Church International Limited

02/09/2026

A little reminder for anyone who keeps saying "we should enter that"...

The FStech Awards 2027 are open for entries.

If your organisation has delivered something exceptional over the past year, don't assume someone else will put it forward.
Enter it.

The awards cover 36 categories, recognising innovation and achievement across the financial services technology landscape.

And with entries closing on 30 October, there's still time to put together a strong submission.

Church International is proud to be supporting the FStech Awards for the 17th consecutive year.

We've watched the industry evolve enormously over that time. New technologies come and go, priorities change, and the definition of innovation continues to move forward.

But great people delivering great work remain at the heart of it.

Give your team the recognition they've earned.

👉 Enter here: https://www.fstech.co.uk/awards/enter.php

27/08/2026

Which Category Is Yours?

36 categories. One question: which one is yours? 👀

The FStech Awards 2027 are now open for entries.

From AI and data to cyber security, payments and digital transformation, the categories reflect the breadth of technology and innovation shaping financial services across the UK and EMEA.

And you don't have to be a huge organisation to have a story worth telling.

Great technology. Great ideas. Great teams. Great outcomes.

They all deserve to be recognised.

Church International is proud to be supporting the FStech Awards for the 17th consecutive year, and we're looking forward to seeing the projects and people that make this year's shortlist.

📅 Entries close: 30 October 2026
🔎 Take a look through the categories and find yours:
https://www.fstech.co.uk/awards/

26/08/2026

A role goes to offer stage.

The candidate is excited. The team is ready to hire.

Then the number lands, and it's below what they could get elsewhere.

It's a frustrating way to lose a strong candidate. And it happens more often than it should.

In-demand technology skills don't always move at the same pace as internal salary reviews and benchmarking cycles. A salary that looked competitive six or twelve months ago may no longer be enough to secure the people you need today.

And it's not just about the number.

For permanent hires, benefits, pension contributions, working flexibility, location and the speed of the hiring process can all influence whether a candidate accepts your offer.

For contract positions, it's rate, speed of hire and hybrid options that carry the most weight, especially with the impact IR35 has had.

That's why market benchmarking needs to happen before a role goes live, not when you're already negotiating with your preferred candidate.

At Church International, understanding the market is part of the recruitment process. We benchmark roles against the current talent landscape, helping clients understand what they're competing with before they commit time and budget to a search.

Because the most expensive recruitment problem isn't always a high salary.

Sometimes it's spending weeks searching for a candidate at a rate the market simply won't accept.

How confident are you that your current IT salary and rate benchmarks reflect today's market?

21/08/2026

The talent gap right now isn't really about headcount.

It's about a handful of specific, in-demand skill areas where everyone is competing for the same relatively small pool of people.
Cybersecurity. Cloud. Data. Infrastructure. AI. Compliance and technology roles created by increasing regulation.

The candidates who genuinely tick those boxes aren't short of options, and brand name alone doesn't win them anymore.

The organisations doing best in this market tend to have three things in common:
🔵 They understand what the market actually looks like before they start hiring.
🔵 They move quickly when the right person becomes available.
🔵They can clearly articulate why a candidate should choose them over the alternatives.

That means understanding more than whether a role can be filled. It means knowing where the talent is, what it's likely to cost, what competitors are offering and whether your expectations are realistic for the market you're hiring in.

That's something we see every day at Church International.

As an international IT recruitment specialist, we work across financial services, banking, insurance, fintech and technology, helping organisations navigate changing talent markets and find specialist people across the UK and Europe.

The talent market doesn't stand still. Your hiring strategy shouldn't either.

What's your experience been hiring for these skill sets this year?

19/08/2026

You've Done the Work. Now Get Recognised. 🏆

Your team has spent the last year solving problems, delivering projects, introducing new technology and finding better ways of doing things.

So why not get the recognition for it?

Entries are now open for the FStech Awards 2027, and there are 36 categories covering the breadth of technology and innovation across financial services.

AI. Data. Payments. Cyber security. Digital transformation. Customer experience. Fintech. And much more.

At Church International, we're proud to be supporting the FStech Awards for the 17th consecutive year.

We've spent more than a decade and a half working alongside the financial services technology community, and one thing remains constant: there is always more innovation happening than gets the recognition it deserves.

If you've got a success story from the past year, this could be your opportunity to put it in front of the industry.

📅 Entries close 30 October 2026

❌ Don't leave it until the last minute.

👉 Find the categories and enter here: https://www.fstech.co.uk/awards/enter.php

10/08/2026

The 2027 are open for entries. 🏆

For the 17th consecutive year, Church International is proud to support the , celebrating the organisations, teams and individuals driving innovation across financial services and technology.

Now in its 27th year, the recognise achievement across 36 categories, covering everything from AI and data to cyber security, payments, digital transformation and fintech innovation.

And if you've delivered something you're genuinely proud of over the past year, this is your opportunity to put it forward.

Whether you've introduced a new technology, transformed a customer experience, strengthened your cyber security, embraced AI or delivered a project that has made a real difference, there could be a category for you.

📅 Entries close: 30 October 2026
📍 Awards ceremony: 11 March 2027, London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square

After 17 years of supporting these awards, we've seen first-hand just how much innovation there is to celebrate across financial services.

If your organisation has a story worth telling, tell it.
👉 Enter the FStech Awards 2027: https://www.fstech.co.uk/awards/enter.php

06/08/2026

Starting a new IT job is exciting... but it can also feel overwhelming.

Your first few weeks aren't about knowing everything. They are about building trust, learning the business and establishing strong relationships.

In our latest article, we've shared 8 practical ways to make a great first impression, including:

✔ Build relationships beyond your immediate team
✔ Ask questions with confidence
✔ Learn the business, not just the technology
✔ Deliver consistently on the small things
✔ Build a professional reputation that lasts

Whether you're starting your first role or moving into a senior technical position, these tips can help you settle in quickly and set yourself up for long-term success.

👉 Read the full article here: https://www.church-int.com/starting-a-new-it-job-8-ways-to-make-a-great-first-impression/

What advice would you give someone starting a new role?

22/07/2026

Are we still hiring for job titles, or are we hiring for outcomes?

Skills-based hiring continues to reshape recruitment, challenging the traditional approach of relying too heavily on titles, career paths, and keyword matches when identifying talent.

This is a topic we've been exploring at Church International for some time. In our own article, "Why the Most Successful Hiring Starts with Business Strategy, Not Job Titles" (https://www.church-int.com/why-the-most-successful-hiring-starts-with-business-strategy-not-job-titles/), we looked at how better hiring decisions begin with understanding the business challenge first, then identifying the skills and capabilities needed to deliver success.

In technology recruitment, this shift is particularly important. A title rarely tells the full story. Two people with the same job title can bring very different experiences, skill sets, and value to an organisation.

The best hires are not always the people who look like the obvious match on paper. They are the people who understand the challenge, have the right skills, and can make an impact.

Skills-based hiring isn't just changing how companies recruit. It's changing how we define talent.

What's your view? Are businesses moving quickly enough away from title-based hiring, or do traditional job descriptions still have too much influence?

Discover why skills-based hiring is becoming the preferred recruitment strategy for UK employers, what it means for recruiters, and how recruitment businesses can adapt to stay ahead.

21/07/2026

As AI continues to reshape recruitment, it's worth asking an important question: are we filtering out the very talent we're trying to find?

This article highlights a growing concern in our industry, that over-reliance on AI-driven screening can unintentionally exclude high-potential candidates who don't fit rigid algorithms or keyword criteria.

At Church International, we understand how critical it is to balance technology with human insight. AI can enhance efficiency, but it should never replace the nuance, intuition, and relationship-building that great recruitment depends on.

The best candidates aren't always the most obvious on paper. Sometimes, they are the ones an algorithm might miss.

It's a timely reminder for all of us in tech recruitment. The future isn't AI vs humans. It's AI working alongside experienced recruiters to uncover the right talent.

We explored this topic ourselves a few months ago, and it's clear the conversation is only gaining momentum.

What's your view? Are AI tools helping you find better talent, or filtering out the people you actually want to meet?

AI can speed up hiring, but it can also miss unconventional candidates.

06/07/2026

The future of financial services is being reshaped fast.

The FCA's latest review into AI in retail financial services highlights just how transformative the next few years will be. From evolving customer journeys to the rise of autonomous "agentic" AI, the sector is moving toward a more intelligent, data-driven, and continuously operating model. Read the FCA review: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-publishes-landmark-review-impact-ai-retail-financial-services

But alongside opportunity comes complexity.

AI is set to redefine how firms operate, compete, and engage customers, while also introducing new risks around trust, regulation, fraud, and cyber resilience.

At Church International, we see this as a pivotal moment, not just for financial services, but for talent.

As organisations navigate this shift, the demand for globally diverse, highly skilled professionals across AI, risk, compliance, and transformation has never been greater. The ability to build the right teams, in the right markets, with the right partnerships will be a defining factor of success.

That is where a partnership-led, international recruitment approach becomes critical.

We are already supporting clients across borders to access the talent needed to embrace innovation responsibly, balancing growth with governance.

The question is not whether AI will transform financial services.

It is how prepared we are, together, to lead that change.

If you are looking to build teams that can navigate this shift with confidence, we would welcome a conversation. Get in touch with Church International to explore how we can support your growth.

The review sets out how AI could reshape retail financial services for consumers, firms, markets and regulators by 2030 and beyond.