Finance

There is no shortage of news headlines about companies falling victim to cyber breaches and the astounding costs associated with them. According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023, the global average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million, a 15 percent increase since 2020. For the financial services industry, the cost is even higher at $5.9 million per breach; that is 28 percent above the global average. 

In addition to the higher price tag associated with a cyber breach, companies within the financial industry must also adhere to evolving compliance regulations that dictate how they respond to an attack and where they must invest to reduce the total risk.

Generative AI has the potential to reshape entire industries and how they operate, and financial services stand out as uniquely poised for AI-driven transformation. McKinsey & Company calls generative AI the next frontier for productivity, estimating that analyzing natural language text -- a core generative AI use case -- accounts for an average of 25 percent of the time people spend in any given enterprise.

The finance industry is a data-driven industry, so it’s no surprise that finance sector firms see big potential in using generative AI to tackle use cases that require assessing enormous amounts of unstructured data, such as company due diligence, know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, sustainability research, and controversy monitoring.

In common with many industries, the digital transformation era has ushered in a paradigm shift in the tax and accountancy sectors. This has placed automation and artificial intelligence (AI) at the center of operational innovation, efficiency and competitive advantage. In doing so, these and other technologies are redefining the way industry professionals approach their work, with profound implications for the future.

Among the key questions this creates are: what does this all mean for human skillsets and expertise, and how can businesses balance these changes with uniquely human capabilities, ensuring that one complements the other? In looking for answers, there are several key areas to consider:

From Here to Financial Happiness is the day-by-day guide for anyone dreaming of a better life. Whether you’re dealing with debt, uncertain about retirement or simply want to get a grip on your finances, this book can put you on the road to happiness with a simple 11-week journey. Just 5-10 minutes a day to think about money, your habits, your goals, and your dreams.

What steps can you take today to get your finances on track? What bad habits, bad investments, and misconceptions should you let go of? This book is packed with 77 days’ worth of real, actionable guidance for getting your money right -- for good.

A tug-of-war between finance and cloud leaders is preventing enterprises from controlling their cloud spending, according to new research.

The study from Vertice, of 600 senior finance and tech leaders in the US and UK, shows cutting cloud spending is revealed as the number one cost-saving priority for over a third of finance leaders, but only nine percent of technical leaders say that managing cloud costs is a top concern.

A new study from Lucidworks shows that businesses across the board are planning to increase their investment in AI over the next year, with financial services companies among those leading the charge.

The survey of over 6,000 employees involved in AI technology decision-making finds 94 percent of financial services firms planning to boost generative AI investments within the year. However, the survey found differences depending on location. 100 percent of Chinese financial services employees and 97 percent of UK respondents surveyed say they plan to increase investment, compared to only 91 percent of US companies.

Financial services firms deploy an increasingly complicated mix of technologies, systems, applications, and processes to serve customers and partners and to solve organizational challenges. Focused heavily on consumer hyper-personalization, banks are evolving more and more digital assets and services to meet and exceed growing customer experience expectations. 

As a result, the modern banking environment is heavily reliant on APIs to the point that they are now indispensable. APIs allow financial banks to connect with their ecosystem, while inspiring innovative developers to create new products, improve existing services, and work more efficiently. 

You've probably had your dog or your cat microchipped, but how would you feel if your employer wanted to microchip you?

A survey of 5,000 senior decision makers in the finance sector reveals that 47 percent of leaders believe employee microchips and other human technology implants to be in workplace use by 2030.

When you read any financial articles, most often than not they will recommend investing as one of the best ways to grow your wealth and enjoy a bit more financial freedom. While this may feel like just another to-do added to your plate, along with budgeting, paying bills, saving, and paying down debt, investing is something that you will likely find is worth your time.

Investing doesn’t have to be extremely time-consuming, or even extremely expensive. Here are 7 investing tips that may help you get started with investing.

Fintech apps have simplified financial management to the point where 60 percent of people will now seek advice from personal finance tools before reaching out to financial professionals.

A new survey from Capterra makes gloomy reading for accountants as it finds 64 percent of fintech users feel that these tools have significantly reduced their reliance on financial advisors.

A new report reveals the most impersonated brands in phishing attacks for the first half of 2023, with Facebook taking the top slot, followed by Microsoft.

The report from email security company Vade, shows Facebook accounted for 18 percent of all phishing URLs and Microsoft for 15 percent. Taken together these two accounted for more unique phishing URLs than the next top five brands combined (Crédit Agricole, SoftBank, Orange, PayPal and Apple).

If you were to take their marketing at face value, you’d assume that big banks were leading the finance sector’s charge regarding sustainability. And while they undoubtedly play an essential role, especially when financing major renewable energy projects and the like, the biggest disruption comes from challenger banks.

Increasingly, popular challenger banks such as Monzo and Starling, for example, are marketing themselves as more sustainable, capitalizing on a growing desire for banks to prioritize the environment. In fact, a recent report found that 67 percent of customers want their bank to be more sustainable.

FinOps is increasingly being adopted, with 98 percent of respondents to a new survey from Cloudbolt either having a FinOps strategy or planning to implement one. But while 71 percent of companies have expanded funding for FinOps resources in 2023, 99.8 percent say they are still waiting to see any value from it.

In case you haven't been paying attention, FinOps is an operational framework that brings technology, finance, and business together to drive financial accountability and accelerate value through cloud transformation.

New survey findings from Lookout show that 70 percent of IT leaders in the financial services sector report a significant increase in data breaches compared to previous years.

Nearly half of organizations (47 percent) are struggling with the heightened difficulty of detecting and mitigating threats, while about a fifth (18 percent) face a significant lack of control over their applications and data.

Technology is becoming a more significant part of the world with each passing year and the newest generation of consumers is growing up with digital tools in hand. With this comes a great opportunity for selling Gen Z on fintech.

"Fintech" is a portmanteau of the term "financial technology." It refers to any digital tools financial institutions offer that make managing finances convenient. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, using fintech tools has become the preferred way consumers manage their finances.