Regulated Digital

For regulated organisations, accessibility is part of whether a journey works in practice. It shapes how clearly customers can move through each step, complete key tasks, and get the support they need.When disabled customers cannot read, navigate, verify, recover, or get help in the way that works for them, the service creates unnecessary barriers and falls short of basic usability.In this episode of Regulated Digital, Diane Lightfoot, CEO of Business Disability Forum, explains why disabled customers still face avoidable barriers in communications, service design, and customer support, and what firms in regulated sectors can do differently.The central takeaway is simple: build for choice, clarity, and real-world use from the start, and you reduce friction for disabled customers, lower the cost of retrofitting, and create journeys that work better for everyone.Learn more on our website: https://www.beyondencryption.com/blog/accessible-journeys-disabled-people

Digital convenience has raised the bar in private banking, but trust is still won in the moments where a client needs calm, context, and judgement.In this episode of Regulated Digital, Dominic Kohler, Head of Investment & Client Solutions at Brown Shipley, shares how a modern private bank can deliver faster, clearer digital experiences without losing the relationship-led model clients rely on.Brown Shipley supports high net worth individuals across the UK with investment management, wealth planning, and lending, and it sits within the Quintet Private Bank group’s European network.Learn more: https://www.beyondencryption.com/blog/private-banking-digital-world

In regulated financial crime work, “good enough” AI is rarely good enough - you need decisions you can defend.Dr Janet Bastiman is Chief Data Scientist at Napier AI, where she leads data science work supporting anti-money laundering and financial crime compliance.She focuses on translating complex models into outcomes teams can audit, explain, and improve.Regulation is pushing AI out of the “black box” era. This involves practical solutions like explainable workflows, proportionate oversight, and an evidence trail that stands up under challenge.Learn more: https://www.beyondencryption.com/blog/ai-explainability-napier

Good regulation only works if customers can actually understand what organisations are telling them.Jemma Baker is Deputy Director of Future Retail Policy at Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain.In this episode of Digital Customer Communications: Regulated, Jemma joins us to unpack what “good” really looks like in regulated customer communications, why vulnerability and clarity are inseparable, and how outcomes-based regulation could reshape service standards across the energy sector.From billing clarity and energy literacy to digital channels, AI, and accountability, this conversation explores how regulation can raise the bar without getting in the way of better customer experiences.Learn more: https://www.beyondencryption.com/blog/ofgem-on-energy-communications

Age checks aren’t simply a regulatory box to tick. They’re a key point in digital journeys, where trust can be built or broken.In this episode of Digital Customer Communications: Regulated, Emily Hyett, Group Product Manager at Yoti, joins us to talk about digital identity in practice, and what “good” looks like when age assurance meets real user behaviour.Learn more on our website: https://www.beyondencryption.com/blog/digital-identity-in-practice

Many AI initiatives fail not because organisations underestimate what it takes to make it safe, scalable, and accountable.Sam Bridges-Sparkes is Head of BI Analytics & Strategy at Shawbrook Bank. His work spans business intelligence, analytics, and the responsible adoption of AI within a highly regulated banking environment.In this episode of Digital Customer Communications: Regulated, we explore what it really takes to move AI from experimentation into production inside a regulated bank, and why governance, culture, and people matter as much as models and infrastructure.

In many financial journeys, the real barrier isn’t a lack of information - it’s the lack of effective support that helps customers turn that information into action.Jenny Hazan is Director of Customer Strategy & Engagement at Legal & General.Jenny leads work that connects behavioural insight, smart technology, and service design to help people make confident decisions about pensions, protection, and long-term savings.In this episode, we explore what it takes to communicate complex products in ways customers can genuinely understand and act on.In many financial journeys, the real barrier isn’t a lack of information - it’s the lack of effective support that helps customers turn that information into action.Jenny Hazan is Director of Customer Strategy & Engagement at Legal & General.Jenny leads work that connects behavioural insight, smart technology, and service design to help people make confident decisions about pensions, protection, and long-term savings.In this episode, we explore what it takes to communicate complex products in ways customers can genuinely understand and act on.Learn more: https://www.beyondencryption.com/blog/legal-and-general-transforming-regulated-comms

Smart data can feel abstract, but for Smart Data Foundry it's about using real financial lives to shape fairer decisions, safely.In this episode of Digital Customer Communications: Regulated, we speak with Dougie Robb, CEO of Smart Data Foundry, a subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh that helps unlock financial data for social good.Learn more on our website: https://www.beyondencryption.com/blog/smart-data-foundry-financial-data

Most people experience data protection as a pop-up to get past, not as part of being looked after - and that’s a problem for trust.In this episode of Digital Customer Communications: Regulated, we’re joined by Catarina Santos and Caine Glancy from Data Protection People, consultants who see the reality of hundreds of frontline data protection queries every month.Together, Catarina and Caine share how organisations can make data protection genuinely customer friendly at scale, from the wording in a privacy notice to the way you handle a breach email on a customers' worst day.Learn more on our website.

AI promises the earth, but only disciplined teams turn it into dependable value in regulated spaces.Mark Watson is CTO at ComplyAdvantage, a RegTech helping financial institutions detect and prevent financial crime with AI-driven tools.In this conversation, Mark cuts through the noise to share what works, what doesn’t, and why measurement, explainability, and culture matter as much as models.From reducing false positives to building auditable AI workflows, Mark explains how to move beyond hype towards trustworthy automation that stands up to regulation and makes life easier for customers.Learn more on our website.

Security that prepares beats security that reacts - because resilience is built before alarms ever sound.Debbie Janeczek is Chief Information Security Officer at ING.Debbie leads ING’s global information security strategy, strengthening the organisation’s ability to anticipate threats, withstand disruption, and maintain customer trust.In this episode, Debbie shares how to shift from reactive firefighting to intelligence-led resilience, how to use AI responsibly, and how to embed security into delivery so it becomes a value enabler rather than a blocker.Learn more on our website.

Personalisation that uses AI at scale only works when it’s built on trusted data, sound governance, and experiences that feel human.Allan Christian is Senior Vice President and General Manager - Engage at Precisely. He brings two decades of experience in communications and data, spanning HSBC, Pitney Bowes Software & Data, and MapInfo.At Precisely, Allan has helped shape the delivery of hyper-personalised, compliant communications, powered by data integrity.He's now turning his focus to intelligent interactivity - applying agentic AI to unify orchestration, decisioning, and design for real-time experiences.In this episode, Allan explains how to harness first-party data for personalised communications without losing sight of trust or compliance.Learn more on our website.

Are your teams prepared for a customer’s worst day - when cybercrime turns a routine interaction into a crisis?Charlotte Hooper, Head of Operations at The Cyber Helpline, shares how fraud, hacking, and online abuse affect real people, and what organisations can do to support them.This episode uncovers the human impact of cybercrime and explores how businesses can protect trust by responding with clarity, empathy, and practical support.Learn more on our website.

How do you transform a long-established financial platform into a digital experience fit for the next generation?Leslee Ross is leading that challenge as Digital Waterfront Director at Scottish Widows.In this episode, Leslee shares the inside story behind one of the most ambitious digital transformation efforts in UK financial services.For nearly 200 years, Scottish Widows has been a trusted name in pensions, insurance, and investments. It is now part of Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s biggest digital bank.But with changing customer needs, rising digital expectations, and major societal wealth gaps, the team knew it was time for a refresh.And at the helm of this push is their new CEO, Chira Barau, whose energetic leadership has been key to driving innovation.Learn more on our website.

What’s the best way to protect your business from common cyber attacks?Neil Furminger is Head of Cyber Essentials at the IASME Consortium.He helps organisations adopt simple but effective security controls that protect against high-frequency digital threats.In this episode, Neil explains the Cyber Essentials scheme, breaks down what’s still going wrong with UK cybersecurity, and shares practical tips any business can follow to reduce risk.Learn more on our website.

How do you create digital experiences that truly serve every user - from HR leaders to employees - without losing sight of the bigger picture?Lio Lopez-Welsh is the Chief Information and Digital Officer at Unum UK.He joined the podcast to discuss how Unum builds digital platforms for a wide range of users - from employers and brokers to employees and their families.Learn more on our website.

What would you do if your life depended on being online - but you couldn’t get access?Vicky Stephen is tackling that question head-on at Virgin Money, where she works as Customer Vulnerability and Financial Inclusion Wellbeing Manager.In this episode, Vicky shares how Virgin Money is helping to bridge the UK’s digital divide through community outreach, inclusive service design, and national partnerships.Learn more on our website.

How do you build lasting relationships with an audience as broad as the UK population?Deborah Perkins, Member Proposition Director at Nest Pensions, joined us to discuss how Nest navigates the unique challenges of engaging and supporting auto-enrolled pension scheme members.Deb shares how Nest uses behavioural science, testing, and new digital platforms like its app to personalise experiences for over 13 million members - many of whom have little initial interest in their pensions.Learn more on our website.

Is your financial crime strategy keeping pace with smarter, faster, evolving threats?Matt Beattie, Co-Founder of Beyond FS, joins the podcast to explore how financial crime is changing and what it takes for organisations to stay ahead of it.Matt shares why traditional approaches won’t work in today’s environment, where threats are powered by advanced technology and regulations are racing to keep up.In this episode, we explore the growing complexity of financial crime, how AI is being used on both sides of the fight, and why a people-first, risk-led strategy is essential to modern prevention programmes.Learn more on our website.

What if your customers were unknowingly caught in a criminal network -  all for doing a friend a favour?Stephen Dalton, Director of Intelligence at Cifas, joins us to unpack one of the most hidden and dangerous fraud threats facing consumers and businesses today: money muling.We explore how criminals exploit individuals to launder stolen funds, and how regulated organisations can protect customers before they're caught in the crossfire.From romance scams to fake jobs, money mules are being recruited in increasingly deceptive ways.Stephen shares new data and expert advice to help financial firms, advisers, and regulated businesses educate, detect, and prevent the spread of this fast-growing risk.Learn more on our website.

Are your secure emails creating more friction than protection?Harry Holland is the lead Product Manager at Beyond Encryption.In this bonus episode, he explains how we've made it easier than ever for regulated companies and their clients to adopt secure email, balancing security and compliance with ease-of-use to exchange information.Learn more.

We dive deep with Ben Perkins, Director of Partnerships & Services at Plain Numbers, to uncover why so many regulated businesses struggle to meet customer understanding requirements - and what they can do about it.Plain Numbers helps organisations unlock better ways to communicate numbers – making complex information clearer, fairer, and more effective. Through an established framework combined with real-world support, they help organisations make numbers work for people, not against them, and supercharge customer understanding.And it’s not just theory - research shows it works.Learn more on our website.

We spoke with Chantal Constable, Head of Financial Services and Insurance at NCC Group, about the most common cybersecurity myths, mistakes, and must-dos for regulated firms.With more than a decade in financial tech and cybersecurity, Chantal has a front-row seat to the day-to-day challenges of keeping sensitive client communications secure.In this episode of the podcast, we look at how businesses can reduce cyber risk without adding frustrating layers of friction for employees and customers.Learn more on our website.

We spoke with Sean O’Meara, founder of Essential Content, about crisis communication in regulated sectors and how businesses can protect both their reputations and their customers’ trust.Sean has advised major organisations across banking, finance, insurance, and healthcare on how to plan for and respond to critical failures – both operational and cultural.He’s also co-authored a renowned book on corporate apologies and is an experienced speaker on the importance of saying the right thing at the right time.Learn more on our website.

We spoke with Karen Peters, an experienced consultant who helps financial services organisations transform complex communications at scale – focusing on compliance, readability, and customer experience.Karen has advised CEOs, COOs, and CTOs at board level on meeting new regulations like Consumer Duty and the upcoming EU Accessibility Act.She draws on her background in digital transformation, channel management, robotic process automation, and more to remove friction in customer journeys – while prioritising trust and compliance.

We spoke to Morgan (Mogsy) Long, Programme Manager and Talent Lead at the Defence Digital Foundry – a government initiative designed to accelerate digital transformation across the armed forces.While we often look at how regulated businesses reach customers, here, we explore how the armed forces engage with recruits, service personnel, veterans, and family members.We also discover how Morgan's team balances security and compliance to drive change at pace in the technology supporting the armed forces across multiple problem sets.Learn more on our website.

We caught up with Richard Logan, Principal Digital Strategist at MMT Digital, to find out how regulated organisations can unify their customer communications, maintain compliance, and deliver real value.MMT Digital has worked on global digital transformation programmes for well-known names like Vodafone, NFU Mutual, Schroders, TransLink, and Newcastle Building Society.Learn more on our website.

We spoke with Philip Courtney, founder of Humans and Money, to find out why people often fail to take the right actions with money—and how businesses can help.Phil specialises in investor psychology, having worked in the financial sector before launching the consultancy.He’s just completed a PhD on people’s attitudes to money and, in his words, he’s a bit of a “nerd” when it comes to financial decisions.Learn more on our website.

We spoke with Beyond Encryption Founder & CEO Paul Holland about the challenges of securing digital communications and how businesses can safeguard sensitive customer data amid an evolving threat landscape. With cyber attacks accelerating at an unprecedented rate—targeting everything from global enterprises to critical hospital infrastructure—companies need to ask themselves: Are they doing enough to protect their outbound customer communications?Learn more on our website.

We caught up with Helen Clark, founder of Mint Blue Consulting, to discuss how financial services firms can adapt their communication strategies amidst technological and regulatory change.As digital transformation accelerates, financial services firms are grappling with regulatory and efficiency challenges while trying to maintain focus on the diverse preferences of clients and advisers.Learn more on our website.

Adrian Swinscoe, renowned customer experience adviser and author of "Punk CX" and "Punk XL", advocates a return to simplicity, authenticity, and a human-centric approach.Businesses that want to improve their customer experience often find themselves stuck in complex strategies and over-engineered solutions.We explore how embracing the punk philosophy can revolutionise customer experience, inspired by the raw and rebellious spirit of punk music.Learn more on our website.

We spoke with ⁠Brooke Day⁠, Head of Brand and Communications at ⁠PensionBee⁠, to explore how the company keeps customers engaged throughout their lifelong pension journeys.Engaging customers in long-term financial products like pensions takes a multifaceted approach. Combining education with personalised, multi-channel communications is how PensionBee maintains customer engagement over decades for their lifetime product.In financial services, customer engagement extends beyond transactions; it involves building affinity and relationships through multiple interactions.Learn more on our website.

We caught up with ⁠Ben Hammond⁠, Managing Director of Consulting and Insight at ⁠The Lang Cat⁠, to discuss how financial services can humanise digital communications amidst regulatory challenges.How can financial services maintain a human touch in their digital customer communications? Blending innovation with personalisation, along with using the latest in AI technology, will be key—as will working to innovate within and challenge regulatory requirements.As the financial sector evolves, balancing advanced digital solutions with genuine human interaction is a significant concern.Learn more on our website.

Kevin Hollister, founder of ⁠Guiide⁠, shares his experience developing a self-serve online tool that simplifies the complexities of retirement planning.What does it take to create a self-serve pension tool that supports users in making confident, informed decisions about their retirement savings?Learn more on our website.

We sat down with ⁠Lee Curtis⁠, CEO of ⁠Seguro Technology⁠, to delve into how businesses can identify, manage, and mitigate risks in their digital customer communications.How can businesses safeguard their customer interactions from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats? The answer lies in proactive cybersecurity measures and staying one step ahead of emerging risks.As companies rely more on digital channels to communicate with customers, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be overstated.Learn more on our website.

We spoke with Poppy Achilles, Co-Founder of Accelerator Labs, to explore how companies can successfully rally customer communications change through collaborative leadership and strategic initiatives.How can companies stay ahead in the fast-moving digital landscape while enhancing their customer communication? The key is fostering collaborative leadership, a vital force in driving impactful, sustainable change in today’s competitive environment.As businesses navigate demographic shifts and technological advancements, the need for effective digital communication strategies has never been more apparent.Learn more on our website.

We talked to Paul Davies, Consulting Psychologist at Behaviour Consulting, who applies behavioural psychology principles to help companies better understand and interact with their customers.The challenge of balancing security with user experience is reshaping how companies engage with customers in the digital age, making seamless, safe interactions more essential than ever.Paul's expertise sheds light on how organisations can reduce friction in their digital platforms and create more intuitive, user-friendly experiences without compromising on security.Learn more on our website.

We spoke to Ian Beestin, co-founder of Money Alive, a platform known for its innovative approach to video engagement.The shift towards personalisation in customer communications is redefining the financial services industry, offering unprecedented opportunities to engage with customers more meaningfully.Ian's insights into the transition from static to dynamic, more personalised customer communications are invaluable for any organisation looking to enhance its engagement strategies.Learn more on our website.

We spoke to Chloe Taylor from Quietroom about achieving ROI in customer communications. The complexities of measuring return on investment (ROI) in communications programmes can make digital transformation challenging, especially for companies in regulated sectors. As CEO of Quietroom, an insight-led communications consultancy, Chloe is an expert on the road to ROI in engagement projects. Learn more on our website.