• Alex Kwiatkowski, Senior Strategist, Banking & Digital Channels at Misys


• 20.07.2016 10:15 am
Cloud

The FCA’s latest guidance for financial services firms who are considering a move to the cloud is another step on the path towards greater adoption. It comes in the same week that DTCC has moved its reference data services to the cloud – a clear demonstration that hosted services are gathering pace.  

The Dutch banking watchdog, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), which signed off on the use of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in retail banking platforms in 2013, is just one of the regulatory bodies that has already given its blessing. We can expect other industry bodies to follow as the move towards the cloud continues.

The more support cloud gets from regulators, the more resistance will be reduced. Faster access to innovation, transformation at scale and speed to market are among the top benefits that the cloud delivers. It is quickly shaping up to be the future for financial services and an undebatable driving force behind digitalisation for all kinds of banks.

The barriers to making the move to the cloud are gradually falling away too, particularly thanks to the vendors in this arena who are increasingly addressing concerns around security. It is an issue that will be ever present within the cloud debate, particularly within the financial services industry, but as long as every effort is made to ensure these solutions are as secure as possible, the benefits are clear – scalability, lower OpEx, greater agility, flexibility and a materially improved service delivered to customers, regulators and investors. All are clearly strong drivers in enabling transformation.

Misys, as one of the largest UK-headquartered financial services software providers, makes it our business, alongside our customers, to move with the times. As more regulatory authorities get on board with cloud computing, we along with our strong ecosystem of partners and clients are perfectly positioned to deliver and harness the benefits.