THE EVOLUTION OF PAYMENT RAILS: WHAT’S NEXT?
Radha Suvarna, Chief Product Officer, Payments, Finastra | 12
MODERNISING CORE BANKING: RECLAIMING INNOVATION TO SERVE CUSTOMERS BETTER
William Moroney, Chief Revenue Officer, Temenos | 14
BEYOND SENTIMENT: HOW AI AGENTS ARE REVOLUTIONISING FINANCIAL TRADING WITH PRINCIPLED MODEL DISCOVERY
Dr. Richard L. Harmon, Vice President, Global Financial Services Industry, Red Hat | 20
Joachim Samuelsson, CEO, Crunchfish | 10
Joachim Samuelsson,
Radha
Ted
Dr. Richard L. Harmon, Vice President,
NAVIGATING EXPECTATIONS OF BANKING’S DIGITAL EXPERIENCES
Hans Tesselaar, Executive Director of BIAN
INNOVATION, INTEGRATION AND INCLUSION: THE FUTURE OF PAYMENTS IN THE WESTERN BALKAN
Dardan Fusha, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kosovo
Adam Cottingham, Asset Servicing Product Manager, SmartStream
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, neither FinTech BoostUP nor its contributors accept any responsibility for errors, omissions, or the views expressed. The content is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute professional, financial, or investment advice. FinTech BoostUP is registered in England and Wales under company number 15797833.
Toine van Beusekom, Strategy Director,
Monica Sasso, Digital Transformation Lead, Global FS Red Hat
THE WOMEN SHAPING FINTECH’S FUTURE
Danai Antoniou, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist, Gradient Labs
THE WOMEN SHAPING FINTECH’S FUTURE
Anna Koritz, Global Head of Transaction Banking, SAP Fioneer
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM SIBOS 2025
Steve Morgan, Industry Market Leader, Banking, Pega
MASTERPAY
Darius Chin, Chief Executive Director, Masterpay Global Pte Ltd
Registered address: 69 Lea Hall Green, Birmingham, England, B20 2AY
We would like to thank the following brands that have helped make this edition of FinTech BoostUP Magazine possible: Crunchfish, Finastra, Temenos, AWS, Red Hat, Moody’s, Masterpay Global, SmartStream, and others. Your thought leadership and contributions are helping drive the future of fintech, and we’re proud to showcase your innovations within this publication.
Publisher & Founder: Ekaterina (aka Katherine) Emirosan
Contributing Editor: Jennifer McShane
Content & Relationship Manager: Esmira Saudkasova
Designer: Alexander Svistakov
Content Team: news@fintechboostup.com
Each year, the financial services industry challenges itself to look beyond immediate priorities and imagine what comes next. When the global community gathers in Frankfurt in 2025, the theme The Next Frontiers of Global Finance could not be more relevant.
The industry has reached a point where innovations once confined to pilots are scaling into production, reshaping customer experience, payments, compliance, and digital assets. The question is no longer whether institutions will adapt, but how quickly they can establish the new standards of global finance. Sibos remains the world’s leading forum for dialogue, but this year the conversations are expected to be anchored more firmly in execution, interoperability, and adoption at scale.
Digital banking has already moved beyond sleek interfaces. Clients, including retail, SME, and institutional, expect intelligence and context, delivered through AI agents that act, learn, and anticipate. These autonomous systems are increasingly capable of rebalancing liquidity, analysing risk, or tailoring advice in real time, representing a shift from simple access to intelligent, AI-driven decision-making. This new layer of intelligence is supported by the dismantling of monolithic core systems and the rise of coreless, API-first ecosystems. The BIAN model provides a practical roadmap for standardisation, while open banking has evolved from compliance to commercial growth, embedding financial services across retail, logistics, and healthcare sectors.
Payments will once again dominate the agenda in Frankfurt, but the conversation has changed. With cross-border flows expected to double, the emphasis is on interconnection. Europe’s TIPS, the Middle East’s BUNA, and Asia’s instant payment networks are expanding, but the real opportunity lies in linking them seamlessly. AI-powered smart routing is already reshaping payment economics by dynamically selecting faster and cheaper corridors, while innovators such as Crunchfish are proving that offline and proximity payments have a critical role in resilience and inclusion.
The digital asset space is also maturing. Luxembourg’s fundsDLT has shown how tokenisation can streamline fund distribution, and ISO 20022 has become the standard for asset servicing, harmonising traditional and tokenised flows. At the same time, the financial crime landscape is evolving at an alarming speed. Fraudsters are now deploying
deepfakes, synthetic identities, and voice clones at scale. The response is the rapid rise of AI-powered RegTech, embedding advanced transaction monitoring, behavioural biometrics, and blockchain-based digital credentials into AML and CFT strategies. Regulators are insisting on explainable AI, while banks experiment with federated learning to share intelligence without exposing sensitive data. Defending against deepfakes is no longer optional – it is fundamental to financial resilience.
The next frontier is not only technological but also human. Women leaders are stepping forward to prove that inclusive innovation is stronger innovation. Monica Sasso, Chief Technologist at Red Hat, has been a visible advocate for open-source infrastructure, hybrid cloud, and AI adoption while championing the need for more women in fintech leadership. Danai Antoniou, Co-Founder of Gradient Labs, represents a new generation of founders tackling fraud and compliance with AI. Anna Koritz, Global Head of Transaction Banking at SAP Fioneer, exemplifies how women leaders are shaping the future of finance by combining deep transaction banking expertise with a vision for inclusive innovation.
This lesson also resonates in emerging markets. In Kosovo and the Western Balkans, financial modernisation is accelerating. The Central Bank of Kosovo has applied for SEPA membership, a step that could save more than €55 million annually while embedding the country into Europe’s payment system. At the same time, the region is preparing to launch a TIPS Clone with the Bank of Italy and World Bank support, enabling instant settlement in central bank money across five Balkan countries.
As Frankfurt prepares to host Sibos 2025, the frontier is resilience and inclusion. Resilience means building systems that withstand cyberattacks, deepfakes, and systemic risks. Inclusion means ensuring smaller economies, underserved populations, and underrepresented voices have a seat at the table. Sibos will remain the forum where the industry debates, collaborates, and sets its course, but this year the dialogue is more sharply focused on adoption and scalability. The true frontier is ensuring every institution, every country, and every individual has the tools to shape and thrive in the next era of global finance.
We wish all Sibos attendees a pleasant and productive four days at the event, and we warmly welcome contributors to our next edition, which will spotlight another exciting event –FinTech Connect London.
By Ekaterina (aka Katherine) Emirosan and Editorial Team
Revolut Launches Pay by Bank Option
Revolut is stepping into the next generation of merchant payments with the introduction of a Pay by Bank feature, enabling account-toaccount transactions that bypass card networks and draw funds directly from consumer bank accounts. The rollout comes amid strong momentum for open banking payments in the UK, where monthly account-to-account transactions have grown from 15 million to 27 million over the past year.
<< Full story
Snappi: Greece’s First ECB-Licensed Neobank Officially Launches
Snappi, the first Greek neobank licensed by the ECB, is now publicly available via the App Store and Google Play for Greek tax residents. Fully digital and mobile-first, Snappi offers a paperless onboarding process, 24/7 human support, and both virtual and physical bank cards.
<< Full story
Klarna Rolls Out DebitFirst Card Across Europe
Klarna is expanding its debit-first card across the EU following a successful US launch in July 2025. The card lets consumers choose
between upfront or flexible payments, challenging traditional credit cards. More than 685,000 Americans have already signed up since its debut.
<< Full story
FundBank Goes Live on Temenos SaaS to Power U.S. Expansion
FundBank, a Cayman Islandsbased financial institution for the asset management industry, has gone live with Temenos SaaS to accelerate its U.S. expansion. The bank has deployed a full suite of digital and core banking services, payments, and analytics – streamlining onboarding and scaling operations with a fully digitised corporate client journey.
<< Full story
ZB Financial Holdings Transforms Banking Experience in Zimbabwe with Finastra
ZB Financial Holdings (ZBFH), one of Zimbabwe’s most diversified financial groups, has upgraded to Finastra Essence on cloud alongside a suite of digital services. The transformation enhances automation, system availability, and speedto-market while offering customers an improved mobile and online banking experience.
<< Full story
Mastercard, NCR Atleos, and ITCARD to Enhance Contactless Experiences at ATMs
As more people adopt a digital-first lifestyle, leaving their physical wallets and cards behind, Mastercard, in partnership with NCR Atleos and ITCARD, has introduced secure cash withdrawals and ATM services that can be accessed with just a phone, eliminating the need for a PIN.
<< Full story
Worldline Initiates the Launch of Wero in E-commerce
Worldline will enable eMerchants in Germany to accept Wero payments starting this summer, with Belgium following in October 2025 and France in early 2026. Wero, introduced by the EPI Company, is built on instant payments and initially launched for P2P use in France, Belgium, and Germany.
<< Full story
TerraPay Secures Class B Licence from Bank Negara Malaysia to Strengthen Cross-Border Payments in APAC
TerraPay has been granted a Class B license by Bank Negara Malaysia, reinforcing its expansion strategy in Southeast Asia. The license enables TerraPay to deliver secure, compliant, and real-time cross-border
payment solutions in one of the region’s most dynamic financial hubs.
<< Full story
Lloyds Nears £120 million Acquisition of Fintech Curve
Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s largest high street lender, is close to acquiring digital wallet provider Curve in a deal valued at around £120 million, according to Sky News. Founded in 2016, Curve once raised over £200 million but now faces a reported sale below its 2023 Series C valuation.
<< Full story
Visa and TECH5 Form Seven-Year Digital ID Partnership
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), a global leader in digital payments, and TECH5, a provider of biometric and digital identity technologies, have entered a seven-year strategic collaboration to accelerate the deployment of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) solutions worldwide. The partnership, formalized in Dubai, will integrate Visa’s payment expertise with TECH5’s biometric identity platforms and explore the rollout of identity wallets with embedded payment functions.
<< Full story
Klarna Shares Soar 30% in NYSE Debut, valued at $19.65 Billion
Klarna Group plc (“Klarna”), the global digital bank and buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) provider, has successfully completed its long-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) and debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker KLAR. On September 2, 2025, Klarna launched its IPO of 34.3 million shares at $40 each, initially valuing the company at $15.1 billion. In its September 10 debut, shares surged 30% to open at $52, pushing Klarna’s valuation to $19.65 billion.
<< Full story
Italian Fintech Tot Secures €7 Million to Boost SMEs’ Growth
Italian fintech Tot has closed a €7 million Pre-Series A funding round, bringing its total raised to €11 million across Seed and Pre-Series A phases. The fresh capital will support Tot’s mission to simplify banking and administrative processes for entrepreneurs, boosting SME competitiveness in Italy.
<< Full story
Fuel Ventures Leads $3M Investment in Allasso for AI-Ready Trading Analytics
Swiss-founded fintech
Allasso has raised $3 million in a round led by Fuel Ventures. Allasso provides advanced pre-trade options
analytics, leveraging AIready, chatbot-enabled tools to support traders, brokers, and hedgers in navigating complex trades and strategies with greater speed and precision.
<< Full story
Backed by Tencent, Uzum Secures $65.5M and Eyes Global Expansion
Uzbekistan’s first tech unicorn Uzum has raised $65.5 million in a new round co-led by Tencent and VR Capital, with participation from FinSight Ventures. The funding lifts Uzum’s valuation to $1.5 billion, up 30% from its previous $1.16 billion, as it prepares to expand internationally.
<< Full story
Ramp Raises $500 Million to Build the Future of Autonomous Finance
U.S. fintech Ramp has secured $500 million at a $22.5 billion valuation, just 45 days after a $200 million raise. The fresh capital will accelerate the rollout of its AI-driven finance automation tools and expansion across the U.S. market. Ramp’s AI agents streamline tasks like transaction coding, anomaly detection, and policy enforcement.
<< Full story
Trustfull Raises €6M for EU Expansion
Fraud prevention provider
Trustfull has raised €6 million in a round led by Seaya Ventures and Elevator Ventures, with support from United Ventures. The funding will strengthen its European footprint, enhance its sales and marketing, and expand solutions to counter rising AIdriven fraud, from synthetic identity theft to deepfake scams.
<< Full story
The third quarter of 2025 marked a pivotal moment for fintech funding, with over $50.9 billion deployed across the top ten deals alone. This surge was driven primarily by mega-deals in payments infrastructure, which accounted for more than threequarters of the total value. Insurance technology emerged as a strong secondary sector, whilst BNPL and digital assets demonstrated resilience through landmark financings and IPOs. The quarter also underscored geographic concentration, with nearly 90 per cent of capital flowing into the United States.
Global Payments acquires Worldpay (from FIS) — $24.25B M&A
• September 2025
• Sector: Payments Infrastructure
• Lead Investor/Buyer: Global Payments
• Focus: Global acquiring & payments processing
• Significance: Largest fintech deal of Q3; reshapes payments landscape.
FIS acquires Global Payments’ Issuer Solutions unit — $13.5B M&A
• September 2025
• Sector: Payments Technology
• Lead Investor/Buyer: FIS
• Focus: Card issuing & processing tech
• Significance: Strategic swap of issuer/payments assets.
NEXT Insurance acquired by ERGO (Munich Re) — $2.6B M&A
• August 2025
• Sector: Small Business Insurance Tech
• Lead Investor/Buyer: ERGO (Munich Re)
• Focus: Digital SME insurance
• Significance: Expands Munich Re/ERGO into US digital insurance market.
Tamara raises financing facility — up to $2.4B Debt Financing
• July 2025
• Sector: BNPL / Consumer Finance
• Lead Investor: Consortium of banks (undisclosed)
• Focus: BNPL & consumer financing in MENA
• Significance: One of the largest fintech financings in MENA.
Advent International acquires Sapiens — $2.5B Take-private
• September 2025
• Sector: Insurance Software
• Lead Investor/Buyer: Advent International
• Focus: Insurance software & digitalization
• Significance: Strengthens Advent’s fintech/insurtech portfolio.
Centerbridge acquires MeridianLink — $2.0B Takeprivate
• July 2025
• Sector: Digital Lending Software
• Lead Investor/Buyer: Centerbridge Partners
• Focus: Digital credit & loan origination platforms
• Significance: Supports digital lending ecosystem expansion.
Klarna IPO — $19.65B valuation, ~$1.2B raised Public Listing
• September 2025
• Sector: Digital Banking & BNPL
• Lead Investor: Public markets (IPO investors)
• Focus: Consumer payments, BNPL, digital banking
• Significance: Longawaited IPO; shares surged 30% on NYSE debut.
Bullish IPO — ~$1.1B Public Listing
• August 2025
• Sector: Digital Asset Exchange
• Lead Investor: Public markets (IPO investors)
• Focus: Crypto & digital assets trading
• Significance: One of the few sizable fintech IPOs in 2025.
iCapital equity raise — $820M Growth Funding
• September 2025
• Sector: Wealth / AltInvestments
• Lead Investor: Temasek & BlackRock (reported)
• Focus: Wealth management & alternative investments access
• Significance: Expands global reach and platform capabilities.
Ramp equity raise — $500M Growth Funding
• July 2025
• Sector: Expense Mgmt / Corporate Cards
• Lead Investor: Iconiq Capital (with existing backers)
• Focus: Corporate cards & spend automation
• Significance: Valuation ~$22.5B; signals continued late-stage investor appetite.
Payments Infrastructure
Dominance
Payments infrastructure led the quarter with $38.25 billion, accounting for more than three-quarters of total deal value. Megaconsolidations in payments underscored the critical importance of scale and infrastructure depth.
Insurance Technology Strength
Insurtech attracted $5.1 billion across major buyouts, as traditional insurers accelerated digital transformation through acquisitions, embedding technology at the core of their business models.
Sector-Wise Investment Breakdown
Geographic Concentration
Nearly 90 per cent of deal value was captured by the United States, reinforcing its position as the global fintech capital. Europe saw limited participation, while Saudi Arabia and Israel delivered selective highvalue deals.
Sector Total Funding Key Trend
Payments Infrastructure & Technology
Insurance / InsurTech
BNPL / Consumer Finance
Lending / Credit Platforms
Digital Assets / Exchanges
Wealth & Alternative Investments
$38.25b
$5.1b
$3.6b
$2.0b
$1.1b
$820m
Consolidation Over Growth M&A and buyouts represented 89 per cent of transaction value, compared with just 11 per cent from growth funding and IPOs. This marks a clear shift towards consolidation as fintech enters a more mature phase of development.
Scale and infrastructure consolidation
Traditional insurers accelerating digital disruption
Consumer finance innovation strengthens resilience
Digital lending expansion and credit origination
Institutional adoption stabilises market
Expanding access to alternative assets
$50.9B
Total funding across top 10 deals
Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, CNBC, company filings.
89% % of deals that were M&A / buyouts / take-privates
$5.1B
Average deal size in Q3 2025
By Joachim Samuelsson, CEO of Crunchfish
The payments industry is moving at lightning speed. From instant checkouts to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), money is now more digital, global, and connected than ever. But I still ask myself the same question: Can payments work anywhere, anytime, and with the same reliability we’ve always trusted in cash? For years, digital payments have relied on systems that must remain online at all times. But outages, cyberattacks, and spotty connectivity still happen. When they do, both consumers and merchants can be left stranded. That’s why cash, despite its limitations, remains the only truly resilient form of payment.
At Crunchfish, that’s the challenge we set out to solve. We’re based in Malmö, Sweden, publicly listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market, and we’re developing a layer-2 solution that rethinks payments in three key areas: online, offline, and with cash.
My career began in telecom, and I often think of an old Ericsson example: Circuit-switched calls. Back then, every connection along the circuit had to be operational. If one broke, the whole call failed. That’s still how many digital payments work today — too fragile, too dependent on everything going right.
We believe payments can do better. At Crunchfish, we apply a packetswitched model, breaking transactions into secure, encrypted packets. These are created locally in Layer-2 wallets which can be validated offline at any node in the system, and then later settled with the underlying (layer-1) payment system. That way, payments can still go through, even if a backend server or the network is down.
We also help banks strengthen their infrastructure. Right now, most transactions hit the bank’s core systems directly, which increases risk and strain. Our approach routes all activity through Layer-2 first, creating a buffer that protects what matters most.
One key innovation is digital change. Instead of giving coins or small notes, merchants return the exact amount digitally. It’s cost-saving, intuitive for users, and a natural pathway for CBDCs.
Here’s how it works:
• Banks and PSPs issue secure wallets (which can be monetised through floats or annual subscription fees)
• The payment network or merchants use lightweight software to validate and accept payments
• Central banks and payment network providers get access to source code, APIs, and offline protocols to ensure their independence and enable universal acceptance of layer-2 payments.
If online payments are fragile, offline systems have often gone too far the other way – over-engineered and hard to use. Too much focus has been placed on hardware-level security, and not enough on basic availability.
But payments, like electricity or telecom, should work even when things go wrong. That’s why our Layer-2 architecture gives consumers secure offline wallets and merchants terminals that can validate and store payments until they reconnect.
It works like card networks: Wallets send, terminals receive. But our system is more flexible. Terminals can be built into existing POS systems, merchant apps, or PSP software.
We’re technology-agnostic, too. Some markets prefer QR codes, others use NFC, Bluetooth, or even ultrasound. We support all of them, ensuring compatibility from high-end to low-end smartphones.
Privacy also matters. We believe online as well as offline payments should be private by default. Small-value transactions
Joachim Samuelsson is the CEO and main owner of NASDAQ First North-listed Crunchfish, a pioneering fintech company based in Malmö, Sweden. As a deep tech innovator and serial entrepreneur, Joachim has consistently driven groundbreaking solutions at the intersection of technology and business.
With over 20 granted patents in digital payments and communication technologies, Joachim holds a significant intellectual footprint in the industry. He is widely regarded as a pioneer in offline payment innovation, blending his expertise in robust communication systems with the growing demand for inclusive and resilient payment ecosystems.
Joachim is no stranger to success. He has held leadership positions in seven business exits, including four in which his automatic frequency planning innovation transformed mobile telecom networks. His ability to identify and implement transformative solutions makes him a key figure in the payment and technology industries. Joachim has received numerous awards for his entrepreneurship and vision and continues to lead from the front as Crunchfish shapes the future of offline payments globally.
We apply a packetswitched model, signing out transactions from an isolated runtime environment
can remain completely anonymous, while larger ones trigger compliance checks. It’s a practical balance that protects users without compromising regulation.
And when it comes to how offline payments actually work, we propose a Reserve, Pay, and Settle approach. Unlike prepaid “Fund, Pay, and Defund” approaches, which are not recommendable offline, our approach treats payments as guaranteed IOUs (“I Owe You”) that settle once online again. This avoids doublespending and keeps the system flexible.
Physical cash is resilient, but it’s expensive to handle. For merchants, the biggest headache is handling change, especially coins. It means stocking tills with small denominations and managing the daily logistics of physical cash.
With Crunchfish’s Digital Cash solution, that problem disappears. Customers pay with notes, and merchants return the exact change digitally to their bank account or wallet. The experience feels natural to the customer but reduces costs and friction for the retailer.
This could be the breakthrough use case for CBDCs. By embedding digital change into everyday transactions, central banks can introduce digital currency in a way that feels familiar and useful from day one.
Over time, we’ve shaped our work into a three-part product model:
Online Payments — strengthening digital identification, providing resilience and load balancing
Offline Payments — ensuring resilience, interoperability, and privacy even without connectivity or at backend outages.
Digital Change — removing the burden of coins by making change digital, bridging cash and CBDCs
For banks and PSPs, this means equipping their users with secure wallets. For acquirers and merchants, it means using terminals or shared libraries to accept payments. For central banks and payment networks, it means adopting our APIs and offline protocols to enable universal acceptance.
But it only works when adopted at the network level. It’s not about one bank or one market. It’s about equipping entire ecosystems to make payments reliable, flexible, and future-proof.
Looking ahead, I believe the future of money is not just about speed or convenience. It’s about trust. Payments should never fail, whether they’re online, offline, or made with cash.
That’s been our mission at Crunchfish: to build a payment system as universal and dependable as the cash we’ve always relied on.
And as a publicly listed Swedish company, we’re in a unique position to lead that change. We combine the transparency of a listed firm with the agility of a fintech.
The message is simple: it’s time to rethink payments.
Our layer-2 approach brings resilience and interoperability to any underlying payment system
Radha Suvarna, Chief Product Officer, Payments, Finastra
Cross-border payments are undergoing a quiet revolution. As banks modernise their infrastructure, the focus is expanding from upgrading legacy systems to reimagining how payments are routed, processed, and experienced. A common pitfall in banking technology upgrades is the tendency to replicate existing processes using modern tools, rather than looking to drive incremental value by rethinking them entirely. This has the potential to solve today’s problems; however, it risks locking institutions into outdated models for the next decade or more. Banks must recognise that payment routes will change over time. The payment landscape is dynamic, and the systems built today must be flexible enough to adapt to new requirements, regulations, new alternate rails, and customer expectations. This means designing platforms that are scalable, agile, and resilient, with a low total cost of ownership.
One of the more significant shifts in recent years is the emergence of regional payment networks like TIPS (Target Instant Payment Settlement) in Europe and BUNA serving the Arab region. These networks can interlink with each other and with other regional initiatives like Nexus, which aims to connect instant payment systems across Southeast Asia and potentially beyond.
This interconnectivity means banks no longer need to rely on a single network to reach a destination. Instead, they can choose from multiple paths depending on cost, speed, and availability. While
this opens up new possibilities, it also introduces greater complexity in routing and compliance.
As the number of available rails increases, so does the need for smart routing. This is the ability to dynamically choose the best path for a payment based on real-time conditions. For customers, this process should be invisible. They care more about price, certainty, and delivery time than the technical details. Banks must provide clear options or automate the decision entirely, sometimes even offering pricing upfront.
For banks, smart routing is a strategic capability. It requires real-time visibility into liquidity positions, funding costs, and corridor-specific preferences. Artificial intelligence is expected to play a growing role in balancing what’s best for the client and the bank, potentially influencing both the pricing and timing of payments.
Each payment rail comes with its own set of rules, data requirements, and compliance checks. A “one size fits all” approach is no longer viable. Banks need systems that can adapt to the nuances of each rail while maintaining a consistent experience. This includes the ability to augment or repair data in real time, especially when dealing with countries where certain verification data may be unavailable or inconsistent.
Today’s clients expect the same level of transparency in payments as they do in parcel delivery. Solutions like SWIFT GPI have set the standard for end-toend tracking, and this expectation is expanding to all payment types and rails. Banks must offer a unified view of payment statuses, regardless of the underlying rail. This includes more complex scenarios like cross-border request-to-pay, where visibility and certainty are critical.
With 24/7/365 expectations becoming the norm, banks will need to ensure their platforms can operate continuously, even across time zones and national holidays. Some countries, like Australia, route SWIFT messages into domestic instant payment systems (e.g., NPP) to enable round-the-clock service. As more systems interlink, coordinating downtime becomes more difficult. Banks will need to invest in near 100% uptime, customer selfservice, and AI-driven support to meet these demands.
As the number of rails grows, banks should start thinking of them as channels, much like digital banking interfaces
As the number of rails grows, banks should start thinking of them as channels, much like digital banking interfaces. The goal is to provide a consistent, intelligent experience across all rails. For example, if a rail is unavailable due to maintenance or a public holiday, it shouldn’t be shown as an option. Instead, the system should guide the client toward the best available route based on their input.
A leading European bank customer of ours in Greece has already partnered with India’s UPI, enabling fast, seamless
The system should guide the client toward the best available route based on their input
remittances for the Indian diaspora. This move not only enhances customer experience but also positions the bank as a preferred partner for Indian businesses expanding into Greece and Cyprus. It’s a powerful example of how strategic rail choices can create competitive advantage and open new markets.
Cross-border payments are no longer just about moving money; they’re about strategic enablement of end-customers. Banks that embrace smart routing, flexible architecture, and always-on infrastructure will be best positioned to thrive in a world of interconnected, intelligent payment rails. The future isn’t about choosing the right rail; it’s about building the right platform to support all rails, now and in the future.
To read more visit this blog by Celent >>
By William Moroney, Chief Revenue Officer, Temenos
In today’s digital-first economy, banks are facing a defining moment. Customers expect their banking experience to be as intuitive and personalised as the best digital services in their lives. Yet, despite increasing investment in technology, many banks remain trapped in a cycle of maintaining legacy systems. These systems, often decades old, consume vast amounts of IT budgets estimated up to 70% globally1, amounting to more than $45 billion annually. That’s money spent just to keep the lights on, rather than driving innovation or improving customer experience.
This paradox is holding banks back. Legacy infrastructure slows down innovation, increases operational risk, and limits agility. It’s not just a technical issue. It’s a strategic one, and it’s time for banks to break the cycle.
Legacy systems were not built for today’s real-time, always-on digital economy. They’re difficult to integrate, hard to scale, and increasingly expensive to maintain. As the workforce familiar with these older technologies approaches retirement, banks face a difficult choice: train new staff on outdated platforms or leap into modernisation.
Standing still is no longer a safe bet. Regulatory pressures, cyber threats, and economic volatility are intensifying. Banks must be able to respond quickly to change, launch new products at speed, and deliver personalised services across preferred channels. That requires a modern core. The question is no longer whether to modernise, but how.
Modernising core banking has often been described as open-heart surgery. A better analogy might be replacing the engine while flying the plane. It’s a delicate operation, and banks are understandably cautious.
In a recent global study we conducted with over 400 banking executives, reliability ranked as the top priority when evaluating new financial software, higher than cost or speed of implementation. Stability is non-negotiable. Banks need to modernise with confidence, knowing that their operations will remain secure and uninterrupted.
That’s why successful transformations begin with a clear strategy and a trusted partner. At Temenos, we’ve
1 https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/unlocking-value-from-technology-in-banking-an-investor-lens
worked with banks of all sizes across 150 countries. What we’ve learned is that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Every bank’s journey is unique.
Large banks often have the scale and resources to pursue targeted, point solutions. They may deploy specialised capabilities in areas like digital banking, payments, or financial crime mitigation to unlock new markets or enhance existing services.
Mid-sized and regional banks are increasingly focused on modular modernisation. They choose core solutions that allow them to progressively upgrade key areas such as commercial lending or retail accounts while maintaining operational continuity. Flexibility is key, and many value solutions that run across cloud, on-premises, and SaaS environments.
Smaller banks and credit unions typically seek full core banking suites and experienced partners. SaaS is an increasingly preferred option, empowering these institutions with scale and innovation, while freeing them to focus on growth rather than infrastructure.
One of the most powerful enablers of effective modernisation in large banks with complex legacy environments is modularity. Rather than undertaking a full-scale replacement of core systems, which can be disruptive and resourceintensive, banks are increasingly choosing to do this in stages.
Modular core banking solutions allow institutions to renovate key systems piece by piece. Whether it’s upgrading commercial lending, retail accounts, payments, or digital channels, banks can target the areas most critical to growth and customer experience.
According to our global study, 65% of banks say they are updating individual core components over time based on business needs, while only 6% are attempting full replacements. This incremental approach reduces implementation risk, minimises operational disruption, and allows for faster time to value.
Combined with the flexibility to deploy solutions across different environ-
ments – on-premises, in the cloud, or as SaaS – it means banks can modernise at their own pace, aligned with their strategic priorities and regulatory requirements.
As new technologies like generative and agentic AI reshape the industry, the need for a modern core becomes even more urgent.
AI has the potential to deliver insights, automate operations, and personalise the customer journey in banking. But only if banks have the infrastructure to support it.
According to our global study, three quarters (75%) of banks are exploring Gen AI deployment2 with 36% having already deployed or in the process of deploying it, while another 39% are considering opportunities for deployment.
Yet there are clear challenges. Banks have data protection concerns with Gen AI. Over half cite concerns with legal requirements (60%) and hallucinations, instances where Gen AI provides inaccurate results (59%).
To unleash the power of AI, banks need effective governance, robust training, and clear regulation. And just as importantly, they need a core banking platform that generates high-quality data, allowing AI technologies to operate safely and at scale.
At Temenos, we’re already seeing the impact AI can have. Our Product Manager Copilot helps banks design, launch, and optimise financial products faster
65% of banks are modernising core components step by step, while only 6% attempt full replacements Legacy systems were not built for today’s digital economy — standing still is no longer a safe bet
using generative AI. Our AI Agent for financial crime mitigation, co-created with a Tier-1 bank, improves sanctions screening by reducing false positives with human-like precision.
Ultimately, core modernisation is about more than technology; it’s about people. It’s about giving customers faster, smarter, and more personalised services. It’s about empowering banks to innovate, adapt, and grow. Building the agility to thrive in a future where change is constant.
At Temenos, we believe in putting customers in control. Modernisation should be based on their strategy, their pace, and their priorities. Whether that means a full core replacement, a modular upgrade, or deploying point solutions around existing systems, the goal is the same: to serve customers better.
Our value benchmark study, based on insights from 150 banks and 70,000 data points, shows that banks on our latest core banking software achieve IT spend on growth and innovation at twice the industry average.
Banks that embrace modernisation today are not just preparing for tomorrow, they’re shaping it. They’re reclaiming their tech budgets and turning them into engines of innovation. Building the agility to meet customer expectations, respond to market shifts, and lead in a digital-first world.
Now is the time to act.
2 https://www.temenos.com/press_release/temenos-survey-finds-three-quarters-of-banks-are-exploring-genai-deployment/
By Ted Datta, Head of Industry Practice Group –Europe and Africa, Moody’s
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the risk and compliance landscape from a reactive to a proactive discipline, yet its full potential is still unfolding. That’s according to Moody’s latest study on AI, which gauges the understanding, usage, and perceptions of AI among 600 international risk and compliance professionals whose job it is to mitigate legal, ethical, and operations risks within their organisations.
AI awareness in risk and compliance is at an all-time high, with 91% of the interviewed professionals familiar with its applications. Most have said they use it to automate repetitive tasks such as screening, routing, and data entry while also leveraging AI to support human decision-making. However, awareness and adoption vary significantly by sector.
Among fintech professionals, 99% indicated awareness of AI’s role in compliance, and 74% reported that their organ-
isations are actively using or trialling AI tools. This places fintech ahead of other sectors such as government (44%), insurance (45%), and corporates (50%). The high level of engagement reflects fintech’s agility and openness to innovation as well as its ability to integrate emerging technologies into operational workflows more quickly than traditional institutions.
Fintechs are also leading in the adoption of large language models (LLMs), with 80% of respondents in the sector stating they are accepting or actively encouraging their use. This compares with just 36% in traditional corporates. Many fintechs are opting for internal “walled garden” LLMs to mitigate risks associated with external platforms like ChatGPT, including data leakage and lack of control.
Automation has increased since Moody’s 2023 AI in compliance study and is expected to continue as agentic capabilities improve. However, professionals remain cautious about granting AI full autonomy, with fewer than 1 in 10 respondents believing AI systems should operate independently without human involvement. Instead, over 60% say AI should either support workflows or make recommendations, with final decisions left to humans.
Why are professionals hesitant to let AI take full control? According to the study, this caution seemingly stems from concerns about overreliance on AI, potential for errors, lack of transparency, and risks of bias. AI is fundamentally reshaping how risk and compliance professionals operate, with 96% of respondents believing their responsi-
bilities will be impacted as AI becomes more embedded in day-to-day operations. But looking ahead, professionals expect their roles to change, rather than disappear.
Many foresee transitioning into roles as strategic advisers, collaborators with technology teams, and supervisors of AI systems, emphasising the need for human oversight to apply critical thinking and implement safeguards to ensure AI’s safe and responsible introduction. In fintech, this shift is already underway — 71% of fintech respondents anticipate taking on supervisory responsibilities, which seemingly reflects a higher comfort level with AI integration and a readiness to take ownership of its governance.
Overall, professionals across all sectors have indicated they expect to coordinate with tech teams, focus more on exception handling and oversight, and interpret AI-driven outputs. This evolution calls for a shift in capabilities, with professionals expected to blend strategic thinking, human judgment, and a working understanding of AI systems.
Moody’s 2025 AI in risk-related compliance study reveals a sector adapting to new tools and expectations. AI is becoming part of the day-to-day in risk and compliance, but its long-term success will depend on thoughtful implementation, cross-functional collaboration, and continued human oversight.
Read more >>
By Ruben Falk, Head of Agentic & Generative AI for Capital Markets, AWS
AI-powered innovation and automation within capital markets has evolved rapidly from assistants to agents, and now to fully autonomous, multi-agent systems that mimic human logic and reasoning to execute complex, multi-step workflows. Or has it? Gartner 1 predicts that over 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by the end of 2027, due to escalating costs, unclear business value, or inadequate risk controls.
From my vantage point as Head of Agentic & Generative AI for Capital Markets at AWS, capital markets firms are starting to appreciate the power and promise of agentic AI but many perceive agentic AI as difficult to implement and deploy due to all the required risk mitigation and quality measures.
This caution can be justified. On one hand, Agentic AI can be seen as a natural continuation of a company’s generative AI (gen AI) journey, as previously implemented point solutions (each representing a single agent) can now be deployed in a multi-agent, collaborative fashion. On the other hand, agentic systems are more complex than gen AI assistants or single gen AI agents, as they comprise not only domain-adapted foundation models but also orchestration agents,
customised execution plans, and tool use. Moreover, agentic AI is likely to have a more direct impact on operational risk, as agentic AI inherits the risks of the processes that it automates.
In short, agentic AI is not a simple next step for any company, even one that is already successfully employing gen AI. It’s an inflection point that requires management of new components and careful consideration of operational risks.
But now is an excellent time for Capital Markets firms to be building a foundation for success in agentic AI. While some of the initial excitement across the industry has been replaced by a more measured focus on practicalities, tools and standards are maturing rapidly and are now capable of delivering agentic AI with the flexibility and security that Capital Markets firms require.
Ruben Falk is Head of Agentic & Generative AI for Capital Markets at AWS, focused on AI and data & analytics. He consults with capital markets firms on AI-ready data architectures and generative AI implementations and governance. Ruben joined AWS from S&P Global Market Intelligence where he was Global Head of Investment Management Solutions.
Due to the modular, specialised nature of their components, multi-agent systems provide significant benefits over single AI agents, including distributed problem-solving and improved accuracy, scalability, and transparency.
Within Capital Markets, where AI has long been used for analysing both structured and unstructured data, we’re seeing significant untapped potential for agentic AI to help investment professionals not only gather, analyse, and synthesise information faster, but also to take fresh approaches to long-established processes.
For example, an asset manager could use gen AI to process large amounts of information on an investment opportunity, summarise this information in a research
Over 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by the end
of 2027
1 https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-06-25-gartner-predicts-over-40-percent-of-agentic-ai-projects-will-be-canceled-by-end-of-2027
report, and provide the basis for an investment recommendation in hours rather than days or weeks. But consider how much further this asset manager could go by using agentic AI to produce similar research reports for all the companies (or investment opportunities more generically) in the investable universe. Other agents could look for clusters with similar investment themes, describe each cluster (or theme), and associate each theme with a proxy for historical performance by virtue of the performance of the companies which contributed to the theme. Then another category of agents could seek to assess how each investment would influence the portfolio’s positioning, characteristics, risk, and potential performance. And, the portfolio manager would be able to adjust individual agents and the overall execution plan as their investment objectives, processes, and theses change.
Agentic AI can similarly help other Capital Markets professionals where data-heavy workflows are complex and multi-step, such as product development, trading, financial crime investigations, back-office workflows, investor relations, and sales and marketing.
Many compelling agentic AI use cases are still in early phases of development. The ecosystem is maturing rapidly, however, and it’s getting easier to build effective AI agents and deploy them at scale.
First, frameworks such as Amazon Bedrock AgentCore are making it easier to build and deploy agentic systems that respect existing paradigms for access control and identity management while providing transparency and auditability for agent interactions, tool use, and ultimate output and/or external actions.
Second, the foundation models on which these agents are built are becoming increasingly capable (in many cases using internal agentic flows) and smaller, distilled versions of large models lend themselves well to being customised for more specialsation in a set of tasks performed by an individual agent. Capital markets firms can now customise their agentic systems to reflect their unique IP, workflows, brand requirements, and specialised data.
Thirdly, AI agents are becoming easier to build as the ecosystem becomes
Multi-agent systems provide significant benefits over single AI agents, including distributed problem-solving
more robust. Agentic AI can require a lot of distracting, undifferentiated heavy lifting to build the necessary technology infrastructure to get agents into production. It’s no wonder that a recent Forrester study2 found that 57% of financial services organisations are still developing the internal capabilities needed to fully leverage agentic AI’s potential.
This is likely to change quickly, as companies now have many new choices when deciding whether to build in-house or to buy a wide range 3 of pre-built AI agents, ready-to-integrate agent tools, agent infrastructure, agent development solutions, and professional services offered by third parties. Capital Markets firms can also leverage fully managed services purposebuilt for scaling AI agents, eliminating capacity planning and infrastructure maintenance. Both of these developments allow capital markets firms to focus on orchestrating the agents for maximum effectiveness.
Despite the challenges, there are firms succeeding today with agentic AI. In a recent Forrester study, one financial services VP revealed their organisation already had 60 agentic agents in production, with plans to deploy an additional 200 agents by 2026.
But, while agentic AI is steadily getting easier to manage from a technical perspective, it still requires significant organisational adjustments. As agentic
AI reshapes processes and the nature of employees’ work, teams will need to be educated and trained, and operational risk policies and controls will need to be updated. To ensure a positive return on investment, capital markets firms must be selective about the use cases to which they apply agentic AI. They should look for significant:
• Complexity: Is this a complex, multi-step process that requires a fully autonomous system that mimics human logic and reasoning? Or could it be solved by a simpler, task-oriented single agent, or by traditional rules-based systems?
• Business value: Does the use case solve a real problem that will save time, save money, or delight customers?
Capital Markets firms should also keep their long-term agentic AI vision in mind from day one by focusing on the data pipelines, security, identity management, and observability they’ll need as they launch more agentic use cases over time. Another best practice is for Capital Markets firms to make sure they fully trust their individual agents before orchestrating them into complex multi-agent workflows.
As we look ahead, agentic AI represents an exciting opportunity for Capital Markets firms to rethink and optimise their workflows. With the rapid maturation of tools, frameworks, and standards currently underway, now is a great time for Capital Markets firms to be building a solid foundation for success and safety in agentic AI.
One financial services VP revealed their organisation already had 60 agentic agents
2 https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/awsmarketplace/agentic-ai-solutions-in-financial-services/
3 https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/solutions/ai-agents-and-tools
By Richard Harmon, Vice President, Global Head of Financial Services Industry at Red Hat
For years in financial services, the application of natural language processing (NLP), and more recently with large language models (LLMs), has primarily centred on quick insights derived from sentiment analysis or trend following. While valuable, these approaches often lack a deep, principled understanding of market dynamics. But what if AI could go beyond simply reacting to information and instead discover the underlying mathematical models that govern financial time series?
A groundbreaking new approach, detailed in a paper by quants from Barclays and Simudyne, titled “To Trade or Not to Trade: An Agentic Approach to Estimating Market Risk Improves Trading Decisions,” is doing just that. This innovative system leverages the power of LLMs within an “agentic” framework, creating a sophisticated multi-agent system that not only informs trading decisions but fundamentally enhances market risk estimation through model discovery.
At the heart of this system is a collaborative network of specialised AI agents, each with a distinct role, working together to achieve more robust and profitable
trading outcomes. Here’s a look at the key players and their synergistic interaction:
• THE RISK ANALYST: THE BRAINS BEHIND MODEL DISCOVERY
This is arguably the most pivotal agent in the system. The Risk Analyst is responsible for identifying the most suitable stochastic differential equations (SDEs) to model historical financial price paths. This isn’t a one-and-done process; it’s an iterative, self-improving loop guided by a “Builder-Critic” pattern:
• The Builder: Think of the Builder as the architect and engineer. Given a proposed SDE model, this sub-agent’s role is to implement and simulate it, generating synthetic price paths. It crafts the necessary programs and even suggests initial parameters for calibration.
• The Critic: The Critic acts as the discerning evaluator. It rigorously tests the synthetic data from the Builder against historical market data using a comprehensive suite of statistical metrics (moments, tail metrics, Hurst exponent, etc., as well as direct distribution comparisons like Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Wasserstein distance). Based on these evaluations and a “novelty score” for the proposed equation, the Critic scores the model and, crucially, suggests new and improved SDEs for the Builder to explore in the next iteration. This continuous feedback loop drives the system towards more accurate and representative financial models.
• THE NEWS ANALYST: PROVIDING CRUCIAL MARKET CONTEXT
In the fast-paced world of finance, news impacts markets immediately. The News Analyst agent is designed to keep the system informed about the broader market landscape. It actively gathers recent news headlines for a company and its related entities, summarising the key information, identifying potential pros and cons for investment, and providing crucial context-specific insights to the Trader.
• THE TRADER: MAKING THE DAILY DECISIONS
With the deep analytical insights from the Risk Analyst and the timely market context from the News Analyst, the Trader agent steps in to make the critical daily trading decisions: whether to buy, sell, or hold. It processes modelinformed risk metrics (like value-at-risk, conditional value-at-risk, and maximum drawdown), trend metrics (such as the relative strength index and the SDE’s inherent drift polarity), and the news sentiment to formulate its trading strategy.
The workflow is a sophisticated collaboration between these agents:
1. Monthly model discovery: At the start of each month (or other periodicity depending upon market conditions), the Risk Analyst (via its Builder-Critic loop) works tirelessly to identify the optimal SDE model based on the past six months of historical price data. This ensures the foundational model is highly relevant and adapted to recent market conditions.
2. Daily recalibration and insight generation: Every trading day, the chosen SDE model is recalibrated to the very latest market data. Using this refined
At the heart of this system is a collaborative network of specialised AI agents, each with a distinct role, working together to achieve more robust and profitable trading outcomes
model, the system calculates critical market risk metrics (VaR, CVaR, MDD, expected shortfall and even tail risk insights from extreme value theory). Simultaneously, the news analyst fetches and processes the latest news.
3. Informed trading decision: All of these inputs – the precise risk metrics, the trend indicators (RSI, drift polarity), and the summarized news sentiment –are then fed to the Trader agent. This comprehensive market context allows the Trader to make a more informed and potentially more profitable decision, moving beyond simple heuristics or superficial trend analysis.
A key innovation in this design is the use of a market simulator (Simudyne Horizon) to generate synthetic but causally plausible price paths and news events. Why is this important? LLMs are trained on vast amounts of historical data. While powerful, this can lead to biases or a lack of robustness when faced with “black swan” events or market conditions outside their training distribution. By using synthetic data for backtesting, the system can evaluate its trading strategies under diverse, realistic, yet entirely novel scenarios, ensuring its resilience and adaptability in unprecedented market environments.
This agentic approach to financial trading represents a significant leap forward in developing AI-embedded trading strategies. By embedding a principled model-building step into LLMdriven financial systems, it moves beyond typical sentiment analysis towards
a deeper, more robust understanding of market dynamics. The study’s results show that this model-informed approach significantly outperforms standard LLM-based agents, leading to improved Sharpe ratios across multiple equities. While human supervision remains crucial, this research demonstrates that current LLMs are already capable of augmenting trading decisions with sophisticated, model-informed insights, semi-automating a process previously thought to require extensive human expertise. As LLM capabilities continue to advance, we can expect even greater precision and profitability from these intelligent, collaborative AI agents analysing the financial markets.
Dr. Harmon is the global head of Financial Services at Red Hat. He joined Red Hat in December, 2020 and has over 25 years of experience in Capital Markets with specializations in Risk Management, Advance Analytics, Fixed Income Research and Simulation Analysis.
Prior to Red Hat, Dr. Harmon was Managing Director of Financial Services at Cloudera for 5 years and has held senior positions at Citibank, Bankers Trust, JP Morgan, BlackRock, Bank of America/Countrywide Capital Markets, First American Core Logic and at SAP.
Dr. Harmon holds a PhD in Economics with specialization in Econometrics from Georgetown University.
By Hans Tesselaar, Executive Director of BIAN
Ahead of Sibos 2025, where experts will gather to discuss the ‘the perfect payment experience’, attendees will be considering whether their customer journey matches up to competitors. This follows the finding that Generation Z is exhibiting lower brand loyalty than older generations, more driven by incentives and seamless digital experiences.
This revelation, prompting a change of approach in a range of leading financial institutions, shouldn’t come as a surprise; in 2024, around 1.2 million customers used the Current Account Switch Service.
Unfortunately, in this landscape of tough competition, 75% of financial institutions remain ‘stuck in siloed pilots and proofs of concept’ as they attempt to drive digital transformation. Customers want interactions to be simpler and quicker than banks can provide, particularly in areas such as mobile apps and easy customer service communication.
For CIOs and CTOs, as their role becomes increasingly pivotal to driving
business success and ROI, how can they grasp the opportunity to stand out?
It’s long been said that legacy technology is holding banks back. Unfortunately, in practice, it’s a topic commonly discussed but rarely addressed. Earlier this year, a study revealed that the majority of banks’ IT budgets (70%1) are still going towards maintaining outdated systems. More than a financial concern, this technology can drain the time of the IT team, as they attempt to solve a multitude of problems and reduce the efficiency of any new solutions by causing siloes and providing a barrier to data sharing.
Plenty of leading banks are already pushing for the shift. As Nikki Katz,
1 https://www.rs2.com/white-paper-how-to-solve-banks-legacy-system-challenges-while-controlling-risk/
Head of Digital at Bank of America, told Forbes earlier this year, the institution is focused on creating “personalised, proactive, predictive” experiences for their customers, moving away from siloed transformation and towards “relationship-focused” platforms.
Evidently, for banks prepared to embrace innovation and keep up with changing consumer expectations, it’s time to invest in replacing legacy infrastructure with a new, more flexible approach.
After a storm, the houses standing the tallest are those with the strongest foundation. In banking infrastructure, too, these principles apply.
Over the past year, political instability, talent shortages, changing regula-
tions, and higher interest rates have put pressure on the operational resilience of financial institutions. It’s fair to say that no one can predict what’s coming next; all that banks can do is to prepare a flexible tech stack able to adapt to the changing tides of global markets.
This is where the introduction of coreless banking comes in. In 2019, those of us at Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN), a not-for-profit standards body, announced our Coreless Banking concept. Simply put, it introduces the idea that the infrastructure of a financial institution should be made of multiple components, instead of relying on the traditional infrastructure. These components can be replaced or integrated with ease, creating an adaptable framework based on open standards and API interoperability.
Alongside the strengthened resilience and adaptability that a modernised core provides, it’s also incredibly beneficial for the adoption of emerging technologies. Leading financial institutions are growing increasingly AI-literate, emphasised by the growing number of partnerships between banks and technology companies. From Australia’s CommBank partnering with OpenAI to roll out GenAI tools and Wells Fargo expanding its Google Cloud partnership to drive agentic AI success, to Santander’s mission, with OpenAI’s help, to become an “AInative” bank.
In an industry increasingly disrupted by AI, integration is a necessity for gaining a long-term competitive advantage. To reveal the full value of AI’s capabilities, however, simple adoption isn’t enough. As outlined in a 2024 paper published in the International Review of Financial Analysis, long-term strategic planning is key to helping “banks to stay ahead of technological advancements and continuously optimise their AI-driven initiatives”.
But what should be considered in this forward-looking strategy to improve the customer journey?
70% of banks’ IT budgets are still going towards maintaining outdated systems
Leaders within banking recognise the need to evolve with consumer expectations, as reflected in the finding that 64% of banks believe their prolonged journey to modernisation has directly led them to miss out on prospective new customers.
However, with new emerging technologies being introduced all the time, it can be difficult for decision-makers to settle on the solutions most beneficial for their organisation. The question must be asked: what does your organisation want from innovation? Or, more specifically, what do your customers want?
For many, it’s simply about efficiency, ease, and personalisation. With the knowledge that companies are leaning into AI transformation, they want to see a clear value-add; 61% expect an increasingly customised experience. This could include analysing past spending to help with budgeting, instant detection of suspicious activity, or product suggestions reflective of customer behaviour. With solutions that feed these capabilities, those interacting with the bank can feel more supported and understood by the organisations handling their money.
This ability to adapt to a customer’s situation can also help financial institutions to avoid losing them to another bank. Through identifying those who are considering switching providers or are beginning to move money elsewhere, the integration of AI and machine learning tools can highlight where personalised offers should be
Coreless Banking introduces the idea of multiple components instead of traditional infrastructure
shared with customers, improving retention at the very last minute.
AI is a buzzword in today’s news cycle, and not without reason. It’s disrupting industries, heightening customer expectations and forcing banks to reevaluate what makes them competitive. As brand loyalty lessens, and leading financial institutions partner with global technology companies to prove their dedication to transformation, adaptability should be a top priority. By embracing open banking, using open standards and APIs to create a resilient ecosystem capable of accelerating the adoption of emerging solutions, banks can reduce customer turnover and encourage brand loyalty in an ever-fluctuating industry.
Hans Tesselaar is the Executive Director of the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN), a global initiative focused on advancing standardized, open banking architecture. With extensive experience in the financial and technology sectors, Hans is a recognized leader in banking transformation and digital innovation.
Under his leadership, BIAN has driven the development of standardized solutions to enhance interoperability, efficiency, and customer experience across the banking industry. Previously, Hans held senior roles in financial services, where he fostered industry collaboration and digital transformation. He is a frequent speaker on the future of banking and the role of technology in financial services.
By Dardan FUSHA, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Kosovo
Each year, SIBOS provides the financial community with a platform to look beyond current challenges and imagine the next horizons of global finance. This year’s theme, The Next Frontiers of Global Finance, invites us to reflect on the interplay of innovation, strategy, and technology in reshaping the financial landscape. While global conversations often centre on advanced economies and large markets, smaller and emerging markets, such as Kosovo and the wider Western Balkan region, are increasingly part of this transformation story.
The Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo (CBK), in cooperation with regional peers, the European Commission, and international partners like the World Bank, the IMF, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs – SECO and IFC, has been driving a bold agenda of reforms and innovation. These initiatives are not only modernising the domestic
financial system but also embedding the region more firmly into the European and global financial architecture.
Few reforms carry more symbolic and practical weight than Kosovo’s path toward SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) membership. The CBK submitted its pre-application in October 2024, with the formal application expected in 2025. This milestone positions Kosovo as a future participant in Europe’s harmonised payment ecosystem, a move that could generate annual savings of over €55 million through cheaper remittances and foreign trade transactions.
SEPA membership is not simply a technical upgrade. It represents financial integrity in practice, a bridge between Kosovo and the EU’s single market. For businesses, it reduces friction and cost. For citizens, it brings faster, safer, cheaper and more transparent cross-border transfers. For the economy at large, it reinforces confidence and competitiveness, pushing further digitalisation.
The World Bank and the EU have been instrumental in supporting this process, financing the adoption of a new Law on Payment Services, amendments of Banking Law as well as AML Law, and the drafting of over 20 regulations aligned with EU standards. The end goal is not only SEPA compliance, but also fostering an open, competitive, and innovative financial ecosystem.
The other transformative step underway is the adoption of instant payments through the TIPS Clone solution, developed in partnership with the Bank of Italy and supported by the World Bank for the five Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia). This infrastructure will enable 24/7/365 instant settlement in central bank money, allowing individuals and businesses to transfer funds within seconds domestically in the initial phase, and with the potential of cross-border instant payments within the region and with EU in the near future.
Instant payments are the backbone of digital finance. They provide the rails for new services, mobile wallets, e-commerce, P2P, P2B, B2B and P2G transfers, that can reshape consumer behaviour and business models. For banks, they eliminate delays and settlement risks. For FinTechs, they open the door to innovation on top of a secure, standardised layer, and for merchants usable funds received in seconds.
Crucially, the TIPS Clone initiative is designed with regional interoperability in mind. By connecting Western Balkan central banks, the system paves the way for cross-border instant payments, a game-changer for trade, remittances, and integration with the EU.
Opening the market to non-bank financial institutions and FinTechs has injected competition and creativity into the payment landscape. Licensed nonbank payment service providers are now offering digital wallets, acquiring services, and innovative lending solutions. This competition has spurred traditional banks to accelerate their own digital transformation, improving mobile apps, online services, and customer experience and has already reduced cross-border average costs.
The effect is a virtuous cycle, more players → more innovation → higher expectations → better services. Consumers and businesses benefit, but so does the broader economy, as efficient payment systems reduce transaction costs and support financial inclusion. It pushes for further payment digitalisation, with a
direct impact and benefits for the economy by reducing informal transactions.
In many ways, the FinTech wave in Kosovo and the region mirrors global trends, but with a local twist. New entrants are not only competing, they are filling gaps in access to finance, especially for underserved populations and SMEs.
One of the most symbolic developments of the past year has been the entry of Google Pay and, recently Apple Pay into Kosovo and neighbouring markets. Their arrival signals recognition that the Western Balkans are no longer “peripheral” but part of the global digital payments ecosystem.
For consumers, it means secure, seamless, and contactless payments are now standard. For merchants, it opens access to global e-commerce and lowers friction at the point of sale. For the financial system, it pushes banks and PSPs to integrate with global platforms, further raising the bar for service quality and interoperability.
This step also has reputational value, global tech giants validating the region as a viable, scalable market. It reinforces the message that innovation knows no borders, that even smaller economies can leapfrog into the digital payments era.
This is especially promising given the nearly 30% annual growth in digital payments in Kosovo since the pandemic, a country with near universal internet access and with the youngest population in Europe, naturally inclined to embrace digital services.
If SEPA and instant payments are the rails, and FinTech competition the engine, then artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity are the next frontier.
AI is rapidly moving from back-office analytics to autonomous finance, selfexecuting services that optimise savings, payments, and investments. Stablecoins, tokenisation, and AI-powered compliance are no longer speculative; they are becoming part of mainstream financial strategies.
For central banks like CBK, the challenge is twofold: embrace these technologies to strengthen supervision and efficiency while safeguarding stability and
consumer trust. Cybersecurity, in particular, is now a core priority, as financial services become increasingly digital, interconnected, and integrated cross-border.
The Western Balkans’ financial modernisation story is not happening in isolation. It is part of a regional strategy of cooperation, where central banks in the region are aligning their infrastructures and regulations. Supported by the EU Commission, the World Bank, the IMF and the IFC-SECO projects, this regional approach creates economies of scale and strengthens bargaining power.
The next frontiers of global finance are not only about quantum computing, tokenised assets, or AI-powered trading. They are also about how smaller economies modernise, integrate, and innovate, and in doing so, contribute to the global financial architecture. Kosovo and the Western Balkans are a case in point.
Dardan Fusha Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo.
Dardan Fusha has served as Deputy Governor for Banking Operations at CBK since 2023. Joining CBK in 2006, he advanced through key roles including Head of the Regulatory Division in the Department of Licensing and Methodology and Director in the Department of Payment Systems. As Chairperson for the National Payment Council, and for the SWIFT Users Community Mr. Fusha actively promotes stakeholder collaboration and innovation. His leadership and expertise in payment systems, and financial regulatory developments have been instrumental to Kosovo’s financial sector modernisation. His contributions continue to drive innovation, facilitate transition towards digital financial services, and strengthen financial market infrastructure.
By Adam Cottingham, Asset Servicing Product Manager, SmartStream
Standardisation has emerged as a cornerstone of risk operational efficiency and alignment with rapidly evolving regulatory requirements. With ISO 20022, achieving harmonisation is essential, marking a fundamental shift in how asset servicing providers communicate, interpret, and manage critical information. SmartStream commissioned research with the Value Exchange, which highlights some of the findings below.
The asset servicing industry continues to grapple with inefficiencies, costly manual processes, declining straight-through processing (STP) rates, and fragmented regulatory expectations. Collectively, these challenges result in asset servicing operations incurring direct costs of up to $21 million per annum, encompassing both operational expenditure and expenses related to processing errors. Against this backdrop, ISO 20022 is gaining recognition as a critical driver of operational excellence. Yet, despite its clear benefits, adoption remains slow: currently, only 17% of event notifications are received in ISO 20022 format, and an even lower 2% of elections are processed using this standard. The industry remains heavily reliant on the older
ISO 15022 messaging standard, which itself does not provide comprehensive coverage across all required messaging scenarios.
ISO 20022 provides a unified messaging standard that facilitates consistent communication across international markets. This standardisation is essential for corporate actions and proxy voting, where discrepancies in formats and interpretations can lead to processing errors and delays. Over 65% of investors cite the lack of consistency in corporate actions notifications is the number one issue causing a meaningful P&L impact in asset servicing today.
A significant advantage of ISO 20022 is its compatibility with existing standards like ISO 15022, as well as data vendors and legacy systems. This backwards compatibility ensures that institutions can transition to the new standard without disrupting current operations. By facilitating seamless communication
between legacy systems and modern infrastructures, ISO 20022 promotes interoperability, allowing for a gradual and manageable migration process.
The adoption of ISO 20022 mitigates operational risks by enabling higher levels of automation and reducing reliance on manual processes. Its structured messaging format decreases the likelihood of errors, exceptions, and processing delays. Financial institutions have reported improved straight-through processing (STP) rates and reduced operational costs after implementing ISO 20022-compliant systems. Considering the average investor reports its STP for voluntary events to be as little as 39%, it’s a much-needed improvement.
ISO 20022’s rich data structures provide financial institutions with granular insights into transaction details, customer behaviours, and market trends. This enhanced data allows service providers to focus on value-added product
enhancements such as AI-assisted experience-based decision support and predictive risk modelling, which only around 18% of firms are doing today.
Delaying the adoption of ISO 20022 exposes firms to escalating costs and heightened operational risks. The complexity of transitioning to ISO 20022 goes beyond simple data mapping, prompting a strategic decision: Should firms develop solutions internally or partner with established technology vendors? While in-house solutions offer bespoke control, they involve substantial upfront investment, higher ongoing maintenance costs, and significant operational risks. Conversely, vendor-based solutions typically enable faster implementation, reduced risk, and quicker market readiness.
Optimal solutions should seamlessly support interoperability between ISO 15022 and ISO 20022 across the entire asset servicing lifecycle.
As client expectations evolve, it’s no longer enough to deliver simple corporate action notifications on time. To be competitive, firms must provide advanced analytics, decision-support tools, and sophisticated risk management capabilities.
ISO 20022 is more than a regulatory or operational necessity; it is a strategic catalyst. Firms that adopt ISO 20022 early will experience substantial improvements in operational efficiency, reduced risks, and enhanced client experience, positioning themselves for future competitiveness.
In both the securities and payments areas, a strong industry drive to accommodate ISO 20022 is now evident. This represents a positive step; while ISO 20022 is a data standard, it is far more than just that, offering an important pathway – through standardisation – to greater automation, real-time operations, ease of integration, and a more efficient operating model.
Of course, simply using ISO 20022 does not automatically bring about standardisation. How messages impact the lifecycles to which they are applied also needs to be considered. For example, in asset servicing, the way in which the lifecycle integrates with the front office, how decision-making occurs across time, and the way communication with beneficial owners takes place are all elements that are not prescribed by the standard. To attain standardisation, best practice is also vital, as is good technology – systems should, ideally, be backwardly compatible and interoperable.
In asset servicing, ISO 20022 is beginning to make its presence felt. Nevertheless, the use of ISO 20022 messages is still not common practice, and manual processes proliferate.
Regulation is having a hand in driving change, for example, the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD) II, which was developed to encourage shareholder engagement and transparency, and which stipulated that Swift messages relating shareholder identification and general meeting notifications were to be transmitted in the ISO 20022 standard, rather than ISO 15022.
Further movement is being created as large global custodians move over to ISO 20022. These organisations are currently encouraging their clients to make the switch, as the eventual increase in processing costs associated with ISO 15022 provides a powerful incentive for clients to follow their custodians’ lead.
Achieving the interoperability required to accommodate both ISO 20022 and ISO 15022 can be challenging. The task is made harder as the ISO 20022 rulebook – and this is a major departure from the approach deployed by ISO 15022 – allows the standard to be versioned. Institutions may have to deal with deviations at the market, provider or even message level and, in effect, will find themselves having to support multiple different versions of ISO 20022, meaning caution is required.
From a technological perspective, making the switch is more than simply a mapping exercise: the object design in the core application is the point at which interoperability must be achieved. Approaching the matter as a mapping exercise should also be avoided as it potentially leads to a higher cost of ownership. Having said that, not all organisations
have their data model object-oriented enough to accommodate ISO 20022 alongside ISO 15022, particularly if theirs is a legacy piece of internal build, and so technology optimisation will be required to accommodate the progress of Euroclear, Clearstream, and DTCC as they move clients to the new standards.
When firms are looking to invest in vendor technology to support the move to ISO 20022, they should be seeking out systems that provide flexible tooling, as well as partners that can do the “hard yards” for them, providing readiness for institutions to start their testing cycle, so that they are able to be compliant with individual custodians as these make the move to ISO 20022.
When turning to a vendor, financial institutions should be looking for a partner that manages adoption effectively, offers technology that helps reduces TCO and improves ROI through rapid implementation of the dataset, which is where an “out of the box” system can be useful. A specialist vendor can also assist an institution to understand the nuances of ISO 20022 and its links to regulatory initiatives such as SRD II. In addition, it can advise a financial institution on how to achieve STP when accommodating ISO 20022, as well as provide advice on how best to maintain interoperability.
In conclusion, attaining interoperability is the key to navigating the coming shift to ISO 20022. SmartStream’s own asset servicing technology has been designed with this in mind. It handles multiple standards, including ISO 20022, ISO 15022 and proprietary standards, as well as messages such as SWIFT MT 564 or MT 568 notifications. It also has the flexibility to support multiple versions of ISO 20022. In addition, as a data automation and intelligence provider with a strong focus on innovation, SmartStream has developed its asset servicing technology to facilitate the rapid delivery of the company’s latest AI-based modules.
For years, banks have been asking the same question: “What must we do next?” But that question has now changed to “What should we do next?” And to answer it effectively requires a whole new way of thinking.
By Toine van Beusekom, Strategy Director, Icon Solutions
This is because banks’ change agendas have primarily been driven by the demands of major regulatory initiatives, namely the migration to the ISO 20022 messaging standard in combination with support for instant and cross-border payment schemes. Yet with these initiatives now coming to an end, banks can no longer keep relying on the next major deadline to focus minds and secure budgets.
Challenges are compounded by the fact that, like all of us, banks are faced with an increasingly uncertain and volatile world. The impact of geopolitical upheaval, increasing regulatory divergence across jurisdictions (e.g. the Genius Act vs MiCA), let alone the potentially epochal impact of artificial intelligence (AI), is all being felt keenly across the industry.
These twin factors demand that banks can both drive and adapt to change quickly, while staying in control. This fundamental requirement, however, is too often constrained by the technical debt imposed by complex, fragmented and duplicative legacy payments estates. Historically, fragmentation has stemmed from differences in message
formats and instructions, which forced banks to design and implement specific processing flows and solutions for different payment types – such as crossborder, domestic, high-value, low-value, and instant – that each come with their own operational rules and requirements.
As a result, banks have needed to maintain multiple solutions – which are variably self-built, provided by thirdparty vendors, or a bit of both – with functionality often duplicated to meet the market needs of customers. The upshot is that even minor updates become prohibitively costly, risky, and time-consuming.
Nothing has laid bare the challenges of change more than the slow and painful migration to ISO 20022. Banks have worked for years (SEPA CT was 2008!)
and spent millions but, despite this, many still rely on various individual processing engines for different payment types, with an ISO 20022 mapper around the edges. This means that some will find themselves unprepared as ISO 20022 volumes start to ramp up.
This points to a broader issue amid the growing demand for 24/7/365 availability and the need to process payments within seconds. Take the looming October deadline for SEPA Instant Credit Transfers (SCT Inst) outlined within the EU’s Instant Payment Regulation (IPR). The stringent service level agreements are undoubtedly causing some sleepless nights, highlighting how payment processing systems must now possess high non-functional requirements to realise unprecedented levels of performance,
resiliency and scalability across the payments estate.
We know, however, that non-functional requirements are very, very hard to get right. And the challenges will only grow as instant volumes increase, meaning that banks must move quickly to bolster their capabilities or risk significant reputational consequences.
Now comes the bigger problem. Previously, banks could use the next pending regulatory deadline to secure more budget to pay down the existing technical debt and solve the short-term issue –effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul in the process. But as we saw earlier, the changing regulatory environment means that real transformation now demands a rock-solid business case to secure the necessary budget, goodwill and resource.
Our view is that, to break free of this cycle of short-termism, a whole new approach is needed: consolidation. In fact, we would go as far to say that any bank in the business of processing payments should now be focused on sustainably moving towards a single, consolidated payments infrastructure that supports any payment, anytime, anywhere. That includes traditional payment methods as well as new ones (hello Stablecoin).
ONE
Crucially, consolidation should not be confused with the old-school, wildly expensive big bang migrations to blackbox hubs – which almost always failed to deliver on the promise and left banks saddled with a single vendor per payment type.
Yet we have also seen how in-house builds have a propensity to overrun and underdeliver. This is why we are increasingly seeing a new approach, with banks turning to flexible payment development framework solutions to stay in control of their costs, build and risk.
By using these solutions, they can finally start to shift away from designing and implementing payment processing flows based on the conception of specific payment types as individual products (e.g. SEPA Inst), which relies on a horizontal end-to-end approach that bundles together order management, execution, and clearing and settlement.
Instead, banks can move towards vertical, bespoke, service-aligned flows that decouples order management, execution,
Banks can no longer keep relying on the next major deadline to focus minds and secure budgets
and clearing and settlement. This enables banks to identify the highly commoditised aspects of the value chain, allowing resources to be prioritised towards areas where there is more scope for innovation and revenue-generation.
Value chain thinking and a progressive, gradual approach to transformation helps to realise immediate returns. Banks can start small, with the benefits compounding over time as more flows migrate over, while enabling banks to meet emerging requirements and opportunities.
For example, we are seeing a renewed interest in ‘smart routing’ in order management. While definitions vary, truly smart routing enables banks to identify the payment type and select the most efficient method for clearing and settling (validation), while also leveraging information on the sender and recipient based on client profiles and dynamic processing settings (qualification). This enables the delivery of specific value-added services for a particular client or group – unlocking new revenue streams.
More broadly, the use of the same standardised technology and services
for bespoke payment flows (old and new) helps realise operational and commercial benefits – accelerating the implementation of new functionality, driving down payment processing costs by factors, not percentages, and significantly improving quality of service.
And with the flexibility to either use scheme rules and mappers at the last mile or use existing gateways, framework solutions mean that scheme connectivity becomes a much smaller headache.
By embracing this new model of consolidation, banks can finally break free of legacy complexity and realise the foundational objectives of any transformation project: enabling innovation, reducing costs, and strengthening resilience and compliance.
But for consolidation to be successful, a clear strategy is needed outlining why transformation is needed, what ‘good looks like’ in terms of the target state, and finally, how to actually get there. Guided by this blueprint, banks can then leverage a feature-rich development framework to reimagine the payments processing value chain, consolidate their infrastructure, and lead payments forward.
Any bank in the business of processing payments should now be focused on sustainably moving towards a single, consolidated payments infrastructure that supports any payment, anytime, anywhere
By Monica Sasso, Digital Transformation Lead, Global FS Red Hat
FB: Monica, you’ve led digital transformation initiatives for over two decades. What first inspired your passion for technology in financial services?
MS: It was less about technology or financial services (FS) and more about using innovation to solve problems. With an MSc in Engineering, problem-solving has always been a passion of mine. Combined with my background in leading large programmes and teams in FS, I’ve been fortunate to merge passion and experience to drive meaningful change in an industry we all have a vested interest in seeing operate efficiently and safely.
FB: In your current role at Red Hat, how are you helping banks, insurers, and fintechs use open source, hybrid cloud, and AI to balance innovation with risk and cost management?
MS: I work as a trusted advisor to financial services clients adopting technology. We’re
helping firms reduce the complexity of AI, making it easier to embrace any model, accelerator, or cloud. Together, we figure out how to adopt open source technology in context, minimising risk while maximising technology investments.
FB: You’ve been recognised as an IBM Industry Diamond. How has this recognition influenced your journey as a thought leader in financial services?
MS: It is an honour to be part of the IBM Industry Academy, and I’m the only Red Hatter in FS recognised as such—equivalent to a tech company’s distinguished engineer programme. My industry expertise is recognised in the same way as engineering expertise, which is powerful because all the tools in the world are useless unless used properly. IBM has done a great job bridging that gap, enabling real digital transformation. Being an Industry Diamond and Distinguished Industry Leader has allowed me to work with others on cutting-edge technologies and their applications.
FB: What themes or conversations are front of mind at the moment?
MS: Daily conversations with clients revolve around operational resilience, digital sovereignty, and generative AI –specifically, how to innovate, modernise, and tackle tech debt amid the GenAI buzz. A resilient, open source infrastructure underpins operational resilience and sovereignty, with cloud concentration risk, resilience testing, trusted supply chains, cybersecurity, and regulation on critical third parties all key factors. Clients are also realising resilience extends beyond IT to teams, tools, and ways of working. Cross-functional teams and greater agility will become more common.
It’s not easy to reduce tech debt, comply with resilience rules, innovate, and
manage costs. I believe standardising infrastructure, codifying as much as possible (infrastructure-as-code and continuous compliance), and adopting open source are the safest ways to achieve these aims while building a future-proof IT stack.
Everyone is grappling with how to use generative AI safely, fairly, and transparently, making it more than just a shiny toy. From the C-level view, it’s about being stickier to customers and enabling better digital-first outcomes, such as offering the right mortgage product at the right time. Banks have long used AI with ethics guardrails and model risk management; the focus now is on democratising AI/ML, preparing data, and providing a common platform (like a containerised hybrid cloud) so data scientists can experiment without worrying about infrastructure.
With the rise of generative AI, cost pressures, and resilient modernisation comes the challenge of digital sovereignty. Firms are asking how to future-proof against geopolitical risks. Transparency, choice, and flexibility in technology make it easier for firms to align sovereignty strategies with their risk appetite.
FB: What needs to change in the fintech ecosystem to increase the number of women in leadership — and what role do you see yourself playing?
MS: “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it.” Just as visibility in women’s sports has driven participation, the same is true for women in tech leadership. Many young women won’t join firms if they don’t see people like them at the top – and rightly so. The more women are represented in PE/VC and fintech, and the more firms adopt diverse perspectives, the faster change will occur. If we serve a diverse world, we need diverse personas shaping solutions – just as the open source community produces the best, most transparent software.
FB: As chairwoman of Red Hat’s Global Women’s Leadership Community, what advice would you give to women aspiring to build impactful fintech and RegTech careers?
MS: Technologists come in all shapes and sizes, and diverse perspectives lead to better solutions. With the shift to generative AI, we need more than developers and data scientists. Artists, creatives, marketers, and engineers of all kinds are needed to help shape data and outcomes. After all, we are all just humans using a new tool.
The more we see women in PE/VC and in fintechs, and the more firms continue to embrace the variety and difference of views and perspectives that all sorts of diverse people can bring, that change will happen
All the tools in the world are useless unless they are used properly
By Danai Antoniou, Co-Founder & Chief Scientist, Gradient Labs
FB: Danai, you’ve been named one of nine female fintech founders to watch by Sifted. Looking back, what inspired you to co-found Gradient Labs, and what problem are you most determined to solve?
DA: I think what really drove me was seeing how much human talent gets wasted on tasks that don’t need to be done by humans. At Monzo, the sheer scale of operations – keeping things compliant, keeping customers safe – it was obvious how much energy goes into repetitive work. Necessary, yes, but draining.
Gradient Labs was born from a strong belief that we can do better. We thought: AI shouldn’t just answer simple FAQs, it should be able to take on the complex and messy tasks that banks have avoided automating. For me, the real mission is simple – make financial services safer, and at the same time, more human with AI.
FB: Earlier in your career at Monzo, you built the bank’s first real-time fraud detection system, preventing billions in potential losses. How did that experience shape the way you think about financial crime and innovation today?
DA: It showed me that fraud never sits still. Criminals adapt faster than anyone expects. So building that sys-
tem wasn’t just about algorithms – it was about creating something that could shift and adjust as attacks changed. That shaped how I look at innovation now. I don’t aim for a single flawless model, because fraud will outpace it anyway. The goal is resilience. Systems that keep learning, that flag new behaviours quickly. That’s the lesson I carried into Gradient Labs and how we’re building today.
FB: Fraud, compliance, and customer trust are often in tension. Where do you see AI making the biggest impact in helping financial institutions strike the right balance?
DA: The impact comes from context. Most current systems are binary: too strict, and you frustrate genuine customers; too loose, and you let fraud through. Neither works.
What’s different now is that AI can learn human-like patterns of decision-making. It doesn’t just process signals, but also interprets them in context, much like an experienced compliance officer would. Institutions can now reduce losses, keep customers happy, and still give compliance teams confidence in the decisions being made.
FB: With the rise of deepfake scams, synthetic identities, and the new EU AI Act, what do you see as the most addressing challenges – and opportunities – for fintechs right now?
DA: The hard part is that threats are becoming more sophisticated just as regulation gets stricter. That’s a lot to handle at once.
But there’s a real upside, too. Regulations like the EU AI Act are forcing fin-
Danai Antoniou is the Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Gradient Labs, the AI-native startup that is redefining customer support in regulated industries. With a background in Machine Learning, Danai focuses on creating secure and compliant AI agents for complex customer queries. Previously, she worked at Monzo Bank as a Staff Machine Learning Engineer and holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Oxford.
techs to build trust and transparency into their systems from the very beginning. If you can create AI that stands up to deepfakes and is auditable for regulators, you’re not just ticking a compliance box. You’re actually protecting people –and I believe that’s where real competitive strength comes from.
FB: As one of the few female founders in AI-driven fintech, what advice would you give to other women aspiring to build and lead in this space?
DA: First, don’t be surprised if people underestimate you. It happens, especially in fintech. I’ve had moments where technical questions were aimed at my male colleagues instead of me, even when I was the one who built the systems being discussed. That can be frustrating, but you can turn it into motivation.
Second, find allies who genuinely amplify your voice. It makes a big difference. And maybe most important: don’t wait until you feel ready. Nobody feels ready to start a company in a space as complex as fintech. You figure it out by doing.
By Anna Koritz, Global Head of Transaction Banking, SAP Fioneer
FB: What inspired your career path into transaction banking, and how has your journey shaped your leadership style?
AK: I started my journey into Transaction Banking as a Management Consultant with EY in Sweden, conducting cash management studies for large Nordic multinationals. I really enjoyed how tangible the benefits of good cash management practices are.
When I later joined RBS/NatWest to lead their international cash management team, it felt like a natural transition, allowing me to build directly on my previous experience with corporates and banks.
Now at SAP Fioneer1, I continue to leverage that tangible experience to help banks deliver leading-edge cash management solutions to their banking customers on a global scale.
What drew me to SAP Fioneer was its unique position in the market as an independent company carved out of SAP, combining the credibility of proven solutions with the agility to innovate. It’s a rare opportunity to be part of something that’s both grounded in decades of expertise and driven by a fresh, entrepreneurial spirit.
FB: How do you see women’s representation evolving in fintech and financial services, and what still needs to change?
AK: We’re going in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go, especially on the technology side.
We need more senior female role models in tech, not just to inspire young, talented women entering the field, but also to help senior leadership teams
1 https://www.sapfioneer.com/
across the Fintech industry understand the opportunity diversity brings.
There’s plenty of evidence that diverse teams are more effective. Our industry still has untapped, high-value potential to unlock in this regard.
FB: In a rapidly transforming landscape — with AI, digital assets, and realtime payments — what excites you most about the future of transaction banking?
AK: It’s really rewarding to work in an industry that keeps evolving – and currently at such a pace that it is hard to keep up! There’s a constant stream of
new thought leadership being published and emerging new use cases to explore. For that reason, I think it is important for banks to look at highly configurable tech solutions. That way, you can respond to customer needs that may not even be on your radar today.
FB: Sibos 2025 brings together global leaders to discuss the future of finance. What themes or trends from Sibos do you think will shape transaction banking over the next decade?
AK: Obviously, AI is highly significant, and we are now definitely turning the cor-
Anna Koritz has extensive experience in Transaction Banking from EY Management Consulting, from NatWest where she was a Managing Director in Global Transaction Services and from Capita where she led significant operational payments and treasury teams and also delivered large Customer Experience solutions to prominent Financial Services clients.
ner from hype to tangible implementations. At SAP Fioneer, we are busy embedding AI technology within our applications.
I believe digital currencies will also be a big topic at Sibos 2025, and I look forward to engaging with the community to help build a clearer view of where this conversation will lead. At the moment, we are drifting toward potentially suboptimal fragmentation, and this will be another interesting area to watch.
FB: How is SAP Fioneer positioning itself in light of the discussions at Sibos around innovation, regulation, and customer trust?
AK: These are precisely the themes that define SAP Fioneer. Our solutions stand out for their robustness, shaped by our deep SAP heritage and the expertise of our financial services experts with decades of experience. Simultaneously, we are committed to evolving through coinnovation with our customers to meet their needs for regulatory compliance and customer satisfaction. “Rock solid technology, bold creativity” is our tagline, and that expresses this well.
FB: What are some of the biggest challenges women in fintech face today, and how can industry leaders help break those barriers?
AK: We lack role models, and this negatively impacts subliminal expectations. Leaders in our industry must
What drew me to SAP Fioneer was its unique position in the market as an independent company carved out of SAP, combining the credibility of proven solutions with the agility to innovate
invest in female talent. Mentoring and training opportunities are valuable, but what will truly build the talent pool is to trust women with the big jobs.
As a leader, I hope to inspire my colleagues and customers to share my enthusiasm for solutions that truly add value
Place trust in women – give them opportunities – and I am confident we will find they deliver. This will provide you with the value of their absolute contribution, as well as the additional value created by diverse teams.
FB: What advice would you share with young women aspiring to leadership roles in fintech and banking?
AK: Go for it! You will have fun while adding value to society. Fintech and banks are an essential part of society. See the bigger picture – take pride in playing your part.
By Steve Morgan, Industry Market Leader, Banking, Pega
SIBOS is opening its doors for four days of thoughtprovoking presentations, panels and meetings focusing on the next frontier of global finance. Experts from across the world will gather in Frankfurt to address the transformations helping reshape the financial ecosystems and the ways we drive greater connectivity and resilience. As a SIBOS veteran, it’s always an exciting opportunity to attend the conference and come together as a collective to discuss innovations, challenges and solutions for our sector. During last year’s SIBOS in Beijing, panellists focused on operational resilience and digitalisation with emphasis on using AI and automation to ease tariff pressures. This year’s agenda shares some of the above hot topics and concerns, but it also reflects the latest updates in technology, security and regulations.
This year, agentic AI has featured prominently in banking conversations due to its huge potential. The sector is looking at ways to adopt agents and thereby gain autonomous capabilities. Many banks are re-evaluating their processes to see how AI agents can work with existing rulebased and policy-based frameworks. AI agents can for sure be applied and lead to greater levels of automation and improved service levels, but we shouldn’t forget that it is always within bank risk and regulatory parameters and within an escalation framework and existing process.
With that said, some elements of the technology are new and can be unpredictable or create mistakes (I don’t buy into the term ‘hallucinations’... they aren’t literally seeing stuff, it’s just a mistake or error!?). The possibility of generating errors is leading some to put a pause on a bigger implementation. However, there
are ways of ensuring accuracy that surpass the capabilities of even the best employees. We’ve seen that with clients already achieving accuracy levels of 99.5% where the best employee was 95%.
For the technology to be a success in banking, agentic AI solutions should be completely transparent and ensure that every agent is predictable, audited, and aligned to achieve the business’ objectives. SIBOS is an ideal forum to navigate new technologies, its benefits and its earlyadoption potential pitfalls. But it’s also an opportunity to collectively discuss potential solutions for those concerns.
Another key theme we’ll see being discussed at SIBOS is cybersecurity in banking. Panellists will be exploring various topics such as cyber trends, compliance and how AI can support in predict-
ing and tackling such threats. This focus on cyber is certainly justified!
A recent survey by Statista confirmed that last year, cyberattacks against financial institutions saw a considerable increase, with a 65% rate of ransomware attacks reported globally, up from 34% in 2021. With criminals equipped with AI and other advanced technologies, their attempts have become so sophisticated that it’s getting more difficult to recognise. And that’s proving to be costly for the sector both financially and reputationally.
For example, in 2023, the ICBC, the world’s largest bank, was the target of a ransomware attack. This interrupted their operations so much that they were required to shift to using USB sticks! Despite this, banks are not completely defenceless! With the right integration of AI into backend systems, operations, and their customers, banks can shield themselves against fraudulent activities. There’s an increased space for not just upgrading the technology, but also the penetration testing and approaches.
Machine Learning AI being applied to data and fraud triggers is not new, but the capabilities have improved considerably for preventing new and existing threats, and offering real-time detection. With this improved detection, the focus then shifts to prevention as well as dealing with issues as quickly and accurately as possible.
SIBOS will provide a platform for experts to discuss how advanced technologies can support businesses and customers in addressing identified incidents, as well as securely and efficiently predict and manage future threats.
AI is an integral tool for all sectors, including banking, and as it continues to be embedded within operations and systems, we need to make sure it’s predictable, transparent, unbiased and effective. Especially now with agentic AI being able to operate independently, sufficient governance structures are needed to enable risk-mitigated operation and control of these agents.
AI regulation is still evolving, with specific policies already unique across regions. In Europe, the EU AI Act, which kicked off on August 1, 2024, is set to be fully enforceable by August 2, 2026. The act aims to ensure AI is developed and used in a responsible manner by protecting citizens’ health, safety, and fundamental rights, while also encouraging innovation. Although the act is not fully in force, some guidelines within it have already started this year.
to its huge potential
In Australia, although the region does not currently have AI-specific laws, it regulates the technology through existing legislation that focuses on privacy, consumer protection, and cybersecurity, as well as a voluntary AI Ethics Framework. Additionally, the banking sector in Australia already has quarterly review points on notable areas such as credit, collections, risk-weighted asset coverage and the models and how they were working. So, as AI is likely to touch those areas, similar governance and oversight would be anticipated.
Across the pond, the United States has previously introduced several key legislative measures to regulate AI. But the current political landscape is so complex and unpredictable, and that makes it even more challenging to implement one unified AI policy. So much so that some believe there will be a ban on regulating AI in certain states.
Because AI regulations are still not fully clear, banks have been moving cautiously with adoption. For example, through my conversations with banking leaders, any early generative AI (GenAI) projects have been so far in the back office operations and customer service areas and have not touched customer-facing processes directly (i.e. humans are in the loop at least, or it is not a customer-facing process).
As AI and GenAI-driven models become more deeply integrated into banking services, businesses will obviously need to ensure regulations and similar guidelines are closely followed and met. Regulations will drive safe and ethical innovation and, most importantly, they will help build trust as customers will have peace of mind and know that they are protected. However, the banks’ own risk appetites and policies will also come into effect here.
Last but definitely not least, SIBOS will again discuss how to accommodate the complex sanctions regimes that must be managed and how their know-
your-customer (KYC) processes can keep pace. With the ongoing geopolitical tensions across the world, sanction lists continue to be revised and updated against groups or individuals.
The complexity and risk associated with sanctions make it easy to slip up when onboarding new customers or monitoring transactions. This has also made it more difficult to review and evaluate contacts. It’s therefore critical to be able to rely on technology to support a secure and efficient way to deal with sanctions.
The environment, along with often ineffective legacy systems, can complicate how banks avoid unintentional noncompliance with new sanction measures and put strain on their KYC processes and service levels. It’s important – yet difficult – for banks to find a balance between how the KYC process should remain accurate, up-to-date and compliant while also providing efficiency to their customers.
The ability to transform legacy KYC, CLM and associated systems is far more advanced than even 12 months ago. Rethinking and redesigning processes can be accelerated using GenAI, and huge improvements are possible in operations. We are seeing clients achieve 80% reductions in effort levels alongside 40-50% improvements in service levels. And all that with heightened quality. The frontier of improvement opportunity is big. The ability to get to Perpetual or always-on KYC is real. And the capability to introduce change far quicker is with us, both for cloud and on-premise solutions.
This year’s SIBOS has a lot of ground to cover. From the latest AI advancements to the persisting tariffs and the economic uncertainty linked to geopolitical tensions, banks and technology experts will use the opportunity to discuss how to progress safely and without compromising innovation. It’s exciting to see the array of solutions and tools already available to mitigate current and future risks, as well as the potential of new technology that can support commercial banking.
By Darius Chin, Chief Executive Director, Masterpay Global Pte Ltd
Interview with Darius Chin, Chief Executive Director of Masterpay Global Pte Ltd, on bridging traditional finance with digital payment innovation and scaling global remittance solutions.
FB: Can you tell us about Masterpay Global – when it was established, the products and services you provide, and the team driving your growth?
DC: Masterpay Global was founded to bridge the gap between traditional financial infrastructure and modern digital payment needs. From our base in Kuala Lumpur & Singapore, with operations across Hong Kong and the Middle East, we specialise in wallet solutions, prepaid card programs with Mastercard, Visa, and UnionPay, as well as cross-border remittance rails.
FB: What are Masterpay Global’s main expectations from Sibos this year, and which themes do you see as most relevant to your mission and clients?
DC: Sibos is the perfect stage for us to deepen partnerships with banks, fintech innovators, and regulatory technology providers.
FB: Masterpay Global leverages Mastercard Control in its remittance services. How does this solution improve transparency, security, and efficiency for offshore companies managing crossborder payroll and disbursements?
DC: Mastercard Control allows us to set transaction-level rules, giving corpo-
Darius Chin, Chief Executive Director of Masterpay Global Pte Ltd, on bridging traditional finance with digital payment innovation and scaling global remittance solutions.
rates full oversight of their payroll disbursements.
Transparency: Corporations can preset transaction conditions, ensuring every payment is traceable and rule-based.
Security: Fraud risk is reduced with automatic monitoring and AML/KYC triggers.
Efficiency: Payroll cycles are faster, with smoother reconciliation and reduced administrative burden.
This has been especially valuable for offshore companies handling thousands of employee payments across multiple countries.
FB: Masterpay Global positions itself with the promise “Your Brand, Our API.” How do your customizable white-label API solutions help businesses launch and scale financial products?
DC: With “Your Brand, Our API,” our clients can bring fintech products to market under their own brand
identity, while we provide the licensed infrastructure.
Through our APIs, partners can:
• Issue branded cards with advanced spend controls.
• Launch wallets that handle multiple currencies and cross-border transfers.
• Enable seamless disbursement services for payroll, supply chains, and marketplaces.
This helps businesses scale faster without heavy upfront investment, while staying compliant.
FB: Who are your main customers today, and which regions do you currently cover with your remittance and white-label services?
DC: Our customers range from offshore corporates and payroll providers to e-commerce sellers, recruitment agencies, and fintech startups.
In terms of geography, we are active across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Turkey, and the Middle East, with growing interest from European and offshore financial centres.
FB: Innovation is central to your brand strategy. How are you applying technologies like Web3 and digital finance infrastructure to enhance your remittance services and whitelabel solutions, particularly for offshore companies?
DC: We are integrating Web3 finance infrastructure into our payment rails, giving clients faster and lower-cost settlement options.
Some examples include:
Digital Asset Bridging: Enabling compliant conversion between fiat and digital assets for payroll and e-commerce.
Next-Gen Wallets: Building multicurrency wallets with embedded blockchain settlement options.
For offshore companies, this means greater speed, lower cost, and compliance assurance — a combination that’s critical in today’s globalised economy.
