Banking, financial services & insurance

SCC accelerates transformation for financial and insurance organisations, boosting security, modernising legacy systems and accelerating cloud modernisation and AI-driven innovation.

Speak to a specialist
Four people standing in a tiled open space engaged in conversation, with two men and two women facing each other.

The evolving risk and compliance landscape

UK banking, financial services and insurance organisations are entering 2026 under intense regulatory, technological and operational pressure. Expectations around Consumer Duty, fair value and expanding credit regulation (including full BNPL oversight from July 2026) continue to rise. Firms must also adapt to changing prudential and market rules under the Smarter Regulatory Framework.

Cyber threats have escalated significantly. Nationally significant incidents have more than doubled year-on-year, with new systemic risks emerging across cloud and supply-chain environments. Operational resilience is now in a “prove-it” phase, demanding clearer evidence of mapping, impact tolerance testing and tighter third-party oversight.

Insurers face additional pressures from talent shortages and cost challenges affecting claims handling and customer experience. Across the sector, financial crime scrutiny is increasing as regulators push for more “impactful deterrence”, driving the need for stronger data integration, monitoring and remediation.

Against this backdrop, UK financial services and insurance firms must modernise legacy estates, strengthen cyber and resilience capabilities, and embed data-driven compliance to keep pace with regulatory expectations while enabling innovation.

The scale of pressure and where it’s sharpest

The quantified challenges facing UK financial services and insurance are clear. Cyber risk continues to escalate, legacy systems constrain transformation, and rapid AI adoption is outpacing firms’ operational readiness. The data below shows why secure, modern and data-driven infrastructure has moved from strategic priority to operational necessity.

0
of firms cite cybersecurity as their top risk. Rising AI-powered and identity-based attacks are forcing boards to treat breach probability as a business planning assumption, not a theoretical risk. The cost of inaction is now material.
0
of insurance companies still rely on outdated legacy technology. Pricing, underwriting and core processes run on systems that constrain data quality, real-time insights and the ability to operationalise AI at scale. Legacy modernisation is no longer an efficiency play. It is a competitive necessity.
0
of lenders will implement GenAI by 2026. Nearly 8 in 10 banks already use AI in core functions. Yet data-quality gaps and skills shortages remain major barriers. AI-powered fraud has created both a key opportunity and a growing operational risk.

Key opportunities

Cyber Resilience

Opportunity

Financial institutions can strengthen cyber resilience by modernising security, retiring legacy processes and adopting AI safely. Stronger controls and intelligent automation tighten compliance, sharpen risk management and build a digital foundation that protects customer trust and supports long term growth.

Challenge

Major incidents now threaten brand trust, regulators are tightening personal accountability and identity and data exposure risks accelerate as AI, SaaS and hybrid working reshape the attack surface.

SCC solution

SCC strengthens resilience across security, detection and compliance, reducing breach impact, speeding detection and keeping pace with changing regulation. Capabilities include cyber risk posture assessments, zero trust strategy and roadmap development, continuous threat assessment, regulatory gap analysis and fully managed cyber operations that hold exposure down and keep critical services secure.

Outcome

Strengthened cyber resilience across cloud, data and workplace environments.
Reduced risk of identity‑based breaches and AI‑driven attacks.
Improved regulatory alignment and faster audit readiness.
Secure adoption of AI tools and automation capabilities.

Operational Resilience

Opportunity

Banking, Financial Services and Insurance firms can raise operational resilience by moving past checkbox compliance, demonstrating real service continuity, embedding resilience into daily decisions and proving they can perform under disruption, not only document it.

Challenge

Firms have to keep critical services running through disruption, minimise customer impacting outages, speed up recovery and prove resilient operations to regulators, all while reducing the impact and duration of operational failures.

SCC solution

SCC strengthens resilience by designing resilience first architectures, mapping critical services and interdependencies and modernising backup and recovery to cut impact and recovery time. Observability, service mapping and impact analysis sharpen outage detection, while DORA/PRA workshops, gap analysis and resilience mapping help firms prove reliable compliance as regulatory expectations tighten.

Outcome

Stronger service continuity with resilient, mapped architectures.
Faster outage detection and recovery through modern observability.
Clearer risk insight via service‑mapping and impact analysis.
Improved regulatory readiness with DORA/PRA‑aligned practices.

Digital Platforms

Opportunity

Digital platforms give firms the chance to move past legacy constraints, turning fragmented systems into scalable cloud native engines that accelerate innovation, deliver consistent customer experiences and let organisations compete at the pace of modern finance.

Challenge

Firms have to modernise legacy estates that slow delivery, optimise cloud investments to meet rising performance demands and improve colleague digital experience so teams can work at pace, all while keeping up with the industry’s move to fully digital operating models.

SCC solution

SCC helps firms modernise their digital platforms by designing secure cloud and hybrid architectures, optimising Microsoft EA investments and applying FinOps and marketplace strategies to maximise cloud value. We modernise the digital workplace by unifying tools, improving device and app performance, strengthening security and creating consistent, productivity driven experiences that let colleagues work faster and support a fully digital operating model.

Outcome

Stronger, scalable platforms through modern cloud and hybrid design.
Lower spend and higher value via EA optimisation and FinOps.
Faster, smoother work with a fully modernised digital workplace.
Greater agility and resilience from updated, future‑ready infrastructure.

Data, AI and Automation

Opportunity

Banking, Financial Services and Insurance institutions that integrate AI, data and automation into their core infrastructure gain hyper personalised customer services, enterprise scale intelligence, end to end automation and real time business insight, driving efficiency, growth and consistent customer experiences.

Challenge

Firms face mounting pressure to turn data and AI into real competitive advantage, yet many still struggle to monetise data securely amid quality, privacy and integration challenges. At the same time, industrialising AI safely now has to happen as explainability and governance become mandatory across underwriting, claims and core decision making.

SCC solution

SCC helps firms industrialise AI safely and monetise data securely through clear AI strategy design, data platform modernisation and high performance GPU based AI infrastructure. Reliable data governance, enterprise grade MLOps and secure AI deployment support compliant, accelerated adoption of intelligence led operating models.

Outcome

Turn high‑quality, trusted data into new revenue‑generating insight.
Accelerate AI delivery with repeatable, production‑ready pipelines.
Improve decision accuracy through governed, explainable models.
Boost underwriting and claims performance with scalable AI adoption.

Opportunity

Financial institutions can strengthen cyber resilience by modernising security, retiring legacy processes and adopting AI safely. Stronger controls and intelligent automation tighten compliance, sharpen risk management and build a digital foundation that protects customer trust and supports long term growth.

Challenge

Major incidents now threaten brand trust, regulators are tightening personal accountability and identity and data exposure risks accelerate as AI, SaaS and hybrid working reshape the attack surface.

SCC solution

SCC strengthens resilience across security, detection and compliance, reducing breach impact, speeding detection and keeping pace with changing regulation. Capabilities include cyber risk posture assessments, zero trust strategy and roadmap development, continuous threat assessment, regulatory gap analysis and fully managed cyber operations that hold exposure down and keep critical services secure.

Outcome

Strengthened cyber resilience across cloud, data and workplace environments.
Reduced risk of identity‑based breaches and AI‑driven attacks.
Improved regulatory alignment and faster audit readiness.
Secure adoption of AI tools and automation capabilities.

Why choose SCC

A strategic partner for finance and insurance

SCC is trusted by leading financial services organisations including Secure Trust Bank, Nationwide, Morgan Stanley and Lancashire Insurance. With 50 years of proven partnership, vendor-agnostic independence and people-first delivery, we align transformation to real outcomes. Our expertise spans cyber resilience, cloud modernisation, data intelligence and operational resilience. These are the exact capabilities driving competitive advantage in financial services today.

Proven expertise in financial services and insurance

SCC brings deep industry expertise and proven compliance knowledge. We deliver outcomes across cyber security, operational resilience, legacy modernisation and AI adoption. Trusted by Secure Trust Bank, Nationwide, Morgan Stanley and Lancashire Insurance, we continually invest in sector-specific skills to stay ahead of evolving regulatory and competitive demands.

Extensive partner network

SCC’s vendor-agnostic model spans financial services technology leaders including Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell and HPE. Financial institutions access secure cloud, data, compliance and AI capabilities whilst avoiding lock-in. Solutions are shaped around regulatory and business outcomes, not external agendas.

Scalable expertise for talent gaps

SCC’s technical specialists and Flex resourcing provide fast access to specialised skills and scalable technical teams. As financial services faces persistent talent shortages, SCC provides experienced practitioners who integrate quickly into transformation programmes.

Sustainability embedded in every solution

SCC embeds sustainability into delivery. Circular IT, zero-landfill recycling and carbon-reduced operations help firms meet ESG and reporting demands without compromising resilience or compliance. Recyclea facility handles secure data destruction and materials recovery across retired assets.

One partner across the full lifecycle

SCC reduces supplier fragmentation. From strategy and architecture through migration, operations and end-of-life asset management, one partner owns the journey. Vendor-neutral delivery keeps financial institutions in control. Auditability and compliance tracking are built in from day one.

Insights and case studies

Better Together: Why Cisco and Microsoft Make Sense for Modern UCC

Resource
Read more about this article

Meeting Intelligence: Where Microsoft 365 Copilot delivers its greatest impact

Partner News
Read more about this article

Don’t forget your Teams Rooms during your Windows 11 hardware refresh

Partner News
Read more about this article
View All Banking and Financial Services Insights

I use the term, ‘my Service Support Team’ because I don’t see them as SCC anymore, I see that family, that whole which is really important to me, as my teams, we work as one. Forget your badge or which company you work for, forget all of that, we’re on the same mission, we’re here together and we’re here to do a good job. Together.

Vic Sharma, Global Head of Service Operations, 10x
Read more about this article

Specialists

Mike Dacey

Head of Financial Services and Insurance

With over 30 years in IT, Mike is a trusted advisor to financial services organisations who are navigating digital transformation. Drawing on deep sector knowledge, he supports the delivery of technology that drives efficiency, compliance and innovation, to help clients modernise legacy systems and adopt agile operating models.

Paul Winstanley

FS & I Account Manager

With 25+ years in IT, Paul drives business transformation through strategic technology adoption. He brings deep FS&I expertise, delivering solutions that boost efficiency, customer experience and resilience.

His consultative, relationship‑led approach helps clients unlock long‑term value.

James Gosling

FS & I Account Manager

James is an experienced Account Manager supporting insurance clients through strategic technology adoption. With deep enterprise and sector knowledge, he helps modernise operations and enhance customer experience through trusted, consultative engagement and long term value delivery.

FAQs

How can we achieve DORA compliance without disrupting day-to-day operations?

Operational resilience is not a project. It’s an operating model shift. DORA requires ongoing impact tolerance testing, third-party oversight and evidence of genuine service continuity. SCC helps map critical services, model failure scenarios and modernise backup/recovery without disrupting live services. Our DORA/PRA workshops translate regulation into practical architecture decisions. Compliance becomes a natural outcome of better design, not a separate programme.

Our legacy systems are critical to our business. Can we modernise without replacing them?

Yes, but modernisation must happen faster than market risk increases. Many firms choose to upgrade core systems in place whilst building cloud-native platforms alongside them. SCC’s approach: map dependencies, migrate non-core workloads to hybrid cloud, optimise legacy systems for stability and security, then retire them as cloud platforms mature. This reduces risk whilst freeing budget for innovation.

How do we implement GenAI safely when governance and explainability are mandatory?

AI governance is non-negotiable in financial services. SCC embeds governance from the start: define explainability requirements upfront, build MLOps pipelines with guardrails, use data governance to ensure model inputs are auditable, deploy with continuous monitoring. This means GenAI can be industrialised safely across underwriting, claims and core decisions without regulators citing compliance gaps.

What does operational resilience testing actually involve?

Operational resilience testing goes beyond disaster recovery drills. It involves impact tolerance testing (how long can each critical service fail before material harm occurs), mapping interdependencies between services, stress-testing recovery procedures and documenting evidence for regulators. SCC facilitates these tests, helps design observability to detect failures faster, and ensures testing results feed into architectural decisions. The goal: prove resilience, not document it.

How can we defend against AI-powered cyber threats when our security tooling is legacy?

Legacy security tools cannot detect identity-based and AI-driven attacks. SCC moves organisations from legacy alert systems to continuous threat assessment, zero-trust architecture and AI-powered detection. This isn’t a rip-and-replace. It’s a staged shift to modern detection and response, often running alongside legacy tools until confidence is proven. AI becomes both a security risk and a detection capability.

Ready to accelerate your transformation?

Financial services transformation is shaped by regulatory pressure, cyber risk and talent constraints. SCC’s specialists understand the sector. They can help you navigate legacy modernisation, strengthen operational resilience, build AI safely and move faster than your competitive pressure demands.

Speak to a specialist
Woman holding a tablet deep in conversation with another woman with the SCC sail graphic in the background.
Woman holding a tablet deep in conversation with another woman with the SCC sail graphic in the background.

Contact Us