Banks and finance: what will 2026 be like? Emerging technologies and the challenge between physical environments and digital spaces

Immersive, predictive, generative, agentic technologies. And innovations that once took a decade now unfold in just a couple of regulatory years to become systemic. We are living in an accelerated era, even in banking and finance. But it’s a studied time, built on constant regulation, effective control frameworks, and holistic visions that restore meaning. Tokenization, stablecoins, AI agents, instant payments, sustainability, embedded finance: each element alone might sound like a buzzword. Together, they compose the new score for banks, insurers, and fintechs. 2026 will be the year we find out whether we can navigate it with foresight – where finance and technology become proximity services for people, communities, and businesses. For now, as in every year-end edition of our monthly longform, enjoy reading about the 2026 trends, those tendencies that have long hinted at becoming actionable.

Trend 1. From home banking to AI banking: financial agents arrive
The first big wave is generative artificial intelligence entering banking. No longer just chatbots: true copilots that read contracts, propose savings plans, and detect anomalies in real time. On Forbes (U.S. edition), analyst Bernard Marr writes that in 2026 AI agents in banking and finance will be key competitive drivers: advanced automation and conversational interfaces capable of “talking” to clients, from hedge funds to retail customers. Deloitte’s 2026 outlook calls it a “defining” year for banks scaling AI: no more isolated experiments, but business platforms handling credit, treasury, risk management, and back-office. But beware: AI isn’t just about efficiency. In 2026, the real game is augmented banking, where human advisors and software agents work together. Those who orchestrate this duet – training people, managing risks, ensuring model transparency – will gain a huge relational advantage. We recently wrote about AI’s rise on Sella Insights, exploring how immersive and predictive technologies already inhabit the group.

Trend 2. All finance in a token: the race to tokenization
The World Economic Forum calls 2025–2026 a “turning point,” with bonds, funds, loans, and even real estate represented as tokens on distributed ledgers. Larry Fink, in BlackRock’s shareholder letter, defines tokenization as a force to democratize investment access, cut costs, and open markets to previously excluded audiences. Meanwhile, SWIFT is working on a “shared blockchain-based ledger” to connect over thirty major banks in real-time tokenized cross-border payments. In India – reports The Times of India – the public Finternet project, inspired by BIS “unified ledgers,” launches in 2026 from capital markets: first regulated securities, then increasingly complex assets, from land to property. Tokenization doesn’t reinvent assets; it modernizes how they move – with instant settlement, fewer manual reconciliations, and more transparent markets. In short, 2026 is the year tokenization becomes market infrastructure with rules, oversight, and common standards.

Trend 3. Stablecoins and regulated digital money
Alongside tokenized assets, the very form of money is changing. Deloitte writes that stablecoins and tokenized deposits could herald a new monetary era but warns: 2026 will be decisive in determining whether banks can manage the risk of deposit disintermediation. As readers of our editorial hub know, in Europe ten major banks -including Banca Sella - have launched Qivalis, a company dedicated to a euro stablecoin debuting in the second half of 2026, aligned with the new EU regulatory framework for digital assets. Reuters and global media have covered this extensively. Analyses by S&P Global and the Payments Association highlight that, after the U.S. federal Genius Act and existing frameworks in Europe and Asia, stablecoins are shifting from speculative corners to structural components of payments and treasury management. A new game begins around digital deposits: if businesses and retail hold liquidity in regulated stablecoins, perhaps issued by banking consortia, competition moves beyond interest rates to usability, integration with management systems, and global interoperability.

Trend 4. Real-time payments: the new normal
By 2026 instant payments are no longer innovation, they’re standard. We discussed this on Sella Live during interviews at the 2025 Salone dei Pagamenti. A recent analysis by software developer Innowise explains how real-time payments have become a strategic layer, with event-driven architectures, streaming analytics, and automated risk engines: treasury, B2B, and retail operations increasingly rely on these backbones. FintechNews describes 2026 payments as a personalized, secure, interoperable ecosystem where AI prevents fraud in seconds and digital identity continuously certifies ownership. But the real leap isn’t just speed—it’s programmability: payroll adapting to on-demand work, B2B collections tied to contract milestones, AI-native payments interacting with software agents.

Trend 5. Longevity economy: pensions for the third, fourth, and fifth age
A silent yet massive megatrend impacts banking and finance: we live longer and will live even longer. Biotech is opening scenarios unimaginable twenty years ago: precision medicine, genetic therapies, predictive prevention. The consequence? Not just new “life stages,” but new economic phases, new consumption patterns, new risks and above all, new pensions. European demographic data show increasingly long-lived populations: active third age, assisted fourth age, even a possible “fifth time” of life. This demands not only more flexible pension products but cultural and educational strategies: teaching planning, preparing for long life, turning savings into future projects. The fintech ecosystem could play a decisive role in building modular, automated pensions integrated with lifestyle. No longer pensions as a final stage, but as identity capital accompanying existence. Thus, 2026 could inaugurate the era of “longevity solutions.” Pensions not as optional, but as a social, economic, and cultural pillar. And here lies the sector’s great challenge: not just offering products, but helping people live longer and better.

Trend 6. Quantum finance: when data redesign strategies, making them scalable
Another frontier, less noisy but potentially disruptive, is quantum computing applied to finance. In 2026, it’s not yet everyday reality, but strategic early adoption. Global banking giants are investing in pilot projects for portfolios, pricing, risk management, and derivatives optimization. Quantum could solve problems classical computers would take decades to process. Scenarios include real-time exposure assessment, rapid simulations for complex markets, and new cybersecurity models based on quantum cryptography. Experiments by major financial institutions focus on antifragile risk management, anticipating turbulence, and preventing systemic crashes. In other words, finance enters the era of extreme computation. If AI makes decisions smarter, quantum promises to make them faster and more resilient—and more scalable. So, 2026 won’t be the year of mass quantum banking, but the year banks realize the game has begun. Latecomers risk being defenseless, especially in security and systemic resilience.

Trend 7. RegTech and cyber-resilience: the new frontier of oversight
As AI, tokenization, and instant payments accelerate, risks grow. The Bank of England, in its Financial Stability Report highlighted by The Guardian, warns that AI sector valuations, supported by $5 trillion in infrastructure spending over five years, largely debt-financed, could fuel a bubble with systemic risks. The Financial Stability Board, meeting in Riyadh, has prioritized monitoring vulnerabilities tied to digital innovation, cyber-risk, and tokenization in its 2026 work plan. Dutch firm Wolters Kluwer notes that generative AI is now mainstream in risk management: automated controls, transaction monitoring, internal audits. But it stresses the need for clear policies and visible governance of AI use to avoid what it calls “algorithmic shadow IT.” Meanwhile, Deloitte emphasizes that banks’ defenses must keep pace with increasingly sophisticated financial crime in real-time contexts. That’s why RegTech is no longer “costly compliance” but a competitive advantage. Those who combine AI, data, and automation in continuous controls will generate greater trust from customers and regulators.

Trend 8. Green & ethical fintech: climate finance goes mainstream
Another revolution, quieter but equally structural, is sustainable digital finance. According to a detailed analysis on fintecbuzz.com, in 2026 sustainable & ethical fintech solutions will be driven by three forces: regulators, investors, and consumers, with ESG-fintech investments expected to reach $123.7 billion and green fintech growing at over 22% annually. The magazine predicts green bonds and sustainable investments will dominate wealth platforms, with algorithms automatically filtering portfolios through ESG lenses. Meanwhile, Europe’s Banking Authority (EBA) has launched an ESG dashboard to measure banks’ climate risk exposure, while new ESG risk guidelines - effective January 11, 2026 - aim to strengthen system resilience. A green fintech map from Hong Kong shows dozens of digital solutions for ESG data, ratings, and emissions measurement. That’s why in 2026 sustainability is no longer just reporting but data engineering: real-time environmental calculations, climate risk pricing, and impact-integrated retail products in banking apps.

Trend 9. Human-centric & inclusive banking: technology expands the perimeter
Technology, but above all, people. Amid this tech scenario, a deeply human theme resurfaces: inclusion. A new study on 2026 trends calls “AI agents & human-centric banking” a decisive combination: automation designed to enhance empathy, listening, and retention. Reuters reports on Flex, a U.S. fintech that raised $60 million targeting a specific niche: mid-sized “jumbo shrimp” businesses often overlooked by big banks. The idea: provide credit, payments, and personal management tools for founders on one platform using AI but with human review for sensitive decisions. Some time ago, the Financial Times ran a special on making banking more inclusive, stressing the importance of products for those currently at the margins: individuals, micro-businesses, youth. The challenge is to broaden the base. Financial inclusion, supported by AI, public DPI, and digital identity, becomes a matter of reputation and new revenue streams.

Trend 10. From legacy silos to open platforms shaping the future
An infrastructure battle underpins everything. Panels at the Global Banking Summit explicitly discuss the future of banking infrastructure and ask: can legacy systems survive? A Financial Times deep dive describes British banks’ unease facing fintechs like Revolut, which surpassed 65 million customers and hit a $75 billion valuation, at times overtaking historic giants like Barclays. Industry blogs like Finacle summarize: tokenized money is no longer experimental; pressure on infrastructure, core banking, and payment systems is such that the question isn’t whether to transform, but how fast. The new year forces banks to choose: remain “20th-century museums” or become open platforms able to interact with cloud, fintech, big tech, and central bank digital currencies. True greatness is no longer balance sheet size but adaptability.

Trend 10+1. Here, now, everywhere: the new global proximity
But beware: a silent paradox runs through finance in 2026. On one hand, global institutions operate on a continental scale, shaping markets and joining major international consortia on tokenization, real-time payments, and cyber-resilience. On the other, there’s a persistent, almost physical need for proximity, for banks that know the territory, speak the community’s language, understand industrial districts, and can be here and now. Call it “Here, Now, Everywhere” banking: banks able to be present in the remotest point thanks to digital, without sacrificing the intimacy of local relationships. Major international research on financial services’ future confirms it: real growth will hinge on combining global scale with local connection. Even innovation giants know it: the future of finance will be algorithmic yet anchored to concrete geographies. In advanced fintech, partnerships with local actors, municipalities, chambers of commerce, universities, regional businesses, become strategic growth levers. Because value is born in territories. And that’s where you need to be. Global corporate banking on one side, micro-enterprises on the other. Transnational super-apps on one side, branches staffed by AI-augmented advisors on the other. A dual track opening a new competitive scenario: those who can be everywhere, but above all, close, will win trust and relationships. The future isn’t just digital, but glocal: digital to connect the world, physical to generate trust. Augmented proximity, enabled by technology and reterritorialization of relationships. Ultimately, the winning bank is global in capital, local in relationships, digital in experience, physical when needed. Proximity isn’t the opposite of globalization, it’s its new frontier.

In the end, the bank of the future will look us in the eye: “By 2030 banking will become invisible, connected, insights-driven and purposeful,” as Forrester wrote about banking’s future. The bank of tomorrow won’t simply provide accounts, cards, and loans. It will be an empathetic, digital ecosystem – an invisible, omnipresent infrastructure integrated into people’s and businesses’ daily lives as a natural, reliable, almost transparent service. And at the foundation of all this lies financial culture. Because a future bank may be digital, tokenized, instantaneous, but it will remain fragile if it cannot guide people toward their tomorrow. This is where pensions come into play, not as a gray balance-sheet term, but as an investment in time and new generations. Because ultimately, technology accelerates but the future is built on values.