GFT Names New UK CEO Amid AI Push

GFT Technologies has appointed Andrew Nelson as UK CEO. Nelson joins from NTT DATA, where he served as Banking and Financial Markets Chief.

The digital transformation consultancy made the hire as tier-one banks face compliance mandates and pressure to scale gen AI.

Andrew brings 25 years of experience in the tech industry and his arrival coincides with GFT's recognition as a Leader in cloud-native core banking transformation by IDC MarketScape.

Strategic talent acquisition from NTT

Andrew managed multi-year digital transformation roadmaps for major global financial networks at NTT DATA., and his career at both NTT DATA and CGI involved migrating mainframe-dependent environments to decoupled cloud architectures.

This background could address a market gap. Many financial enterprises remain in proof-of-concept AI stages because data pipelines are trapped in legacy systems. Andrew's profile suggests GFT will focus on fixing client data infrastructure, which could ensure enterprise AI initiatives are built on scalable foundations rather than surface-level implementations.

Service delivery focal points

GFT customers working with CTOs, CIOs and enterprise architects can expect three priorities under Andrew's leadership.

The firm will focus on production-grade gen AI engineering and will move away from standalone chatbots toward agentic workflows integrated into core middle-office and backend systems while maintaining data governance.

A second priority involves decoupling monolithic systems securely. Andrew's experience with incumbent banking architectures could support core platform renewals without breaking operational continuity or compromising resilience metrics.

The third area is regulated multi-cloud acceleration. GFT plans to build cloud-native blueprints that answer to UK compliance demands, including the FCA's operational resilience rules and European DORA-aligned frameworks.

Balancing innovation and operational risk

Modern B2B tech deployments in banking face a challenge of executing innovation without introducing vulnerabilities. Andrew addressed this tension directly.

"Financial services in the UK are under pressure to adopt AI," he says. "Without it, they'll struggle to remain globally competitive.

"The challenge lies in ensuring resilience, security and regulatory compliance while transforming their business.

"GFT is well-recognised for combining deep-sector expertise with strong engineering and platform capabilities. I am looking forward to leading the UK team as we strike the right balance between innovation and risk."

Marco Santos, Global CEO at GFT, commented on Andrew's engineering credentials, saying: "His understanding of the challenges facing banks today, coupled with his track record of delivering large-scale transformation, makes him uniquely positioned to help our clients unlock the full potential of AI and modern engineering."

The appointment could indicate GFT's market positioning. Placing a senior executive from NTT DATA at the head of UK operations suggests the consultancy is prioritising engineering capability alongside business consulting.

For enterprise IT leaders, this could mean emphasis on data pipelines, cloud-native modernisation and AI strategies that scale inside regulated environments.

Andrew's track record suggests GFT will focus on de-risking complex IT infrastructure modernisation through its engineering resources.