The 2026 >>venture>> competition has announced its results, with three Swiss fintech startups recognised in the Business and Finance category. Swiss regtech RegCheck secured the top prize in the vertical, taking home CHF 50,000 and a consulting package from McKinsey and Company. The competition also recognised reilo. and UAC Labs as finalists for their respective financial solutions. RegCheck (Winner) Source: >>venture>> RegCheck uses AI to simulate regulatory audits, helping regulated firms spot compliance gaps before submission and enabling more consistent reviews. reilo. (Finalist) Source: >>venture>> reilo. turns smallholder farmers’ natural assets into bankable collateral, unlocking capital and carbon income for 500 million farmers excluded from finance. UAC Labs (Finalist) Source: >>venture>> UAC Labs builds coordination infrastructure that guarantees atomic settlement across any financial system, without intermediaries or locked capital. Launched in 1997, >>venture>> has been fostering winning business ideas for over 25 years. Competition alumni have gone on to successfully found over 1500 companies and create more than 15,000 jobs in Switzerland.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by Nadifa99 via Magnific The post >>venture>> Reveals 2026 Fintech Competition Winners appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Visa has rolled out its Click to Pay feature for eligible Revolut Visa cardholders across Europe and the UK, enabling a faster and more secure online checkout experience. The global standard removes the need for consumers to manually enter card numbers, passwords, or one-time codes at checkout. Because Revolut is enabling the feature at the card level, millions of users will be automatically enrolled when shopping at participating online merchants both domestically and internationally. According to data from the Visa network, the technology can reduce fraud by up to 91% by replacing exposed card details with secure tokenised credentials. The system also increases transaction authorisation rates by up to 11% and cuts checkout times by up to 20 seconds compared to manual card entry. Expanding digital checkout capabilities Revolut is introducing the feature to its base of more than 13 million customers in the UK and 40 million users across Europe. The company also plans a coordinated rollout across international markets, including Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, while making the option available to merchants in the UK and Europe. Mathieu Altwegg “By bringing Visa Click to Pay to millions of people, they are moving the optionality of online checkouts towards a new best-in-class solution, built on the foundations that will power the next generation of digital experiences,” said Mathieu Altwegg, Head of Product and Solutions, Europe, Visa. Alex Codina “Our goal is to offer flexible, secure ways to pay, and integrating the Click to Pay standard gives our customers an excellent additional option for a smooth checkout experience,” said Alex Codina, General Manager of Merchant Payments at Revolut. Tokenisation and future commerce The payment infrastructure reflects a broader industry shift away from static card details towards digitally native credentials. The system relies on network tokenisation, which protects sensitive card information by replacing static details with secure digital tokens designed specifically for digital commerce. The feature also supports modern authentication methods such as Visa Payment Passkeys, which use biometrics to confirm consumer identity quickly. This integration helps establish foundations for future use cases where payments and identity work seamlessly in the background, including embedded commerce and digital verification.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by freepik via Magnific The post Visa Rolls Out Click to Pay for Revolut Cardholders Across Europe appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Competition in the wealth management industry has intensified significantly, driven by new digital challengers and specialized providers, eroding customer loyalty, and increasing demand for better access to alternative investments, according to Capgemini Research Institute’s World Wealth Report 2026. Released earlier in June, the report draws on three research efforts conducted in January 2026 across the wealth management industry: the 2026 Global HNWI Insights Survey polled more than 6,500 global high-net-worth investors (HNWIs); the 2026 Global Wealth Management Executive gathered 144 responses from the industry across ten markets; and the 2026 Global Relationship Manager Survey included more than 1,300 responses from across 16 markets. Client loyalty erodes The research reveals that traditional wealth management firms are facing mounting competitive pressure as customer loyalty weakens. In 2019, 39% of HNWIs with financial assets exceeding US$1 million reported working with a single firm for their wealth management needs. By 2025, that figure had dropped to just 19%, marking a 50% decline in the share of exclusive relationships. Conversely, the proportion of HNWIs working with four to six wealth management firms surged from 12% to 25%, representing a 100% surge over the same period. Incumbent providers face a double threat- declining mindshare and shrinking wallet share, Source: World Wealth Report 2026, Capgemini, Jun 2026 These findings suggest that incumbents are losing ground on two fronts: in client mindshare as advisory relationships fragment, and in wallet share as assets flow to a broader ecosystem of specialized providers. This decline in mindshare translates directly into measurable losses in wallet share. Between 2022 and 2025, traditional wealth management firms failed to fully capitalize on the growth in global HNWI investable assets, resulting in a significant portion of this growth captured by other competitors. Capgemini estimates that this shortfall amounts to at least a 1.6-point in global HNWI investable wealth, representing a conservative estimate of approximately US$1.5 trillion in uncaptured assets under advice. Unmet needs drive shift to specialized providers HNWIs are splitting their portfolios among multiple firms to access specific products that traditional banks often lack. Notably, 88% of HNWIs choose to work with multiple providers in order to access better alternative investments. Digital assets also play an important role. 50% of HNWIs consider access to digital assets an important factor when selecting a wealth manager, driven by a desire to experiment and gain exposure to the niche asset class. However, many traditional firms lack the secure custody infrastructure and specialist expertise needed to support this demand, or do not provide HNWIs with access to these assets. Against this backdrop, focused competitors, including weatlhtech firms, single-family offices, and robo-advisory platforms, are increasingly capturing market share from incumbents, attracting clients who feel underserved on product breadth, advice quality, or both. These competitors benefit from greater nimbleness, allowing them to expand at materially higher rates than the overall market. Projections between 2024 and 2030 indicate substantial growth across these segments. Single-family offices are expected to achieve a 9.7% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for assets under management (AUM), independent advisors a 6.8% CAGR, and the robo-advisory market a striking 44.1% CAGR. Embracing technology for efficiency While expanding products and services boost loyalty, realizing measurable value requires proper coordination and management across the customer journey. Currently, 60% of executives report that their firms lack a unified client view, resulting in fragmented processes and duplicated effort. Moreover, 41% of relationship manager time is consumed by operational tasks, leaving limited capacity for proactive client engagement. Relationship managers recognize the need to embrace advanced technologies to boost efficiency and enhance client experience. 71% of relationship managers want digital and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled systems to automate routine work, and 61% want access to an integrated ecosystem of specialists to respond effectively across financial and non-financial needs. This indicates that frontline staff feel constrained by routine tasks and are actively seeking to transition from administrative bottlenecks to strategic advisory roles. It also reflects a recognition that modern clients expect holistic support spanning financial and personal life domains rather than isolated investment advice. Global HNWI wealth surges As customer expectations change, HNWI wealth is experiencing robust growth. In 2025, global wealth of HNWIs increased 8.7% year-over-year (YoY), reaching a record of US$98.3 trillion, representing the largest single-year increase since 2018. Nearly 2 million people became millionnaires last year, bringing the total number HNWIs to 25.3 million. Global wealth creation accelerates despite regional imbalances, Source: World Wealth Report 2026, Capgemini, Jun 2026 Across wealth bands, ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) with financial assets exceeding US$30 million captured the largest share of the gains. Global UHNWI wealth grew 9.7% YoY, outpacing the broader HNWI segment. In 2025, that global population stood at roughly 250,000, marking a 9.4% YoY increase, and retaining its status as the fastest-growing wealth segment for the second consecutive years. Equity markets, fueled by AI-related rallies, were the primary engine of HNWI wealth growth across the five major regions. Asia-Pacific posted the highest regional growth in wealth of 10.5% and HNWI population growth of 9.4% as semiconductor demand boosted Asian stock markets. Japan and China were among the strongest performers, adding 436,000 and 154,000 millionaires, respectively. North America’s HNWI population increased 9.1%, led by the US, which added 736,000 new millionaires, more than any other country worldwide. Europe’s HNWI population grew 6.5% in 2025, with Luxembourg emerging as one of the highest-growth markets with an increase of 13.5% of its HNWI population, followed by Germany, which registered an 11.1% growth of its HNWI population. HNWI population growth mirrors rising global wealth creation momentum, Source: World Wealth Report 2026, Capgemini, Jun 2026   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Magnific The post Traditional Wealth Firms Lose Share to Wealthtechs, Robo-Advisors, Single-Family Offices appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Swiss Fintech Innovations (SFTI) has welcomed the launch of a standardised digital pension certificate for vested benefits and Pillar 3a pension foundations. Developed by Verein Vorsorge Schweiz (VVS) in partnership with the bvg-digital association, the initiative aims to make pension certificate data machine readable and reusable across digital services. The new QR code standard formats key pension information into a structured layout. This design enables financial applications to integrate pension data in a structured way, simplifying wealth planning for Swiss consumers. The technical foundation relies on the Pension API Version 4, created by the SFTI Common API working group. This framework expands existing open finance protocols to include specific support for handling vested benefits and Pillar 3a certificates. Stephanie Wickihalder “The digital pension certificate is a very tangible example of the value that common standards can create,” said Stephanie Wickihalder, President of SFTI. “Pension data becomes easier to access and can be used more effectively in further digital services.” SFTI stated that the next phase of the project involves driving implementation across Swiss financial institutions. The goal is to make the digital pension certificate widely usable across the wealth ecosystem.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by watercolor_vect via Magnific The post Switzerland Introduces New Standard for Digital Pension Certificates appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Amundi, a European asset manager, has launched tokenised share classes for its short-term money market fund to enable real-time liquidity management for digital payments provider Ant International. Developed in partnership with asset servicing leader CACEIS, the bespoke euro and US dollar-denominated share classes mark the first operational milestones under an agreement signed between the companies last November. The tripartite initiative allows Ant International to use digital fund shares for its intra-group treasury operations. CACEIS supports the mechanism by serving as both the transfer agent and tokenisation agent for the fund. The implementation aims to improve the efficiency of digital corporate treasury operations by moving traditional fund investments onto the blockchain. Fannie Wurtz “We are delighted to support Ant International in this pioneering project and to further advance the real-world applications of tokenisation in investment solutions,” said Fannie Wurtz, Deputy General Manager, Head of Client Group and Chair of Asia at Amundi. Wurtz added that the collaboration reflects the firm’s goal to meet the evolving needs of sophisticated institutional clients. Ant International has used blockchain infrastructure for its internal treasury management since 2019. The digital payments provider aims to build an environment for instant, borderless money movement. Kelvin Li “We believe blockchain and AI can unlock real-time solutions for global corporate treasurers,” said Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech and Senior Vice President at Ant International. “We are glad to work with Amundi to co-develop secure, compliant investment products accessible 24/7 globally.” Following the initial roll-out, the three institutions are exploring the integration of the short-term money market fund with Whale, which is Ant International’s proprietary blockchain-based treasury management platform. The planned expansion aims to onboard Amundi funds directly onto the Whale network to co-develop new money market solutions tailored for corporate treasurers globally. Amundi and Ant International are also looking into expanding the digital solution to additional markets and currencies. The companies stated that the deployment of these upcoming advancements remains subject to all necessary legal and regulatory approvals.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by Ant International The post Amundi Launches Tokenised Money Market Fund With Ant International, CACEIS appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Digital asset platform Blockworks has acquired crypto market intelligence firm Messari as part of a strategic push to consolidate the fragmented digital asset data sector. The acquisition follows a recent Series A extension funding round raised by Blockworks specifically aimed at driving sector consolidation. Messari provides data coverage for over 40,000 assets and operates an API that supplies data across markets, exchanges, protocols, token unlocks, and social sentiment. This infrastructure is widely used by funds, exchanges, and developers to power algorithmic trading models, compliance workflows, and application development. The transaction comes at a time when the digital asset market is maturing and undergoing increased institutionalisation and regulation. As institutional capital moves onchain, market participants require standardised infrastructure for investor relations, compliance monitoring, asset underwriting, and regulatory reporting. The combined entity aims to bridge the gap between asset issuers and underwriters. Blockworks has previously focused on the issuer side through its Token Transparency Framework and institutional investor relations platform. Messari has historically served underwriters, including funds, exchanges, and regulators, through its market intelligence tools and API data layer. By combining proprietary data, issuer disclosures, onchain activity, and AI, the platform intends to establish a single system of record for onchain businesses. This integrated infrastructure will provide automated workflows and data access for developers, financial institutions, and autonomous trading agents.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by 21studio via Magnific The post Blockworks Acquires Messari to Consolidate Crypto Data Infrastructure appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

In the past 20 years, many analysts and banking leaders predicted banks would lose their hold on customers. Some foresaw this after the 2008 financial crisis, others during the 2010s explosive growth of technology platform companies and the first wave of fintech startups. Despite all these predictions, the tipping point where banks truly lost customer grip didn’t actually happen until 2025. This turning point was propelled by transformative changes across four key dimensions: the maturation of fintech firms, evolving customer behaviors, breakthroughs in neobanking, and the accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and stablecoins, according to McKinsey’s 2026 Global Banking Annual Review. Four dynamics reached a tipping point in 2025, threatening incumbents’ customer primacy, Source: 2026 Global Banking Annual Review, McKinsey, May 2026 Fintech firms evolve and mature The report, released in May 2026, analyzes the global banking sector’s 2025 performance, profitability trends, and strategic direction for financial institutions. This edition highlights a tipping point in customer relationship, catalyzed in part by the evolution of the fintech ecosystem. In 2025, fintech revenues reached US$650 billion. While this remains a small portion of the banking industry’s US$7.3 trillion, the sector has matured significantly, with established firms reaching scale, and using their capital to attack some of banking’s most valuable profit pools, particularly in payments, wealth management, capital markets, and lending. A comparison of the world’s top 1,000 banks versus the top 1,000 fintech firms further highlights this trend. The “millenniad” of the top banks generated US$3.8 trillion in revenues, while their fintech counterparts generated US$625 billion. These figures represent a 22% increase between 2021 and 2025 for fintech firms, compared to just 5% for banks. Looking ahead, fintech firms are set for further expansion as several reversed their strategy and are now actively pursuing banking licenses. In 2025, 21 banking license applications were filed in the US, marking a sharp increase from one in 2024 and five in 2023. About 38% of these applications were accepted. Neobanking booms Similarly, leading neobanks continued to grow in 2025, achieving scale at unprecedented speeds across major markets. As of December 2025, UK-based Revolut was the 11th-most-valuable bank in Europe, and now boasts 75 million retail customers. Nubank claims 135 million customers, and is the most valuable bank in Latin America. For China’s WeBank, the figures are 430 million customers and 11th place in market value among the nation’s banks. Financially, these institutions outperform incumbents on several key metrics. While the return on equity (ROE) for the US and European banking industries sits at about 12%, Nubank’s is at about 30%, Robinhood’s exceeds 20%, and Revolut and Wise both clock in at about 35%. Higher ROE for neobanks means they are generating more profit from every dollar of shareholder investment compared to traditional banks. This advantage largely comes from their lean business models, which avoids expensive physical branches and outdated technology systems. Leading banks, by number of customers and ROE, 2021-2025, Source: 2026 Global Banking Annual Review, McKinsey, May 2026 As established neobanks grow, these players continue to expand their suite of banking products and services. Nubank launched in 2014 its first product, a no-fee credit card, and now offers current and savings accounts, debit cards, money transfer, and services for businesses. Revolut, which launched in 2015 with prepaid cards, foreign exchange, and spending analytics, today offers about 50 products, including capital markets, commodities, and crypto trading; personal loans; a range of credit cards; and a suite of services for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). Agentic AI and stablecoins are dissolving customer stickiness AI agents and stablecoins represent two emerging technologies that threaten to erode the relationship between traditional banks and their customers. AI agents can perform task and solve issues largely on its own. In deposits, they can monitor balances in real time, compare returns across institutions, sweep idle cash into higher-yield accounts, and then sweep cash back to a checking account in time for bills. This not only reduces customers’ reliance on traditional banks, but also allows more of the spreads captured by banks to go to account holders, effectively cutting off some of the revenue banks earn from passive accounts. Beyond deposits, AI agents can help consumers shift credit card balances, exploit sign-up offers, and cash in loyalty points. They can also make tax planning simple for consumers and might provide an entry point into wealth management and advisory. Consumer lending and other banking businesses could also lose customers to agent-powered fintech solutions. Stablecoins is another technology that poses a similar threat to the customer relationship. Stablecoins can make it cheaper and faster to send money across borders, which is particularly valuable for uses such as trade finance or remittances involving jurisdictions with less developed payments systems. As adoption of stablecoins grows, fiat deposits may shift toward stablecoin reserves, and businesses may reduce cash buffers required for international operations. The stablecoins market has grown from less than US$10 billion six years ago to more than US$300 billion today. Citi estimates this figure could reach up to US$4 trillion by 2030. Shifting customer behaviors Finally, the fourth and last driver highlighted by McKinsey is the fundamental shift in customer behavior. Traditional banks have historically relied on older customers for an outsize share of revenues and profits. That’s becoming a problem as younger customers are revealing quite different preferences for how they want to bank. These customers are more highly engaged, expect services that put the customer at the center, value innovation, and prize responsiveness. Incumbents oftentimes struggle to deliver these qualities, prompting younger customers to consider switching to nonbank providers. According to a 2025 Deloitte survey, younger consumers are significantly more willing to switch banks. Specifically, 26.6% of Gen Z and 22.5% of Millennial respondents, born between 1981 and 2012, indicated they are likely to switch within the next two years. This rate is two to five times higher than that of their Gen X or Baby Boomer counterparts, born between 1946 and 1980. Percentage of respondents who are likely to switch in the next two years, Source: Deloitte Consumer Banking 2025 Survey, Feb 2026 In terms of digital platform usage, Millennials lead across most categories, though Gen Z track closely behind, except for payments, where Gen X, millennial, and Gen Z respondents exhibit a similar level of preference. Percentages of respondents using selected financial apps, Source: Deloitte Consumer Banking 2025 Survey, Feb 2026   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Magnific The post How Neobanks and AI Are Breaking Customer Loyalty in Banking — Insights from McKinsey appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

True Wealth has surpassed CHF 3 billion in assets under management. The milestone indicates an accelerating shift towards digital investment solutions and automation within the Swiss financial ecosystem. The digital wealth manager experienced rapid growth over the past year. While accumulating its first billion francs required several years following the inception of the platform, the company secured its third billion within 10 months. The company launched in 2013 with a focus on creating a transparent, user-centric investment platform. True Wealth previously reported reaching the CHF 1.5 billion mark, and this latest accelerated client asset growth reflects expanding investor confidence in technology-driven wealth management. The company currently manages more than 45,000 client relationships. This establishes its position as a leading digital wealth manager in Switzerland. Oliver Herren “Because I am a customer myself, I am very close to the product and can help improve the solutions,” said Oliver Herren, Co-founder of True Wealth, in a LinkedIn post. “We are only at the beginning. Let’s keep going.” The company originally launched the platform to make professional wealth management accessible to a broad audience by offering wealth accumulation solutions at a low cost.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by lifeforstock via Magnific The post True Wealth Hits CHF 3 Billion Milestone in Assets Under Management appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Citi has launched Digital Depositary Receipts for private shares. The product creates a new avenue for global issuers and investors to access private markets without requiring a public listing. The structure represents a first-of-its-kind model for Citi that combines both issuance and custody functions. While it aims to streamline access, the process still relies on regulated intermediaries and infrastructure layers to function correctly. Private companies are seeking alternative liquidity routes as initial public offering timelines stretch. Traditional secondary markets often involve complex structures, multiple intermediaries, and less transparent fees. Executing tokenisation through SIX The solution applies the depositary receipt product of Citi to private market shares using blockchain infrastructure operated by SIX. SIX is a fully regulated digital central securities depository based in Switzerland. Citi serves as the custodian on the platform and handles the settlement and safekeeping of the receipts. These tokenised instruments represent economic exposure and contractual claims rather than direct equity ownership of the private company shares. The underlying shares remain unchanged, but the rights are represented through a layered legal wrapper known as a depositary receipt structure. This allows companies to maintain control over voting and cap table management. Inaugural transaction with Kaleido The product went live through an inaugural transaction involving Kaleido and investors within the wealth management division at Citi. Kaleido is an institutional tokenisation platform and a portfolio company of the bank. Bis Chatterjee “As private markets continue to grow, so has the need for diverse and trusted access points. Our Digital Depositary Receipts product is designed to provide superior client service, safeguard assets and facilitate capital markets activity with the same rigor that underpins traditional financial markets.” Bis Chatterjee, Head of Partnerships and Innovation, Services, said. Integrating tokenised depositary receipts into existing wealth platforms expands access to private market offerings through a familiar investment structure. Citi is considering future extensions of the offering across both digital and traditional financial market infrastructures, as well as multiple blockchain networks.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by lifeforstock via Magnific The post Citi Launches Digital Depositary Receipts for Private Market Shares appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Agentic AI has the potential to transform payment systems and e-commerce by shifting from basic automation to autonomous systems capable of complex reasoning and task management. While the technology promises to enhance user experience and personalization, improve operational efficiency, and support cost reduction, it also introduces risks and challenges, including threats to market stability, data security vulnerabilities, and regulatory complexities surrounding non-human authentication and accountability, according to a note by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Agentic AI capabilities in payments AI agents are set to change e-commerce by replacing simple automation with autonomous reasoning. Unlike basic scripts that follow fixed rules, these agents can think through problems and manage complex tasks on their own. In online commerce, shoppers will benefit from personalized decision support that incorporates preferences, constraints, and real-time price signals. This personalization can increase customer lifetime value through more relevant product matching and streamlined purchasing experiences. Agentic systems may also extend beyond checkout to post-purchase functions, including delivery coordination and returns management. Gartner projects that by 2029, agentic AI will autonomously resolve 80% of common customer service issues without human intervention, leading to a 30% reduction in operational costs. For merchants, agentic AI will modernize operations. These systems enable seamless integration between different AI tools, allowing for smoother operations, including automated return processing and dynamic pricing adjustments that help businesses lower service costs, resolve disputes more effectively, and react instantly to changes in inventory or demand. Beyond smart automation, AI agents can coordinate and execute multistep workflows across financial distributed networks autonomously. In cross-border payment, an AI agent can orchestrate the entire payment payment chain from payment initiation, optimizing routing options, triggering compliance checks, and monitoring settlement and post settlement exceptions. Proponents believe that this automated payment flow can reduce delays associated with manual intervention and rigid workflows. Additionally, AI agents can help streamline foreign exchange (FX) management, allowing financial institutions and companies to continuously monitor real-time exchange rates, analyze spreads across banking rails, optimize timing for conversion, and choose cost-effective paths for transferring funds across multiple currencies. Through predictive analytics, they can also support improved forecasting and risk management functions in areas such as liquidity planning and FX management, generating significant cost savings and operational efficiencies. Finally, AI agents have the potential to significantly improve compliance processes by embedding regulatory logic directly into operational workflows. Unlike traditional automation tools, agentic systems can interpret objectives, monitor activity in real time, and autonomously take actions within predefined guardrails such as flagging suspicious transactions, escalating high-risk cases, or adjusting controls when regulatory thresholds are met. This allows compliance functions to operate at the same speed and scale as modern digital systems, reducing operational burden and human error while strengthening consistency, traceability, and regulatory alignment. Risks and challenges associated with agentic AI While agentic AI promises numerous benefits and efficiency gains, the autonomy, opacity, and non-deterministic behavior of these systems introduce material risks to consumer protection, market stability, and regulatory oversight. A primary concern is that agentic systems may misinterpret user intent, optimize provider incentives rather than user welfare, drift from original objectives over time, or engage in subtle behavioral nudging at scale. Another concern is algorithmic herding. If dominant models identify identical market signals, they may act simultaneously, bypassing traditional safety mechanisms like circuit breakers and triggering flash crashes. In payments, this can impair the functioning of payment systems by synchronizing liquidity demand, amplifying procyclical behavior, and creating congestion across payment rails, thereby undermining the predictability and resilience of core financial market infrastructures. Additionally, generative AI (genAI) models are prone to “hallucinations,” creating false information with high confidence. In financial contexts, such errors can have significant consequences. Another significant risk relates to data security and privacy protection. Autonomous agents relying on third-party services such as cloud providers, AI model endpoints, and financial services require user’s sensitive data such as bank credentials, credit card numbers, and crypto wallet keys. This exposes the user to data leaks and privacy concerns and creates a highly concentrated point of vulnerability. There are also concerns about market concentration and competition. GenAI is fed by vast amounts of data which require computing power that can only be provided by a few, dominant companies. This has led to a highly concentrated AI supply chain, ranging from data centers to cloud computing and AI applications. Such concentration can threaten innovation and raise financial stability, operational, and reputational risks. Besides direct risks, there are gaps that hinder the adoption of agentic AI in payments. A major issue is the growing skills gap in the financial sector, with a shortage of professionals who possess both financial expertise and advanced AI knowledge. A 2025 study by OneStream emphasizes this issue. The survey, which polled more than 2,500 corporate finance professionals, found that 57% of current professionals believe a generational technology divide is a pain point within their organizations. Of those acknowledging a tech divide exists, the AI skills gap (44%), the pace of technology changes (44%), and attitudes towards AI replacing tasks (40%) were named as the top contributes to this gap. Financial institutions also face technical hurdles in integrating these new technologies into their existing environments. Many banks still relay on legacy infrastructure, which may not be compatible with cutting edge AI technologies. This necessitates substantial investments in system upgrades and data migration. Finally, specific gaps remain regarding authentication or know-your-customer (KYC) requirements for agents. Traditional authorization mechanisms, including KYC processes and multifactor authentication, are designed around human users who explicitly approve transactions. When payments are initiated autonomously by software agents acting under delegated authority, verifying both the identity of the agent and the intent of the underlying user becomes significantly more complex. This raises questions not only around authentication, but also around accountability and compliance. Risk classification matrix- Agentic AI in payments, Source: How Agentic AI Will Reshape Payments, IMF, Apr 2026 The state of agentic AI adoption Though adoption of AI agents in payments remains at an early stage, significant experimentation is underway. Additionally, major technology firms, payment networks, and financial institutions are actively developing the fundamental technologies and protocols needed to integrate these autonomous systems into daily commerce. OpenAI launched in September 2025 Instant Checkout, powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol. The feature allows users to buy eligible products directly inside ChatGPT by tapping “Buy,” confirming shipping and payment details, and completing the purchase without leaving the chat. Google launched in January 2026 the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard for agentic commerce that works across the entire shopping journey. UCP establishes a common language for agents and systems to operate together across consumer surfaces, businesses and payment providers. Amazon introduced in March 2026 Alexa for Shopping, a personalized, agentic AI assistant on Amazon. The solution combines deep product knowledge, in-depth information from across the web, and powerful shopping capabilities with a user’s personal preferences, shopping history, and conversations from across both Amazon.com and Alexa. Across the broader financial industry, the deployment of AI agents is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. A 2026 report led by the University of Cambridge surveyed in late 2025 over 600 firms and regulators worldwide, and found that agentic AI is already in active adoption among 52% of industry respondents. Looking ahead, 81% believe that agentic AI will be meaningfully achieved by 2030. This suggests that agentic AI represents the most promising growth frontier in current AI technology.   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by freelancerdesign098 via Magnific The post IMF Report Highlights the Risks and Promises of Agentic AI in Payments and E-Commerce appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

AI is rapidly transforming customer service in banking, but not in the way many institutions initially expected. For years, banks approached AI primarily as a chatbot initiative.  Yet many of these projects under-delivered, frustrated customers, and failed to create meaningful operational value. Today, a new generation of AI solutions is emerging: one that goes far beyond simple automation. Forward-thinking banks are deploying AI-enhanced customer service ecosystems that combine customer-facing assistants, employee co-pilots, and advisor tools into one connected intelligence layer. The goal is not to replace humans, but to empower them, while delivering faster, safer, and more personalised experiences across every customer interaction. From isolated chatbots to an integrated AI service model Banking customers expect immediate, seamless support. A stressed contact center agent needs customer information in real time. And the relationship manager wants to provide the best advice to his customers. Three moments that define service quality. And it becomes clear that more than a standalone chatbot is needed. It requires three complementary AI roles: AI assistants: Customer self-service done right AI assistants serve as the first line of support through digital banking channels. Handling high-volume, repetitive interactions such as answering FAQs, PFM, blocking and replacing cards, updating contact details, and scheduling appointments. Modern assistants guide customers securely through safe actions, provide contextual responses, and know when to escalate. Success here is not measured by containment rate, but by successful resolution and intelligent handover to human support when needed. AI co-pilots: Empowering contact center teams AI co-pilots aggregate customer context from multiple systems, recommend actions during live interactions, enable instant access to the product or right policies, and auto-summarise conversation history. They operate behind the scenes, supporting the human staff without the customer realising AI is involved. This creates immediate benefits such as faster handling times, less administrative work, reduced follow-up calls, and improved consistency and compliance. Rather than replacing employees, co-pilots elevate performance across teams and help standardise service quality. AI Advisor Tools: Enhancing relationship management AI advisor tools enable a new level of preparation and personalisation for relationship managers. They support the entire client engagement cycle before, during, and after meetings. From gathering customer information and recommending personalised talking points to capturing notes in real time, suggesting cross-selling opportunities, auto-generating summaries and action items, drafting follow-up emails, and automatically updating the CRM systems.  This is where AI shifts from reactive to genuinely value-additive. The role here is not automated advice. It is a better context, knowledge retrieval, and conversation support to strengthen customer relationships.  The winning model is a connected system, not an isolated implementation Understanding which tool solves which problem is the essential first step for any deployment. But the most value is created when assistants, copilots, and advisor tools share context, hand off cleanly, and know their limits. The customer should never have to restart the story when the journey moves from self-service to a human or from service to advice.  As AI models become increasingly commoditised, competitive advantage will not come from the model itself. It will come from how effectively banks can connect their internal data, service history, customer intent, and governance policies into a shared intelligence layer. When the tools operate with shared context, customers no longer need to repeat themselves, agents are better prepared, and relationship managers become more proactive. The result is a seamless service journey and a stronger foundation of trust. Trust is the real product Customer service in banking is high-level sensitive, and regulatory obligations are significant. Authentication, approved sources, careful data handling, hallucination prevention, and auditability are non-negotiable in banking. Any AI deployment that erodes customer trust can cause lasting damage. Banks must therefore deploy AI in architectures that keep customer data protected, implementing human-in-the-loop oversight for consequential decisions, and ensuring that AI outputs can always be reviewed, audited, and explained. It also means being transparent with customers. Banks that communicate clearly about when and how AI is used consistently report higher acceptance rates than those that obscure its use. Where banks should start Banks seeing the most traction are not waiting for perfect conditions. They are building now, iteratively, responsibly, and with a clear view of what success looks like for their customers and their teams. For institutions beginning their AI journey, the best first step is often an AI co-pilot for internal teams. They are lower-risk, easier to govern, and deliver immediate operational value while helping employees build confidence in AI-assisted workflows. From there, banks can expand toward customer-facing assistants and advisor tools, building a connected AI ecosystem that improves service quality, operational efficiency, and customer loyalty. The technology is mature. The use cases are proven. The question is no longer whether AI belongs in banking customer service. It’s how quickly your organisation can move from pilot to production. And it is not AI versus humans. It is AI and humans. Working together to deliver smarter, faster, and more trusted customer experiences. Ready to level up your customer service with AI? Deep dive into the topic and watch our webinar below, or get in touch with our experts.     The post AI in Banking: Moving from Chatbots to Connected Intelligence appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Europe leads the world in cross-border payment interoperability as overarching regulations create coordinated governance frameworks that enable the implementation of unified policies across the region and allow for consistent improvements, according to new research by Thunes. However, success remains largely insular, with inefficiencies emerging when transactions extend beyond the EU. These findings come from the newly released Thunes Cross-Border Payments Interoperability Index, which uses proprietary survey data and established benchmarks, including the World Bank Global Findex Database 2025 and World Bank remittance cost data, to evaluate 50 markets. The index ranks these jurisdictions by overall score across five pillars: Economic Health, which assesses a country’s macroeconomic environment, as well as the human and social experiences of living within it; Digital Infrastructure, which measures how connected citizens are to the Internet and digital payment penetration; Financial Inclusion, which tracks wealth inequality, access to bank branches, and account penetration; Cross-Border Connectivity, which measures factors such as the cost of sending and receiving remittances, the use of instant payments, and and overall cross-border payment market development; and Market Dynamics and Progress, which measures the progress of various regulatory and government mandates to improve the money transfer market. Eight European countries rank among the world’s top 10 countries in the 2026 Thunes Cross-Border Payments Interoperability Index, powered by the integrated Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) network. SEPA processes cross-border euro transfers within 10 seconds across more than 40 participating countries. Denmark ranks first globally with a score of 8.8, leading across Financial Inclusion (9.5), Digital Infrastructure (9.5), and Economic Health (8.8). Denmark boasts an advanced domestic payment infrastructure, strong integration with European payment systems, and regional cooperation across the Nordics. Organizations such as the Nordic Payments Council, and initiatives like Vipps MobilePay exemplify this collaboration. Vipps MobilePay is a digital payment company owned by a consortium of Norwegian banks and Danske Bank from Denmark that provides a payment platform, enabling consumers and merchants to make seamless, near-instant payments, including cross-border transactions, across Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. Norway ranks third globally with an overall score of 8.2, leading in Cross-Border Friction (9.2) and excelling in Economic Health (8.5). Norway is followed by Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden at 8 each. Switzerland places eighth with a score of 7.7, performing notably well in Cross-Border Friction (8.3) and Financial Inclusion (8.2). The Thunes Payments Interoperability Index 2026, Source: Thunes and Juniper, Jun 2026 While Europe dominates the top 10 in the 2026 Thunes Cross-Border Payments Interoperability Index this friction-free experience with SEPA remains largely insular to the Eurozone. When transactions extend beyond the European Union (EU), interoperability often breaks down. According to 2024 research by the World Bank, it costs a business approximately 12 times more to transfer EUR 5,000 and 15 times more to transfer EUR 20,000 from the EU to the Western Balkans than among the EU countries. This creates a two-tier system where users experience instant, cheap payments domestically and regionally, but face inefficiencies and high costs when moving money internationally. Emerging markets redefine financial inclusion Beyond SEPA-driven interoperability, the Thunes report also emphasizes how emerging markets with low bank penetration are leveraging mobile and Internet adoption to introduce innovative solutions like mobile money accounts and regionally tailored digital wallets, allowing users to transact seamlessly without relying on legacy banking systems. Markets like Brazil and India exemplify this shift. These markets are not constrained by legacy payment infrastructure, allowing them to leapfrog countries with entrenched payment networks by building modern, real-time payment ecosystems from the ground up. A study conducted by Juniper Research in April 2026 as part of the Thunes report polled more than 6,700 respondents across ten markets across the world. It found that Brazil has one of the highest usages of bank transfers across the surveyed countries, second only to India. Notably, 59% of those in Brazil use bank transfers daily or weekly. This success in A2A payments in Brazil is attributable to the launch of Pix by Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) in 2020. Pix is a real-time payments system offered by almost every financial institution and fintech in the country, allowing users to transfer money instantly using Pix keys, or QR codes at checkout, eliminating the need for card detail entry and card fees. According to BCB’s Deputy Governor for Licensing and Resolution, Renato Dias de Brito Gomes, about 170 million people use Pix in Brazil, or nearly every adult. The platform has reached more than 20 million businesses using the service. Similarly, India operates its own real-time payment system. Launched in 2016, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. UPI is widely popular across the country, processing more than US$300 billion monthly, and leading retail payments by accounting for 85.5% of all digital transactions. The UPI ecosystem spans nearly 700 banks and serves 491 million individuals and 65 million merchants, making it one of the world’s largest real-time payment systems in terms of volume. Despite their domestic innovations, both Brazil and India face challenges in cross-border connectivity. In the 2026 Thunes Cross-Border Payments Interoperability Index, Brazil ranks 24th and India ranks 30th. ASEAN economies are also highlighted for their cross-border payment interoperability efforts. These economies are at the forefront of multiple cross-border fast payment system linkages, with Singapore being a particular forerunner. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has been involved with multiple bilateral linkages, allowing users in Singapore to transfer funds directly to the bank account or digital wallet of another user in a different jurisdiction, using just a mobile number or QR code. For example, Singapore’s PayNow system links with India’s UPI, Indonesia’s and the Philippines’ respective QR payments systems, Malaysia’s DuitNow network, and Thailand’s PromptPay system. This is in addition to its involvement in Project Nexus, an initiative led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) that aims to develop a standardized and multilateral network to accommodate the different instant payment systems around the world and enable instant cross-border payments. Globally, Singapore ranks second in the 2026 Thunes Cross-Border Payments Interoperability Index, scoring a perfect 10 score on Market Dynamics and Progress, alongside Brazil. These two jurisdictions are recognized for launching new payment rails, and spearheaded multilateral payment linkage projects. Cross-border initiatives in ASEAN countries, Source: Thunes and Juniper, Jun 2026   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by arslantanoli via Magnific The post Denmark and Singapore Top the 2026 Global Ranking for Cross‑Border Payment Interoperability appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

By 2030, tokenized assets could account for 2% of all financial assets in the capital markets ecosystem, representing a market value of up to US$8.2 trillion, according to new estimates by Citi. This projection marks a dramatic shift from the estimated US$17 billion global tokenization market for financial assets recorded as of April 2026, a figure which itself reflects a threefold increase from the previous year. Public equities lead the charge This growth will be driven by public market equities, which are expected to achieve the highest penetration rate among key asset types at 2.9%, generating the largest volume in absolute terms. By 2030, approximately US$5.4 trillion worth of public equities assets could exist in tokenized form, constituting roughly 66% of the total tokenized asset market. The US is set to dominate this segment, accounting for US$3.9 trillion of that volume through a 4.5% tokenization penetration rate. Estimating tokenization market size by 2030 (US$ trillion), Source: Tokenization 2030: Wall Street On-Chain, Citi, Jun 2026 Retail trading activity and participation in US equity markets are projected to migrate towards tokenized distribution models over time, with Citi estimating that about 10% of such activity could eventually move to these platforms. This trend will be mostly driven by younger, digitally native investors, particularly millennials and Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, alongside the continued rise of app-based brokerage and crypto-native financial ecosystems. These investors, both in and outside the US, will continue to expect 24/7 convenience in everything they do, from food delivery to e-commerce, banking and trading. With approximately 145 million Gen Z and Millennials in the US, these generations have been raised in a digital finance environment and are actively reshaping the sector. According to a 2025 report by Robinhood Markets, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and the World Economic Forum, these younger investors participate in capital markets at higher rates than previous generations and seek personalized, tech-enabled guidance. 58% of Gen Z individuals start learning about investing before entering the workforce, compared to 21% of Baby Boomers, or those born between 1946 and 1964. 36% of these younger generations use AI chatbots, versus 15% for their older counterparts, and 19% utilize robo-advisors, compared to 11% for Baby Boomers and Gen Xs born between 1946 and 1980. The services investor respondents use, Gen Z and Millennials versus Gen X and Baby Boomers, Source: 2024 Global Retail Investor Outlook, World Economic Forum, Robinhood Markets, Boston Consulting Group, Mar 2025 Outside of the US, public equities are expected to see lower tokenization penetration, estimated at just 1.5% and amounting to US$1.6 trillion worth of tokenized assets. Citi attributes this disparity to fragmented market structures, lower retail participation, and slower-moving regulatory and post-trade modernization efforts. The US has the world’s largest public equity market, accounting for about half of global stock market capitalization at more than US$75 trillion, according to Bloomberg and Visual Capitalist calculations. East Asia, led by China, stands in second with about US$40 trillion in stock market capitalization, followed by Europe as a whole, with about US$20 trillion. World’s largest equity markets, Source: Visual Capitalist, Bloomberg, Apr 2026 Tokenization in public fixed income and institutional innovation After public equities, public fixed income is set to constitute the largest portion of tokenized assets by absolute value. By 2030, up to US$2.2 trillion in fixed-income assets could be tokenized, representing a penetration rate of 1.3%. This implies a 27% share of the total tokenized market for this asset class, which includes instruments like US Treasury Bills and Money Market Funds (MMFs) designed to provide predictable income and principal return. This projection assumes a tokenization penetration of up to 15% for the US Treasury Bill market, representing the highest among all asset types. According to Citi, treasury bills are operationally well-suited for tokenization given their deep liquidity, broad collateral usage, standardization, and central role in repo and liquidity markets. Current adoption has been led by crypto-native treasury and stablecoin ecosystems. For example, Ondo Finance is a platform for tokenized real-world assets that has surpassed US$2.5 billion in total value locked (TVL) across its tokenized products, which comprise tokenized US Treasuries and stocks. Simultaneously, MMFs are poised to emerge as an important area of adoption with tokenization penetration potentially reaching 7% by 2030. This will be driven by MMFs’ growing role as institutional cash-equivalent and collateral instruments. Large US asset managers have already launched tokenized government liquidity and MMF products. Franklin Templeton, for example, launched in 2021 the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX), the first US-registered MMF to use a public blockchain as the official system of record for processing transactions and recording share ownership. The fund accrues yield continuously and reflects it in holder balances throughout the day, and holds at least 99.5% of its assets in short-term US government securities, cash, and repurchase agreements. BlackRock entered the space in 2024, launching the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL). BUIDL invests 100% of its total assets in cash, US Treasury bills, and repurchase agreements, and allows investors to earn yield while holding the token on the blockchain. Investors can transfer their tokens 24/7/365 to other pre-approved investors, and access flexible custody options. BlackRock is now working on launching two additional MMFs designed specifically for investors who hold their cash in stablecoins, Bloomberg reported in May. Transforming capital markets structure Beyond specific asset classes, Citi expects tokenization to fundamentally change how core market functions in capital markets are delivered, connected, and priced. In traditional markets, multiple intermediaries perform post-trade functions such as clearing, settlement, reconciliation, and custody, often due to fragmented record-keeping and delayed settlement cycles. Tokenized systems introduce a shared ledger where ownership transfer and settlement can occur in near real-time, reducing reconciliation-heavy processes and compresses post-trade layers. This will result in significant efficiency gains, with a 2025 report by BCG and Ripple suggesting that an issuer handling US$1 billion in annual bond issuance could save approximately US$2-3 million in costs by moving to on-chain issuance. Furthermore, traditional markets tend to be structured around asset-for-cash exchanges, where cash acts as the intermediary in most transactions. Tokenization could facilitate a shift towards asset-to-asset transactions, including collateral swaps, securities-for-securities exchanges and multi-asset transactions executed atomically, reducing reliance on cash as an intermediary and supports more efficient collateral utilization. Tokenization is also expected to introduce new revenue opportunities emerging in areas such as token issuance and structuring, collateral optimization and financing, data and analytics, and smart contract lifecycle services. It could also enable real time collateral mobilization, supporting intraday funding and dynamic pricing, and improving liquidity. Industry participants recognize these potential advantages. A 2025 survey by Citi involving 537 market participants found rising expectations that market structures based on distributed ledger technology can reduce post-trade processing costs (51%), improve liquidity and asset mobility (43%), and enhance balance sheet efficiency (32%). DLT-based market structures could improve cost efficiency and collateral mobility (% of respondents), Source: Tokenization 2030: Wall Street On-Chain, Citi, Jun 2026   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Swtzerland, based on image by Mockup_Mania via Magnific The post Tokenized Assets Projected to Reach up to US$8T by 2030 appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Digital Asset has secured US$355 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz‘s crypto fund, a16z crypto, to expand its Canton blockchain network for institutional finance. The round included participation from both traditional and decentralised finance institutions. Notable backers include ABN Amro, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, BNP Paribas, Broadridge, Citadel Securities, and HSBC. The company will use the Digital Asset funding to scale the Canton network. Digital Asset plans to deepen its engagement with developers and financial institutions. The company will focus on bringing more assets and regulated workflows onchain. Yuval Rooz “For capital markets to move onchain, institutions need infrastructure that reflects how they actually operate with privacy, compliance, scale, and interoperability built in from the start,” said Yuval Rooz, Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Asset. Rooz noted that Digital Asset is working with more than 700 participants to establish Canton as core infrastructure for global finance. The network is designed to address barriers to blockchain adoption by enabling institutions to use shared infrastructure while maintaining necessary regulatory controls. Ali Yahya “Digital Asset has built one of the clearest examples of blockchain product-market fit in regulated finance,” said Ali Yahya, General Partner at a16z crypto. The investment also establishes a broader partnership between Digital Asset and a16z crypto. The blockchain firm will draw on the investor’s expertise in policy and research to support its growth in tokenisation, collateral mobility, and settlement use cases.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by mrsiraphol via Magnific The post Digital Asset Secures US$355 Million Funding Led by a16z Crypto appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

ING is launching a global subscription model across nine retail markets, consolidating its everyday financial services and lifestyle benefits into four tiered plans. The rollout marks a strategic shift for the bank towards relationship-based customer offerings. The new plans, ING Go, ING More, ING Extra, and ING Max, are designed to meet growing consumer demand for simplicity and flexibility. The model introduces premium options that bundle debit and credit cards, investment benefits, and comprehensive insurance. It also includes partner extras such as streaming services, travel benefits, and cashback features. With over €600 billion in retail banking customer deposits, ING is scaling the model internationally while tailoring specific features to local markets. The new plans are currently live in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and Romania, with 3 million customers already migrated to the updated offerings. Sali Salieski “We act when we see an opportunity to create value for customers,” said Sali Salieski, Global Head of Private Individuals at ING. “Following extensive customer research, they told us they want everyday banking to be simpler, designed around their lifestyle and with more flexibility.” The bank plans to continue its phased international rollout to its remaining retail markets, which include Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, and Turkey.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by alexokov via Magnific The post ING Launches Global Subscription Banking Model in Nine Markets appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Swiss retail banks are facing intense pressure to control their technology budgets, leading most to prioritise automation and shared platforms over staff reductions. Researchers from the Institute of Financial Services Zug at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts surveyed 42 Swiss retail banks on their technology sourcing challenges. Costs emerged as the primary concern. Two-thirds of the institutions described the challenge as very great, while the remaining third called it great. The survey found that 90% of the banks plan to use process optimisation and automation to reduce their operating expenses. Cooperation with other banks and service providers is nearly as important, with 86% of institutions looking to shared platforms to ease budget constraints. Dr. Thomas Fischer “Cost reductions are not only sought through technology, but also through shared infrastructures and economies of scale,” said Dr. Thomas Fischer, Co-author, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Simplifying and standardising existing technology infrastructure is also a preferred method for 64% of the respondents. Staff reductions play a minor role in the cost-saving strategies across the sector. Only 40% of the banks consider cutting personnel to lower technology expenses. An equal number of institutions are turning to artificial intelligence as a cost-reduction measure. Fischer noted that the banks prefer to increase efficiency within their current operations rather than implementing radical structural changes. Cloud services and the expansion of sourcing partnerships are viewed as complementary strategies, cited by 36% and 33% of the respondents respectively. The institutions are addressing the budget pressures through careful and continuous planning rather than immediate structural downsizing. Fischer added that the banks are focusing on cooperation, leaner technology stacks, and gradual automation to achieve their financial goals.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Magnific The post 90% of Swiss Banks Prioritise Automation to Reduce Rising IT Budgets appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

TVL Capital, an institutional digital asset infrastructure firm, has raised US$5 million in a funding round led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm Framework Ventures. Amsterdam-based liquidity provider Flow Traders and several strategic investors also participated in the capital raise. The company will use the capital to build out its core engineering and business development capabilities. This expansion aims to accelerate the deployment of Chain-Traded Products (CTPs), which are compliant, composable structured derivatives issued, settled, and managed directly on blockchain rails. TVL Capital was founded by traditional finance veterans, including CEO Andrew Peel, who formerly served as the Head of Digital Asset Markets at Morgan Stanley. The founding team also includes Chief Operating Officer Penny Tunbridge, the former Global COO of the Group Integration Office at UBS, and Chief Strategy Officer Lars Hoffmann, who previously worked as the Senior Research Director at The Block. The firm is actively partnering with global systemically important banks, traditional financial institutions, centralised exchanges, and onchain protocols to bring its products to market. They design CTPs to function as the blockchain equivalent of exchange-traded products, delivering institutional-grade yields and specific payoffs through smart contract infrastructure. The global retail structured products market represents US$2.5 trillion in outstanding notional value, with new issuances nearly tripling since 2021. TVL Capital plans to provide infrastructure for this asset class to migrate onchain, opening up digital access to structured payoffs while establishing direct onchain distribution channels for traditional issuers. Andrew Peel “The global financial system is in the early stages of migrating onchain,” said Andrew Peel, Founder and CEO of TVL Capital. “Structured products, with their conditional payoffs and programmable mechanics, are a natural fit for smart contract infrastructure, and an upgrade on how they are issued, distributed and managed today. We are building CTPs for a new generation of capital markets, and are grateful to be doing so alongside partners who share that conviction.” The funding round comes amid regulatory shifts and market changes in the United States, including the passage of the GENIUS Act and the pending CLARITY Act. Financial infrastructure entities such as the DTCC, Nasdaq, and NYSE have each announced tokenised securities initiatives, with onchain trading of US securities expected to begin in 2026.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by AI Generated via Magnific The post TVL Capital Secures US$5 Million to Launch Onchain Structured Products appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

The Fintech Marketing Hub, an online non-profit platform representing the global fintech market community, has unveiled its annual selection of the world’s 30 most influential fintech marketers. Among the 2026 winners, 16 are based in Europe, giving the region a 53% share of the total and cementing its status as a powerhouse in the industry. Unveiled last week, the 2026 Top 30 Most Influential Fintech Marketers list recognizes the leaders shaping the fintech industry over the past year through standout brand building, major product launches, aggressive growth strategies, and meaningful contributions to the community. These 30 winners were selected from hundreds of nominations following an evaluation process focused on impact, originality, and industry contribution. A judge panel comprising senior fintech marketing leaders and industry stakeholders then oversaw the final selection. Of the 2026 winners, 16 are based in Europe and represent leading organizations such as Monzo, Taxfix, and Revolut. Geographically, the UK leads with 11 entries, followed by Germany with two, while Ireland, Austria, and Spain each secured one spot. AJ Coyne, CMO, Monzo Bank, UK AJ Coyne serves as the CMO of Monzo Bank in the UK, where he leverages a strategic approach that blends creativity with commercial results. As a proven growth driver with experience spanning fintech, consumer packaged goods (CPG), charity, sustainability, technology, gaming and fashion, Coyne emphasizes purpose-driven business practices and believes that organizational success begins with nurturing talent from within. Coral Kratenstein, Head of Go-to-Market, OpenPayd, UK Coral Kratenstein is the Head of Go-to-Market at OpenPayd in the UK, leading strategies for the financial infrastructure platform. With a background that includes roles at PayPal and GoCardless, as well as experience as an entrepreneur in the travel industry and a certified attorney, she connects her expertise in payments and technology to help shape the future of the tech industry. Fiona Davies, Head of Growth UKIE, US, Nordics, Revolut, UK Fiona Davies leads growth efforts for the Nordics, US, and UK markets at Revolut, bringing over a decade of experience in product marketing, growth, creative strategy, and copy. Her career ranges from being employee number 15 at a California-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup to holding senior leadership positions at one of Europe’s most valuable private tech companies. Ian Peel, CMO, Taskize, UK Ian Peel is the CMO of Taskize, a role he assumed in June 2025. At Taskize, Peel is responsible for building a new, data-driven marketing practice that has so far encompassed team building and upskilling; messaging, positioning and strapline; and brand new website and CRM implementation. Results so far include achieving top rankings in sector for earned media, online engagement, and thought leadership. His achievements also include an award nomination for thought leadership and winning the “Marketing Leader of the Year” title at the Fintech Marketing Community Global Awards in 2025. Ingrid Sierra, Brand and Marketing Director, Zego, UK Ingrid Sierra is the Brand and Marketing Director of Zego where she leads global teams across product marketing, brand, performance digital, and customer experience, delivering impact across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C. She specializes in integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into marketing operations while leading global teams through complex growth stages, acquisitions, and rebrands. Sierra has over 20 years of experience scaling brands across FTSE 100 companies, private equity-backed firms, and fintech and insurtech startups in the US and European, Middle Eastern, and African regions. She has been recognized as a Top 50 Woman in Tech, and also serves as a mentor and advisor to rising talent through initiatives like Women in Open Banking and Bloom UK. Kaynat Choudhury, UK Kaynat Choudhury is a marketing leader based in the UK with more than 15 years of experience bridging the gap between marketing, design, and product for organizations in the fintech, financial services, and media industries. Having previously served as Head of Marketing at StrideUp and Pfida, she’s built marketing functions from the ground up, led rebrands and repositioning, and brought complex products to market in a way that resonates. Toni Gregory, Brand and Content Lead, OpenPayd, UK Toni Gregory leads the Brand and Content function at OpenPayd where she is responsible for driving brand equity and long-term revenue through strategic design, client advocacy programs, and high-impact event management. She also oversees public relations and thought leadership initiatives to amplify executive profiles while optimizing short-term opportunities to secure long-term wins for a fast-scaling fintech company serving over 1,000 global clients. Jessica Rhodes, Global Marketing Director, Paysecure, UK Jessica Rhodes is the Global Marketing Director of Paysecure. She is a chartered marketing leader with over 13 years of experience of directing multi-disciplined teams to scale technology, SaaS and consulting organizations from startup, to scale-up and established with ambitious growth plans. She balances strategy, strong commercial acumen, brand storytelling and creative hands-on application to deliver data-driven, multi-channel marketing initiatives that showcase the brand’s story, product value and company culture. Alongside her professional roles, Rhodes is also an active speaker and mentor in her local community, delivering lecturing at universities and associations, as well as leading public speaking engagements and podcast conversations. Malkit Kaur, Vice President Marketing, Genesis Global, UK Malkit Kaur is the Vice President of Marketing of Genesis Global, bringing over 15 years of expertise in campaign planning, stakeholder relationship management, and demand generation. Her extensive skill set covers budget forecasting, trade show planning and coordination, e-commerce strategy and development, and leveraging social media to expand brand visibility and product awareness. Miranda McLean, CMO, Ecommpay, UK Miranda McLean is the CMO of Ecommpay, a global payments platform. She has more than 20 years of experience in strategic and operational marketing in financial services and fintech. Before joining Ecommpay as CMO, McLean led the creation, launch and development of the Banking Circle and Banking Circle Group brands globally. She was also responsible for successful marketing programs for leading professional corporate brands, including Equifax, LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters and Standard and Poor’s. Paul Afshar, CMO, Paybis, UK Paul Afshar is the CMO of Paybis. He is an innovative leader with over 15 years of experience, driving GBP 76 million in revenue growth, fivefold annual recurring revenue (ARR) increases, and efficiently scaling global marketing team capabilities using AI. With deep expertise in navigating regulated global markets, he combines digital transformation skills with data-driven go-to-market execution to optimize customer acquisition and retention across emerging fintech ecosystems. Mary-Kate Collins, Head of International Communications, Coinbase, Ireland Mary-Kate Collins is the Head of International Communications of Coinbase, leading all Coinbase communications outside the US, with responsibility for ten international markets, namely the UK, Germany, France, UAE, India, Singapore, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Her work spans earned media strategy, executive profiling, regulatory and policy communications, crisis communications, and institutional narrative-building. Collins also manages the global media profile of Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong across all his international travel and engagements, and lead communications programs for country directors and regional managing directors across all of my markets. Alexander Beresford, Chief Growth Officer, Taxfix, Germany Alexander Beresford is the Chief Growth Officer of Taxfix where he is responsible for growing group revenue, managing country operations, and leading all aspects of marketing, public relations (PR), and product growth. He oversees a comprehensive portfolio ranging from performance marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) to partnerships and sales. Vanessa Schotes, CMO, Enfuce, Germany Vanessa Schotes is the CMO of Enfuce. She is an accomplished senior marketer with a strong record of achievement across industries, and has a strong track record of implementing results-driven marketing, communications and brand building programs. Her specialties include marketing planning, strategic market penetration, market research, creative development, external and internal communications, full campaign management, comprehensive brand messaging, PR strategy, product development, and project leadership. Imrich Babics, Managing Director, Chief Growth Officer, Relai, Austria Imrich Babics is the Managing Director and Chief Growth Officer of Relai, a MiCA-licensed Bitcoin app. At Relai, Babics is responsible for statutory representation and regulatory alignment of the company at the EU level. He also leads growth and market expansion for Relai, which has facilitated US$1 billion in total volume by combining consumer adoption strategies with regulatory compliance. Prior to Relai, Babics built the marketing function of Austria’s Bitpanda to reach over one million users. Before Bitcoin, he spent a decade in the media and entertainment industry at Universal Pictures, Xbox, PlayStation, Microsoft, and Huawei, specializing in growing companies in complex, regulated markets. Antoine Le Nel, Global CGO and CMO, Revolut, Spain Antoine Le Nel is the Global Chief Growth and Marketing Officer and Group Executive Committee Partner of Revolut, where he drives global growth for both B2C and B2B offerings across multiple channels and geographies. He oversees marketing, communications, European and expansion markets, analytics, and growth partnerships, working closely with product, engineering, and design teams to deliver seamless and engaging customer experiences. Prior to Revolut, Le Nel spent seven years at King, the developer of Candy Crush Saga, where he held various roles, most recently, as VP Growth, overseeing continuous expansion of the world’s most famous mobile game. Before that, he was a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and Oliver Wyman.   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by fernandocortesde via Magnific The post 16 European Leaders Named Among 2026’s Most Influential Fintech Marketers List appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Silverflow, a cloud-native payments processing platform, has launched a new API called Terminal-to-Cloud to enable payment terminals to connect directly to its host platform. The new tool completely removes the need for a third-party terminal gateway. The product launch shifts processing away from the traditional host-to-host model, where a third-party gateway acts as an intermediary to translate messages between the terminal and the processing host. This direct connection strips away legacy software complexity and reduces the number of intermediaries involved in each transaction. For fintech companies and agile acquirers building modern infrastructure, the setup reduces costs, improves reliability, and increases operational control. Clients can avoid gateway fees and the annual payment card industry (PCI) compliance audit obligations that usually accompany an additional processing layer. The shorter transaction chain also minimises points of failure. If an issue occurs, businesses have a single platform and point of contact rather than multiple vendors to manage during an outage. Paul Buying “The traditional model asks fintechs to take on a gateway relationship they do not need just to get terminals talking to a host,” said Paul Buying, Co-founder, Silverflow. “Terminal-to-Cloud changes that. We have built a direct connection using modern technology, so our clients get the reliability and simplicity they expect without carrying the weight of old gateway infrastructure.” Buying added that payment providers need a clean path from terminal to host without the overhead of a middle layer. The solution aims to simplify their technical stack and reduce exposure to third-party outages. It also ensures there is only one relationship to manage when troubleshooting. The product is designed primarily for fintech operations and acquirers that do not own a legacy gateway. It helps them launch services quickly without having to build or license one. Larger financial institutions can also adopt the solution incrementally to replace existing infrastructure. The Terminal-to-Cloud API is available immediately, with integration support provided directly by the company.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by bunditinay via Magnific The post Silverflow Launches Terminal-to-Cloud API to Bypass Third-Party Gateways appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Am Donnerstag ist es soweit: Die Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft in Mexiko/USA/Kanada startet mit dem Eröffnungsspiel Mexiko gegen Südafrika. Schon seit 2016 stellen wir alle zwei Jahre unsere Schweizer Fintech‑WM‑ und EM‑Nationalteams zusammen. Wie immer gilt: just for fun — weil wir Fussball und Fintech lieben. Im Gegensatz zu früheren Jahren haben wir unseren Stammgoalie Twint ersetzt und setzen dieses Jahr schwerpunktmässig auf Neobanken und ETF‑Vermögensverwalter. Wir freuen uns sehr aber über jeden Kommentar zu unserer 2026 Auswahl und auf die bevorstehenden WM-Spiele. Schweizer WM-Spiele: 13.06 Schweiz-Qatar, 21.00h (immer Schweizer Zeiten) in San Francisco 18.06 Schweiz-Bosnia-Herzegovina, 21.00h in LA 24.06 Schweiz-Kanada, 21.00h in Vancouver Im Achtelfinale geht es dann leider aber wahrscheinlich schon wieder gegen Portugal, falls beide Gruppenerste werden und das 1/16 Finale überstehen ;( Hopp Schwiiz! Zum Vergleich: Das Fussball WM Team von vor 4 Jahren in 2022 gibts hier nachzulesen, und ja richtig, Payrexx scheint unser Zakaria zu sein;)   Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by user6702303, ibrandify, and f11photo via Magnific The post Das Schweizer Fussball Fintech WM Team 2026 appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.