Introduction

Abstract

Technology is now firmly embedded in most parts of our western civilisation and nowhere more so than in financial services. The industry simply could not exist without it. Therefore by inference, any systemic failure or determined attack on our financial services industry today is likely to be aimed at technology and, if successful, has the capacity to bring most of the day-to-day activities of our civilisation to a standstill. Ergo what technology we use, how we use it and how we manage it are all critical issues for the industry and critical concerns for everyone who is a beneficiary of its work. It should be self-evident therefore to anyone in financial services that these issues must be continually reviewed and discussed. We can’t afford the consequences of not doing so.