Latest long reads: Finextra Research

Which banks are leading the AI adoption race in late 2025?

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

Which banks are leading the AI adoption race in late 2025?

AI is top of mind in many banking circles right now. What a leading intelligence platform shared in its annual banking industry AI Index Roundtable is that for those institutions that have prioritised AI in their internal – and increasingly external – activities and operations, they’re widening the gap over those which haven’t. And it is getting t...

10 hours /ai

Agentic AI is here: Are we ready to govern it?

Nimish Panchmatia Chief Data & Transformation Officer at DBS Bank

Agentic AI is here: Are we ready to govern it?

Agentic AI and what does it mean for banking The financial industry is on the brink of a profound shift. Over the past few years, AI has evolved from rule-based automation to advanced models capable of simulating human reasoning. Now, with the rise of agentic AI - systems which can independently initiate and execute actions - we are entering uncha...

22 October 2025 /Sibos

How can banks improve their onboarding processes?

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

How can banks improve their onboarding processes?

In a report published by UK Finance in January 2025, the trade association stated that in an “increasingly competitive and congested financial services industry, with legacy banks and fintechs going head to head, improving the customer onboarding experience is key for those serious about growth.” Onboarding is the process by which financial insti...

21 October 2025 /retail

Pig butchering, bitcoin, and the biggest crypto seizure in DoJ history: What it means for fintech

Madhvi Sonia Head of Content at Finextra

Pig butchering, bitcoin, and the biggest crypto seizure in DoJ history: What it means for fintech

Last week, the Department of Justice filed the largest ever forfeiture action against $15 billion in bitcoin currently in US custody. A DoJ press release revealed that an indictment was unsealed in federal court that charged Cambodian national Chen Zhi, founder and chairman of Prince Holding Group, with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering...

20 October 2025 /crime

Pre-payment KYP: The next frontier for cross-border payments

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

Pre-payment KYP: The next frontier for cross-border payments

Tackling fraud and misdirected payments is a war of two fronts: it must be waged both domestically and across borders. Thus far, the fight against domestic fraud has been something of a success, with local pre-payment checks – such as the United Kingdom’s Confirmation of Payee (CoP), introduced in 2020, and Europe’s Verification of Payee (VoP), eff...

20 October 2025 /payments

The GENIUS Act’s impact on foreign stablecoin issuers

Gavin Meyers Partner at Pierson Ferdinand LLP

The GENIUS Act’s impact on foreign stablecoin issuers

The US is in the midst of redrawing the map for stablecoins. With the signing of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) into law on 18 July, 2025, foreign (non-US) stablecoin issuers face a new reality: issuing, offering, and/or selling payment stablecoins in the US will soon be tightly regulated, with...

17 October 2025 /regulation

The rise of Erebor: What SVB’s fall sparked in venture finance

Madhvi Sonia Head of Content at Finextra

The rise of Erebor: What SVB’s fall sparked in venture finance

Erebor - a new bank with ties to President Donald Trump’s administration and backed by Peter Thiel’s venture firm Founders Fund - has been approved to launch by the OCC. Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould highlighted today that this is “also proof that the OCC under my leadership does not impose blanket barriers to banks that want to en...

16 October 2025 /wealth

Sehrish Alikhan Reporter at Finextra

The state of payment processing in 2025

Small and medium sized business (SMB) owners are continuously challenged with not only running their business, but also adapting to evolving technologies and consumer demands at the checkout. New payment options like buy now pay later (BNPL) and embedded finance have become essential, which has impacted the relationship between merchants and their...

16 October 2025 /Sibos

EU Sustainability Omnibus Act passed – what does it mean for the future of sustainable reporting?

Sehrish Alikhan Reporter at Finextra

EU Sustainability Omnibus Act passed – what does it mean for the future of sustainable reporting?

This week the European Parliament passed a vote to cut sustainability reporting and due diligence laws. The Sustainability Omnibus Act was proposed on 26 February 2025, pushing for cuts to sustainability regulations as outlined in the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) to...

15 October 2025 /sustainable

How do corporates measure satisfaction in global banking providers today?

Scott Hamilton Contributing Editor at Finextra Research

How do corporates measure satisfaction in global banking providers today?

“90% of the corporates (surveyed) are happy with bank services, and they are likely to stay.” "70% (of corporates) are already using third parties (for bank services.)” - Results from a recent Swift survey of corporates regarding satisfaction with their banking partners These two stats – curious in what they really mean when considered togethe...

14 October 2025 /Sibos

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

What is Open Finance?

On 13 October 2025, the FCA announced a partnership to accelerate the delivery of Open Finance in the UK: “We've been working with the industry to deliver Open Finance,” it said in a press release, “which will give people control over how they manage their money and plan their finances for the future.” This news came ahead of the launch of the FC...

13 October 2025 /payments

What Swift’s blockchain ledger means for stablecoin innovation

Ram Gopal Professor at University of Warwick

What Swift’s blockchain ledger means for stablecoin innovation

At Sibos in Frankfurt, Swift announced it will add a blockchain-based shared ledger to its infrastructure stack. For a co-operative best known for messaging standards, this is a profound shift: moving from coordinating instructions to coordinating on-chain state, with the aim of enabling 24/7, instant, and programmable cross-border transactions at ...

13 October 2025 /crypto

Long reads