Latest long reads: Finextra Research

Europe’s Instant Payments Regulation and the 9 October deadline, explained

Madhvi Sonia Head of Content at Finextra

Europe’s Instant Payments Regulation and the 9 October deadline, explained

Adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council in March 2024, the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR) was set in motion to speed up the roll-out of instant payments in Europe and cover credit transfers denominated in euro within the EU. This regulation also amends the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) regulation, adds specific provisions...

10 October 2025 /regulation

Why the Government has the wrong approach to digital ID

Chris Holmes Peer at House of Lords

Why the Government has the wrong approach to digital ID

Digital ID holds the promise of improved lives, services and systems for citizen, consumer and country. But the Government’s current approach, suggesting mandatory digital ID to stop illegal immigration, is going about it in precisely the wrong way. Fintech benefits I have been writing about the potential benefits of digital ID for years. There...

09 October 2025 /identity

The devil is in the details: Delivering on the UK-US Digital Asset Taskforce

Simon Jennings Executive Director at UK Cryptoasset Business Council

The devil is in the details: Delivering on the UK-US Digital Asset Taskforce

Last month, the UK and US governments announced the creation of a new ‘Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future’ - a joint initiative to enhance collaboration on digital assets and foster innovation in cross-border markets. This is a huge step forward, and I want to take this moment to congratulate both sides on getting this over the line...

08 October 2025 /crypto

AI-powered banking agents: How FIs can support Europe’s micro-business long tail

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

AI-powered banking agents: How FIs can support Europe’s micro-business long tail

The small and micro-business long tail of Europe’s economy is vast. According to the European Commission, small businesses represent 99% of all European enterprises, and account for 48% of total employment within enterprises. Despite being the backbone of the economy – and critical to growth, innovation, and productivity – the small and micro-bus...

07 October 2025 /ai

Could FX strategies be a game-changer for corporate treasurers?

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

Could FX strategies be a game-changer for corporate treasurers?

With the macroeconomic outlook seeming more unpredictable than it has in years, the foreign exchange (FX) market is experiencing considerable volatility. Shifting trade policies are proving a notable headwind – driving liquidity and working capital challenges, as well as geopolitical uncertainty. Fortunately, there are opportunities to be seized a...

06 October 2025 /payments

Regulatory impact on cross-border payments

Dominique Dierks Senior Content Manager at Finextra

Regulatory impact on cross-border payments

This is an excerpt from a Sibos special edition report: The Future of Cross-Border Payments 2026: Strategies for Success. Cross-border payments are booming and show no sign of slowing down, with research from January 2025 forecasting the market to grow to $320 trillion by 2032. Yet as fintech firms and other tech-first financial institutions re&#...

03 October 2025 /Sibos

Sibos 2025: Are new products fulfilling their hyped-up promise? Part 3: ISO 20022

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Sibos 2025: Are new products fulfilling their hyped-up promise? Part 3: ISO 20022

When the Sibos 2025 conference was kicked off in Frankfurt, it was impossible to miss the positive vibes expressed during early addresses and attendee sessions, despite all the changes and challenges now facing the ‘traditional’ financial services industry. Indeed, those same Sibos luminaries and other banking industry leaders who extolled the pot...

02 October 2025 /Sibos

Financial crime and security in cross-border payments

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Financial crime and security in cross-border payments

This is an excerpt from a Sibos special edition report: The Future of Cross-Border Payments 2026: Strategies for Success. With the increased importance of security in the new digital payments' environment, how can mounting risks associated with fraud and crime be addressed in the financial marketplace? The banking landscape keeps changing, but the...

02 October 2025 /Sibos

Sibos 2025: Are new products fulfilling their hyped-up promise? Part 2: Digital assets

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Sibos 2025: Are new products fulfilling their hyped-up promise? Part 2: Digital assets

Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt featured dozens of sessions and presentations on the issues and opportunities surrounding digital currencies and their many offshoots. We visited forums covering recent developments and future projections for CBDCs, tokenised assets/deposits, and stablecoins, although it was clear that the stablecoin topic was the 'sexier' o...

01 October 2025 /Sibos

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is API standardisation?

Application programming interfaces (APIs) are a millennial innovation opened out to the financial sector through a series of open banking regulations – the first instalment of which, the Payment Services Directive, was introduced in 2007. APIs transport requests – in the form of data – from one system to the other, informing the provider what the...

01 October 2025 /payments

Emerging technologies revolutionising cross-border payments

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

Emerging technologies revolutionising cross-border payments

This is an excerpt from a Sibos special edition report: The Future of Cross-Border Payments 2026: Strategies for Success. Cutting-edge technologies like AI – and its content-creator cousin, GenAI – are set to revolutionise almost every area of the financial services industry. Particularly exposed to change is the payments landscape, with AI slated...

01 October 2025 /Sibos

Sibos 2025: Are new tools fulfilling their hyped-up promise? Part 1: Agentic AI

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Sibos 2025: Are new tools fulfilling their hyped-up promise? Part 1: Agentic AI

Frankfurt is the place to be right now if you’re an international banker, bank partner, fintech or service supplier, or industry regulator. What has Sibos 2025 shown us thus far? Agentic AI is starting to prove its promise, stablecoins, CBDCs, and tokenised deposits are on everyone’s minds – whether dreams or nightmares – and ISO 20022 is either ne...

30 September 2025 /Sibos

Long reads