• User data from Yolt,^* the award-winning smart money app, reveals consumers have spent on average 16% less since lockdown restrictions lifted on the 12^th of April, as economic uncertainty continues, and people remain cautious about their spending as they come out of lockdown.
• However, people spent 9% more on eating out in the last two weeks of May, following the easing of restrictions on the 17^th, when compared to the same period in March.
• In contrast, grocery spending decreased by 7%, as consumers started to shop less for home and started eating out.
• Takeaway spending also decreased in that period by 5%, possibly as a result of people slowly returning to eating out instead of ordering in, given the easing of restrictions.
• Shopping is an area that has seen a small uptick (4%) in the average amount people have spent since non-essential retail opened on 12th April, when compared to the weeks in lockdown before.
• Despite being able to leave the house, and an 18% rise in the number of transactions associated with transport, the amount spent on transport decreased by 19%, indicating that people might be travelling more but making shorter, more local trips.
• Lockdown saw many increase their savings, however as restrictions lift and the economy opens up, people have been saving more frequently but putting less aside. The amount put into savings fell by 28%, and overall deposits increased by 17%.

Pauline van Brakel, Chief Product Officer at Yolt says “The past year of lockdown restrictions has undoubtedly had an impact on our food shopping, dining, and savings habits, and with each change we are likely to see more shifts. Our data suggests that consumers are looking to spend smarter and reduce their outgoings in light of broader economic uncertainty. Even as lockdown eases, we anticipate people will want to continue to spend cautiously whilst making the most of their new freedoms.

“The financial impact of the pandemic has been far reaching and effected some people more negatively than others. As we move towards returning to normal it has never been more important for people to be smart with their money, and to strive to find new ways of balancing spending and saving. Simple steps like reviewing your regular expenses such as energy bills, grocery shopping and subscription services can be a good way to highlight areas where you could cut back on spending. At Yolt, our recently launched evolution of the app is designed to help you manage your finances and keep a close eye on both your spending behaviours and your savings habits.”

Highlights:

• UK cuts fraud losses by 7% (£46 million) year-on-year
• Denmark and Hungary help support overall reduction of card fraud in Europe
• Norway faced biggest scale of attacks with 172% year-on-year increase
• France, Germany and Poland also saw card fraud levels increase

In a year that presented fraudsters with new opportunities to exploit consumers, UK financial institutions continued to lead the charge across Europe in thwarting the criminals. New data from FICO’s updated European Fraud Map shows that the UK achieved the greatest fall in card fraud monetary losses, dropping 7 percent and £46 million year-on-year.

However, other nations among the 18 European countries studied did not fare as well. Overall, card fraud losses in these countries was reduced by €62M.

For more information, visit https://www.fico.com/europeanfraud

“Fraudsters are constantly scanning for access to poorly protected accounts and opportunities to manipulate transactions and this is what made 2020 such a challenge,” said Matt Cox, vice president for financial services in EMEA at FICO. “Fraud teams would have faced wave after wave of sophisticated COVID and Brexit scams, which makes the success of UK financial institutions – protecting Brits’ finances – even more impressive.

“2020 has been an incredibly challenging year across the globe, with a rapidly changing mix of customer demands, a volatile staffing and servicing model, and a need to drive transformation quicker than ever before. These conditions, in addition to new attacks from fraudsters fuelled by COVID and Brexit, conspired to challenge fraud prevention teams at banks and other financial organisations.

“Despite this ever-changing set of priorities and demands, several countries across Europe significantly improved their fraud prevention performance, contributing to a second consecutive year of reduction in the losses experienced through fraud. And this is crucial for consumers who want the peace of mind that the institutions in which they trust their finances are doing all they can to stop the fraudsters. Whilst this is an incredible success story in CNP fraud, we need to remain vigilant of the growth in in scams, both in the plastic and payments space.”  

UK Led European Fraud Reduction

While Europe enjoyed a sizable £54M drop in fraud loss for 2020, this was primarily driven by two countries, accounting for a reduction of £78 million between them. The United Kingdom achieved a £46M reduction (7 percent year-on-year); Denmark recorded a €21M decrease (48 percent).

“After achieving the largest single reduction of any European country in 2019, the banks of the UK have repeated this, with the best net reductions of the 18 countries in this report for the second year running,” noted Toby Carlin, a senior director of fraud consulting at FICO. “In an incredibly challenging year, only five of the 18 countries analysed by FICO achieved a reduction in card fraud.”

Hungary also made significant progress. It achieved the third best reduction in fraud loss of the studied countries, reducing fraud levels by €2M (39 percent).

Norway Sees Massive Rise from Phishing Attacks

Unfortunately, fraud losses continued their increases in France (€6M higher than 2019), Poland (€4M higher) and Germany (€3M higher). There was also a major attack in Norway, which led to an increase in fraud losses from around €8 in 2019 to around €22 in 2020, a rise of 172 percent, the largest rise of all the countries studied.

“An impressive multi-industry response to tackle this new attack is already showing positive signs of improvement,” added Carlin. “Much has been done in the region to combat this threat, both by our banking partners and the mobile phone operators, with real success. The worrying sign here is that the fraudsters have found a hybrid attack vector for the historically ‘digital savvy’ market.”  

The Norway attacks centre around large-scale phishing and smishing efforts, designed to introduce a scam which ultimately ends in fraudulent Card Not Present (CNP) transactions.

Phishing and smishing attacks come almost exclusively from data compromise and result in several point attacks. The ability to identify these events effectively and early enough to prevent the attack takes a collaborative approach. FICO® Falcon® Compromise Manager is designed to flag fraud attacks and data compromise significantly earlier, helping banks better protect customers as well as minimise losses. Central to the solution is the collaboration it enables between the banks to address the challenge.

“Whilst it is incredibly positive for so many countries to have made gains through such a challenging period, with Turkey, Spain and the Czech Republic all showing a relatively flat trend through 2020, more needs to be done across the other European states to drive a truly collaborative reduction in all areas,” concluded Cox.

• Origin in partnership with Clearstream launches instant-ISIN feature for Eurobonds (i.e. “XS” ISIN codes); the service will be rolled out across the issuer base over the course of the summer
• Open-source data standard Airbrush V2 adds new features; Clearstream and Paying Agents can now receive transaction data via Airbrush; digital listing at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange launched earlier this year is also compatible with Airbrush V2.
• Market-first, truly open-source term sheet template available for free use by all fixed-income market participants to foster standardisation of bond issuance

Origin Markets, the London-based fintech digitising debt capital markets, is launching an instant-ISIN feature, created in collaboration with Clearstream, which enables immediate, integrated ISIN code allocation for Eurobonds. ISIN codes are provided by Clearstream Banking S.A. and will support Eurobond issuance (i.e. “XS” ISIN codes).  The structured data from the approved termsheet is validated against ICSD requirements directly on Origin platform, allowing codes to be provided instantaneously and accelerating a process that can sometimes take hours. 

Airbrush: enhanced data standard for bond issuance

The service launch coincides with the release of the next iteration of Airbrush, an interface data standard that aims to act as a universal language for all bond issuance market participants. Airbrush v2 covers a broader set of data, delineates between the data required for ISIN allocation at termsheet completion and those required for settlement and enhances scalability by incorporating a nested structure. The new version was developed in close consultation with industry partners.

As first-movers, Clearstream can now receive transaction data via Airbrush. Origin and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange have also ensured compatibility of the digital listing service with Airbrush V2.

Raja Palaniappan, CEO and co-founder of Origin, said: "Today is a big day for Origin as we release our instant-ISIN feature with Clearstream. Dealers and issuers have been calling out for faster code allocation for a long time, and we are pleased to be able to offer that to our customers going forward. We are especially thrilled to release the specs for Airbrush v2, which drives both our instant-ISIN feature and our digital listing API with the LuxSE. These are just two examples of post-trade efficiency that is possible when the market adopts a universal data standard, and we are pleased to see the momentum Airbrush has already gained. In launching these new features and providing free access to these solutions, we hope to catalyse and support industry-wide innovation. Collaboration and knowledge-sharing is invaluable in achieving this.”

Guido Wille, Head of Eurobonds Business at Clearstream, said: “The Instant-ISIN feature is a major step for the whole Eurobonds market. As the market has grown tremendously not only during the pandemic, efficiency and automation are becoming indispensable to handle large volumes in a scalable way. We are glad to offer our clients leading-edge issuance services together with Origin.”

Open-source term sheet

One feature of the new Airbrush release is a market-first, truly open-source term sheet template for Eurobonds. It is available for free use by all fixed-income market participants to foster standardisation of bond issuance. The term sheet will be available in two forms:

1. A marked-up version created for use by dealers, issuers, law firms, and others annotated with directions to aid in the completion of the form
2. A machine-readable version, marked-up using Jinja, the open-source templating language created for Python. As Jinja and Python are both open-source, anyone can test the termsheet using a freely available Jinja templating library online

PayNearby, India’s leading branchless banking and digital payments network, has been awarded as the 'Dream Company to Work For' at the prestigious 19th Asian HR Leadership Awards, 2021. The awards were presented at a virtual ceremony held on June 2021, attended by representatives from leading corporations, celebrating the achievements of all the winners. The Asian Leadership Awards recognize outstanding business leaders and organizations for their commitment to excellence, developing best practices, and innovative strategies.  

PayNearby, through its trusted network of 15+ lakh retailers across 17, 500+ PIN codes, has been instrumental in ensuring undisrupted financial services to the masses, bridging the urban-rural divide. Their BC network, known as ‘Digital Pradhan’, bring essential financial services at the last mile without which the population would have been left on the fringes of the society. Aiding PayNearby in this inspiring journey are its people. With about 72% of its colleagues belonging in the age group of 21 - 35 years of age, PayNearby is a young company driven by the passion for creating a change by driving the agenda of financial inclusion in the country.   

PayNearby was evaluated and awarded based on the organization’s operational performance, innovative technology and commitment to the development of its people. PayNearby is an equal opportunity workplace that thrives on merit and rewarding performance. The company facilitates inclusive interactions, objective decision making and creates equal opportunities for everyone. Additionally, the company empowers its women leaders equally and is known for its diversity and inclusion that prospers on merit and performance. PayNearby is devoted to ensuring that its people have fun while they go about scaling new heights and achieving new milestones.  

To top it all, PayNearby’s efforts to ensure the wellbeing of its people during the pandemic, focus on nurturing an inclusive workplace, digitalization of HR services, and a unique approach in fostering a learning culture and upskilling effort were highly commended. The HR has been consistently playing a critical role in driving workplace culture by practicing humility and empathy towards the development of the teams, connecting diverse people to a common purpose, adapting to uncertainty, and fostering trusting relationships within and beyond teams.In the post COVID-19 era, where there was an increasing need to engage its people online and offline, PayNearby designed various wellness programmes, counselling, awareness and digitalized services to empower its people in every way.  

PayNearby believes that success is delivered as a team and the people are its most valuable assets. With growing operations across the country and PayNearby becoming a pure-play digital and financial services operator at the last mile, the company looks to be led by talent best positioned to become its enablers. PayNearby aims to nurture a pool of future leaders with a strong understanding of the industry landscape along with in-depth functional skills. 

Acknowledging the win, Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby said, “We, at PayNearby, are grateful and honoured that we received the 19th Asian HR Leadership Award to become a ‘Dream Company to Work for’. This is a proud moment for us as we continue to innovate our HR practices to attract and retain the right talent and create an outstanding work environment for all. We live by the philosophy that culture eats strategy for breakfast any day. And, we are committed to creating an engaging culture for our people to ensure that life at PayNearby is always fun and fulfilling. At PayNearby, no voice is unheard, no suggestions are ignored. 

Our people are our most valuable assets and we pledge to go the extra mile to ensure their growth and progress. Even during the pandemic which posed the ultimate test of resilience for business organizations globally, our HR team was dedicated to delivering the highest level of service to the PayNearby family so that they could serve our retailers and customers better. PayNearby is humbled by this prestigious award and for the recognition it signifies. The award means that we are doing the right thing at the right time in the right way in sync with our Zidd Aage Badhne Ki.” 

ALPIMA, the SaaS platform for investment management and product design has been chosen by BBVA for the scaling up of their Quantitative Investment Solutions (QIS) business. 

ALPIMA is a B2B technology and advisory firm serving banks, asset managers and wealth managers globally. Its mission is to use the latest advances in data science and technology to help its clients build investment strategies with conviction and empower them to deliver personalisation at scale. 

Offered as an enterprise version of its cloud-based service, the ALPIMA platform will be delivered on a white-label basis and configured specifically to meet BBVA’s needs and exact requirements.

Pierre Mendelsohn, ALPIMA’s CEO, comments: “We are delighted to be working with BBVA to help them serve their clients in a new way. We are inspired by their focus on innovation and client-centricity and look forward to helping them grow their QIS business in the years ahead.”

Pablo Suarez, Head of QIS Business at BBVA comments: “We are very pleased to work with ALPIMA. Their modular platform offers the flexibility and power required to create differentiated investment strategies and provide the service we want to offer our clients in this competitive and fast-moving market. This is a step forward on the path towards the strategic transformation of our global equities business”

Worldline the European market leader in payment and transactional services, is committed to an ambitious Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, aiming to achieve growth in a more sustainable way. As part of those efforts, Worldline encourages people to show generosity to the least fortunate in our society via its payment solutions.

With its range of positive-impact solutions, Worldline collected 25,387,335 donations in 2020 totaling more than €339 million for community charities and organizations. These micro-donations^[1], made via the payment terminals of Ingenico (now part of Worldline), further strengthen the Group’s efforts in this area. By becoming the first supplier of payment solutions to incorporate donations into its point-of-sale payment terminals, Ingenico has been a pioneer in its market, providing its users with a new donation experience.

Increase in micro-donations in 2020

In 2020, there was a rise in micro-donations made using Ingenico solutions, despite consumer spending being seriously affected by the macroeconomic context. The increase confirms that embedded generosity solutions are very popular among consumers. This innovation solution gives consumers an easy and secure way of making donations and provides a valuable new income stream for charities, allowing them to increase the support they give to the least fortunate in our society.

Micro-donations collected via Worldline solutions: key figures in 2020
 

• France: 11,348,806 micro-donations totaling €3,289,171. The number of micro-donations was stable compared with 2019, but the total amount collected rose by 22%.
• United Kingdom: 704,006 micro-donations totaling €310,611.
• Spain: 6,029,337 micro-donations totaling €1,197,192.

In 2020 in Europe, Worldline and its three partners - microDON (France), Pennies (United Kingdom) and Worldcoo (Spain) - collected €4.8 million for charities via their solutions (up 19% compared with 2019) through 18 million micro-donations (up 7% compared with 2019).

Micro-donations via payment terminals: an important way for consumers to support their communities in the future

The concept of micro-donations via payment terminals is to offer a simple, reliable and secure way of giving. When paying for a purchase with a bank card at a participating retailer, the consumer is invited to add a few cents (or pence) or to round up his or her purchase to the nearest euro (or pound) for the benefit of a charity and the projects that it supports. Through this simple donation method, the solution fosters and facilitates civic engagement among many consumers. In fact, it has been reported that two thirds of French people would be willing to make donations in this way, as confirmed by the high participation rate in stores^[2]. 

In addition to micro-donations via payment terminals, Worldline has for more than 20 years been helping community charities and organizations raise more money by providing them with its positive-impact payment solutions, and particularly its online payment platforms.

In 2020, its online payment solutions resulted in 25,387,335 donations totaling more than €339 million.

Worldline intends to continue its social engagement efforts by using its technological expertise to support charities and organizations working for the public interest in Europe.

Sébastien Mandron, Worldline’s CSR Officer, said: “In our societies, which are heading towards an advanced stage of digitalization in which more and more payments are cashless, it is vital that electronic payment solutions evolve to allow as many people as possible to show their engagement and generosity. Worldline firmly believes that a payment should be an act that positively impacts society as a whole, and we intend to continue our efforts to encourage initiatives that support communities. Our aim is to encourage, facilitate and ensure the security of donations via our solutions, by giving our clients the opportunity, as part of their day-to-day lives, to support projects that benefit the community as a whole.”

A new study from Juniper Research has found spending on digital identity verification by businesses will reach $16.7 billion in 2026, from $9.4 billion in 2021. Digital identity verification is where identity is checked using digitally verifiable elements, such as selfie scans, address checks and knowledge-based authentication. This 77% growth will be fuelled by the rapidly growing need to digitally onboard users, which has accelerated during the pandemic.           

The research identified that, while the pandemic accelerated digital transformation, many industries had already been increasing digitisation; reflecting shifting customer appetites and opportunities for operational efficiency. The research therefore recommended seamless digital onboarding is the minimum requirement in the post-pandemic environment, with user expectations demanding processes that are both low friction and high security; necessitating AI use for ongoing, behavioural analytics.

For more insights, download the free whitepaper: Maximising Security with Digital Identity Verification whitepaper

Banking & Financial Services Lead Identity Verification Spend

The new research, Digital Identity Verification: Key Opportunities, Vendor Strategies & Market Forecasts 2021-2026 market research, found that banking and financial services will account for almost 62% of digital identity verification spend by businesses by 2026. This importance reflects how critical digital verification is in helping banks meet severe regulatory requirements in a complex digital environment.

Research co-author Vladimir Surovkin explains: ‘Digital-only banks have shown that fully digital Know Your Customer can work and is very engaging for the user, therefore the pressure is on for traditional banks to deploy new identity verification services. Managing this transition quickly, and getting the user convenience/security balance right will determine overall success.’

Number of Identity Verification Checks Globally to Exceed 92 Billion in 2026

The research also found that the global volume of identity verification checks will exceed 92 billion in 2026, from 45 billion in 2021. The research found while banking & financial services are major drivers of this growth, the broadening of identity verification into areas including remote onboarding for mobile network operators or for digital gambling will create significant opportunities for vendors over the next five years.

Whitepaper download: https://www.juniperresearch.com/whitepapers/maximising-security-with-digital-identity

Digital Identity Verification market research: https://www.juniperresearch.com/researchstore/fintech-payments/digital-identity-verification-research-report

The Digital Transformation Forum 2021 - The business landscape has changed, and it will only continue to do so. In this time of technological disruption, it is an undeniable fact that organisations must gear up towards being equipped with the necessary digital and management skills to adapt and innovate.

The virtual DTF 2021 congress is aimed at imparting knowledge on how technologies like Artificial intelligence (AI), IoT, Analytics, Blockchain, Machine Learning, Cloud & Edge Computing, and Gamification can offer immense opportunities for companies to develop resilient business models in the face of this unceasing change.

Attendees of the virtual congress will examine how to enact resilient, long-term, cloud-based digital infrastructures that drive the future-of-work, future-of-connectedness, data management, connected digital experiences and digital innovation strategies in order to help organisations in determining what digital transformation means for them.

Join IT News Africa on the 29^th of June and find out how to take control of your company's digital transformation.

Key Topics to be covered at this year's DTF include:

5G & Digital Transformation Go Mainstream - How will this shape enterprise Digital adoption – Marc Jadoul, Market Strategist Director at Nokia

Digital Transformations Importance for Enterprise in the Post-COVID World - James Scott, Chief Digital Officer – Wholesale – Barclays Africa Group

Hybrid Workplaces: Digital Transformation and the Future of Work - Dr Dieter Veldsman, Grp. Exec. – People Management, Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited

Accelerating Future Digital Transformation Initiatives for Customer Experience Success - Brett StClair, Teraflow.AI CEO & Co-Founder, Ex-Barclays Africa Digital Executive and Ex-Google Cloud African Regional Executive - DTF's International Keynote Speaker

Confirmed speakers for DTF2021 include:

• Robin Fisher, Senior Vice President Israel, Middle East And Africa At Salesforce
• Tumi Ramonotsi m.Inst.d, Executive Partner , Emea Cee & Russia, Gartner
• James Scott, Chief Digital Officer- Wholesale, Barclays Africa Group Limited
• Sean Riley, Chief Executive Officer Of Ad Dynamo
• Brett Stclair, Teraflow.Ai CEO & Co-founder, Ex-barclays Africa Digital Executive and Ex-google Cloud African Regional Executive, International Keynote Speaker
• Marc Jadoul, Market Strategist Director at Nokia
• Michael Njenga, Regional Head Of IT Services, KPMG East Africa
• Thayendran Naidoo, Convergehealth Africa Leader | Deloitte & Touché
• Duke Mathebula, Head of IT-business Applications: Africa Saint-gobain Africa
• Dr Dieter Veldsman, Group Exec - People Management, Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited
• Fabio Longano, Founder And Managing Director at Touchfoundry
• Andy Jury, Group CEO Of Mukuru
• Hendrik Malan, CEO Frost & Sullivan

Attendees of #DTF2021 qualify for 5 Continuous Professional Development (CPD) points from the Institute Of Chartered IT Professionals (ICITP)

For more information on the Forum and to register visit: https://itnewsafrica.com/events/event/digital-transformation-congress-webinar/

As we get more information from numerous research groups around Cloud adoption and how businesses are managing the growing cost of these business assets, trends are emerging and highlighting some concerning patterns of over-spending.

Interestingly, the take-home stats all seem to be consistent and familiar. Cloud over-spending is estimated at around 25-30%; almost identical to levels of over-spending reported across the desktop, datacenter and SaaS applications. It appears to be IT’s not-so-golden ratio of investment to wastage; the only difference being the rate at which Cloud adoption and over-spending is growing.

It’s not as if the solution to tackling this over-spending across IT does not exist; the answer as we know is to invest and modernize IT Asset Management (ITAM) and Software Asset Management (SAM). Research by Gartner analysts identified that implementing a robust SAM program with adequate tools can reduce software costs by 30%.

ITAM & SAM solutions are much more powerful now too, with tools like Certero’s Unified Platform bringing once siloed ITAM & SAM disciplines together; the logic being that to optimize software licensing you also need full visibility and control over hardware as well. So now, a single unified ITAM & SAM platform can give you the information needed to optimize IT technology assets right across the enterprise, including optimizing Cloud IaaS/PaaS costs.

However, it’s becoming apparent that businesses are not using their ITAM/SAM resources to control and optimize Cloud, despite these teams already being skilled at bridging the gaps from technical to commercial management. SAM teams are knowledgeable with vendors and are adept at keeping control and finding cost-savings, all whilst navigating complex commercial licensing terms.

Although controlling Cloud cost is reportedly still at the top of many CIO’s agendas, Cloud Teams or the ‘Cloud Centre of Excellence’ are commonly comprised of stakeholders from FinOps, Security, Legal, Cloud Architects, but notably not IT Asset Management.

This may be due to an antiquated view of what IT Asset Management is, as John Lunt, CEO of On-prem and Cloud Asset Management specialists Certero comments:

“ITAM & SAM are not simply disciplines that count how many computers or licenses you have – the insight that asset management brings is also about measuring the business value obtained from technology investments and gaining greater insight, which should be used to make better decisions as businesses transform”.

The importance of measurement has also been raised by James Anderson, VP of Research at Gartner:

“With Covid, everyone’s seeing digital acceleration, but very few organizations are tracking what they’re getting in terms of business outcomes”. James continues “Where are people wasting money? They’re not using business metrics to influence investment. They’re doing what people tell them to do”.

This appears to be true when deciding how to govern Cloud costs and pulling together a Cloud Center of Excellence team that doesn’t include ITAM. It’s creating another silo to be managed, another blind spot when you could have the insight of a unified view of all IT usage, cost and value.

Let’s also not forget where the Cloud Centre of Excellence concept originally comes from… AWS (courtesy of Stephen Orban, when he was Global Head of Enterprise Strategy back in 2016). As other IT asset management disciplines have matured, the mistakes of the past are at risk of being repeated.

With enough time passing to recognize that Cloud Teams aren’t always equipped to make the required cost-optimization of Cloud assets a success, maybe it’s time to circle-back to ITAM & SAM and stop thinking of Cloud as a separate silo to be managed and remember why we’re moving away from the chaos of disparate ITAM tools to a fully unified solution, says John Lunt, CEO of Certero:

“Optimizing Cloud in contrast to on-premise assets really is not a ‘new world’ vs ‘old world’ scenario. The mechanics by which you manage Cloud IaaS/PaaS is slightly different but ultimately you need the same things: Visibility, Skilled People with an understanding of the vendors, strong Governance Processes you can measure and a way to report on Costs and Optimization. That is ITAM & SAM and solutions like the new Certero for Cloud provide the tools you need. Plus, it’s on the same management platform that can manage your on-prem and datacenter assets, so you can really get a grip of everything and see the big picture metrics across all your technology investments. That’s what really works to optimize costs”.

The EU has finally granted the UK data adequacy, please find comment below from Rob Masson, CEO, The DPO Centre. If you would like further comment do let me know

“Data, and its freedom to cross borders between the EU and the UK, has remained a critical issue post-Brexit, so the European Commission granting the UK ‘Data Adequacy’ will come as a welcome relief to the thousands of companies, particularly those in the financial and healthcare sectors, who would otherwise have had to implement onerous additional transfer safeguards."

“It should be noted, however, that gaining adequacy has not removed the requirement to appoint an EU Representative. Since Brexit the UK is now a "3rd country" so Article 27 of the EU GDPR now applies to UK companies where previously it did not, so many companies are being caught out by this."

“Going forwards, the UK has an opportunity to create a strong data infrastructure; with a high level of regulatory compliance, along with developing a data-literate workforce, and increasing the number of people with advanced data skills. The data economy is integral to the UK’s growth and future prosperity.”