trust cannot be outsourced
Finance
The financial sector runs on trust, yet the foundations of that trust are shifting faster than ever. Stricter regulations, increasing dependence on a handful of technology giants, and AI-driven fraud are converging at the same time. Heimdallr Professional Services helps banks, insurers, pension administrators, and fintech companies stay in control through Zero Trust, Digital Sovereignty, and AI Security.
Three trends converging
Major developments in finance
Money has long since become data. A payment, a mortgage application, or an insurance claim is ultimately a chain of systems, integrations, and service providers that must trust one another. That is precisely where today’s vulnerabilities lie.
Three major developments are currently reshaping the rules of digital trust. Regulators are tightening their grip: since January 2025, DORA has been fully applicable, while the European AI Act introduces strict requirements for systems used to assess creditworthiness and determine insurance premiums. At the same time, the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) have warned that the sector has become dangerously dependent on a small number of non-European technology providers. Meanwhile, the threat landscape itself has changed: generative AI enables fraud that is faster, cheaper, and more convincing than ever before.
Organizations that address these developments separately risk falling behind. We bring them together through three strategic themes where we help financial institutions strengthen resilience.
Security that trusts no one by default
Zero Trust
The traditional assumption that everything inside the corporate network is trustworthy no longer holds true. Employees work remotely, core systems operate in the cloud, and integrations with fintech partners and APIs extend far beyond the traditional network perimeter. Once attackers gained access, they could often move freely through internal systems. Zero Trust changes that by continuously verifying every user, every device, and every connection, regardless of where they originate.
For financial institutions, this is far from a theoretical concept. DORA requires demonstrable ICT risk management—including oversight of third-party providers—and a Zero Trust architecture provides exactly the level of visibility, control, and traceability regulators expect. The results are measurable: financial organizations that have adopted Zero Trust have reduced the time internal threats remain undetected from nearly forty days to just a few. That difference can determine whether an incident is contained quietly or becomes tomorrow’s headline.
What we do
We turn Zero Trust from a strategic principle into practical reality. As a Premier Partner of Netskope, we design and implement identity and access policies that grow alongside your organization without getting in the way of your people. We begin by identifying what truly matters most, then build from there. No disruptive “big bang” projects, but a structured roadmap that makes sense to both your executive board and your regulators.
Who ultimately holds the keys?
DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY
In 2025, DNB and AFM jointly warned that the Dutch financial sector has become too dependent on a small number of large (primarily American) technology providers. Because many institutions rely on the same cloud platforms and infrastructure, a single outage or security incident at one provider could affect a significant portion of the sector simultaneously. Concentration risk has become systemic risk.
Europe is responding. Under DORA, the most critical ICT service providers will come under direct European oversight from 2026 onwards. With the Technological Sovereignty Package introduced in June 2026, including the Cloud and AI Development Act, the European Commission is making significant investments in European cloud, semiconductor, and AI capabilities. Spending on sovereign cloud solutions alone is expected to grow by more than eighty percent this year. The question for your organization is no longer whether digital sovereignty belongs on the agenda, but how to achieve it without sacrificing agility.
What we do
Digital Sovereignty is one of our core areas of expertise, and we approach it pragmatically. Not everything needs to be European, but you do need to know where your data resides, who has access to it, and how you can regain control if circumstances change. We map your dependencies, assess your cloud and supplier agreements against DORA requirements, and help you develop practical exit and contingency strategies that work in the real world, not just on paper.
Your adversaries are using the same technology
AI Security
Generative AI has two faces within financial services. On one hand, it accelerates customer service, strengthens risk models, and improves operational efficiency. On the other, it has given fraudsters an unprecedented toolkit: voice clones that perfectly imitate executives, deepfake videos capable of bypassing identity verification, and phishing emails virtually indistinguishable from legitimate communications. Industry estimates suggest AI-driven fraud losses could reach tens of billions annually in the near future.
The regulatory landscape is evolving just as rapidly. Under the European AI Act, systems used for credit scoring and insurance pricing are classified as high-risk AI, bringing new obligations around transparency, logging, governance, and human oversight that will take effect throughout 2026 and the years that follow. AI used to make decisions affecting people must become explainable, auditable, and demonstrably fair.
What we do
We help you secure both sides of the equation. We protect the AI applications you deploy internally, monitor the data flowing into and out of AI systems, and implement controls against model abuse and AI-enabled data leakage. At the same time, we translate the requirements of the AI Act into practical governance and technical controls, ensuring innovation and compliance reinforce rather than hinder one another. That allows you to stay ahead. Both in capturing AI’s opportunities and defending against its risks.
We’re vendor independent which means we always recommend the best solution for your situation.
Your digital watchguard for what matters most
Why organizations choose Heimdallr
Heimdallr Professional Services specializes in the three disciplines that can no longer be viewed in isolation within financial services: Zero Trust, Digital Sovereignty, and AI Security. We are no ordinary consultants who do little of everything, but specialists with deep expertise in these critical domains.
Our consultants bring decades of experience from both sides of the table: software engineering, infrastructure, and cybersecurity, as well as the executive boardroom where strategic decisions are made. That combination enables us not only to explain what needs to happen, but to work alongside your teams to make it happen. We communicate just as effectively with engineers as we do with executives and regulators.
As a Premier Partner of Netskope, we bring proven technology to the table, but our advice always remains vendor independent. We recommend what best fits your environment—not ours. And because trust is earned, we would rather start with a focused conversation than deliver a lengthy report.