Expert speakers from leading financial firms will be sharing the lessons of their IT transformation projects. If you need to build the business case of investment in automated testing and quality assurance, you must be there. Located for your convenience in the heart of Canary Wharf.
The QA Financial Forum London has become established as the leading conference for software quality assurance and IT risk management professionals. Our agenda's features speakers from leading banks, insurance companies and asset managers as well as exchanges and payments platforms. Click here to view last years agenda and speaker line-up. Click below to see the highlights from the 2018 QA Financial Forum
Jordan has nearly 30 years’ experience as a Test and QA professional, across a number of different organisations in both the public and private sectors. More than 20 years of that time have been in leadership roles, with the last 5 spent at the Bank of England. During that time he has built the Test Practice out across all of the Bank’s business areas and expanded its remit to cover Test Enablement and Release Management. In 2017, the focus on this work moved to evolving testing towards QA and driving best practice into the area to meet the specific challenges presented by regulatory change and the ever increasing need for more, better and newer data and data analysis.
My career started within the QA sphere, however, as that space is evolving so am I. In recent roles I have moved more towards helping engineering teams as a whole deliver their software changes with efficiency, quality and ownership at heart. I firmly believe in T shaped people, encouraging a more guild based approach to the horizontal functions like QA, Architecture, Security, etc. I have led transformations of both Engineering and QA functions to deliver higher quality at greater speeds. These transformations have ensured we see measurable increases in code quality and delivery along with implementing stable automated processes, fostering a constant shifting left mentality. I have also been maintaining software development life cycles with a strong agile view.
Allan has worked in Quality Engineering for over 25 years and has seen first-hand how automation tooling and capabilities have transformed the Industry. In his current role he manages multiple centres of excellence across LBG, driving the transformation agenda in the UK’s largest bank.
Delia has many years experience within the IT industry, and the most recent 12+ have been in specialist Quality Assurance and Testing roles within both the public and private sector. Her most recent role is as Head of Testing at MS Amlin which she joined in February 2018. Her current focus is in transforming the test organisation to support both a new organisational model and a shift towards more agile ways of working. A key focus is on embedding a “quality culture” within the organisation, simplifying process, and driving change through the implementation of more modern test techniques via Automation and DevOps practices. She strongly believes that fundamental to achieving these goals are the people and supporting and building capability are a priority for her.
Jim is currently Head of Testing at Metro Bank. He has over 30 years of IT experience in a wide variety of roles. For the past 20 years however, he has focused almost exclusively on testing, with the occasional foray into project management by way of light relief. He has worked in a number of industries, including telecoms, energy, and financial services.
Ingo Philipp is an award-winning Exploratory Testing and Agile thought leader, with a resume of speaking engagements that span the globe. In his role as a Product Manager at Tricentis, his responsibilities range from product development and product marketing to test management, test conception, test design, and test automation. His experiences with software testing embrace the application of agile testing as well as classical testing methodologies in various sectors including financial services, consumer goods, commercial services, healthcare, materials, telecommunications, and energy.
Amir Rozenberg is a thought leader in the space of agile quality methodologies. Currently as director of product direct at Sauce Labs, he leads the quality in DevOps product vision. Previously at Perfecto, he drove the core product strategy and other initiatives in the areas of real user condition testing, accessibility, security, audio and conversational interfaces, AI/ML, IoT and medical devices etc. In addition, Amir led successful synergies with Microsoft, SmartBear, Blazemeter, Neotys etc., to optimize value delivery to the market. Prior to Perfecto, Amir led the mobile production monitoring solution at Compuware.
Bio coming soon
Chekib has over 19 years’ experience in the management of QA teams. He joined Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking for 14 years where he held different management roles related to a mixed sourcing and worldwide team’s context. Taking benefits of a dynamic and constantly changing environment with regular challenges of time to market, costs pressure and production quality, Chekib has been as well acting on structuring programs for IT transformation related to continuous delivery and Agile@Scale. Chekib is currently heading testing practices for SG CIB with the ambition to scale up both the global testing maturity and the staff autonomy.
Sudeep is a senior leader with top tier investment banking and financial services experience managing testing globally for enterprise-wide change programmes & digital transformations. Currently, he is leading the QA and Testing division for London Stock Exchange Group focused on building high performing multi-disciplinary teams & delivering testing for complex technology-driven business and technology transformations & regulatory programmes. Sudeep is an evangelist who loves solving organisational challenges with thought leadership & strategies and apply DevOps techniques for testing whilst implementing an ‘automation first’ approach.
Alexey started his professional career as a QA engineer in the Moscow division of a New York-based company specializing in providing enterprise network management solutions. When the company was acquired by Quest Software in 2003, Alexey was working as a senior software architect on several off-the-shelf products. In 2004, Alexey joined a company specializing on providing QA services for the financial industry. His first assignment with the company as a senior developer was to implement a test harness for testing the back-end of a major US broker's trading system. As a technical project lead and senior R&D manager, Alexey then oversaw a number of successful software releases for a few development, test automation and consulting projects for a number of the company's clients. As VP of Technology, Alexey also lead the company's work on developing several products including a back-end systems tester and an interactive exchange simulator. Alexey currently serves as co-CEO of Exactpro which he co-founded in 2009. The firm is focused on functional and non-functional testing of exchanges, clearing houses, depositories and other market infrastructures, thus providing software testing services for mission-critical technology that underpins global financial markets. In 2017, Exactpro was named Non-Functional Testing Provider of the Year in the prestigious QA Financial European Software & App Awards. The award is given to companies that set new standards of quality assurance, demonstrating innovation and excellence in response to the key challenges facing financial firms. Alexey graduated summa cum laude from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) and holds a Master of Sciences degree in Theoretical Physics.
Ingmar has been working in IT for nearly a decade, working in Application Development, Functional Maintenance and Continuous Integration/ Continuous Delivery Implementation. Ingmar has been a part of both Dev and Ops and has witnessed first hand why trust and quality in the Software Delivery Life Cycle are vital for high performing teams that mature into DevOps. Ingmar is part of a team that works on standardizing software development across the bank, by providing infrastructure, tooling, standards & guidelines and hands-on coaching to help teams with implementing CI/CD pipelines and improving their effectiveness. His team consists of a multi-partner, multi-cultural blend of experts who are on a constant quest to improve current ways of working. Besides being an IT Consultant, Ingmar is also the Product Owner for the SDLC Metrics team. This team delivers insights in the trends of the Software Delivery Life Cycle on a team level but also a management level.
Ivo Meier has a proven track record as a QA and Process Subject Matter Expert along with a wide set of Management and Leadership skills, acquired over more than 20 years in IT, leading cross-disciplined expert teams, virtual communities and large globally federated IT teams (100+ members). He has in-depth knowledge of the SDLC and is recognized as the authority in Testing across Credit Suisse globally. He has repeatedly demonstrated his sense of innovation with a special focus on QA, for example, improving the SDLC at Credit Suisse, adopting Agility in Testing and establishing the Workflow Competence Center. As part of his current role as a Director for the Swiss Universal Bank within Credit Suisse, he has defined the approach on Crowd Testing adoption for Credit Suisse’s Online Banking, which has been implemented successfully.
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
An accomplished, results-driven and certified business executive, delivering high quality services in the area of Information Technology for over 26 years. As a versatile business leader and subject matter expert, George has been leading challenging assignments at an executive level in the domains of Information Security, Application Security, Risk Management, Big Data Security Analytics, Business Continuity Management and Information Technology Architecture. He has also successfully executed multiple projects and programs in diverse business environments, many with board-level visibility. George held Information Security, Infrastructure Design and Software Developer roles in multiple sectors including Banking, Telecommunications and IT Consulting. His experience centres on the delivery of pragmatic and sustainable outcomes for business leadership and customers at strategic, technical, and operational levels.
Mohsin has over 20 years of experience in Information Security from diverse sectors including Investment Banking, Defence & National Security, Central Government, Big 4 Audit Firms, Nuclear and Global Health Organisations. He is responsible for all areas of Information Security from defining security requirements for new digital programmes, advising businesses of their Cyber Risks, Cyber Incident Management, Technical Cyber Risk Assessment and Financial Regulatory needs. During his career, Mohsin has worked on the Security of Satellite Communication Systems, producing key management and encryption systems, helping and advising Global Investment Bank’s with their Information Security maturity and managing large scale security of transformational programmes . He is highly technical and understands business needs. Mohsin holds CISM and CISSP Certifications and has two Master Degrees, MSc in Defence Communications and MSc in Nuclear Science.
Hassan has been involved in the testing and quality assurance industry since 2008, where he has spent a number of years in the investment banking domain. He has spearheaded the establishment of context-driven software testing practices and quality assurance industry since 2008, where he has spent a number of years in the investment banking domain. He has spearheaded the establishment of context-driven software testing practices and quality assuring activities at Danske Markets, Saxo Bank as well as Tradeshift (a born-in-the-cloud PaaS company). Currently, Hassan is the Global QA Architect @ Saxo Bank where one of his primary objectives is to facilitate and expedite the paradigm-change that is ‘Quality is a shared responsibility’ across both IT and business.
The Bank of England is taking a big step towards Agile delivery of software and is investigating its technology options. But while Agile delivery is taking increasing hold on how firms deliver new systems and systems changes, Agile methods appear to be antithetical with the level of quality that the Bank of England’s business areas are used to, and still demand. Jordan Daniel will explain the steps the Bank is taking to reconcile possibly contradictory positions.
Most financial firms have targets for increasing rates of test automation. But many are only at the start of that transformation, and even among the leaders there is no agreed best practice or the toolset. Our panel will discuss the relationship between automation, DevOps and Agile and the business case for technologies such as test service virtualisation and the potential that lies in AI, machine learning and robotic process automation.
Matt Davey will explain why it is imperative that firms optimise their delivery pipelines with quality assurance best practice that ensures effective value stream management. He will explain the methodology for value stream management at Goldman Sachs, and how quality can be ensured through Agile, automation, tooling and enhanced metrics in order to fully understand how different features deliver value to the customer and the firm.
Among BFIS firms, Lloyds has managed one the world’s largest and most advanced digital transition programmes. But while DevOps and Agile are widely recognised as keys to better quality assurance and testing, one size does not fit all. During this session Allan Woodcock will explain how other firms can scale Agile methodologies to different programmes, and how Agile can enhance technical test frameworks to ensure quality execution. Additionally, by examining Lloyd’s approach to DevOps, delegates will gain a better understanding of what effective and robust working practices.
QA Vector Research has identified three key areas of focus to maximise the value added by QA. These are: identifying and prioritising critical processes for testing efforts; where and how to exploit AI; and how effectively to benchmark the quality journey. This presentation, drawing on recent work in partnership with Exactpro Systems, will explore these issues.
Crowd testing might seem like an old-fashioned alternative to the cloud. But Credit Suisse has found it highly effective for testing its core applications in mobile banking, having adopted the methodology in 2016. Ivo Meier will cover the general principles of crowd-sourcing principles, and discuss the benefits for functional and for security testing.
Alexey Zverev will describe the main differentiating features of a new cloud-based post trade and risk management system developed by Exactpro's client. He will explain the approach taken by Exactpro in building a Test Harness and an Automated E2E Regression library to test the complex system and the value this work brings to the client's development team helping them deliver it.
ABN AMRO is shifting from an Agile and CI/CD model towards a DevOps model, in order to enable its scrum teams to move faster and with a high level of autonomy. Ingmar Vis will explain how the bank has re-organised and re-tooled its scrum teams, and how it tackled the challenges of the new strategy. The end result at ABN AMRO is a holistic overview of the SDLC that Ingmar can share, along with the lessons learned by the bank on its journey.
While most people know that promoting ‘change’ is difficult and revolutions within engineering are bloody - architects, change agents and QA professionals are constantly being tasked with reshuffling the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) in their organisations. Achieving those objectives within engineering are extremely difficult, especially in organisations where the business commitments aren’t prepared to create an environment better prepared for a lot of change. Inspired by thought-leaders within the ‘behavioural design’ space, Hassan will present how he is fighting for a “Realistic QA Revolution at Saxo Bank” covering topics such as social engineering, constraints, context-driven QA activities, checklists and risk management.
