As financial services enters 2026, the industry is moving through a subtle but important reset. After years of growth-at-any-cost thinking, attention is shifting back to trust, resilience and credibility—not as abstract values, but as operational realities.
Originally featured on Fintech Profile, Kani’s Aaron Holmes shares his perspective on the forces reshaping financial services in the year ahead, from the modernisation of core systems to the practical deployment of AI in regulated environments.
From growth-at-any-cost to operational credibility
The most significant shift underway is a re-balancing of the financial services model. Regulation will continue to play a role, but the deeper change is cultural. Firms are increasingly expected to prove that their infrastructure, controls and data actually work in practice.
Alongside this cultural shift, a quiet but decisive modernisation of core systems is taking place. Real-time data, continuous monitoring and automation are moving from competitive advantages to basic expectations. Institutions that invest in these foundations will be better positioned to innovate and deliver stronger customer outcomes. Those that don’t will increasingly find themselves constrained by operational fragility.
AI’s real impact will be behind the scenes
Artificial intelligence will have a major impact on banks and the fintechs that support them, but not in the highly visible ways often discussed. The most meaningful gains will come from how AI improves decision-making, risk management and operational insight behind the scenes.
That impact depends on discipline, not enthusiasm alone. In regulated environments, accuracy, explainability and auditability matter as much as speed. The organisations that succeed will be those that combine AI with strong data foundations, clear governance and a collaborative approach to learning across the industry, rather than treating AI as a competitive arms race.
Rising expectations and shrinking tolerance for failure
Customer expectations continue to rise. People increasingly expect financial services to be both fast and dependable, without being forced to choose between the two. Seamless experiences, real-time visibility and immediate access to funds are now table stakes.
At the same time, trust is no longer assumed. Customers are far more aware of outages, regulatory breaches and institutional failures, and tolerance for excuses is diminishing. Meeting these expectations demands modernisation of long-standing systems and greater transparency around how money is managed, monitored and safeguarded throughout its lifecycle.
The industry’s hidden fragilities
One of the biggest blind spots heading into 2026 is not abstract “operational fragility”, but the very specific, well-known weaknesses that still sit beneath many financial services frameworks. Manual touchpoints embedded in critical processes, fragmented and inconsistent data, and the need to reconstruct reporting and audit evidence after the fact are still common across the industry.
These are not new problems. They are age-old back-office challenges that have accumulated over years of growth, outsourcing and incremental fixes. In many organisations, systems technically function, but only because teams work around them: stitching together data, reconciling discrepancies manually and relying on institutional knowledge rather than dependable infrastructure.
The growing risk is that AI is layered on top of these foundations without first reassessing the fundamentals. Adding an intelligent agent to a broken or opaque process doesn’t fix the underlying issue—it can simply make failures harder to see, harder to explain and harder to unwind.
Building resilience through ecosystems, not silos
Looking ahead, the priority for leadership teams should be building resilient, adaptable ecosystems rather than trying to do everything in-house. That means investing in strong partnerships, diversifying suppliers and working closely with specialist fintechs that address real operational challenges.
There is also an opportunity to look beyond traditional centres and engage more deeply with regional innovation hubs, particularly across the UK. These ecosystems often combine deep technical expertise with pragmatic problem-solving, and organisations that engage early are likely to benefit from greater agility, broader talent pools and more resilient long-term operating models.
About Kani Payments
Kani is an award-winning SaaS platform providing automated data reconciliation, reporting and compliance solutions to payments and fintech companies. Founded by payments experts, their solutions are built specifically for the nuances of transaction data—from processor files and scheme reports to multi-currency settlement flows.
