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What's shaping fintech in 2026
Expert analysis, speaker interviews and deep-dives across AI in finance, payments, digital transformation, regtech and tokenisation — ahead of 1–2 December at Excel London.
Featured
Highlights and insights from FinTech Connect's 10th anniversary edition
Across packed conference stages, one theme dominated both days: stand still at your peril. AI, open banking, tokenisation and agentic AI converged in landmark conversations at the UK's largest fintech event — deals were done, partnerships formed, and the future of financial services debated at scale.
Read the full report →)
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How Super.com is deploying its own AI fraud agent to cut friction for good customers
Super.com built a custom AI agent to review 100% of its population — something they never thought possible. The result is reshaping how fintech approaches payments fraud.
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Jifiti CEO: Why agentic AI is 'embedded lending on steroids' — and why banks must act now
If your loan isn't optimised for AI agents, it might as well not exist. Yaacov Martin on the coming four-year window and what banks are losing sleep over.
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One Zero Bank: 5 million messages to an AI banker — and what it proved about customer expectations
Ella resolves 80% of all enquiries end-to-end. Niv Netzer on why 2025 is the tipping point for AI in consumer banking.
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Quantum computing is a 'game-changer' for financial services regulation — here's why
The UK's National Quantum Strategy is closer to commercial reality than most expect. Sarah Ghosh on fraud detection, regulatory surveillance, and the 3-5 year window that matters.
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Zango CEO: 'Ethical AI isn't a blocker to innovation — it's what lets institutions scale safely'
Ritesh Singhania on co-founding a regtech AI compliance layer, cutting consultant spend by 7x, and why the AI skills shortage is most acute in legal teams.
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Gradient Labs CEO: Building the 'future operating system' for customer ops in financial services
Zego's AI agent was rated the best 'human' on the team. Dimitri Masin on agentic financial services and why CSAT went from 61% to 77%.
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The 'repairman' building infrastructure to fix cross-border payments — Payall's Gary Palmer
Correspondent banking has shrunk 25% in a decade. Gary Palmer on how Payall delivers 100% see-through visibility on every cross-border transaction.
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AI is transforming financial services at 'unprecedented' speed — can UK fintech keep its lead?
From the WEF's $97bn forecast to the Bank of England's 75% adoption figure — what the data says about where the UK stands heading into 2026.
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Why now is the right time for real-time compliance — the shift taking regtech to the next level
Compliance must move from reactive cost centre to real-time intelligence layer. Four architecture elements every modern compliance stack now needs.
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Who should manage your digital ID? Banks, government or fintechs — the stakes are high
Digital ID is fast becoming an accepted part of banking. The question now is who controls the infrastructure — and what that means for financial inclusion.
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The ABC of regtech's future: compliance in the age of AI, blockchain and cloud
93% of financial institutions plan to adopt agentic AI within two years. Fraud detection leads — but blockchain and RegTech-as-a-Service are reshaping the whole compliance stack.
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The regulatory challenge posed by embedded fintechs — and why policymakers are racing to catch up
As more financial activity moves to platforms with little oversight, the risks grow more complex. Regulators face uncharted territory.
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The mutual incentive for banking and fintech interoperability — why both sides win
From HSBC's Tradeshift partnership to JPMorgan's ESG acquisitions — the case for bank-fintech collaboration has never been stronger.
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Are value-added services the key to the future of banking — and how do you deliver them at scale?
Digitally active consumers buy twice as many banking products. The banks winning the next decade deliver personalisation at the moment of need.
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What is the future of blockchain in banking — and why can institutions no longer ignore it?
90% of European Payments Council members expect blockchain to fundamentally change the industry. The use cases are rapidly moving from pilot to production.
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The evolution of B2B payments — why cross-border is the next frontier for digital transformation
Consumer payments went digital first. Now B2B is following — driven by real-time rails, embedded treasury tools, and fintechs building infrastructure banks couldn't build alone.
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Open banking's success depends on resolving data security concerns — are we nearly there?
Standardisation, data privacy and consumer trust remain the three open banking hurdles. IFX Payments on real-time payments and the road to a genuinely open economy.
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How fintech is 'paying it forward' — the growing case for financial inclusion at scale
1.2 million UK adults remain unbanked. Fintech is closing the gap faster than traditional finance — through micro-insurance, micro-savings, and embedded credit for underserved communities.
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Banking on AI: the true value of artificial intelligence in financial services — beyond the hype
The firms winning the next decade treat AI as the foundation of new value propositions — not a cost-cutting exercise. Here's what that looks like in practice.
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Innovation vs regulation — who wins out? The debate that continues to define fintech
Panel experts from Deutsche Bank, Barclays and independent consultants debate where the line sits — and whether regulators can ever truly keep pace with innovation.
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What economic pressure means for fintech — and which business models survive a downturn
When VC funding tightens, fintech firms built on genuine utility win. The ones built on hype face a reckoning — exactly as happened in 2008.
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CBDCs on the horizon — navigating the diverse perspectives dividing the fintech industry
35% say CBDCs are overhyped. 27% see transformative potential for cross-border payments. The debate is far from settled — and the split reveals something important about where the market is heading.
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AI integration in regulatory processes — where financial services firms actually stand in 2025
58% are not yet using AI in compliance. 35% are in early adoption. The gap is widening — and for those still on manual processes, the cost and risk implications are accelerating.
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Wrestling with regulatory reporting — the five key challenges and how institutions are responding
77% expect more regulatory obligations ahead. The compliance function is under structural pressure — and manual processes are no longer sustainable.
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Crowning the European payments innovation epicentre — which market is leading in 2025?
UK and Ireland command 55% of votes for European payments leadership. But Scandinavia is at 22% and climbing. The competitive landscape is shifting.
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Four years into open banking — what's working, what isn't, and where the next growth is coming from
Juniper Research forecasts $116bn in open banking payment transactions by 2026. The infrastructure is built — the adoption challenge is different from what most expected.
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Does crypto have a mainstream future — and what would institutional adoption actually look like?
55 of the top 100 global banks now have crypto exposure. The European Investment Bank has issued blockchain bonds. The direction is clear — the pace is not.
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Web3, digital wallets and the payments space — how decentralisation changes everything
DeFi and decentralised finance are moving from experiment to infrastructure. The implications for payments, settlement and the role of traditional intermediaries are profound.
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How fintechs can drive economic recovery — and which capabilities will matter most under pressure
Digital payments, embedded finance, fraud protection and alternative credit — the fintech tools built for uncertainty are exactly what consumers and businesses need when conditions tighten.
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What 5,000+ fintech professionals connecting under one roof actually produces — the 2025 report
Google, J.P. Morgan, Monzo, Revolut, Lloyds Banking Group and 100+ speakers. Here's what happened when the UK's full fintech ecosystem met at Excel London in December 2025.
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The gen AI effect — how generative AI is reshaping digital strategies across financial services
49% of respondents have only just started exploring generative AI. 29% say it has always driven their strategy. The divide between early movers and the rest is becoming commercially significant.
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Software development is at the heart of every business now — and managing IT risk has never been harder
The pace of change in cloud, open source and AI is creating new threats that can't be managed with old-world controls. The case for continuous compliance automation in regulated industries.
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What's next for DeFi — and when will decentralised finance move from experiment to mainstream?
The European Investment Bank issued blockchain bonds. JPMorgan reports DeFi grew from $15bn to $65bn in a single year. The drumbeat is getting louder — Wall Street can no longer ignore it.
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