Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

16 January 2026

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Ben Goldin, Founder and CEO of Plumery, explores the key banking trends for 2026 – from fraud and digital assets to stablecoins and AI applications

As we head into the second half of the decade, several emerging trends will come to the fore in 2026. The interconnectedness among these trends is also noteworthy. Artificial intelligence (AI) and progressive modernisation act as common threads.

A strong current throughout 2026 is the shift from customer-first banking to human-first banking. This relates to the concept of ethical banking. It focuses on creating financial services that have a positive social and environmental impact. 

Human-first banking aims to get even closer to the customer by understanding their actual human needs, rather than just consumer needs. For example, a bank should be acting as a coach to improve a customer’s financial health, not solely as an advisor on which products they should buy. Banks can build trust in a digital world through tailored and empathetic interactions, effectively simulating the experience customers formerly had with their personal banker.

To attain that level of hyper-personalisation, banks will need to be capable of processing vast amounts of transactional data, which can only be accomplished by deploying AI and big data tools. This requirement, in turn, will turbocharge progressive modernisation, another trend that has been bubbling under the surface for the past few years.

Traditional banks are using progressive modernisation to deal with legacy infrastructure that is not fit for purpose in a digital-first, AI-driven world. Instead of a big bang replacement of core banking systems, which is risky and can take years, banks are creating change from within existing architecture. Banking is leveraging technologies that support a multi-core strategy. With this approach, banks can add new cores for specific products that require greater agility and innovation. Modern cores are necessary for deploying the latest AI and big data tools because they provide a unified, real-time data foundation to deliver hyper-personalisation.

Fraud Threats

Fraud will remain a top concern throughout 2026. Adversaries use AI to expand the range of techniques, such as impersonation scams and identity theft, as well as accelerate and scale fraudulent activity.

According to the UK Finance Half Year Fraud Report 2025, £629.3 million was stolen by criminals in the first six months of this year, and there were 2.09 million confirmed cases across both authorised and unauthorised fraud. Card not present cases rose 22% to 1.65 million and accounted for 58% of all unauthorised fraud losses.

However, the good news is that there was a 21% increase in prevented card fraud in the first half of 2025. The £682 million which was stopped from being stolen is the highest-ever figure reported.

To combat fraud, new and improved tools to help banks identify, verify and onboard customers will come to market in 2026. The move away from paper-based identity (ID) and widespread adoption of digital ID will play a key role in the fight against fraud. Hence the UK government’s recently announced plans to roll out a new digital ID scheme.

In addition, I expect to see a fundamental shift in fraud detection using real-time behavioural analytics, data analytics for proactive risk identification, and other applications of AI and machine learning in this space.

Digital Assets and Stablecoins

Digital ID verification is also essential for fighting fraud in the digital assets and stablecoins space. Another hot topic at several banking and payments industry conferences last year.   

In 2026, digital assets and stablecoins will become much more mainstream. Banks have left the sidelines and are now actively engaged with running pilots. For example, in September a consortium of nine European banks, including CaixaBank, ING and UniCredit, announced an initiative to launch a euro-denominated stablecoin.

Central banks and regulators are developing a comprehensive agenda for digital assets. Banks will need to blend traditional fiat currencies and assets with their digital counterparts. This trend is also driving a progressive modernisation approach, as legacy core banking systems weren’t designed to manage digital assets, nor do they support moving money via blockchain-based rails. I expect to see more banks looking to deploy a multi-core strategy where digital assets are managed and stored elsewhere, but they can still provide a seamless and unified experience to customers.

AI

Last year, I predicted that the industry would adopt a ‘meet-in-the-middle’ approach to AI, with banks beginning to uncover the real value that the technology can deliver. I also predicted consolidation, recalibration and stabilisation in the market.

GenAI Banking Applications

My predictions held true, by and large. In 2025, institutions explored what is possible, relevant and achievable within the banking context, then specifically for each individual institution within its legacy architectures and technological environments.

This trend will evolve into more practical actions and initiatives over the next 12 months to provide greater clarity around where GenAI shines versus where it’s not applicable.

To gain clarity, it’s important to understand the difference between AI and GenAI. The latter is built on stochastic principles, which uses probability to model systems that appear to vary in a random manner. This means that the same input could potentially generate different outputs – this isn’t acceptable for automated financial operations, which requires much more determinism. Hence, I believe that GenAI will be used chiefly in scenarios where there’s human intervention.

One area where GenAI is applicable is in conversational applications. For example, banks will begin launching more interactive user interfaces. Customers will be able to interact with the bank as they would a human. Moving beyond simple, frequently asked questions to actual actions.

GenAI in the Back Office

Similarly in the back office, banks can leverage GenAI to provide guidance to their employees and accelerate certain tasks. Using the technology to improve efficiency and help staff do more will have a positive impact on customer experience. Processes will take much less time.

It will also help to bring unbanked segments or non-standard customers, which are difficult and costly to onboard because they require a bespoke assessment, into regulated financial services. Applying GenAI can make the bespoke process much more efficient by providing data-driven insights to support faster and smarter decision-making. This will make it much cheaper to serve these segments. Including smaller and medium-sized enterprises, which will drive financial inclusion and improve customers’ financial health.

Learn more at plumery.com

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Cybersecurity in FinTech
  • Digital Strategy
  • Fintech & Insurtech
  • InsurTech

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

7 January 2026

Estimated Read time

5Mins

FinTech Strategy hears from the experts at DeepL, PagerDuty, Bitpace and Pleo who assess the impact of AI, crypto, stablecoins, tokenised payments and more on financial services in 2026

Looking back at 2025, it was a pivotal year for financial services. The past 12 months have been marked by growing regulatory pressure, publicised outages, and a renewed focus on decentralised finance. In January, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) officially came into force across the EU, imposing new obligations on banks, insurers, investment firms and their technology providers to better manage ICT risks, report incidents and ensure continuity of operations.

That regulatory shift has come at a time when real-world failures are under intense scrutiny. A report from the Treasury Committee, prompted by a wave of IT glitches, revealed that nine of the UK’s largest banks and building societies suffered at least 803 hours of unplanned outages between January 2023 and February 2025, equivalent to more than 33 days of downtime. Alongside revision of traditional finance strategy, pro-crypto policy emerging from the US with the new administration has also buoyed investor confidence in newer assets like stablecoins, with the global market slated to hit $500 to $750 billion in coming years.

These events have reinforced a hard truth across the sector: digital infrastructure is no longer just a supporting pillar, it is mission-critical. Against this backdrop, many firms are now rethinking how they build, monitor and respond to technology risk. In this transformational moment, the voices below outline why 2026 may well become the year financial services firms turn lessons into lasting change, providing predictions about FS in 2026.

Eduardo Crespo, VP EMEA, PagerDuty:

“By 2026, financial services firms have turned hard-won lessons from the Treasury’s 2025 outage reports into action. Years of costly downtime and lost trust pushed the industry to rebuild around resilience. Always-on access is non-negotiable. Customers leave if they can’t transact in real time, and regulators are watching. In response, banks are overhauling legacy stacks and embedding AI at the core of incident management.

“AI isn’t a pilot project anymore, it’s become part of frontline defence. Systems now detect and diagnose disruption before it happens, enabling predictive maintenance and softening the blow of unplanned events. In 2026, resilience is a competitive edge.”

Anil Oncu, CEO, Bitpace:

“By 2026, digital assets will no longer be considered emerging. They will be fully embedded in mainstream finance. The shift is accelerating, driven by clearer regulation and stronger institutional participation across the US, UK and Europe. Pro-crypto policy is now the backbone of a global effort to build stablecoin-powered commerce at scale.

“In the UK, the Bank of England’s decision to allow stablecoin reserves to be held in short-term government debt is a significant signal of confidence. In the US, the GENIUS Act provides long-overdue oversight for dollar-backed tokens and replaces years of ambiguity with a clear path to legitimacy and widespread adoption.

“As global stablecoin supply moves beyond $300 billion, these digital dollars will support a rapidly increasing share of cross-border transactions. They reduce fees, eliminate settlement friction, and outperform traditional rails in both speed and transparency. At the same time, regulators are finally moving in the right direction. Stablecoins are moving from a speculative tool into a trusted infrastructure layer for modern payments.

“By 2026, digital assets will no longer sit alongside traditional finance. They will power its next phase of development. Stablecoins, crypto ETFs, and tokenised payments will be used directly within the financial stack and will be part of everyday business and consumer activity worldwide. This is not hype. It is execution, and the market is already moving.”

Ed Crook, VP Strategy & Operations, DeepL:

“2026 will be make-or-break for many financial services providers. In a competitive market, the edge goes to providers who adopt useful AI to cut through inefficient workflows. In this sector, where every interaction is highly regulated and reputational risk is acute, businesses need the right tools for the job. This includes data protection, account security, compliance, IT ops and customer service – keeping fundamental lines of communication open and effective. These are all areas where AI is already solving critical problems.

“AI is fast becoming the connective tissue of international finance, and this trend will continue in 2026, particularly in customer engagement and operational support. Our FS research found that over a third (37%) of client interactions in UK finance already involve AI. Over half (52%) use AI for multilingual translation, the top use case, directly addressing linguistic fragmentation. Moving into the new year, Language AI will be a key practical tool for financial services firms. But these companies first need to iron out their strategy around AI integration. Staff will inevitably look for workarounds if the tools provided don’t meet their needs. This is why companies need to get ahead by providing secure, fit-for-purpose solutions. By building a collaborative approach between IT and frontline teams, and avoiding pitfalls around shadow AI, financial service firms can maintain a unified, strategy approach to AI deployment, protecting against cybersecurity threats, while still realising the full benefits of trusted AI.”

Jeppe Rindom, CEO and Co-Founder, Pleo:

“Automation and “agentification” will redefine the fintech landscape. Most of what’s considered operational today will be handled by intelligent systems, from finance ops to customer support. That playing field will level and expectations will rise.

“To stand out, companies will need to inject identity – the one thing only humans can create. That could be through exceptional product design and user experience, considered use of human touchpoints where emotion and trust matter most, or the depth in which problems are solved for customers, not just how fast they can be solved.

“As the average becomes automated, greatness will come from creativity, clarity and crafting products and experiences that still feel unmistakably human.”

The Next 12 Months

The start of 2026 marks a massive turning point for financial services. After a year defined by renewed pressure on service uptime and improvement, around outages, regulatory pressure and rapid technological acceleration, the industry is now moving from reaction to reinvention.

In the coming year, we’ll see that firms embedding resilience, embracing intelligent automation and identifying new trends in service provision will lead the pack. The future of finance will hinge on trust, modernisation and operational strength, backed by technology.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Digital Payments