2025 Agenda

Thursday 1st May, Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh

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BREAKFAST BRIEFING

08:20    Digital Phantoms: Navigating the Risks of Non-Human Identities in Financial Services

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• Rise of the Digital Impostors: How synthetic, AI-generated, and bot-built identities are infiltrating financial systems undetected and compromise individual financial security

• Technological Risks: Examining the sophisticated methods used by AI and automated systems to generate convincing fake identities that can bypass traditional verification processes

• Regulatory Challenges: The current gaps in financial regulations that struggle to keep pace with rapidly evolving identity creation technologies

• Detection and Prevention Strategies: Cutting-edge technological and procedural approaches to identifying and mitigating risks from non-human identity threats

• Future Outlook: Predicting the next generation of identity verification technologies and their potential impact on banking security

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​Chris Owen, Managing Director, dotnext Europe

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08:50   End of Breakfast Briefing
 

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SESSION 1

AI has rapidly become the defining technology of our age, and is already having wide-reaching implications for the FS sector. The opening session will explore the organisational impact of AI; looking at implementation, development, governance, and alignment - and discussing how we can maximise the value and mitigate the risks.

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​09:15    Welcome from the Conference Chair

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Mark Stephen, Journalist & Broadcaster, BBC Scotland

09:25    Engineering with AI: Balancing Innovation, Productivity & Risks

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• The scale of AI understanding

• Impact on skills, roles, and the business

• The newest thinking machines wave: an overview of the technical differences

• What will AI do for us in practice

• Designing an adoption framework to build trust and manage risk

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Alex Radu, VP Education and Evangelism Lead: Engineering Practices, JPMorganChase

09:40     Maximising the AI Opportunity: Tech, Business & Customer Alignment

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• The sentiment and expectations around AI

• AI in the enterprise: uptake and value

• The shift to generative AI - beware the hype

• Building the business case and momentum

• Differentiation and risk

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Andy McMahon, Principal AI & MLOps Engineer, Barclays

09:55    How Could AI Support Bridge the Advice Gap & Evolving Needs of Digitally Native Consumers

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• Product Innovation

• Generational Wealth Transfer

• Financial Advice Hurdle

• FCA Advice Boundary Review

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Derek Smith, Chief Product & Technology Officer, Aberdeen Adviser

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10:10  Shaping the Future of Financial Services with Agentic AI

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• Agentic AI is the next major evolution in AI, delivering greater autonomy, adaptability & independence

• Examining the transformative application of Agentic AI for financial services

• Its ability to set goals, plan workflows and react to changing circumstances

• Significant possibilities for fraud prevention and compliance automation.

• How Dell Technologies and NVIDIA are simplifying and accelerating the journey towards Agentic AI

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Stephen Bosarge, Senior Director: UK Enterprise & Corporate, Dell Technologies

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10:25    Combined Q&A​​

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10:55   Exhibition, Networking & Refreshments
 

SESSION 2

Session two will hone-in on a variety of key topics in longer individual slots. Presentations will be run across four parallel streams, providing delegates the opportunity to attend two of the breakout options.

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11:30    First Breakout Option (A-D)

Breakout options include

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A: Think Customer, Think Colleague: Keys to Successful Financial Transformation

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• ​Financial Transformation Initiative: Insights from a multiyear initiative at Lloyds Banking Group, change will migrate over 4 million customers

• Customer Focus: Emphasis on customer-centric approaches, enhancing engagement and service for longstanding customers to improve overall experience

• Sustainability: Strategies for sustainable practices, including modernising technology infrastructure and faster implementation of changes

• Customer and Colleague: Importance of considering both in transformations, enhancing digital access, simplifying products & procedures for seamless interactions & sustainable engagement

• Achieving Large-Scale Transformations: Key methods & practices, including developing operational practices & achieving process excellence through journey redesign initiatives

 

Dave Townsend, CIO Technology Platform Lead, Lloyds Banking Group

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B: Generative AI: Where, Why, How… And What’s Next?

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• Where has Generative AI come from

• An overview of the current Gen AI landscape 

• Use cases exploring why GenAI is particularly useful

• How to get the most RoI from Gen AI

• Limitations and challenges to be aware of

• What’s next: future direction and potential opportunities

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Mari Parry, Principal AI Engineer, BlackRock

C: Panel - Tech Meets Resilience: The Future of Financial Services through Technology in Action

 

• What it takes to be confident about operational resilience

• How financial institutions are leveraging technology to build their resilience

• Case studies, lessons, and learnings for practical implementation

• How evolving regulations like DORA are shaping resilience strategies

• How does tech, operations, and regulation come together in practice

 

Nicola Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, FinTech Scotland

Derek Shanks, Head of Digital Technology, Lloyds Banking Group

Yvonne Dunn, Partner: IT, Pinsent Masons

Rob Mossop, Chief Data Officer, Sword

Stephen Johnston, Distinguished Engineer – Advanced Engineering, Barclays Group

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D: Preparing for the Quantum Threat: How to Stay Secure in a Post-Quantum World

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• Understand why “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” is a real and urgent risk to sensitive financial data.

• Discover how attackers could exploit ciphertext as the new threat surface.

• Explore quantum-safe cryptography and the importance of crypto agility.

• Practical use cases and migration strategies to help future-proof your systems now.

• Understanding cryptographic performance with multi-tenant isolation

• How to secure separation of application stacks within a shared HSM estate

• Why bring an enterprise-grade crypto platform to new environments

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Charles E James, Head of Sales & Business Development, Salt Group and Adam White, Channel Manager UK&I & Northern Europe, Utimaco

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12:05   Transition

12:15    Second Breakout Option (E-H)

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E: Leveraging Data & Gen AI to Enhance the Use of Technology in Investment & Wealth Management Firms

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• Leveraging data and expertise to improve the investment decision making process and drive frontline customer impact

• How advanced technology solutions can help investment and wealth management companies achieve stable and sustainable growth and expand their customer base

• The most prominent AI trends shaping and transforming financial markets through innovation and collaboration

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Franita Neuville, Sales Director and Mark Sinclair, Principal Technical Lead, Analytics Technology, London Stock Exchange Group​

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F: The Path to Operational Resilience in Financial Services: In Conversation with Yanna Winter, CIO for Generali Insurance

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• The rise of operational and business resilience regulations is causing financial institutions to re-evaluate their approach to digital infrastructure and supply chain provision and management
• This session will bring to life real-world experiences from Generali Insurance CIO, Yanna Winter
• Experiences shared will bring practical lessons to light that help to shape a clear approach to operational resilience

• The audience will learn how to unpack regulatory requirements and translate them into meaningful actions

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Rob Mossop, COO, Sword Group and Yanna Winter, CIO, Generali Insurance

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G: Reducing Adversary Advantage through Increasing Cyber Resilience

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• CISOs: Hack thyself. Do you catch my drift?

• Reducing Risk by Moving from Incident Response to Incident Anticipation

• The Regulatory Requirements of Cyber Resilience: What it means, and Why it matters

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Adrian Culley, Head of Engineering, SafeBreach

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H: Identity as a Strategic Asset: Elevating Trust, Compliance, and Customer Experience in Financial Services

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• Identity management (IAM) is now a key strategic element for financial institutions, impacting security, customer trust, and regulatory compliance.

• Modern IAM solutions, when strategically integrated, can enhance customer experiences, streamline compliance, and strengthen trust.

• Financial institutions can maximize IAM investments by focusing on strategic planning, effective implementation, and solutions that address both immediate and long-term needs.

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Adam Preis, Director of Product Marketing, Ping Identity and James Peet, Director of Practice Identity and Access Management, Ensono

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​12:45   Exhibition, Lunch and Networking
 

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SESSION 3 

The rapid advancement of data-driven technologies is fundamentally reshaping the industry, changing the way we think about everything from service and strategy to regulation and risk. The afternoon session will focus on navigating this change; exploring the shift towards open ecosystems, automated services, and quantum computing - and examining some of the key challenges and opportunities ahead.
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13:35  Market Development for All Things Open: How to Do It and Why It Matters

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• Legislators, Regulators, Standards Bodies, Scheme Operators, Industry Bodies, Incumbents and Innovators - everyone has a role to play and how to play nicely.

• The How vs the What - clarity on what really matters. 

• What Good Looks Like - how to get from ‘me, me, me’, to making things better for people and businesses, to building a stronger economy.

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Louise Beaumont, SVP Global Open Banking and Open Finance, Mastercard

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13:55    Reimagining Advice and Experience with Data-Driven Automation

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• How it all began: contextualising the challenge

• Understanding the opportunity

• Beginning with the first job: cost, capability & data

• Defining experience: copilot, concierge, focused

• Starting the clock: decision making, automation & framework

• What did we prove: outcomes in cost, efficiency, experience
   

​Shauna Mullin, Head of Product, M&G Life

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14:15   Unlocking the Future: Quantum Computing's Transformative Impact on Financial Services
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• What is quantum computing and discover why it is set to become a game-changer for FS

• What are the key opportunities for financial services

• What are the primary risks and security implications

• How long do we have - what is the approximate timescale

• What actionable steps should you be making to prepare and respond

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​Philip Intallura, Group Head of Quantum Technologies, HSBC

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​14:35   Combined Q&A

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15:05    Closing Remarks

 

DRINKS RECEPTION

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15:10    Networking & Drinks Reception

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16:00    End of Summit

*The conference agenda is provisional and subject to change