For our cover story this month , we feature Katherine Garrod , the Chief Information Security Officer at PPRO .

PPRO ’ s secure and unified payment platform grants customers access to card schemes , payment methods , fraud screening tools and other robust capabilities . These tools empower users to conduct quick transactions , enhance checkout conversions and streamline services via a single connection . PayPal , Stripe and GlobalPayments are just a few of the businesses that rely on PPRO .

“ For PPRO , being secure is a given in the world of financial services but doing it well can yield a competitive advantage . PPRO customers appreciate that they can fully trust PPRO ’ s infrastructure , and engineers find satisfaction when security by design allows them to innovate at speed ,” said Garrod . Read the full article on page 48 . customers engage with the digital world and how banks invest in embedded finance to become part of the financial journey consumers experience on their platforms of choice . Find out more on page 17 .

Following the recent NatWest and Nigel Farage scandal , banks are still coming under increased scrutiny . The Treasury wrote to the ombudsman in September asking it to provide the complaints data showing a monthly rate of more than 268 complaints per month , made up of 1,351 ‘ general ’ closure cases and 262 ‘ restricted ’ accounts . This month , our Editor ’ s Question explores how banks are leveraging technology to handle the complexities associated with ‘ politically exposed persons ’ ( PEPs ), including minimising risks of bribery and corruption while ensuring the integrity of the financial sector . These experts offer their thoughts on page 25 .

Our Regional Round-Up on page 44 , focuses on the Africa region . Charlotte Koep at Root advises startup and early growth InsurTech businesses on how to scale in African markets and focus and play niche in global markets .

In a world where short-term insurance is gaining momentum , we hear from Andrew Ponter , Insurance Product Manager at LexisNexis Risk Solutions , UK and Ireland on whether short-term insurance is at an inflection point on page 63 .

We also have a range of ‘ Intelligent ’ pages , which feature the latest strides in the cloud , security , mobile , software , Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence space .

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 .

Ellen Flannery , Editor

The IBM Institute for Business Value , in collaboration with the Banking Industry Architecture Network ( BIAN ) and Red Hat , has released findings from a new global study that reveals significant gaps between the stated priorities of surveyed banking executives and the customers they serve . The research examined how

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