FUTR of Financial Services Sydney 2026

SPEAKER

• Miranda Ratajski, Chief Information Officer - Group Business Units, Westpac

• Regulatory compliance from sea to space

• Sovereign AI optimised networks

• Network as a product for fraud, scam & mule prevention

  SPEAKER:

  • Doug Henderson, Executive General Manager Financial Services, Telstra Enterprise

• How AI and data are reshaping strategy, decision-making and performance across financial services

• Establishing the foundations needed to scale with confidence, accountability and trust

• Turning experimentation into sustained adoption and meaningful enterprise impact

  PANELISTS:

  • John Kim, Chief Data Officer, Zurich

  • Sadeer Maghak, Chief Technology Officer, NGS Super

  • Helen Mackay, Enterprise Sales Executive, ActiveOps

• Where complexity continues to constrain customer outcomes, productivity and growth

• Reimagining journeys, processes and operating models to create simpler, more connected experiences

• Sustaining transformation across legacy environments, competing priorities and constant change

  PANELISTS:

  • Amar Roomi, Chief Technology  & Transformation Officer, Blue Zebra Insurance

  • Nic Parfait, Chief Information Officer, Avenue Bank

  • Lyndall Rose, Chief Operating Officer, Monoova

  • Pankesh Upadhyay, Head of Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, Cognizant

• Hear an honest, behind-the-scenes look at the architecture and technical decisions that turned AI-powered analytics from ambition into reality at Macquarie Bank

• Discover how to tackle the human side of transformation, including the change management, cultural shifts, and stakeholder buy-in needed to move business teams beyond static dashboards

• Walk away with practical strategies to drive greater adoption, accessibility, and business value from your data environment

  SPEAKERS:

  • Robin Zhang, Product Director, Data & Analytics, Macquarie Group

  • James Belsey, Chief Data and AI Officer, ThoughtSpot

• What building a new mobile-first proposition enabled AMP Bank to rethink across products, customer experience and delivery

• What the early response to AMP Bank GO reveals about demand for simpler, more transparent banking across personal and small-business needs

• What changes as a new proposition moves from launch into growth, balancing customer feedback, human support, trust and long-term performance

  SPEAKER:

  • Sean O’Malley, Group Executive, AMP Bank

• Scaling agentic AI beyond pilots, introducing governance, accountability, and control challenges

• Managing multi-agent environments through orchestration, conflict resolution, compliance, and runtime visibility

• Moving from isolated AI projects to governed, production-ready agent portfolios across the enterprise

  SPEAKER:

  • Fletcher Byrne, Director, Financial Services, Outsystems

• How inflation, activity and monetary policy are shaping the outlook for rates and growth

• What household spending, housing and business investment are telling us about the underlying strength of the Australian economy

• How productivity, AI and data-centre investment could influence Australia’s longer-term growth outlook

  SPEAKER:

  • Adam Boyton, Head of Australian Economics, ANZ

• What the rise of AI-powered customer agents means for brands, customer experience and decision-making

• The opportunities and risks for financial services as customer interactions become increasingly autonomous

• Practical actions, real-world examples and emerging trends helping leaders prepare for the next wave of customer transformation

  SPEAKER:

  • Shaun Spinks, Partner, Deloitte Digital

• Strengthening customer protection while preserving simple, accessible and trusted experiences

• Responding to evolving risks and expectations without introducing unnecessary friction

• Creating more connected and proactive approaches across teams, systems and customer touchpoints

  PANELISTS:

  • Annmaree Bell, Head of Enterprise Governance & Resilience, Zurich

  • Matthew Wilson, Chief Risk Officer, EML

  • Taliya Cikoja, Head of Risk Culture, HSBC

  • Scott Jamieson, Chief Compliance Officer, Revolut

  • Joel Robbie, Financial Services Lead, Nuix

• Identifying the workflows where AI can remove real friction and create measurable value

• Building with advisers and using platform capability to move from pilot to embedded practice

• Turning operational efficiency into greater advice capacity, stronger service and better client outcomes

  SPEAKER:

  • Liz McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer , MLC Expand -Insignia Financial

• How organisations decide what to explore, build, buy or partner on as technologies and business models continue to evolve

• Separating genuine strategic opportunities from noise, and knowing what is ready to test, scale or defer

• Acting early while maintaining governance, resilience and the flexibility to adapt as the landscape changes

  SPEAKER:

  • Alex Taylor, Global Head of Emerging Technology, QBE Ventures

• What it takes to move from fragmented legacy systems to flexible, modular architectures

• Lifting resilience, compliance, and real-time capability through modern platforms

• Improving performance and cost through more integrated delivery

  SPEAKER:

  • Craig James, Head of Value Advisory, APAC, Cloudflare

• Designing AI-enabled capabilities around real roles, decisions and workflows rather than treating them as technology rollouts

• Bringing together trusted data, product thinking and user involvement to build confidence in everyday use

• Moving beyond early experimentation to sustained adoption and repeatable value

  SPEAKER:

  • Ishaan Sharma, General Manager - Advanced Analytics & Data, Commonwealth Bank

• Making clear choices about where to focus and connecting strategic priorities to meaningful value

• Building enough adaptability to respond as technology, AI and market conditions change without losing direction

• Creating enterprise ownership so strategy shapes decisions and execution across the organisation, rather than sitting with the strategy function alone

  SPEAKER:

  • Andrew Ko, Head of Group Strategy, Aware Super