High street branches are evolving creating a real opportunity for building societies to deepen community impact while supporting sustainable growth. Paul Walton, General Manager - UK Lending, SBS, explores how modern, flexible branch models can keep societies visible, accessible, and member-first.

A free event hosted by BSA Associate, RelyComply The UK fraud epidemic: the problem that won’t go away, is collaboration the strongest weapon that the UK has? As financial crime evolves at speed, the UK has placed collaboration at the centre of its response. But while data sharing and cross-industry coordination are widely seen as the answer, a critical question remains: Are these efforts tackling the root causes of fraud, or are they simply masking deeper systemic issues? In this exclusive RelyComply roundtable, our CEO, Bradley Elliott and Co-founder, James Saunders, bring together industry leaders to unpack the progression of financial crime—from traditional fraud models to AI-enabled, fraud-as-a-service networks—and examine whether collaboration truly delivers impact or creates the illusion of progress. With siloes still persisting across the ecosystem, and collaboration often talked about more than it is meaningfully executed, this session will challenge assumptions, explore accountability across stakeholders, and assess whether the UK’s approach represents long-term structural change or a short-term fix. Chair: James Sherwin-Smith (Dsruptiv) Speakers: Leon Ifayemi (CFIT), and Samantha Emery (Lloyds Banking Group) Timings: Guests are welcome to arrive from 11:30am, where coffee and a light lunch will be served. The roundtable will formally begin at 12:15pm and conclude at 2:00pm. Guests are welcome to remain afterward for continued networking and informal one-on-one discussions. 11:30: Guest arrival, coffee and lunch served 12:15: RelyComply introduction 12:25: Chair to open the conversation 12:30: Theme one: The current landscape: are we solving the right problem? 13:10: Theme two: Collaboration in practice: who really owns the solution? 13:40: Theme three: Data sharing or data distraction? 14:00: Formal close of roundtable 14:10: Optional networking and one-on-one discussions Registration: If you are interested in attending this exclusive event, please contact louise@relycomply.com for further details and invitation confirmation.  

Paul Davies, Business Development Manager at Sandstone Technology, explores how physical branches fit into a digital‑first landscape and the innovative ways they are evolving to support every customer, not just the digitally native.

Arindom Basu, CEO, Digilytics, shares his thoughts on the potential benefits that AI will bring to enable building societies to deliver faster, more consistent outcomes that reflect their member-first values.

Bradley Elliott, CEO of RelyComply, outlines how fraud has transformed into a continuously learning ecosystem with the growing threat of AI-generated identities and deepfake technology, and how financial institutions must balance compliance and customer expectations when responding to it.

The BSA is calling on the FPC to consider how the different capital components interact in practice, and to ensure that tools such as the leverage ratio and macro-prudential buffers are proportionate for mutuals.