Tony PrestedgeNationwide Building Society has announced the next stage in its continued commitment to delivering the latest technology and innovations to its 15 million members and customers with the engagement of external experts to support the board IT committee.
Nationwide was one of the first companies in the banking sector to offer both Apple and Android Pay, was first in the UK to offer wearable banking.
The influential committee has accountability for technology architecture and transformation, innovation, cyber security and IT resilience strategy and governance at the world’s largest building society, which has its headquarters in Swindon.
Nationwide says the individuals bring additional weight and knowledge with a range of experts drawn from the payments, FinTech, Mobile Channel development, cyber security and data industries. Their decades of experience will complement the Society’s in-house teams as Nationwide continues the next stage of its multi-billion-pound transformation plan.
The engagement of external experts to support a board sub-committee exclusively dedicated to IT strategy, technology, resilience, innovation and business transformation is believed to be one of the first of its kind in the financial services sector in the UK.
This demonstrates the Society’s focus on delivering market leading developments, which have a real impact on the lives of millions of its members.
The experts are:
- Conrad Prince – former director general, Intelligence and Strategy GCHQ
- Usama Fayyad – former chief data officer and group managing director, Barclays Bank PLC
- Mark Hartley – inventor of Clear2Pay open payment framework
- James S. Greene – former vice president, Global Financial Services, Cisco
- Lisa Stanton – chief executive officer, InAuth Inc
Nationwide’s chief operating officer, Tony Prestedge, said: “Nationwide, as a mutual, is committed to making our members’ lives better through investing in innovations and technology, which will help customers have even greater access and control of their finances.
“The Society has a proud heritage of innovation, from introducing the first internet bank in the UK in 1997, to delivering a completely new core banking platform, market leading in-branch technology with Nationwide NOW and earlier this Summer a powerful new banking app.
“As millions of our members embrace the benefits of digital innovations we recognised the need to continue to ensure we have the right talent and leadership in place to meet the rapidly changing challenges and opportunities new technology presents.
“Bringing external expertise to support the Board IT Committee allows the Society to benefit from decades of combined experience at the most senior level, complementing our in-house experts, as we continue our ambitious innovation, technology and IT resilience investment.”