Chasing operational resilience in financial services

Food for Thought: Turning operational resilience into competitive advantage

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Amid cyber threats, economic pressures and stringent regulatory scrutiny, this HotTopics Food for Thought discussion uncovers an unsettling yet undeniable truth for financial services C-level executives: The stability of their firm’s financial standing is linked to the integrity and resilience of its operations.

For banks, insurers and other financial institutions, operational disruptions – whether caused by systems failures, security breaches or third-party vulnerabilities - now trigger operational crises with a direct impact on company valuations, shareholder value, regulatory standing and market reputation. DORA, NIS2, and a fast-moving UK regulatory landscape are muddying the picture further still, all of which makes resilience a key business differentiator.

During this financial services-focused Food for Thought session, hosted by HotTopics in partnership with Zscaler, we challenge the counterproductive status quo of complex, costly legacy security, how to adapt to a shifting regulatory world and why Zero Trust architecture transforms security from a reactive expense into a strategic business enabler.

What we’ll cover:

• The regulatory-operational squeeze: where DORA’s third-party requirements, NIS2's liability shift, and UK compliance velocity put boards and C-suite under direct pressure.
• Why legacy responses fail modern requirements: Complex, on-premises security is both a financial drain and a resilience liability that can’t adapt at the speed business and regulation now demand.
• Zero Trust as operational architecture: Moving security to the cloud means policy travels with users, data, and workloads, enabling the flexibility to respond when third parties fail, regulations shift, or business pivots.
• What resilience actually looks like; How leading firms are building security that drives measurable financial and operational outcomes while meeting regulatory demands and protecting shareholder value.

Event details

📍 Location: House of Commons

🗓 Date: 18th February 2026

🕛 Time: 9.00 -11.30am

👥 The Hosts: Doug Drinkwater, Editorial and Strategy Director, HotTopics

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