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News and resources on regulation, compliance, legal and governance issues for banks and fintechs.

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Expert opinions

Gunnar Larsen

Gunnar Larsen Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at Tokenovate

Exception Management At The Speed of T Plus 1

Why getting it right now matters The transition to T+1 trade settlement isn’t just a regulatory requirement: it’s a reckoning for post-trade lifecycle management and operations. Budgets are being allocated and deployed. Timelines are contracting. For banks, asset managers, and financial market infrastructures (FMIs), the margin for error is va...

/regulation /markets Innovation in Financial Services

Joseph Ibitola

Joseph Ibitola Head of Demand Generation at Flagright

Payment Services Directive 3 (PSD3) and Payment Services Regulation: Impact on Payment Processors

Digital Payments Boom and New Fraud Threats: The EU’s retail payments market has grown massively, electronic payments in the EU reached €240 trillion in value in 2021 (up from €184 trillion in 2017). This surge, accelerated by COVID-19, brought new fintech players (e.g. open banking services) and more sophisticated fraud that undermines consumer

/payments /regulation SEPA and European Payments

Erica Andersen

Erica Andersen Marketing at smartR AI

Data to Action: AI-Driven Value for Financial Institutions

Are you drowning in dashboards but starving for insights? Financial institutions, from trading desks to portfolio management teams, invest heavily in data infrastructure. Yet, many struggle to connect this wealth of information to tangible business outcomes, particularly in today's volatile markets. The reality is clear: most financial institutio

/ai /regulation Artificial Intelligence and Financial Services

Kate Obiidykhata

Kate Obiidykhata Group Product Marketing Manager at Percona

Fintech, compliance and sustainable growth - can you cut your costs?

In the fintech sector, sustainable growth is the goal. While investment has gone up across the sector - Innovate Finance points to $24 billion across 2,597 deals during H1 2025, up six percent on H2 2024 - those investments are focused more on companies that have already proved their value and potential. In the BCG Global 2025 report, “sustainab...

/regulation /cloud

Ben O'Brien

Ben O'Brien Managing Director at Jaywing

PRA consultation signals a potential new route to IRB for mid-tier firms

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has opened consultation on measures that could reshape access to Internal Ratings Based (IRB) approaches for mid-tier lenders. Published on 31 July 2025, the discussion paper sets out options intended to lower long-standing barriers to accreditation, with responses invited until 31 October 2025. For many f...

/regulation

/regulation

Research

Event Report

The Outsourcing Imperative: The strategic importance of partnerships for cloud-based payments

The financial services industry is at a pivotal moment where cloud technology and strategic outsourcing offer pathways to enhanced operational efficiency and competitiveness. Explore the Outsourcing Imperative.  In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, managing complex financial systems has become increasingly challenging for banking providers. The demands of mature cloud technology, evolving payment rails, and channels such as real-time cross-border payments and stablecoins require innovative solutions. Additionally, regulatory differences by country and region add another layer of complexity, especially for banks operating across multiple borders.  With the buzz around generative AI and other emerging tools, financial institutions must consider outsourcing certain functions to maintain competitiveness and efficiency. Enhancing user experience and regulatory compliance are paramount, as customers now expect a variety of payment options, from digital wallets to AI-driven payment agents. Outsourcing becomes key in today’s payments landscape, and financial institutions are increasingly turning to Payments as a Service (PaaS) to navigate the complexities of modern banking operations.  This report highlights the key takeaways of a Finextra webinar, hosted in association with FIS, by a panel of industry experts. Discover:   Drivers for adopting cloud-based payments;  Why banks and cloud are still an unfinished story;  Why outsourcing is necessary in today's payments landscape; and  How banks can change the status quo through partnerships. 

81 downloads

Event Report

Modern payments excellence: Exploring diversification of channels, orchestration, and regulation

In today’s rapidly evolving financial landscape, integrating new payment channels has become essential for institutions aiming to stay competitive. Whether it's card-based, account-to-account, instant, or mobile—technological advancements and changing consumer preferences drive the need for diversified payment methods, requiring a strategic approach by banks often still too burdened by legacy to ensure seamless customer experiences and robust compliance. Financial institutions must not only navigate architectural complexities, but balance this with regulatory demands, and the integration of new technologies, all while maintaining the agility to adapt to future innovations.  Managing these challenges effectively is crucial for serving clients and customers in the best way possible, providing them with a wide range of choices and ensuring the availability of services in a time where outages still too often make the news. Leveraging modern technologies like tokenisation and APIs, financial institutions can create dynamic systems that cater to diverse consumer needs, enabling seamless management of multiple products and accounts. This openness is key to fostering resilience and driving change within the industry.  This report highlights the key takeaways of a Finextra webinar, hosted in association with Diebold Nixdorf, by a panel of industry experts. Discover:  How banks can keep pace in a digital, instant world;  Ensuring payments resilience and the impact of regulation;  Key modern infrastructure requirements; and  The benefits of microservices architecture. 

154 downloads

Event Report

Cross-border payments as the next fintech frontier

Economic, regulatory, and technological insights for enhanced cross-border solutions amidst economic uncertainty. Cross-border payments have become integral to the global financial ecosystem, driven by the expansion of international business operations. The need for efficient, secure, and cost-effective payment solutions is more pressing than ever, and fintechs are a crucial cog in the cross-border machine.  In 2025, businesses must contend with a dynamic financial environment shaped by market volatility, regulatory changes, and technological advancements. Factors like tariffs, sanctions, and supply chain shifts significantly impact foreign currency reserves, requiring agility from financial institutions and fintechs alike. To stay competitive, organisations must be more agile than ever before to leverage cutting-edge technologies and strategic partnerships, in order to enable them to respond swiftly to changes and maintain a competitive edge.  This report highlights the key takeaways of a Finextra webinar, hosted in association with Visa Direct, by a panel of industry experts. Discover how cross-border payments are affected by:  Economic and geopolitical considerations;  Technology and other fintech advantages;  Interoperability and regulatory considerations; and  CBDCs, stablecoins, and other innovations in the cross-border space. 

486 downloads

/regulation

FinextraTV

The Biggest Trends Driving Innovation in Payments Modernisation

Joining the FinextraTV studio at EBAday 2025 in Paris, Conor Colleary, Senior Vice President, Oracle Financial Services discusses ISO20022 developments. Describing the variations in preparedness - from fully prepared to more technically compliant - Colleary explains how the new messaging standards will enable massive data opportunities. Bringing Instant Payments into the conversation, Colleary also helps to contextualise how the payment sector is broadening out and enabling future innovations, such as QR codes, tokenisation in the back office and verification evolutions

/regulation

Long reads

Chris Holmes

Chris Holmes Peer at House of Lords

Is the UK 'overestimating the risk and underestimating the opportunity' of stablecoins?

I remember writing about the introduction of the Financial Services and Markets Bill in July 2022 and reflecting how the (then) Chancellor’s Mansion House speech had claimed “it reinforces the UK’s position as a leading centre for technology as we safely adopt crypto assets” stressing a “vision to make the UK one of the most dynamic financial cent...

Scott Hamilton

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Is ISO 20022 still important for financial institutions and their clients?

Is getting onboard with ISO 20022 important to you? That depends on your priorities: if you value accurate and standardised entry and management of payment and trade transaction communications and details, and you like to ensure your company’s payables and receivables are properly reconciled, it’s going to make all of that a much more simple and a...

Chris Holmes

Chris Holmes Peer at House of Lords

The Data (Use and Access) Act has passed - what will change and what’s next?

After six years in the making, the Data (Use and Access) Act is finally here. The Act gained Royal Assent on 19 June 2025 and is set to have a significant impact despite more controversial parts of the Bill being dropped before the law was passed. The Data Act amends the UK GDPR, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and the Data Pr...