Interview: Alex Atkinson, Financial Conduct Authority, UK IT Industry Awards finalist
'Collaboration remains essential’
Alex Atkinson of the Financial Conduct Authority tells us how the regulator’s work this year qualified it for the shortlist in eight diffrent categories at the UK IT Industry Awards 2025.
IT has grown in prominence over the last two decades. No longer seen as a cost centre, it's now widely accepted that IT helps people to improve their creativity, productivity and knowledge.
The UK IT Industry Awards are the largest and most well-known event in the technology industry calendar. Owned and operated by Computing and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, the awards enjoy a level of professionalism and industry knowledge not seen at other shows.
This year's winners were announced at a live awards ceremony on Wednesday 12th November in London.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was a finalist in eight categories.
Before the awards, we talked to Alex Atkinson, accountable executive in the FCA’s Digital Unified Intelligence Environment (DUIE) Programme, to find out more about the organisation's biggest challenges and achievements over the past year.
Alex is a delivery-focused technology leader with 25 years of experience delivering technology-enabled business transformation. He has led a number of complex technology and data initiatives ranging from large Enterprise Resource Planning implementations to data & analytics programmes. He has always retained a strong focus on leveraging technology and data/analytics teams to deliver tangible value to frontline teams and doing so at pace.
Why do you think awards like the UK IT Industry Awards matter?
Awards such as the UK IT Industry Awards are vital for recognising and celebrating innovation, excellence, and impact within the technology sector. For organisations like the FCA, they provide external validation of our commitment to leveraging advanced analytics and digital solutions to address real-world challenges. These awards also help benchmark best practice, inspire further innovation, and highlight the value of technology in supporting public service and regulatory objectives.
What would winning this award mean to your company?
Winning this award would be a significant endorsement of the FCA's Digital Unified Intelligence Environment (DUIE) programme and our broader strategy to become a smarter regulator and fight financial crime. It would recognise the hard work and dedication of our multi-disciplinary teams, who have delivered new digital intelligence capabilities that directly support over 2,000 frontline staff. Such recognition would boost morale and reinforce our commitment to using technology to protect consumers and markets.
What would you say is your company's proudest achievement over the past year?
Our proudest achievement has been the successful delivery and scaling of three new digital intelligence capabilities:
- An automated business rules engine that flags potential harm to frontline teams, reducing rule development times by up to 90%.
- A corporate entity resolution and network analytics capability, enabling rapid identification of risks within professional networks and supporting proactive investigations.
- An analytics model for proactive harm identification, including outlier analysis, which has improved the prioritisation of risky firms and enabled earlier intervention before significant harm materialises.
What have been the biggest challenges of 2025 so far and how have you overcome them? How have your people helped with that?
The biggest challenges have included integrating new technical capabilities, managing vast and diverse data sources, and ensuring rapid deployment to frontline teams. We overcame these through strong collaboration across data science, technology, and business SMEs, agile project management, and a commitment to continuous improvement. Our people have been central to this success, bringing together expertise in infrastructure, analytics, governance, and business processes to deliver impactful solutions at pace.
How do you think the industry has changed over the past year and what changes do you think it still needs to make?
The industry has seen a shift towards operationalising advanced analytics and AI, with greater emphasis on real-time insights and automation. However, there is still a need for improved data integration, enhanced explainability of models, and more inclusive design to ensure technology benefits all users. Collaboration between regulators, industry, and technology providers remains essential to address emerging risks and drive further innovation.
What do you see as the main opportunities for the industry in the coming year? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?
The main opportunities lie in harnessing analytics and digital intelligence to deliver proactive, preventative regulation and more efficient frontline processes. At the FCA, we plan to build on the DUIE programme by further scaling our business rules engine, expanding network analytics, and refining harm detection models. Continued investment in our people and technology, alongside collaboration with partners, will be key to capitalising on these opportunities and driving positive change across the sector.