Track 05 / 7 Tracks

Digital Transformation

Building the Next Generation of Financial Services

FinTech Connect Digital Transformation track session
2026 Track Narrative

Modern finance is being rebuilt around resilience, third party dependencies, and cross border oversight. This stage is where CIOs, CTOs, architects, and transformation leaders get the playbook for 2027: how to modernise core platforms, cloud operating models, and vendor ecosystems in a world where critical ICT providers are now formally designated and supervised, and where EU-UK cooperation is structured for coordinated oversight during incidents.

Who Attends This Track

Chief Technology Officer
Chief Digital Officer
Chief Information Officer
Head of Engineering
Head of Architecture
Head of Cloud
Head of Platform Engineering
Head of DevOps
Head of Core Banking Transformation
Head of Digital Banking
VP / Director, Technology Strategy
Head of Engineering Productivity
Head of Open Banking Technology
Head of AI Engineering

Key Attendee Benefits

01

Benchmark digital transformation strategy approaches against leading UK and global banks, including Lloyds, Commerzbank, MUFG, NatWest and more

02

Hear honest case studies on core banking modernisation and how change is being implemented across enterprises

03

Get a clearer view of where cloud-native adoption is delivering in regulated environments, and where it is still struggling

04

Explore practical ways to manage tech debt at scale without sacrificing delivery speed

05

Understand what the future of best practice legacy modernisation looks like from a range of stakeholders, including big bank transformation leaders and fintech pioneers

06

Understand how open banking APIs, API design patterns and real-time payment infrastructure are changing financial services architecture

07

Evaluate when AI coding tools can improve engineering performance, and where regulated teams need tighter controls

More Speakers Coming Soon...

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Speaker profile image for Ratul Ahmed

Ratul Ahmed

Global Head of Model Risk Management & Validation, Commerzbank AG
Speaker profile image for Jigisha Lock

Jigisha Lock

Managing Director, Head of Strategy and Transformation, CIO Markets, NatWest Group
Speaker profile image for Kirsty Rutter

Kirsty Rutter

Group Strategic Investment Director (Corporate Venture Capital), Lloyds Banking Group
Speaker profile image for Margus Simson

Margus Simson

Chief Digital Officer, Member of the Board, Komercni Banka
Speaker profile image for Christopher Singh

Christopher Singh

Group Head of Consumer Protection Wholesale Conduct & Regulatory Compliance , Barclays
Speaker profile image for Nitesh Palana

Nitesh Palana

Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, Moneyfarm
Speaker profile image for Joe Wilson

Joe Wilson

Chief Evangelist, bunq
Speaker profile image for Jawwad Rasheed

Jawwad Rasheed

Financial Services Advisory Lead, Camunda
Speaker profile image for Susanne Chishti

Susanne Chishti

Chair, FINTECH Circle Ltd
Speaker profile image for Roberto Napolitano

Roberto Napolitano

CMO, Innovate Finance
Digital Transformation Stage - Agenda
Content Programme

Digital Transformation Stage

Two days of case studies, leadership debate and hands-on sessions on modernising financial services, from legacy replacement to AI adoption at scale.

1-2 December 2026 Excel London 16 sessions, Day 1 · 10 sessions, Day 2
1Day 1 01 December 2026
09:30 10:00
Arrival & Registration
10:00 10:10
Chair's Welcome and Conference Commencement
10:10 10:30
The Determined and Sometimes Disruptive Path of a Digital Transformation Leader

Digital transformation leaders are expected to challenge legacy thinking, accelerate change and bring the enterprise with them. But determination can quickly become disruption when pace, politics and culture collide.

10:35 11:05
The Burden of Legacy Systems, New Vendor Risk and Today's Playbook of Digital Transformation

Legacy modernisation is no longer just an internal technology challenge. As financial institutions rely on more vendors, platforms and third-party providers, transformation now carries new layers of operational risk.

11:10 11:30
The Cost of No: Designing Growth Through Smarter Risk Appetite

From miscalibrated risk appetite to control functions that slow the business down, saying no is the easy option, but it isn't the safe one.

11:35 11:55
12:00 12:20
Putting Human-Centred AI at the Core of Competitive Advantage: Revealing Effective Metrics That Work

To create lasting advantage, financial institutions need metrics that capture adoption, trust, productivity, customer outcomes and human impact.

12:25 13:00
Networking
Bank to Bank, Fintech to Fintech: Understanding What Is Realistically Achievable in 2027

The next wave of financial services innovation depends on knowing what can actually be delivered today and in 2027. This networking session provides prompts to meet and connect with your peers.

13:00 14:00
Lunch
14:00 14:20
Case Study
Digital Reinvention at Komerční Banka

Reinvention inside an established bank is rarely clean or simple. It means modernising technology, reshaping customer journeys and changing internal ways of working while still protecting trust and continuity.

14:25 14:45
What Good Legacy Modernisation Looks Like in a High-Stakes Environment

Legacy modernisation is often presented as a technology upgrade, but in financial services it is a risk, resilience and leadership challenge. The stakes are high: disruption, regulatory scrutiny and cost.

14:50 15:40
The Great Upskilling: Preparing for the AI Economy

By 2036, more than nine billion people will live and work alongside AI systems that think, learn and adapt in real time. As AI becomes embedded across financial services, the workforce has to keep pace.

15:45 16:05
Managing Digital Supply Chains as an Institutional Bank

As banks become more dependent on cloud providers, software vendors, data partners and specialist fintechs, the digital supply chain has become a core resilience issue.

16:10 16:30
Bank of The Free: How BUNQ Forged a Culture of Breaking Status Quo's and Embodying Constant Digital Transformation
16:45 17:00
End of FinTech Connect Exhibition Day 1
2Day 2 02 December 2026
10:10 10:30
Is There an EQ Deficit for AI and Digital Leaders? The Challenge of Stakeholder Management

Has emotional intelligence become an underdeveloped leadership capability in the age of AI? Digital and AI leaders are often judged by technical vision, but transformation succeeds or fails through people.

10:35 10:55
Responsible AI Frameworks at the Heart of Government

Responsible AI is no longer just a private-sector concern. Governments are increasingly shaping the standards, controls and expectations that will influence how AI is deployed across financial decisions.

11:00 11:20
Breaking the Bureaucracy / Escaping the Chaos: Bridging the Culture Gap in Financial Product Design
11:25 11:45
Preparing Acquisition-Led Organisations for AI Readiness: Targeting the Transformation Foundations Before Successful AI Adoption

Acquisition-led organisations rarely start with one clean technology base. They inherit fragmented systems, duplicated processes, inconsistent data standards and competing operating cultures.

11:50 12:10
Analysing the Cambrian Explosion of Challengers in the Banking Sector

The banking sector continues to see an expanding field of challengers, specialists and digitally native competitors. But not every new entrant will reshape the market, and not every incumbent is vulnerable.

12:20 13:00
Roundtable
Female Leadership in AI, DevOps & the Fintech Sector

AI, DevOps and fintech transformation are reshaping the skills, cultures and leadership models needed across financial services. This roundtable creates space for candid discussion on leadership paths.

14:00 14:40
Financial Institutions Do Not Have a Technology Problem; They Have a Change Capacity Problem

Financial institutions have access to more technology than ever, but the ability to absorb change has not kept pace. Competing priorities, legacy processes and governance bottlenecks slow real progress.

14:45 15:05
Cloud Scale, Local Control: Solving the Sovereignty Challenge in Financial Services

Financial institutions want the scalability of cloud without giving up control over data, resilience and regulatory accountability. As sovereignty expectations increase, firms must rethink architecture.

15:10 15:50
Security in the Scale: Building a Safer Foundation for Digital Transformation

Digital transformation cannot scale on weak security foundations. As financial institutions modernise infrastructure, automate operations and expand third-party ecosystems, secrets management matters.

16:00 16:15
End of FinTech Connect Exhibition Day 2
Digital Transformation

Primary Content Themes

01

Tech debt management and modernisation at scale in financial institutions

02

Cloud-native architecture and DevOps in regulated environments

03

Is there an EQ deficit for AI and digital leaders? The challenge of stakeholder management

04

AI-assisted development: opportunities and risks for financial services engineering

05

Are partnerships back in fashion for banking? A conversation on the banking-vendor relationship

06

Security in the scale: building a safer foundation for digital transformation

07

Neobank and challenger bank architecture: what traditional banks can adopt

08

Edge computing and data sovereignty in financial services

Past Delegations Include

Lloyds Bank
JP Morgan
HSBC
NatWest
Santander UK
BNY Pershing
Microsoft
Google
IBM
Red Hat
Bain & Company
GitLab
Fidelity International
Nordea
Innovate Finance
TSB Bank
Backbase
Allica Bank
Moneycorp
Codat
Wise