For our cover story this month we feature Richard Bird , Chief Security Officer , Traceable . In October 2022 , the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council reinforced significant updates to meet cybersecurity mandates for financial institutions across the United States . This update explicitly called out APIs as a separate attack surface in regulatory guidelines that represented a significant shift in compliance trajectories and highlighted the increased threats that APIs pose .

The FFIEC specifically created these new guidelines prompting financial institutions to inventory APIs as part of their overall inventory of information systems and risk assessments . APIs , when not carefully identified and secured , can be compromised in seconds – putting businesses and their customers ’ sensitive data at significant risk .

Our Gauging the Market centres inwards and focuses on the changing needs of the modern CFO . When it comes to financial processes , CFOs are faced with increasing frustration , with fresh insights proving difficult . On page 17 , Darren Cran , COO of AccountsIQ , talks to us about the modern CFO and how they can become more strategic to bring greater value to the business .

One of the concerns for modern CFOs is cash flow . This is a especially prominent fear for SMEs , who have been hit hardest by the global financial crisis . On page 25 , we asked two experts for their thoughts on how SMEs can alleviate cash flow pressures caused by late payments .

Our Feature explores payments on a global scale , highlighting how cross-border businesses are divided on the year ahead , many citing speed , cost and efficiency as the backbone of their operations and expansion . Rapyd ’ s 2023 State of B2B Cross-Border Payments report delves deeper into this on page 32 .

We scale down again with Industry Outlook , focusing explicitly on South Africa . The RegTech sector is still in the early adoption stage here . However , it is essential to the fight against cybercriminals in the country . Luke Machowski , Head of Regulatory Products at Synthesis , speaks tells us more about it on page 39 .

We also have a range of ‘ intelligent ’ pages , which feature the latest in the cloud , security , mobile , software , blockchain and Artificial Intelligence .

I hope you enjoy this issue and if you would like to contribute to any future editions then please do not hesitate to contact me .

Catherine Darwen , Editor

In response , Traceable , a company focusing on security for APIs , is working with top financial institutions across the globe to enable businesses to secure the APIs and comply with the FFIEC ’ s new guidelines .

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Richard Bird , Chief Security Officer at Traceable , tells us more on page 48 .

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