Latest long reads: Finextra Research

How greenwashing is approached in the UK and EU

Last week, the Association of Financial Markets (AFME) in Europe released a report revealing how the UK and EU’s approach to greenwashing differ in the financial market. The report analysed how financial institution regulators approach greenwashing mitigation, taking into account sustainability-related statements and laws in place, such as the U...

05 February 2025 /regulation

Charlotte Crosswell Chair at Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology

UK policy and the power of data in 2025

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) brings together experts from various fields, including finance, technology, academia, and policy-making, to focus on specific issues hindering fintech growth. CFIT's Chair, Charlotte Crosswell, shares her predictions for 2025. Innovation in financial technology is a fundamental prerequisite ...

05 February 2025 /ai

How to establish an embedded finance strategy

Hamish Monk Senior Reporter at Finextra

How to establish an embedded finance strategy

Embedded finance is the digital provision of financial products within a non-financial context, such as the purchase of an Uber journey within the Uber application. This relatively recent innovation – accelerated by the wave of digitisation following COVID-19 – enables the entities that deploy it, in both the digital business-to-business (B2B) and...

04 February 2025 /payments

2025 trends: UK regulatory predictions and upcoming legislation

Chris Holmes Peer at House of Lords

2025 trends: UK regulatory predictions and upcoming legislation

A traditional job for this time of year is thinking about what might be coming up in the year ahead. For me this is a combination of likely trends and priorities in the areas I work in which involves fintech from both a business perspective and related legislation. My top five headlines for 2025 (so far) are fraud, AI, stablecoins, smart data and ...

04 February 2025 /regulation

DeepSeek: What can this open-source AI leader do for fintech?

Madhvi Sonia Head of Content at Finextra

DeepSeek: What can this open-source AI leader do for fintech?

Chinese LLM developer DeepSeek has the potential to forge more efficient, secure and personalised financial services at a fraction of their current costs. Reuters reported this week that while Europe has struggled to keep pace with the US in regards to AI, a low-cost LLM alternative could help democratise this technology. Bernstein analysts have e...

03 February 2025 /ai

The MENA payments revolution: 2025 trends

Volodymyr Kuiantsev Co-founder at AKURATECO

The MENA payments revolution: 2025 trends

This article was co-authored by thought leader Gaurav Sachddeva. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is undergoing a payment revolution that positions it as a rising star in the global fintech arena. Driven by a young, tech-savvy population and rocketing internet and smartphone penetration, the region is undergoing a transformation fuel...

03 February 2025 /payments

Deferred Prosecution Agreements: Who benefits?

Retired Member

Deferred Prosecution Agreements: Who benefits?

It was just over a decade ago that a strange new beast entered the UK’s legal scene. Introduced in the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (CCA), Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) were an innovation designed to adopt a pragmatic approach to economic crimes, including those of corruption and bribery (and in relation to criminal conduct that occurred pri...

31 January 2025 /regulation

Two weeks into DORA: What are the main industry concerns and opportunities?

Henna Cheema Researcher at Finextra

Two weeks into DORA: What are the main industry concerns and opportunities?

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has officially come into effect on 17 January 2025. In light of the changes now in effect, financial institutions, fintechs and other players in the sector are voicing a mix of optimism, concern, and frustration. Finextra has gathered and analysed industry commentary from Capgemini, Tribe Payments, Fo...

31 January 2025 /regulation

How to use AI to get a new job this year

Aoibhinn Mc Bride Content Editor at Jobbio

How to use AI to get a new job this year

Finding a job used to require a lot of manual searching through multiple job boards and the tedious task of sitting down in front of a blank white page to list out your professional and academic achievements in order to secure an interview. While much has been made of the threat AI poses to jobs, it’s also an incredibly useful tool when trying to f...

31 January 2025 /people

Liam Xavier Media Producer at Finextra

What happened at Santander?

UK exit rumours, regulatory tensions and market instability; a short-lived rumour about Santander’s future on the UK high street emerged recently. Despite a rebuttal from its executive chair Ana Botín, the saga revealed a bubbling weakness under the surface of retail banking. Here’s everything you need to know. Santander UK performance The story b...

30 January 2025 /retail

How microservice architecture can revolutionise real-time payments processing

Michael Engel VP Software Banking & MS at Diebold Nixdorf

How microservice architecture can revolutionise real-time payments processing

Real-time payments processing has revolutionised the banking landscape in Europe. As new fintech firms emerge, legacy banks are looking to move towards a more agile, scalable, and configurable payments infrastructure. In the transition away from monolithic architecture, financial institutions are looking for a cost-effective, efficient, and proact...

30 January 2025 /payments

Davos 2025 roundup: AI, crypto, and the energy transition

Sehrish Alikhan Reporter at Finextra

Davos 2025 roundup: AI, crypto, and the energy transition

This year’s annual World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting set in the picturesque Alpine views of Davos, Switzerland, brought together international world leaders to discuss trade, global economy, climate change, and political tensions. There was a dark cloud hovering over the conference this year, encapsulating the geopolitical turmoil waging i...

29 January 2025 /markets

Long reads