Industry news

London has held off competition to retain its Fintech crown in the recent rankings from Deloitte for the Global Fintech Hubs Federation. Singapore held off competition as well to stay near the top, with new challenges from Chicago and Tokyo. The UK must continue to champion innovation to maintain its fantastic appeal to this emerging industry.

Related news: Fintech Acquisiton Demonstrates Changing Industry

Rating agency AM Best have said that “Brexit and political uncertainty in Europe are likely to depress merger activity among European insurers this year”. More likely will be foreign mergers, especially with weaker currencies inside the Europe and many foreign insurers looking to expand offerings. US insurers in particular may be looking to diversify assets and product offerings.

Related news: Police to Halt M&A Deals?

Now that Article 50 has been triggered, the countdown to Brexit has officially begun and according to the Financial Times, this has led to the extension of many outsourced contracts within the UK government as staff have to focus on Brexit duties. It is true that the extension of a contract does not always to the cheapest outcome for the taxpayer, who may prefer a new tender, but one key reason the FT may have missed is that many of the extended contracts are examples of successful sourcing. Despite some high publicity failures, sourcing in general is a success and the avoidance of transfer costs can save departments millions. You can read the FT article here for more information.

Related news: Sourcing Market Could Win in Brexit

Accenture has acquired UK-based Genfour, an automation service provider with deep domain expertise and industry experience in assessing, implementing and managing automation solutions. The acquisition strengthens Accenture's capabilities as a leading provider of intelligent automation services, the company said. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. You can read more of the story here.

Related news: Accenture & Blue Prism in RPA Alliance

UK firms have been warned about "serious" cyber attacks originating in China that seek to steal trade secrets.The gang behind the attacks has compromised technology service firms and plans to use them as a proxy for attacks, security firms have said. PwC and BAE said the group had mounted many different attacks as part of a campaign they called Operation Cloud Hopper. By targeting the suppliers of IT outsourcing, the attackers were able to stealthily gain access to the networks and systems of their true targets. Dr Adrian Nish, head of threat intelligence at BAE, said the attackers used these third parties as a "stepping stone" to get at the companies and organisations they were really interested in. You can read more here.

Related news: Cyber Crime Continues Increasing

This is a good article from All Things IC about the Future of Work that offers some interesting insights, Breaking the issues down into five categories, the article discusses the uncertainties of the future of work and the major things to consider around the topic. IF you want to learn more on the Future of Work, join the GSA at their Future Of Work In The Digital Age conference this May.

Sri Lanka seeks to establish a Digital Identity Council to implement the national policy on collection, storage, sharing and use of citizens’ personal data under the proposed centralized Household Transfer Management project. In 2015, the cabinet authorized ICTA to facilitate implementation of the centralized Household Transfer Management project. The project aims to establish a National Digital Identifier and National Digital Transaction platform where data including biometric information of citizens would be stored and shared with government organizations through a National Authentication Platform. The Digital Identity Council also sends a message to the international community that Sri Lanka is a country embracing digital transformation. To read more, click here.

Related news: Time to Invest in Sri Lanka is Now

The Civica Group, a market leader in business-critical software applications, digital solutions and outsourcing services, has established a stronger position in the social housing sector with the integration, re-naming and re-branding of the former Abritas business, following its acquisition in December 2016. The move consolidates the Group’s market-leading portfolio of housing, repairs and asset management software under the Civica name and enhances the company’s ability to help social housing providers respond to a changing environment through more responsive and efficient services. Combining the specialist expertise of both companies, Civica now supplies more than 400 customers in the sector, supporting services for five million tenants. You can read the full story here.

Related News: Civica Selected for Council Contract

Lloyds Bank have made the decision to shrink hundreds of its branches in size, which in some cases will mean boarding up the old counter sections. The new "micro branches" will be staffed by just two people, who will help customers to use machines, including pay-in devices. As customers have increasingly turned towards online banking and renting premium high street space is not cheap, this looks like a good move and should free up capital for the bank. It has already announced plans to close 400 of its branches around the UK, with 9,000 job losses. The micro format, modelled on an existing branch in Paternoster Square in the City of London, will use as little as 1,000 square feet of space. To read more, click here.

Related news: Lloyds Restructure with IBM Move

Intelenet, which wants to reach $1 billion in revenue by 2020, is building automation products in the areas of healthcare and transport that will cut into its revenue in the short term, in order to help win new customers in the next few years. Automation is seen by many as the most promising area of business investment in the current climate, having a greater effect than location. Indian sourcing firms need to experiment with automation to secure their long term future as their strengths in ITO are fading. To read more, click here.

Related news: GSA Launches Independent Automation User Group