Author: Gayathri

Is your compliance strategy stuck in the past? If your organization is still relying on quarterly audits or spreadsheet-based tracking, then you’re not alone. Many fast-growing SaaS companies, fintechs, and healthcare tech firms are waking up to the harsh reality: periodic compliance checks no longer cut it. In a world where infrastructure changes daily and regulations evolve weekly, businesses need to prove they’re secure, not sometimes, but all the time. Enter Continuous Compliance. It’s not just another techie word. It’s a seismic shift in how modern cloud-first organizations build trust, reduce risk, and automate their path to audit readiness. This…

In the evolving world of digital banking platforms, the gap between front-end channel modernization and true platform transformation is growing. The SPARK Matrix™ for Digital Banking Platforms 2025 highlights leaders in banking technology, contenders, and the impact of innovation inertia. This blog gives a comprehensive year-on-year comparison of the 2024 and 2025 SPARK Matrix reports. It also unpacks how and why vendors moved, and what it means for the broader market. What is the SPARK Matrix? Developed by QKS Group, the SPARK Matrix™ evaluates digital banking platform vendors based on two essential dimensions: The matrix offers a strategic perspective by…

Introduction Here’s a simple question: How do you stay compliant when your customers, transactions, and threats span 20+ countries, each with its own rules? Cross-border AML compliance isn’t just an add-on to a domestic program anymore. It has become its high-stakes discipline. As we move through 2025, financial institutions are under mounting pressure. Crypto-led payments, digital onboarding, global P2P flows, sanctions, and data localization laws have all converged to form a perfect storm. This blog explores the real-world challenges global banks and fintechs face in achieving anti-money laundering compliance across jurisdictions. We’ll break down what’s broken, why legacy systems struggle,…

Digital identity is no longer just a compliance requirement; it’s a competitive differentiator. From remote onboarding and KYC to fraud prevention and AI risk scoring, Identity Capture and Verification (ICV) has moved from being a security layer to a full-fledged orchestration hub for modern enterprises. In a market shaped by regulatory overhaul, deepfake threats, and user experience demands, the Q2 2025 SPARK Matrix™ by QKS Group reveals just how fast vendors have had to adapt. The 2024 Matrix established a foundation where biometric matching, document validation, and facial liveness detection were considered differentiators. By 2025, those features are table stakes.…

What happens when a ransomware attack spreads across five regions in under ten minutes? This situation is not hypothetical. For many global enterprises today, high-risk events occur faster than legacy GRC tools can respond. And this is precisely where Cloud-Native Integrated Risk Management (IRM) platforms step in. Built on modern cloud architectures like AWS, Azure, or GCP, cloud-native IRM tools are redefining how organizations detect, analyze, and respond to risk. Businesses are shifting from legacy, on-prem systems to cloud-native platforms for agility, scalability, and real-time visibility, because reactive risk management just doesn’t cut it anymore. In this blog, we will…

Ever picked a tech solution that looked great on paper, only to realize it didn’t fit your real needs? You’re not alone. In today’s high-stakes fintech environment, where core banking transformations, AI-led fraud platforms, and regulatory risk systems shape enterprise performance, buying the wrong software is no longer just inefficient. It’s costly, risky, and deeply frustrating. From Banking CIOs wrestling with fragmented stacks to Heads of Wealth Management struggling to find real-world validation for digital advisory tools, leaders across the fintech value chain are tired of theoretical vendor rankings and glossy demos. What they need is context. Precision. Transparency. That’s…

Understanding the Shift in Integrated Payments Integrated Payment Platforms have evolved far beyond mere transaction processors. In 2025, they represent the operational backbone of digital commerce and banking ecosystems, unifying payment initiation, authorization, settlement, fraud prevention, reporting, and orchestration under a single, scalable infrastructure. Their scope extends across real-time payments (RTP), SWIFT, SEPA, ISO 20022 compliance, card processing, tokenization, and even embedded finance rails, all through composable APIs and low-code interfaces. What makes an integrated payment platform truly “integrated” today? It’s no longer coverage of payment types, but the ability to orchestrate them across diverse geographies, regulatory environments, and customer…

What if compliance were your startup’s competitive advantage, not just a regulatory obligation? Let’s explore why GRC is the unsung hero of fintech scale-ups. Is Your Fintech Startup Built to Survive a Regulatory Storm? You’ve got the MVP. The pitch deck is polished. Maybe even some seed funding in the bank. But here’s the tough question, can your startup survive its first regulatory audit? Fintech founders often treat Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) as something to “deal with later.” But later is coming faster than ever. Regulatory bodies like RBI, SEC, FCA, and MAS are not waiting for you to…

Introduction: From GRC to IRM to AI-Powered Risk Strategy Today’s business environment is more interconnected, data-intensive, and risk-exposed than ever before. Older Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) models, which were adequate for static, checklist-style compliance, are no longer up to the task of addressing real-time digital environments. Meet Integrated Risk Management (IRM), a more unified and anticipatory model bringing together risk intelligence across people, processes, and technologies. IRM is not only a process or a tool. It is a strategic capability that enables organizations to make informed, risk-conscious decisions. But even IRM platforms are nearing their breaking points as data…

A Year-on-Year Comparison of the SPARK Matrix 2024 vs 2025 The world of IT Risk Management (ITRM) is changing in a seismic way. At the beginning of 2024, the market was characterized by vendors with strong foundation capabilities, i.e., asset discovery, policy governance, and risk registers. Roll forward to 2025, and the goalposts have shifted. Now it’s not only compliance, but also about continuous, contextual, and automated risk visibility. The 2024 SPARK Matrix™ depicted a market that was still evolving, with integration and automation starting to take center stage. The 2025 report shows a market that has evolved considerably, with…