Opinions

An accusation of sexual discrimination plays out in court for BNP Paribas; Jeffries’ top execs chastise Wall Street men over #MeToo paranoia; blockchain startup loses Blythe Masters; and RBS might make history with a female CEO-CFO duo.

Financial institutions had used existing banking laws as a shield against broader privacy protections, but a California law enacted this summer could threaten that strategy.

The SEC is already ramping up action in the cryptocurrency space, with stronger moves in the year ahead, and market participants should be preparing to respond, according to Aaron Kaplan, a securities lawyer and founder at Prometheum.

Fixes and resolutions can take days or even weeks, enhancing vulnerability, according to David Williamson, CEO of EfficientIP.

Fortunately, banks and financial institutions can take action to protect their apps in untrusted, potentially hostile environments, writes Samuel Bakken, senior product marketing manager for OneSpan.

It can be difficult for security analysts to pinpoint the abnormal behavior while sorting through huge amounts of data, according to Steve Moore, chief security strategist at Exabeam.

Beyond flashy and visible mobile-driven innovation and transaction options, many executives don’t see the need and opportunity that resides behind the scenes, according to Don Halliwell, director of marketing and communications at Zafin.

If they don't have them in place already, financial services firms need to provide digital budgeting tools, mobile payment and banking services before young consumers flee to other providers, says Chris Koeneman, senior vice president of strategic solutions for MOBI.

Traditional compliance data handling tools and procedures are mostly not efficient enough to handle the mounting data in the right way, which makes the analysis extremely difficult, writes Srinivasan Pandurangan is senior manager of business consulting at Virtusa.

Banks have the opportunity to transform from being the trusted custodians of our money to being the trusted custodians of our data, writes Martijn Moerbeek, director of group digital strategy and innovation at Legal & General.