Latest Innovation News: Finextra Research

Why Payment Modernisation Demands a Fully Integrated Platform

At Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, Jacob Aruldhas, CEO of ECS Fin, advocated for a transaction-centric approach to payment processing, highlighting the inefficiencies caused by fragmented, department-centric applications in financial institutions. He explained how shifting focus from individual departments to the underlying transaction enables accountability, streamlined operations and enhanced digital transformation.

06 November 2025

Finextra TV/crypto

Why Stablecoins Have Great Potential, But Proliferation Needs Tapering

Joining the FinextraTV studio at Sibos in Frankfurt, Alistair Brown, Global Head of Open Banking and Payments, EPAM shared his passionate opinions on the future of Stablecoins, following a roundtable at the event. Describing how stablecoins enable a number of positive things, from financial inclusion to speed and security, Brown warns against the further proliferation and inevitable fragmentation of stablecoin providers. According to him, 200 should be tapered down to 20, and there should be a higher focus on the challenge of business models, than on the implementation of technology - in Browns opinion, that's the least challenging part.

04 November 2025

Finextra TV/payments

API-First and Scalable: What Banks Need for a Future of Multi-Rail Payments

While at Sibos in Frankfurt, Sheri Brandon, Global Head of New Business, Financial Services at Worldline, shared her thoughts on the best strategies for multi-rail payments innovation. Brandon advises against attempts to reinvent the wheel and emphasizes that banks must think individually, recognizing that each bank has different customers with varying requirements. However, she adds, to ensure their ability to focus on their end customer and innovate without regularly having to restart, all should join the growing adoption of API-first, scalable payment hubs. She says these will enable them to be faster and more agile, noting that all should have the right strategies in place to be ready as more payment evolutions are on the horizon.

03 November 2025

Finextra TV/payments

How AI and Digital Currencies Are Reshaping the Payments Infrastructure

At Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, Ramon Villarreal, Head of Payments, Global Payments Industry Lead at Red Hat, discussed the evolving balance between innovation and reliability in the payments industry. He noted that while innovation has accelerated in recent years, trust and operational resilience, reinforced by regulations like DORA, are once again top priorities. Villarreal emphasised the growing need to simplify payment complexity, especially as banks prepare to integrate stablecoins and CBDCs. He predicted a surge in agentic AI use cases, including fraud prevention and intelligent routing, alongside the rise of interoperable faster payment networks. With digital currencies and AI reshaping the landscape, Villarreal called for efficient, scalable systems to meet the demands of a rapidly transforming market.

30 October 2025

Finextra TV/ai

Adopting New Technologies: Why Resilience and Reliability Matter Most of All

Speaking to FinextraTV at SBS Summit 2025 in Paris, Ragnhildur Geirsdóttir, CEO, Reiknistofa Bankanna (RB) explained how, regardless of the human aspect within technology adoption, the most important guarantee is resiliency and reliability. While it is important to still retain human touchpoints within technical processes and AI integration, she says development should be focused on the security and agility of systems in the face of unpredictable situations such as geopolitical frictions. As part of this focus, Geirsdóttir said it is more important to collaborate against rising external risks, such as intelligent fraud.

30 October 2025

Finextra TV/people

Mutual Understanding: How Partnership is More Than Just a Supplier Relationship

Describing the current industry as on the cusp of something generational, Simon Broadley, CEO, Furness Building Society spoke at SBS Summit in Paris about the growing importance of quality partnerships. Broadley described how organisations are beginning to understand how it is not feasible to build what they need in-house and are frequently turning to outsourcing these skills and competencies to 3rd party suppliers. Broadley describes these partnerships as more than just a supplier relationship and now requires a deeper, mutual understanding of objectives, missions, and ambitions.

29 October 2025

Finextra TV/ai

'The New Industrial Revolution': The Race Towards Explainabile & Relevant AI

At SBS Summit 2025 in Paris, Hani Hagras, Chief Science Officer and Global Head of AI, SBS discussed how AI is the new industrial revolution and spoke to how regulation, data and expectations will evolve alongside it. Explaining the key barriers to successful AI implementation, Hagras splits these into 3 parts: 1. Siloed data, 2. The need for Sovereign AI and 3. The need for AI explainability. Quoting statistics that outline AI’s impact on profitability, Hagras described how banks and institutions cannot afford to hesitate any longer and must accelerate further, with the knowledge that the future won’t be a competition of access and speed, but of trust, services, intelligence and relevance.

29 October 2025

Finextra TV/crime

Combatting the Rise of Well-Funded Financial Crime

Joining the FinextraTV studio at Sibos in Frankfurt, Matt Michaud, Global Head of Financial Crime Compliance, and Nattu Srikrishnan, Senior Director, Global Screening Strategy, LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, address the proliferation of bad actors and AI misuse within financial crime. Helping to define some of the key risks from synthetic documents and document tampering, Srikrishnan explains how AI can be used to identify deepfakes or manipulation in order to combat bad actors within the financial ecosystem. In relation to innovations in screening, Michaud outlines why collaboration – with both customers and regulators – is key to meaningful innovation that addresses key priorities, reminding us, "if you have 47 priorities, you have none“.

29 October 2025

Finextra TV/ai

From Ageing Systems to Automation: How CTOs Are Approaching Modernisation

Speaking to FinextraTV at SBS Summit 2025 in Paris, Andrew Steadman, Chief Product Officer, SBS discussed some of the key challenges facing financial institutions and the careful nuances of successful deployment of new technologies. Steadman professed that such conversations can’t be had without referencing ageing systems and legacies, and how these have caused fundamental blockers. According to Steadman, organisations are primarily concerned with how to adapt these systems and how to embed AI and automation into their processes in a safe and structured manner, without too much disruption. Crucially, whether building data quality or enlisting AI agents, he believes there is a need for a better unification of these technologies and processes, explaining how some organisations have built too many agents or tools and now struggle to define which provide real business value.

28 October 2025

Finextra TV/sustainable

Geospatial Analytics and AI: Actionable Intelligence Into African Water Risks

A year on from their Established Category win at the SF.Live Hackathon, Rochelle Mountany, CEO, AfriGIS and Helen Hulett, Chief Sustainabilty Officer, AfriGIS discussed the use of geospatial insights and AI with Richard Peers, Founder, ResponsibleRisk. Mountany explained how challenges like the Hackathon allow companies to test their teams and products in an environment where there is no threat of failure. Speaking to the evolution of geospatial solutions, Hulett described how these have helped asses water risks within Africa, stating that one of the biggest risks in Africa is how the water has been governed and managed on the ground. Hulett further explained how the financial sector is keen to invest in this sector, but don't understand enough about the issues and risks involved.

28 October 2025

Finextra TV/retail

Resilience, Trust & Data: Why Clients Are At The Heart of All Decisions

At SBS Summit in Paris, Raouf Mhenni, CCO, SBS spoke about how digitisation and modernisation have been topics in discussion for many years, but now that the tools are in place, it is time for efficiency and resilience to improve. Mhenni went on to say how software providers and banks should aim to be both trusted for money and for data, emphasising how AI is turning data into empathy. However, he cautioned that AI should not be implemented for the sake of AI; rather, all should have the client at the heart of any decision and be focused on real issues and whether AI is the right tool to solve those.

28 October 2025

Finextra TV/ai

Innovating with AI: How to Improve and Extract Value From Federated Data

In Frankfurt at Sibos 2025, Akber Jaffer, CEO, Smartstream spoke to FinextraTV about on-going conversations around AI innovations and their strategic rebrand to be more data-centric. As part of this conversation, Jaffer described how many institutions have federated data that requires improvement, and a renewed focus on data hygiene in order to keep up with innovation needs. Jaffer creates a picture of an industry ready for progression and with the tools to succeed, but requiring dedicated focus on ensuring existing sources of value are relevant for a new modern era.

24 October 2025

Finextra TV/payments

Innovation in Payments: Analytics, AI and PaaS

At Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, Nadish Lad, Global Head of Product and Strategic Business, Volante Technologies spoke with FinextraTV about the changing face of payments, from AI to PaaS solutions. Detailing his three key use cases for AI in payments, across exception handling, smart routing and SLA management, Lad reiterates the fact that AI is not new and must now be viewed through the lens of what is the right use case for each business. Speaking to the evolution of PaaS, Lad explains the benefits of moving from a CapEx model to OpEx model, noting this change as more cost-effective and less cumbersome to manage.

23 October 2025

Finextra TV/ai

Is Generative Too Generic? Why You Need to Consider Banking Specific AI

Taking time out from Sibos 2025, Tim Mussche, Area Vice President, EMEA, nCino spoke with FinextraTV to discuss how the last year has allowed the industry to better understand AI use cases. This, Mussche says, has prompted more discussions around data, cloud and warning not to get too taken by the promise of Generative AI if a more specific model would be better.

23 October 2025

Finextra TV/payments

From Nostro to Now: Reinventing B2B Payments with Real-Time Orchestration

At Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, Pratik Khowala, Global Head of Transfer Solutions, Mastercard, outlined how banks can better serve micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in an increasingly globalised payments landscape. He emphasised the need for low-value, low-touch, intuitive platforms, offering multicurrency virtual accounts, competitive FX rates, and embedded digital experiences via simple APIs. Khowala also addressed modernisation in high-value B2B flows, highlighting how orchestration layers atop correspondent banking networks can help reduce errors, liquidity costs, and enable 24/7 real-time transactions. He stressed that trust, collaboration, and innovation, through partnerships and technologies like AI and stablecoins, are foundational to unlocking the full potential of cross-border B2B payments.

14 October 2025

Finextra TV/cloud

How Embedded Finance and Cloud Strategy Are Reshaping the Future of Payments

At Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, Phil Bruno, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at ACI Worldwide, discussed how strategic focus drives measurable outcomes across regions. He emphasised helping banks shift from maintaining legacy systems to investing in innovation, reducing complexity in payments, and accelerating time to market. Bruno also announced a new partnership with Solaris to unify instant payments, enabling customer-centric growth through modern, flexible infrastructure.

14 October 2025

Finextra TV/payments

Why Banks Need to Automate Modernisation — Not Just Payments

At Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, Oliver St Clair-Stannard, VP, Payments AI Strategy & GTM, RedCompass Labs, explains how banks can shift from human-built to Built-By-AI (BBAI), safely automating the complex change processes behind payments systems. He makes the case for expert trained Applied AI over generic co-pilots, and shows how measuring BBAI helps institutions modernise faster, with greater accuracy, control and auditability.

09 October 2025

Finextra TV/cloud

How Cloud Transformation is Key, But Culture Over Technology Reigns Supreme

Stepping away from a busy Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt and into the FinextraTV Studio, Magnus Haglind, Senior Vice President, Head of Capital Markets Technology, speaks about the ability for cloud technology to pull together siloed data sources, build resiliency and enable innovation. However, beyond the technology, Haglind emphasises the need for business and culture transformation over just the transformation of technologies.

08 October 2025

Finextra TV/ai

AI Adoption is Rising, But is Everyone Succeeding?

Following the continual rise in AI Adoption, FinextraTV spoke to Ioan Iacob, Founder and CEO, FlowX.AI to discuss the ways people have been following this adoption and answer the crucial question: are we seeing the successes to match the popularity? Mentioning the challenges of embedding AI into existing systems, describing the true benefits of Agentic AI in particular and even quoting Pink Floyd's "you can't have your pudding, if you dont eat your meat", Iacob looks towards the future of adoption and usage.

01 October 2025

Finextra TV/Sibos

AWS and Murex Partner to Transform Capital Markets through Cloud Innovation

Joining the FinextraTV studio at Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt to discuss their collaboration agreement, Dr. Charlie Sanderson, Director, EMEA, Technology Partnerships, AWS, and Maroun Eddé, Murex’s president, explained the power of cloud innovation as they look to transform capital markets.

01 October 2025