cyber attacks to its name, amid a rapidly evolving and fragmenting cyber criminal ecosystem Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Santander pins €1bn business value gain on AI

Bank said artificial intelligence will be fully embedded into the business, personalising customer experiences Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Application exploitation back in vogue, says IBM cyber unit

IBM’s X-Force unit observes an uptick in the exploitation of vulnerable public-facing software applications Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Institutionalised AI puts Visa top of ranking

The payment card services giant leads the way in applying artificial intelligence in its sector, according to research Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Aviva prepares for life after CIO retirement with early announcement

Aviva has named the replacement for its outgoing technology chief, with former BT IT executive joining in the summer Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Starling expands internationally as demand for banking as a service continues to rise

UK challenger bank has expanded its banking-as-a-service business with entry into New Zealand Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

€126bn in Dutch tech projects blocked by permits and grid limits

Ex-ASML chief Peter Wennink’s deregulation solution triggers warnings from academics and government advisors Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Inside the tech stack powering the next wave of digital asset adoption

Digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and stablecoins are steadily being adopted by the financial mainstream, driven by a convergence of regulation, security-first infrastructure and increasingly sophisticated technology. Continue Reading

By

• Mustafa Budak

Bank of Ireland UK fined for late security system implementation

The payments regulator has fined the bank nearly £4m after it missed a deadline to implement a system to check payees Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Minister wants ‘logical conclusion’ to review of digital evidence in light of Post Office scandal

House of Lords debate saw government minister make an ambiguous promise in regard to the treatment of computer evidence in court Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Flaws in Google and Microsoft products added to Cisa catalogue

Cisa has added six CVEs to its Kev catalogue this week, including newly disclosed issues in Google Chromium and Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines, and some older flaws as well Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

0APT ransomware crew makes embarrassing splash

A ransomware gang called 0APT has attracted attention, but many of its victims may not even be real, and its operators are being accused of over-egging their criminal pudding Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

The evolution of threat research: Looking beyond best-of-breed

Traditional models of threat research as a service are changing and evolving towards a more bespoke model that puts more control in the hands of end-user cyber teams Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Staff

Artificial intelligence ‘creeping into’ high-risk stock trading

Growing reliance on artificial intelligence is encroaching into the stock market, finds research Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Banks to discuss UK alternative to Visa and Mastercard

Banks prepare to discuss a new payments infrastructure that would remove heavy reliance on US firms Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Charities turn to tech for greater impact

The fallout from the Post Office scandal is a recurring theme of reporting for Computer Weekly, and in this week’s ezine, we find out how the organisation’s efforts to address the shortcomings of its Horizon software have resulted in it being hit with a multimillion-pound IR35-related tax bill. We also sit down with Checkout.com CTO Mariano Albera to find out how he’s applying his knowledge of e-commerce to the finance sector, and why coding will always have a special place in his heart. In the third and final instalment of the AI security buyer’s guide, we take a look at how the technology can both help and hinder enterprise IT security strategies. And, rounding out the issue, we find out how five different charities are using CRM and digital experience technologies to bolster donations. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

NatWest hails progress after £1.2bn spent on tech last year, but true AI transformation to come

NatWest Bank describes the past 12 months of its tech transformation as ‘the year of [AI] deployment at scale’ Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government bank digital project a ‘full-spectrum disaster’ exposing taxpayers to risk

National Savings and Investments is unable to tell Public Accounts Committee the cost of its modernisation programme Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK fintech investment slumped in 2025

Investment in the UK fintech sector fell to its lowest level since 2020, but it is still the European destination attracting the most money Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA