Latest news with #DORA
Finextra
a day ago
- Business
- Finextra
Why 65% of the banking industry is not fully prepared for DORA: Key Insights from NextGen Nordics
0 This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. Set against the dynamic backdrop of the Nordic financial landscape, the NextGen Nordics 2025 event in Stockholm, Sweden on 29 April 2025 featured key findings from Finextra's latest survey, highlighting the Nordic community's concerns and aspirations. Real time data gathered from interactive audience polls throughout the event offered live insights into how organisations are navigating critical areas such as regulation, resilience, and innovation. One of the clearest signals came from responses to the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). While most organisations recognised DORA's strategic value, only 35% reported being fully prepared with a defined roadmap and compliance measures underway. The majority (60%), were still in progress, with gaps remaining in their readiness. A further 5% were either unfamiliar with the regulation or had not started taking action. This paints a picture of a sector in transition, actively working towards resilience but still facing challenges in achieving full readiness. The perceived value of DORA also exposed tension between regulatory intent and operational impact. Only 27% of respondents believed DORA would enhance long term resilience, while 65% acknowledged it brought benefits along with a heavy short term burden. 6% dismissed it as just a box ticking exercise. The mixed sentiment reflects a classic regulatory paradox of long term gains clouded by short term strain. While optimism exists, most organisations feel weighed down by the initial implementation. Beyond DORA, broader sentiment pointed to changing dynamics when asked about shifts in user behaviour in data sharing over the past two years. 42% of respondents reported greater user willingness to share data, whereas 38% noted increased caution. These figures reflect a complex consumer mindset, where users are increasingly aware of the value of their data. Financial institutions must now cater to both the confident and the cautious. Striking the balance between security and innovation Findings also revealed the need to balance convenience with security. When asked 'As we strive for frictionless payments, do you want more friction to identify fraud?', a clear majority of the audience voted yes, signalling a willingness to balance user experience with robust security. An even larger majority of the audience voted yes when asked 'Is the impact of regulation stifling innovation in your organisation?', highlighting the ongoing tension between maintaining operational resilience and the freedom to innovate. Looking at what builds trust between banks and fintechs, 35% of respondents voted strong security protocols as the most important factor. Joint innovation projects, shared standards, and clear regulations followed, at 24%, 19%, and 17% respectively. Security remains the foundation of trust. However, emphasis on joint innovation and shared standards point to a need to encourage mutual growth rather than isolated progress. Bridging the readiness gap Despite the Nordics' early leadership in digital finance, only 10% of participants believed the lessons from the PSD2 implementation had been effectively applied to the development of Open Finance. Nearly half were unsure, signaling the need for more targeted industry guidance. When asked about readiness with Open Banking to take on Open Finance, the results revealed a significant execution gap. Two thirds of respondents placed themselves below 50% readiness: 33% felt only 20% ready, and 30% felt 40% readiness. Only 15% considered themselves fully prepared, suggesting an urgent need to bridge the readiness divide. A similar lack of confidence emerged on the topic of cross border payments, with only 3% of attendees feeling ready for G20 cross border instant payments, and a 50:50 split emerging when asked whether they'd prefer to be closer to the euro than their own currency. Amid these challenges, encouraging shifting perspectives on regulation emerged. 86% of respondents believed that regulatory change was heading in a positive direction, a marked change from earlier discussions. Be part of the 2026 conversation Whether you're a bank executive, fintech founder, policymaker, or developer, NextGen Nordics is your opportunity to connect with decision makers, shape the agenda, and build the partnerships that will define the future of payments. Break ground and be an early participant in the conversation: Register your interest for NextGen Nordics 2026
Techday NZ
2 days ago
- Business
- Techday NZ
Commvault & Kyndryl partner to boost cyber recovery services
Commvault and Kyndryl have announced a partnership to deliver incident recovery services for organisations aiming to enhance data security and meet regulatory requirements. The two companies will work in collaboration with Pure Storage to provide services intended to help organisations recover faster from cyber incidents, improve cyber resilience, and address complex regulatory demands. Kyndryl's cyber resiliency services portfolio includes Incident Recovery Services, Managed Backup Services, and Hybrid Platform Recovery. Through this new partnership, it will be supported by Commvault and Pure Storage to assist organisations in adhering to regulations such as the European Union's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), NIS2 Directive, Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) regulation NYCRR 500, and Australia's Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) CPS 230 standard. Expanding cyber recovery services Under the collaboration, Commvault and Kyndryl plan to enhance support for enterprise customers facing persistent cyber threats and increasing data management complexity, particularly in multi-cloud environments. "Cyber preparedness is no longer regarded as optional for global organizations; it is mandatory," stated Allen Downs, Vice President of Security and Resiliency Services at Kyndryl. "Through this collaboration with Commvault and Pure Storage, we are further positioned to assist some of the world's most esteemed organizations in completely redefining their data protection strategies." The joint approach leverages Pure Storage technology alongside Commvault's cyber resilience and recovery solutions. This combined offering introduces a four-layer architecture designed to streamline compliance and speed up recovery for hybrid cloud customers. Technology and features The four-layered architecture includes the following components: Cyber Resilient Vault—an isolated, immutable data vault, based on zero-trust, to safeguard backup data from unauthorised access and tampering. Clean Recovery Zone—a controlled setting for forensic review and staged recovery using validated clean backups. Production Rapid Restore—capability for swift, reliable dataset restoration by using Pure Storage FlashBlade, with immutability features such as S3 Object Lock and SafeMode. Immutable Snapshot Recovery—enables quick, application-consistent restoration of key workloads through Commvault IntelliSnap and Pure Storage FlashArray. The services are developed to promote automated and ongoing cyber recovery testing. Support extends to Commvault Cleanroom Recovery within both public cloud and on-premises isolated environments overseen by Kyndryl. Organisations are enabled to validate their recovery processes to comply with DORA Chapter II (Risk Management), Chapter IV (Operational Resilience Testing), and related regulation. Meeting regulatory needs The collaboration is set against a backdrop of increasingly rigorous and complex regulatory landscapes. Organisations are now required to demonstrate not only the protection of their critical data, but also the capability to restore operations swiftly following a digital disruption. "Our partnership with Kyndryl is built to address the biggest challenges facing the enterprise today, such as the persistent threat of cyberattacks, including ransomware, and the increasing complexity of managing massive data growth across multi-cloud environments," said Alan Atkinson, Chief Partner Officer at Commvault. "When combined with the innovative Pure Storage platform, the three companies are together helping organizations stay resilient and prepared to act decisively in the face of disruption." As businesses face mounting pressures from both cyber threats and regulatory scrutiny, integrating compliance with resilience strategies is becoming increasingly necessary. "As regulatory frameworks like DORA set higher standards for operational resilience, organizations are implementing strategies that integrate regulatory compliance with the ability to recover swiftly from cyber disruption," said Maciej Kranz, General Manager, Enterprise at Pure Storage. "Together with Commvault and Kyndryl, we're delivering advanced security features and a scalable foundation of layered resilience that helps organizations meet these mandates and restore critical operations quickly and reliably." The services provided by the three companies are typically available across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Clients and partners will have opportunities to engage through existing partner programmes and access supporting resources aimed at enhancing cyber resilience and compliance capabilities. Follow us on: Share on:
IOL News
12-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Mashatile offers solutions to rising water debt crisis at Municipalities
Deputy President Paul Mashatile said the Department of Water and Sanitation, the National Treasury, Salga and Cogta will collaborate to develop a comprehensive water debt management plan. Image: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA) Deputy President Paul Mashatile said on Thursday top slicing the Equitable Share of municipalities was one of the considerations to deal with those councils battling to pay the debts owed to water boards. Mashatile said the Portfolio Committee on water and Sanitation had recommended that the Department of Water and Sanitation, the National Treasury, Salga, and Cogta should collaborate to develop a comprehensive water debt management plan. 'This plan will implement strategies like, for instance, top slicing the Equitable Share and the municipal infrastructure grants to address rising municipal water debt. 'The National Treasury is also considering invoking Section 216 of the Constitution against defaulting municipalities, meaning their upcoming equitable share payments will be withheld while repayment agreements are negotiated with the relevant water boards,' he said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading Mashatile was responding to DA MP Leon Basson, who wanted to know the interventions he has spearheaded to hold municipalities and provinces to account for failing to provide adequate water supply to their respective communities. He said the Department of Water and Sanitation could withhold or stop grant funding where there was poor performance by municipalities that were implementing agents, in line with the Division of Revenue Act (DORA). 'In cases of continuous under-expenditure, funding is reallocated to other struggling municipalities, (according to Section 18 and 19 of DORA. By the end of the municipal financial year, municipalities are required to have spent the allocated funding and any unspent funds are then returned to the National Revenue Fund.' Mashatile also said the Water Task Team was working with municipalities to deal with the water challenges and has also looked at the state of water supply in the 105 non-performing municipalities that were are unable to deliver on their mandate. The Department of Water and Sanitation has submitted short, medium, and long-term solutions to turn around the declining water services to these struggling municipalities. 'The Water Task Team's recent meeting emphasised the need to enhance municipal service management and financial stability in the water sector by ring fencing revenue from water sales and separating water services authorities from providers through Operation Vulindela reforms.' Mashatile stated that the Department of Water and Sanitation has strengthened its controls to ensure that funding was allocated to projects that add maximum value (to address water services needs). 'The Department of Water and Sanitation has established a specialised unit with engineers who closely monitor and oversee implementation of priority and large intervention projects. These are projects that are identified by the department as requiring more stricter oversight based on impact, risk, and past delays.' Asked whether he has considered implementing consequence management measures for municipal managers and mayors of municipalities that repeatedly fail to meet minimum water delivery standards by holding them personally accountable for the failures, Mashatile said consequence management was key to ensure that people do their work.
Business Wire
12-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
SmartStream Brings AI-Powered Data Management to the Insurance Sector
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SmartStream, the financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM ®) and solutions provider, has announced the expansion of its AI-driven reconciliation and data management platform, SmartStream Air, into the insurance sector. This move aims to help insurers tackle fragmented data challenges, reduce operational costs, and strengthen compliance through robust audit trails. As the insurance industry struggles with limited digital maturity, it faces mounting pressure from increasing transaction volumes, persistent data quality issues, and the complex demands of evolving regulations such as IFRS 17 and DORA. In this environment, the need for advanced, rapidly deployable SaaS data management solutions has never been more urgent. Addressing these challenges requires a fundamental transformation in how insurers manage systems, streamline operations, and ensure data integrity across the enterprise. SmartStream Air leverages cutting-edge AI to reconcile and manage high volumes of data, for example across payments, reimbursements, claims, policyholder transactions, and investment operations. The platform enables insurers to rapidly identify exceptions and resolve discrepancies - regardless of data format or source – in a matter of seconds. Robin Hasson, Global Head of Reconciliations at SmartStream, states: 'Our heritage and experience in working with the world's top 100 banks, gives us a strong foundation to support the insurance sector as firms identify use cases for increased automation. We're already partnering with leading insurers to implement AI-powered solutions that enable data-driven agility. In today's environment, insurers must respond swiftly to market shifts and customer expectations, or risk falling behind due to inefficiencies and increased exposure.' Karlyn Carnahan, Insurance Practice Leader, Head of North American Research, Celent, states: 'Celent expects 2025 to be a transformative year in insurance, buoyed by a clarity of purpose around efficiency and growth and with lessons in technology strategy, partnerships, and market dynamics from the past several years of chaos absorbed. While getting arms around AI from a compliance and use case perspective is difficult, deploying proven technologies from other industries to support it will help insurers achieve their goals to grow efficiently and set up for the next several decades of business.' Deployed as a SaaS solution, SmartStream Air is flexible enough to offer a comprehensive suite of capabilities tailored to insurance operations, including: premium collection and processing, commission payments, claims management, financial reporting, reinsurance settlements, policyholder refunds, investment account reconciliation, data integration and validation, risk and reserve management, expense tracking, and fraud detection. With this expansion, SmartStream is positioning itself as a key enabler of digital transformation in insurance, helping firms modernise operations and meet the demands of a data-intensive future. By helping its customers through their transformative digital strategies, SmartStream provides a range of solutions for the transaction lifecycle with AI and machine learning technologies embedded - which can be deployed in the cloud or as managed services.
Business Standard
11-06-2025
- Science
- Business Standard
Indian Researchers Call for Balanced and Responsible Research Assessments: Springer Nature Survey Reveals Global Insights
PRNewswire New Delhi [India], June 11: A global survey conducted by Springer Nature reveals that researchers in India are calling for more balanced and responsible approaches to research assessment, with an emphasis on transparency, integrity, and moving beyond over-reliance on quantitative metrics. The 2024 Research Assessment Survey, which gathered responses from over 6,300 researchers worldwide--including 764 from India--provides important insights into how researchers experience and perceive current evaluation practices. While researchers globally continue to be assessed based on a combination of publication counts, citations, and grant funding, Indian respondents reported a stronger reliance on purely quantitative measures than their global peers. Notably, 21% of Indian researchers said they are assessed entirely by quantitative metrics such as number of publications, citations, or grant income. This figure is higher than the global average (16%), and even Asia overall (17%). The contrast is particularly striking when compared to the United Kingdom, where only 5% reported being assessed solely on such metrics--reflecting a strong shift in UK research culture toward more holistic evaluations. At the same time, there is clear appetite for change: 49% of Indian respondents said they believe there should be a balanced mix of quantitative and qualitative criteria in research assessments, suggesting growing interest in reform. "Researchers in India and globally are sending a clear message--they want assessments that go beyond simplistic metrics like publication counts and journal impact factors," said Dr. Ed Gerstner, Director of Research, Springer Nature. "There is a growing demand for systems that reward openness, collaboration, and real-world impact. At Springer Nature, we are proud to be a driving force in this global conversation." Springer Nature has been at the forefront of advancing responsible research assessment. The company is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), a member of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA), and continues to promote practices that foster research integrity, open science, and transparency. In India, Springer Nature is further supporting national efforts such as One Nation One Subscription (ONOS) and working closely with universities and research institutions to build capacity around responsible research evaluation. The company is also engaging with policymakers to ensure that global advances in research assessment translate into impactful, local change. The survey also revealed: * Despite the emphasis on quantitative metrics, Indian researchers were more likely to report that they are evaluated on their contributions to both the national good (50%) and to solving global challenges such as those embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals (34%) than researchers in Europe (30% and 19% respectively), North America (35% and 16% respectively) or globally (40% and 25% respectively). * There is a strong desire in India for balanced assessments, blending measurable outputs with qualitative indicators such as societal relevance, collaboration, and contributions to the SDGs. * Transparency and clarity in assessment processes were rated highly by Indian respondents, indicating the importance of trust and fairness in research careers. This growing awareness among Indian researchers aligns with Springer Nature's global push for research systems that are not only rigorous and reproducible but also fair, inclusive, and meaningful. About Springer Nature: Springer Nature is one of the leading publishers of research in the world. We publish the largest number of journals and books and are a pioneer in open research. Through our leading brands, trusted for more than 180 years, we provide technology-enabled products, platforms and services that help researchers to uncover new ideas and share their discoveries, health professionals to stay at the forefront of medical science, and educators to advance learning. We are proud to be part of progress, working together with the communities we serve to share knowledge and bring greater understanding to the world. For more information, please visit and @SpringerNature.
