By Business & Finance 
This morning over 100 industry leaders attended a Dublin Chamber of Commerce and Fujitsu SMART Series Breakfast with John Bruton, chairman of the IFSC; Regina Moran, CEO of Fujitsu Ireland; Tom Glynn, CEO, Depfa Bank plc; and Jason Lalor, country head, MasterCard, for a discussion on ‘The Future of Financial Services in Ireland’.
Opening the event, Regina Moran, CEO of Fujitsu Ireland highlighted the changing financial services landscape where CIOs are preoccupied by security, as the customer is increasingly demanding new user friendly mobile and app services.
Moran said: “Financial services is in the midst of change and as a technology provider we are increasingly aware of the disparate demands arising from the exponential advance of social media; mobile banking and cloud. Customer loyalty is low and the risks are high, so it is increasingly important for the sector to adapt a digi-physical approach to meet these challenges – we must understand and meet customer needs and nurture innovation to ensure secure, robust IT solutions that put customers at the heart of these new services.”
John Bruton, chairman of the IFSC, highlighted the important role that the technology centre in the digital hub, Government R&D tax reliefs and Enterprise Ireland start-up support is playing in this regard. He said: “Innovation in software is key to maintain Ireland’s position as a leading global innovator in financial services.” Bruton also emphasised the social value of the Irish international financial services sector as a key contributor to the economy – sustaining over 35,000 jobs and contributing €2.1bn to the exchequer each year and its role in ensuring that financial services offerings meets the real needs of real people.
