Neal Semikin is the Bank of England’s Chief Information Security Office. He is responsible for all aspects of first line cyber security operations across the Bank, and has been leading the Bank’s Cyber Security programme for the last six years. He is a member of both the RTGS/CHAPS Board and its Risk Committee and regularly provides updates on the Bank’s Cyber maturity/risk position to the Bank’s senior committees and boards. Technology at the Bank includes a range of systems, from business-critical operational applications like real-time gross settlement and gold inventory management, through to data ingestion and analytics platforms. A number of these form part of the UK critical nation infrastructure.

Neal is passionate about new and emerging technology that can help secure the Bank of England, whilst also having a focus on people who actually make the technology work effectively. Building the next generation of Cyber professionals is something that is always on his mind. He is proud to lead a strong team of 90+ staff in growing and developing the Bank’s cyber capabilities to protect, detect, respond and recover for any attack.

Neal joined the bank as Head of Application Delivery and Infrastructure in February 2010, before moving in 2013 to create a Cyber Centre of Excellence within Technology and lead the Bank’s first Cyber Security programme. He has spent his career working in technology within the finance sector. Before he joined the Bank, Neal held a number of senior positions at Lloyds Bank.