Helping you make sense of going Cashless | Best-selling author of "Cashless" and "Innovation Lab Excellence" | Consultant | Speaker | Top media source on China's CBDC, the digital yuan | China AI and tech

As a best-selling author and consultant, I combine my passion for fintech, AI, and innovation with my extensive experience in the banking industry and the Asian market. I wrote two No. 1 international bestsellers, "Cashless: China's Digital Currency Revolution" and "Innovation Lab Excellence," that provide insights, strategies, and practical solutions for the digital transformation of the financial sector. I have also been a top media source and speaker on China's digital yuan and mobile payments, sharing my firsthand knowledge and analysis of the world's most advanced cashless society.

With over 25 years of experience in risk management, structured credit, and debt financing, I deeply understand fintech and AI's challenges and opportunities for the banking industry. I have worked with start-ups and established insurance and asset management players, helping them navigate the uncharted waters of the latest cognitive, AI, blockchain, and analytic technologies. I have also led and contributed to multiple innovation labs and projects across Asia, applying the latest IBM technologies to real-world problems our banking clients face. I am a tireless evangelist for using technology to democratize access to financial markets and to enhance customer experience and value.

Richard Turrin

Accenture sees six trends that are rewriting banking’s future and contributing to “unconstrained banking,” where digital assets, new business models, and accelerated decision-making enable banks to do more than ever if they’re fast enough.

I give tremendous credit to Accenture for the best banking trends report I’ve seen so far this year!

Accenture backs up every trend with statistics that are designed to make even the most conservative banker sit bolt upright in panic.

Whether banks can move fast enough is the question, and Accenture’s advice on “what to do” is, on occasion, insipid and doesn’t do justice to the magnitude of the effort required. 

My take is that banks are in trouble. 

Banks are universally recognized as poor technology adopters, and virtually every one of these six requires banks to “move fast and break things.” 

When is the last time you saw a bank do that? 

While a few of these trends might be plausible for a bank to manage, it’s hard to imagine all but a few of the most tech-adroit running meaningful programs in all six! 

That leaves us with only digital money, agentic AI, and legacy tech as the three that banks will absolutely be forced to deal with in 2026. 

These six read like a death sentence for slow banks. 

Can they pull it off before running out of time?

👉 The Top Six

1️⃣ Dumb money gets smarter 
Adopting stablecoins, CBDC, and tokenized deposits.

2️⃣ Banking everywhere it matters 
GenAI assistants.

3️⃣ Agentic AI shatters traditional capacity barriers
Digital human-agent teams

4️⃣ The high cost of low cost 
Upgrade legacy tech.

5️⃣ Risk: Seeing the big picture beyond the pixels  
Integrated risk management. (Yawn, I read this every other year.) 

6️⃣ The battle for the balance sheet intensifies 
The very real threat from fintech, stablecoin, and private credit.


♻️Repost to share this great bank trends report
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The Top 6 Tech Bank Trends – If They Don't Run Out of Time

🚨 2025 Top 10 — No. 1 🚨 Mastering AI Agents: A comprehensive guide for evaluating AI agents

Want to learn how to build AI agents that tell the truth? Read on to learn more about 2025's hottest topic from a great e-book! 

👉Why this report is No. 1, and matters in 2026:

↳ Learning about AI Agents is your No. 1 priority in 2026!
↳ This eBook is a solid read for beginners and more advanced practitioners.
↳ Save this post for future reference.  What is stopping you from diving in?
↳ I'm back from holiday and writing NEW content tomorrow!!

From the author: 

"This e-book aims to be your go-to guide for all things AI agents. If you’re a leader looking to guide your company to build successful agentic applications, this e-book can serve as a great guide to get you started. 

We also explore approaches to measuring how well your AI agents perform, as well as common pitfalls you may encounter when designing, measuring, and improving them.

We hope this book will be a great stepping stone in your journey to build trustworthy agentic systems."

👉The book is divided into five chapters:

🔹 Chapter 1 introduces AI agents, their optimal applications, and scenarios where they might be excessive. It covers various agent types and includes three real-world use cases
to illustrate their potential.

🔹 Chapter 2 details three frameworks—LangGraph, Autogen, and CrewAI—with evaluation criteria to help choose the best fit. It ends with case studies of companies using these
frameworks for specific AI tasks.

🔹 Chapter 3 explores the evaluation of an AI agent through a step-by-step example of a finance research agent.

🔹 Chapter 4 explores how to measure agent performance across systems, task completion, quality control, and tool interaction, supported by five detailed use cases.

🔹 Chapter 5 addresses why many AI agents fail and offers practical solutions for successful AI deployment.

♻️Repost to share this important read on AI Agents
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Mastering AI Agents eBook

🚨 2025 Top 10 — No. 2 🚨  The Future of Mobile Banking: The Top 18 Trends for 2025

This is a page-turner and fun read that will help show you the killer features your mobile banking app should have now. 

👉Why this report is No. 2, and matters in 2026:

↳ The real examples in this report are a great way for banks to focus on what is possible in 2026!
↳ Banks need more than excuses when confronted with features that are real and available elsewhere. 
↳ What is stopping your bank from offering these cutting-edge features, and are any of them enough to make you switch? 

What makes this report such a page-turner is that it includes two real examples currently in production for each of the 18 trends. 

This report isn't about daydreaming about what we might have in the future, but rather demonstrates what we should have and can have if more banks cared about mobile users.

What bothers me most after reading this is that I'm paying several banks for their services, and the apps they force me to use are outdated junk! 

It isn't just me who feels that way, 69% of users think their bank app lags behind!

👉 Why mobile banking matters: 

🔹 3.8 billion users will rely on mobile banking in 2025.

🔹 62% of consumers use banking apps daily.

🔹 78% of users log on to banking apps at least once a week.

🔹 86% of users now prefer a single app to handle everything from managing loans and tracking expenses to booking travel and entertainment.

🔹 53% of consumers report that mobile banking increases their financial awareness. Younger generations, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, are leading adopters of features like credit monitoring, budgeting, and savings tools.

🔹 64% of consumers research a bank's tech offerings before committing to services.

Will reports like this make your bank act and update its app? 

♻️Repost to share this stunning report on what is possible in banking apps now! 
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The Future of Mobile Banking

🚨Top 2026 Trends, No. 3🚨: Tokenization will be big in 2026, JP Morgan recently launched its first tokenized money market fund (MMF), “MONY” on the public Ethereum blockchain in what is likely to be a model for others to follow. 

What makes this noteworthy is that JPM is the first of the largest systemically critical banks to issue tokenized funds, meaning more will follow. 

JPM follows asset managers BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Fidelity in issuing MMFs. 

MONY can be purchased only by institutional investors with USDC, and offers faster settlement times, around-the-clock trading, and real-time visibility into ownership.

↳ The trend is clear: the dollar has been tokenized through stablecoins, and assets will soon follow. 

↳Tokenization of “real world assets” (RWAs) has grown to $19 billion from $5 billion in a year, according to the more optimistic views of crypto proponent, RWA.xyz data.  

↳Estimates of the future potential of RWA tokenization range from McKinsey’s low of $2 trillion to “the sky is the limit.”  

What is clear is that this transition will not happen overnight, with the need to adapt tokenization to meet securities regulations being the most pressing issue.  

The Broadridge Tokenization Survey earlier this year showed how, among early tokenization adopters, 65% fear regulatory risk, and among future adopters rises to a lofty 78%. (below)

Tokenization also faces another problem in that it impacts the profits of investment banks, broker-dealers, and asset servicers. (below) 

No matter how good tokenization is from a technical perspective, expecting these institutions to welcome blowing up their existing business model is a stretch.

Still, the trend towards tokenization is inevitable, and while it might take longer than we want, it will become very real in 2026. 

♻️Repost to share this great read on tokenization!
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JPM Shows How Tokenization Is Going Mainstream in 2026

Quantum computers are coming — and within the next decade, they could break the public-key encryption (RSA, ECC) protecting bank transactions, crypto, and more.

Citigroup calls it a trillion-dollar threat — and they’re not exaggerating.

The real danger: “Q-Day” (when quantum breaks current crypto) and “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” attacks — adversaries are already stealing encrypted data today for future decryption.

Long-shelf-life data is most at risk: SSNs, biometrics, medical records, IP, and blockchain-exposed crypto addresses (25% of Bitcoin, 65%+ of Ethereum vulnerable).

HNDL makes data leaked onto the dark web today, which may not make front-page news, damaging in the future. 

We’ve heard quantum warnings for years — but experts now flag the next 10 years as high-risk. 

The scale is so massive (economic, geopolitical, even ideological for crypto) that ignoring it is no longer an option.

NIST-approved post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is ready — but it demands huge industry migration.

Citi urges banks: inventory crypto exposure, prioritize critical systems, and start the long migration now.

The question: With AI already stressing institutions, will finance find the bandwidth for quantum readiness?

♻️Repost to share this great read on quantum
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The Trillion-Dollar Quantum Threat to Banks and Crypto 

Asian banks are making faster progress toward the use of agentic/multi-agent systems in operations than banks in the West, which are still focused on siloed pilots.

Leading Asian banks, the top 10% of AI users, are achieving 30-50% efficiency gains and 2-3x productivity uplifts through agentic AI, beating global peers. 

“Banks in Asia find themselves at an AI inflection point. They have a window of opportunity to pick up the pace of their transformations and to create distance from peers that may be slower to recognize and seize this moment.”

Asia’s banks are trying to widen the “AI-divide” with their competition to drive efficiency and increase revenue using AI. 

Why the focus on operations instead of sexy front-office use-cases?

↳ Approximately 75% of GenAI’s economic potential comes from just four functions, customer operations, marketing & sales, software engineering, and R&D. 

↳ End-to-end operations represent an estimated 60–70% of a bank’s overall cost base, making operational transformation through AI (especially agentic AI) the biggest potential value unlock in banking — far more disruptive than other functions

↳ McKinsey’s latest Global Banking Annual Review 2025 estimates that AI could bring gross reductions of 15 to 20% of a bank’s entire cost base

These gains will not be easily won due to regulatory complexity, legacy stacks, and institutional inertia that inhibit AI deployment. 

Another factor is that in parts of Asia, the cheaper cost of labor has historically prevented many banks from pursuing tech-enabled transformations of operations.

This is why Agentic AI, with its human-in-the-loop requirement, allows Asian banks’ larger teams, often deployed in repetitive, high-volume tasks, to be redeployed to higher-value work.

That said, Asia’s AI frontrunners, like DBS in Singapore with GenAI assistants, are pushing boundaries and showing the region’s banks significant improvements in frontline productivity, KYC/AML transformation, and end-to-end process redesign.

Asia’s banks are ripe for AI transformation, and their fast actions will likely make them models for the West to follow. 

♻️Repost to share how Asian banks are leading on AI!
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Asian Banks Lead Agentic AI Surge Compared to West

Deloitte sees five major trends in payments for 2026.  How many of the five do you think will make the cut?  

My take is that a few look strong, but always the skeptic, I can't see some of them going big in 2026.

The Five Trends:

1️⃣ Regulation meets innovation: Stablecoin enables seamless global payments

Stablecoins are still not fit for mass adoption. Banks need serious infrastructure changes for them to be used in wholesale or retail payments. And while some may argue that banks aren’t necessary for retail payments, the only way they will go mainstream is if banks are fully onboard. I agree that they'll be big in 2026 but not mainstream.  Note that I like how Deloitte acknowledges that on major transfer corridors, stablecoins offer little benefit.  

2️⃣ Mandates in motion: Speed is the new standard
  
Deloitte is correct, real-time payments are the future, but the US’s FedNow is late to the party and doesn’t deliver. FedNow payments are 100% bank controlled, unlike fast payment systems in Brazil, India, and China. It processed a mere $853B in 2025 compared to card’s $13T! I don’t expect FedNow to even dent cards in 2026. It would cost banks too much!  

3️⃣ Beyond compliance: Turning data standards into competitive advantage

ISO 20022 is great messaging tech and means that reports of SWIFT’s demise at the hands of stablecoins are way too premature. With global adoption, it will reduce the cost and time for cross-border payments at a time when stablecoins are vying to make their mark. It’s the tech behind FedNow, Singapore’s PayNow, and Australia’s NPP.   And it helps banks with AML/KYC.

4️⃣ Autonomous payments: Agentic AI is reshaping the role of humans in finance 

Yes, autonomous payments are coming, but I can’t square people outside of Silicon Valley using them with the US having one of the lower global scores in AI trust. Let’s face it, if Americans don’t trust AI, will they let it spend their money? I’m willing to be wrong on this, but tech is way ahead of citizens on this one.  Big in 2026?  I'm not buying it. 

5️⃣ AI vs. AI: AI-powered fraud meets real-time defenses

So ask yourself, who is more innovative, banks or criminals? This is why banks will always be a half-step behind the crooks. New tech will certainly help banks reduce losses and will bring the curve down, but this is a game without end, and banks will always be playing catch-up. 

👉Which Didn't Make the Cut?

By my standards, real-time payments with FedNow and autonomous payments don't yet make the cut!   

FedNow adoption is still low, and autonomous payments still have major trust hurdles to clear.  

So that's 2 out of 5 that I don't see going bigtime in 2026! 

Tell me why I'm wrong!

♻️Repost with your thoughts
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Five trends in payments: How many make the cut?

“Sovereign AI” has become a strategic imperative. Nations want to cut dependence on foreign tech, protect national interests, and stay competitive in the AI race.

But here’s the reality: AI is the new oil — no country can afford to ignore it. 

Yet full “build-it-yourself” sovereignty is a myth for most. The US and China already control ~65% of global AI investment.

Chips, LLMs, infrastructure — they come from somewhere. A rigid go-it-alone policy is unrealistic when the resources are concentrated in just two powers.

The WEF offers a smarter path: prioritize strategic control and resilience over total self-sufficiency. 

Quote from WEF:
“Success in the AI era will be determined not by isolation, but by strategic interdependence – balancing domestic investment in key AI infrastructure with international collaboration.”

↳ This pragmatic approach helps nations avoid being forced to pick sides between the US and China. 

↳ It wisely promotes interoperable systems to dodge vendor lock-in. Run Chinese models on US servers (or vice versa) if it makes sense. 

↳Use “digital embassies” for data sovereignty.

No country — not even the US or China — can own the entire AI value chain. 

The winners will control partnerships, focus on adoption, and stay ecosystem-agnostic.  

Nations like India, Singapore, and the UAE featured in the report have winning formulas. 

That’s how you capture AI’s economic value and close the gap between AI makers and AI takers.

What’s your take? Is full AI sovereignty realistic, or is smart interdependence the only viable path forward?

♻️Repost to share this great read on AI sovereignty
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Sovereign AI: Go It Alone Means Fall Behind

🚨Top 2026 Trends, No. 4:🚨 Strong AI Governance Will Become The Norm — But Only After a Meltdown Forces Companies to Act

AI Governance will become a hot-button issue in 2026 because a global brand will experience an AI meltdown, triggering bad headlines, an apology from the CEO, and public questions about governance.

No one should be surprised that AI governance will be a key trend for 2026 when it is on the evening news.  

The paradox is that IBM shows how governance is not a hindrance to AI deployment but an accelerant! 

IBM’s survey of 1,000 global senior business and technology leaders showed that:

↳executives credited more than a quarter (27%) of their efficiency gains to strong governance. 

↳companies that invest more in AI ethics report 34% higher profit from AI as well as faster launches and stronger security.

These results show that the common belief that AI governance impedes the development of AI or is a mere “check-the-box” compliance issue is simply false.

The problem, however, is that while IBM shows governance accelerates AI development, the majority of surveys show that companies are ill-prepared for managing AI:

↳ Less than 1% of Firms Build Responsible AI (Sept 2025)

↳ 72% of organizations using AI report that their CEO is not responsible for overseeing AI governance and that 83% of boards do NOT oversee AI governance. (March 2025)

↳ Only 23% of organizations surveyed said they were highly prepared for “GenAI Risk and Governance” (August 2025)

I expect 2026 to be the year when AI governance lands front and center in front of every major company.  

Sadly, it will take an epic meltdown and a global news event to do so. 

♻️Repost to share this important read on AI governance.
#Fintech, #AI, and Tech at the speed of Asia and China.

AI Governance Will Need a Meltdown to Be Taken Seriously

One in six people now uses AI daily, while 6.8 billion remain left behind in the widening global divide as global adoption of GenAI tools reached 16.3% of the world’s population, and the Global South falls further behind.

Microsoft’s latest report on AI diffusion confirms my call last week: the AI divide is the No. 1 trend for 2026. (see link below)

Microsoft’s “telemetry” shows that AI adoption in the Global North grew almost twice as fast as in the Global South, widening the gap from 9.8 to 10.6 percentage points. 

The AI gap is growing, and AI’s benefits are not expanding equally among nations, companies, and people.

↳ The world leaders are the UAE and Singapore, treat AI as a national priority with build-outs of digital infrastructure, regulatory assistance, and policies that integrate AI into daily life. 

↳ The US dropped from 23rd to 24th place, reflecting the fact that a smaller proportion of the US population uses AI compared to smaller nations.

↳ The US’s low adoption rate also tracks with AI trust; only 32% of Americans trust AI, compared to 67% in the UAE.

I’ve long argued that Chinese open-source models would bridge the gap for developing nations priced out of Silicon Valley subscriptions.

↳ Microsoft, agrees: “DeepSeek removed both financial and technical barriers that limit access to advanced AI.” 

↳ DeepSeek’s surge is most striking in Africa, where usage is estimated 2–4× higher than in other regions — reaching millions who otherwise would have zero access.

Simply put, if people cannot afford AI, they can’t use it! 

Whatever side of the geopolitical US-China divide you fall on, you have to give DeepSeek credit where it’s due: 

DeepSeek is delivering AI to the underserved.

Never forget that OpenAI was at its start designed to be open-source, and Sam Altman is clear that OpenAI is on the ‘wrong side of history.’ 

What do you think — will open-source AI narrow the divide, or will it widen further?


♻️Repost to share this great read on the AI-divide
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AI Divide: North-South Gap Widens – 6.8B Left Behind

Weekend Read:  300,000 voices across 20 countries show that people feel more stretched, less healthy, and less confident about the future than they did a few years ago.

This stunning report by Oliver Wyman is my best Weekend Read in ages, as it affects every one of us who feels stuck in a treadmill of "more striving, less thriving."

For fintech and AI lovers, go straight to Chapter 3, page 50 for the chapter on AI investing with some shocking revelations:

-In two years, the share of people using AI for investing has jumped by nearly a third, to 44%. 

-Those confident they can outperform advisers are nearly 50% likelier to use AI for investing and financial planning. 

-Even as AI use has climbed, interest in letting AI invest automatically has fallen from 41% to 32%. Most see the technology as a co-pilot, not an autopilot.

-65% of middle to high income earners say they "can get better returns on their own than with a financial adviser."

👉This report offers so much more than AI in investing. It covers the big trends that are making us feel worse, not better.  

It also shows how the forces below are all reinforcing one another and, frankly, making everyone miserable: 

↳ We value achieving, caring, and being healthy more — yet we feel worse. 

People report feeling 9% worse physically and mentally than a few years ago. The pattern is “more striving, less thriving.” 

↳We turn to community, each other, and AI when the health system falls short. 

Quality-of-life indicators are at record highs, but people report feeling worse mentally and physically than a few years ago. Yet the pursuit of stability resembles a perpetual sprint: Everyone is running harder just to stay where they are.

↳We want fulfillment at work, but we’re settling for less — and slowing organizations down. 

 Employees are delivering “just enough,” and quietly draining momentum.

↳We’ve stopped forgiving bad experiences as consumers. 

 “Very right” has become the baseline expectation: 64% will dump a brand after a single poor experience.

↳We dream of never needing a paycheck again. 

Financial independence is now the fastest-growing unmet need, rising to 41% from 32% in 2022. Pressure to “make money to feel successful” has nearly doubled (+80%). 

↳We are the last generation to work only with humans. 

Two-thirds of employees (67%) already interact with AI in “human-like” ways and 28% prefer an AI manager over a human one. 

↳We’re leading through constant disruption and a fractured workforce. 

 51% say leadership models are outdated, and the share citing “subpar leadership” as a top dissatisfaction has jumped nearly 60% since 2023. 

Kudos to principle author Ana Kreacic and team! 

♻️Repost to share this report that shows why we all feel the same stress!
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AI reshapes our world as more are striving not thriving

🚨Top 2026 Trends, No. 1🚨: AI Inequality and Why APAC Is the Ultimate AI Testing Ground 

While we accept that banks and companies will rise and fall based on their AI capabilities, do we accept that nations, too, will face a similar fate, rising and falling with access to AI, the new “oil” fueling growth? 

AI is the world’s next essential infrastructure, like power, roads, and schools, with big upsides and the ever-present risk of falling behind.  

That’s why it is No. 1 on the list for the Top Trends of 2026! 

Access to AI will be crucial, and APAC will be ground zero for AI implementation. 

Why APAC?  

APAC’s 200x gap between the richest and poorest nations will make it a key testing ground for AI.

AI will be abundant in rich nations, with a gap that can hopefully be closed by deliberate diffusion to poorer nations.  

Add to that reasonably good connectivity, high trust in AI, and a broad diversity from island nations to AI juggernauts like China, makes it a natural front in the battle against AI inequality. 

But here’s the wild card.

So far, the expectation from the West is that nations and peoples without AI access will simply sit it out and wait patiently as the “AI Race” passes them by.  

This is, at best, naive and, at worst, ignores the urgent needs of billions without access.

Developing nations, particularly those in APAC, with generally good connectivity, unlike those in Africa, will not sit it out on the sidelines.  

They won’t watch while AI helps to transform education, healthcare, and agricultural management for others.

They will reach out for AI wherever they find it, and this leads us inevitably to the geopolitical and philosophical battle between China and the US over open-source AI access.

China’s AI is generally open-source and available to all, while Silicon Valley’s subscription model, used to generate revenue for massive data center expansion, largely bypasses developing nations. 

Even Sam Altman believes OpenAI has been “on the wrong side of history” when it comes to open-sourcing its technologies. 

Putting people first by enabling women, men, and children in the most vulnerable or remote communities to be empowered by the best that human achievement has to offer through AI is unstoppable. 

How it plays out in APAC will be a key feature of 2026 that we should all watch carefully as the “Next Great Divergence” plays out.

♻️Repost to share this Top Trend for 2026!
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AI Inequality: APAC is the Ultimate Testing Ground

Weekend Read:  2026: The Year AI Transforms Jobs Forever – Supercharged, Displaced, Co-Piloted or Stalled?

The WEF looks at the biggest question facing society in 2026: the future of jobs as AI transforms and displaces them. 

The Four Potential Scenarios for jobs will be:

1️⃣ Supercharged Progress:
Exponential Al breakthroughs reshape industries, business models and workflows. Productivity soars and innovation flourishes. Widespread Al readiness allows people to harness the "agentic leap."  

2️⃣ The Age of Displacement: 
Exponential Al advancement outpaces the capacity of the workforce to adapt. Businesses race to automate as a stopgap, displacing workers faster than education and reskilling systems can respond.

3️⃣ Co-Pilot Economy: 
Gradual Al progress and availability of Al-ready skillsets shift the focus towards augmentation rather than mass automation. The Al hype of the 2020s has given way to pragmatic integration: most industries see incremental transformation as human-Al teams reshape value chains.

4️⃣ Stalled Progress: 
Steady Al progress meets a workforce lacking critical skills. Productivity growth is patchy, and businesses lean on automation to backfill scarce talent. Gains concentrate within businesses and geographies with Al expertise, while others face eroding competitiveness.

Read the “No-Regret” strategies to prepare for all of these potentialities on page 4!

Which of the four scenarios do you think will happen? 

My take?  The co-pilot economy mixed with stalling!  

I see the AI divide causing a big stall ahead. 

Am I too pessimistic?  

♻️Repost to share this great read on the future of jobs and AI!
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2026: The Year AI Transforms Jobs Forever — 4 Scenarios!

Deloitte's latest report reveals a massive shift: AI tokens are driving enterprise IT budgets up by 20%+, replacing predictable SaaS pricing with volatile, usage-based GenAI costs.

↳ AI is now the fastest-growing corporate tech expense — some firms report it consuming up to 50% of IT budgets.

↳ ROI is lagging badly: only 28% of finance leaders see clear value, and half expect 3+ years to break even.

↳ Token spend is unpredictable — scales with model complexity, prompt length, reasoning steps, and infrastructure costs (high-bandwidth memory, storage, electricity).

The only real cost control? Open-source AI models — free to use, self-hosted, with data sovereignty benefits.  

Running an "AI factory" with a mix of open-source and other models is the ultimate cost control for larger organizations.  

Linux Foundation: 89% of orgs already use open source in AI stacks; McKinsey: ~50%.

Watch as Silicon Valley’s trillion-dollar data center bet just got riskier if open source dominates.

Key takeaways for banking & fintech:

↳ Token usage explodes unpredictably — no more fixed seats
↳ Governance is lagging — shadow spend is real
↳ Budget shock incoming — controls are non-negotiable
↳ Winners act now: track tokens, optimize prompts, negotiate volumes, build budgets
↳ Open-source AI is essential for cost reduction

Token economics demand active financial discipline, just like cloud spend did 10 years ago, and a hard look at using open-source AI. 

Drop a comment — curious how you're navigating this shift.

♻️Repost to share this great read on AI tokens! 
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AI Tokens: The New Currency of Enterprise AI

The digital euro’s parliamentary approval is all but assured following Trump’s threat to EU sovereignty over Greenland, which reinforced the ECB’s consistent calls for the digital euro to bring “monetary sovereignty” to the EU.  

A few days ago, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone stated the crux of the problem, pointing out that US companies like Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal own “critical parts” of the global financial infrastructure and “can theoretically pull the plug on us.”

Comments like Cipollone’s may sound alarmist at first glance, but real-world events show his concerns are far from unfounded.

Nicolas Guillou is a French judge at the ICC in The Hague, and is now under U.S. sanctions for authorizing arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and former defence minister Gallant for war crimes in Gaza.

As a result of these sanctions, he can no longer use Visa, Mastercard, or Amex, maintain normal EU-based banking services, or use digital accounts or services with US companies.  

While Guillou’s case may be extreme, and readers may fall on different sides of his decision, it shows the need for EU monetary sovereignty in cases where the US and EU do not see eye to eye. 

Reports from late 2025 suggesting that the digital euro would face difficulty in the EU Parliament now seem like ancient history, and a vote is scheduled for May 5, with Germany announcing its backing of the project yesterday.

Bolstering the case for a digital euro are more than 60 economists who are imploring EU parliamentarians to back the digital euro, warning the Eurozone would “lose control of the most fundamental element in our economy: our money,” to US payment providers.  

The economists, including famed French academic Thomas Piketty, state: “A strong public digital euro is not a nice-to-have, it is an essential safeguard of European sovereignty, stability and resilience.” 

They are right, and after Trump’s Greenland threat and US sanctions, rejecting the digital euro would now be politically unthinkable. 

♻️Repost to share the love for the digital euro.
#Fintech, #AI, and Tech at the speed of Asia and China.

Digital Euro: Visa and MC Can "Pull the Plug" on the EU

Boldly declaring that “the future is onchain” Dfns and BCG turn back the clock to blockchain’s boom year of 2017, where ICOs ruled, and blockchain was the solution to every problem.  

Let me state from the beginning that blockchain is great tech and that it has an important future in banking, payments, and securities.  

Even the ever-so-staid New York Stock Exchange is tokenizing securities following the US dollar going on-chain with stablecoins.

So yes, institutional adoption of blockchain will be big in 2026, and it is very much a “transformational” technology. 

That said, it is a stretch to say that crypto, which the paper innocently refers to as “blockchain native” firms, will:  

1) Disrupt tradfi if they don’t transition to “on-chain banks” or,

2) Provide the tech to rebuild a bank’s tech stack.

Crypto firms still have a long way to go in the trust department before they replace incumbents.   

Similarly, their ability to rebuild a bank's admittedly ancient core systems is seriously in doubt. 

The paper suggests that blockchain tech is unto itself, sufficient for crypto firms to overcome the tremendous societal momentum banks have in their favor. 

This is wishful thinking, especially given crypto’s checkered history and lack of integration into people’s daily lives.  

Has anyone you know used BTC or stablecoins to buy groceries or a car recently?  

I don’t doubt that we will be using stablecoins sometime soon, and banks will adapt; they have no choice. 

But this notion that they must go on-chain or die off is out of 2017, when articles were actually written stating that blockchain may help cure cancer.  

Can I interest you in an ICO?

Banks Must Go On-Chain or Die: The 2017 Boom is Back

Weekend Read: Mambu's "Predictions Report" is a great read that is both easy to skim and thought-provoking as financial services are being "radically rewritten." 

What makes this report such a great read is the inclusion of quotes from industry practitioners in every chapter.  

If you read nothing else, go straight to page 15 for the excellent and rare coverage of Islamic finance.  

"By 2026, Islamic finance will no longer be seen as a niche alternative but as a blueprint for ethical, inclusive and technology-driven banking worldwide." 

Other noteworthy chapters:  Pg 18, "The Transformation in Banking" and Pg 32, "Gen Z, Gen Alpha, the Future of Finance." 

👉Seven topics will define the next chapter of financial services in 2026.

↳ Al and the financial revolution
Artificial intelligence has reached a new frontier of capability

↳Compliance, regulation, and cybersecurity
As innovation accelerates, trust has become one of the most valuable assets in financial services

↳Islamic finance
A principles-led model of finance is taking shape in the digital-first world

↳Transformation in banking
Banking is no longer defined by balance sheets and branches, but by the technology that connects them

↳Payment innovation and Embedded Finance
Payments are disappearing into the background of daily life

↳Crypto and blockchain
Blockchain has moved beyond experimentation to become part of modern finance's digital infrastructure

↳Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and the future of finance 
Every generation reshapes how people live, connect, and create value

What is Mambu missing, if anything?  

♻️Repost this great banking trends report, especially if you're among the 97.6% of LinkedIn users who don't post.  How can you go wrong with this one? 

#Fintech, #AI, and Tech at the speed of Asia and China.

Read How FinServ is Being "Radically Rewritten" 

The quantum threat is a trillion-dollar risk that could break every bank & crypto wallet in a decade as nationalism and insularity impact AI sovereignty and fintech's global aspirations.

If you’re reading this newsletter, I’m sure you are as “alert and attentive” as are the “syndics” of the “drapers guild” in Rembrandt’s famous painting below! 

This week's headline article is all about the quantum threat to finance and crypto. We’ve covered this topic before, but with advances in quantum computing, the threat is getting more real by the day.  

The good news is that standards for quantum-proofing systems exist, so banks and payment companies aren’t being asked to invent the technology, just apply it.  

Application, however, is still a monumental effort in that they need to audit their systems and manage a coordinated roll-out of new quantum-proof tech with other industry participants.

Add quantum to banks’ AI transformation, and it’s not an overstatement to say that they are seriously “burdened!” 

Which leads us to Accenture’s report on the top 6 tech trends for banks in 2026. I give tremendous credit to Accenture for one of the best reports of its kind.  

I just said that banks are “burdened,” and after reading this, you’ll see how heavy the burden on their shoulders is. I seriously doubt that most banks have the tech bandwidth to move fast enough on all of these efforts. 

Who could miss this week’s Davos Forum?  I have two reports that are straight out of Davos that focus on the impact of nationalism and insularity on Sovereign AI and fintech.

This is a real issue for neobanks Revolut, Nubank, and bunq (no capital B), all of which aspire to launch in the challenging US market.  

Deutsche Bank analysts declare that the AI honeymoon is over and that profits need to flow in 2026!  

This is a great read that confirms my constant warnings in this newsletter that while AI is transformational tech, it will take longer to implement than advertised. 

Finally, we look at Mambu’s top predictions for banking, look at the sections on Islamic Finance and Gen Z. 

♻️Repost to share these great reads on quantum and AI sovereignty.
#Fintech, #AI, and Tech at the speed of Asia and China.

Thanks for reading the “Cashless” newsletter, an insider’s view on Asia’s fintech, CBDC, and AI for anyone striving to understand “the Asia Century.” 

Open article: The Quantum Threat: Trillion-Dollar Risk That Could Break Every Bank & Crypto Wallet in a Decade by Richard Turrin • 5 min read

The Quantum Threat: Trillion-Dollar Risk That Could Break Every Bank & Crypto Wallet in a Decade

🚨Top 2026 Trends, No. 5:🚨 Digital Public Infrastructure Goes Global — Powered by Payments Success in India, Brazil, and China

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is one of the most important trends in payments, with strong success in India and Brazil, making the rest of the world pay attention. 

DPI is a trend that cannot be ignored, and before readers say, it won’t happen in the West, I point to the digital euro, which is a model of DPI development. 

The digital euro proves that DPI is not solely the domain of developing countries but is every bit as relevant for advanced economies. 

Brazil’s UPI and India’s PIX together account for nearly two-thirds of global instant payment transactions and are models of how universal instant payments are an engine for economic growth.

China’s WeChat and Alipay also proved the economic value of universal instant payments, and while not strictly speaking DPI, the state-owned Union Pay network, initially used to carry their payments, is in spirit. 

As DPI, all of these payment systems are universally available and the cornerstone of financial inclusion, economic growth, and fintech innovation. 

Whether UPI, PIX, WeChat, or Alipay, all of these systems reduce onboarding time and provide instant, secure, and nearly cost-free payments, saving time and money for quite literally billions of users. 

DPI is a trend that won’t go away, and I expect more nations, particularly those in the global south, to take note and press forward with DPI payments. 

By the way of all of the top trends lists I've seen this year, I'm the only one covering DPI!   Check back in 2027!!

♻️Repost to share this important read on DPI
#Fintech, #AI, and Tech at the speed of Asia and China.

DPI is going global and not just for developing nations 

Deutsche Bank boldly says that the AI honeymoon is over in 2026, ending with disillusionment, dislocation, and distrust

According to the bank's tech analysts, this will be a tough year for AI, as it will have to prove its value to keep the money flowing. 

Deutsche's prognosis is not good, and the report’s opening line sets the tone for disillusionment in 2026:  

“Generative AI will be transformative, but not right now. As pilots move into production, enterprise users are confronting inherent limitations such as accuracy; the difficulty of applying it in unpredictable real life; and the fact that in many areas it will be a long time, if ever, before it is more economical than human labour.”

👉Three themes are converging:

1️⃣ Disillusionment: Beauty is in the eye of the AI beholder

↳ Rapid tech improvements (e.g., coding) are more visible in Silicon Valley than to CEOs demanding real revenue or operational impact.

↳ Most companies lack integration capacity, high-quality data, controls, employee buy-in, and client acceptance for meaningful use.

↳ Agentic AI rollouts are far more complex than providing chatbots or copilots — workflows don’t integrate easily.

↳ The “trough of disillusionment” is here: hype fades, ROI disappoints, and scaling proves harder than promised.

2️⃣ Dislocation: AI of the storm

↳ 2026 brings bottlenecks, grid constraints, and severe talent scarcity — AI’s supply chain is the most complex in history.

↳ Hyperscalers keep investing heavily, and outside the US, sovereign AI pushes demand in the Middle East, Europe, and beyond.

↳ Investors will soon demand returns — 2026 could be make-or-break for standalone AI model makers.

↳ OpenAI faces extreme cash burn ($9B last year, ~$17B this year) with only a fraction of 800M weekly users paying — marginal costs keep rising.

3️⃣ Distrust: AI can’t get no satisfaction

↳ Anxiety escalates into lawsuits over copyright, privacy, data-centre impacts, and chatbot risks to young people.

↳ Scare stories and misuse examples will dominate headlines, amplifying public fears.

↳ Job displacement concerns intensify — credible studies show early evidence (e.g., 16% relative employment drop for recent graduates in AI-impacted roles).

↳ Fears of a US-China AI race grow, with China leading in cheap, open-source models (e.g., DeepSeek) that appeal to cost-sensitive, non-aligned countries.

Is it really that bad, or are these analysts looking at a glass as half empty rather than half full? 

♻️Repost to share AI's big challenge in 2026
#Fintech, #AI, and Tech at the speed of Asia and China.

AI in 2026: Disillusionment, Dislocation, Distrust 

Theo is a public speaker, writer, and advisor, who work seeks to spark innovation in the public and private sectors for the benefits of the forgotten demographics and to create a more inclusive society. She is the founder of Unconventional Ventures, which focuses on developing and growing an ecosystem of financial institutions, corporations, startups, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and accelerators to better address the unmet needs of consumers, with keen interests in women and underrepresented founders. As part of her work, she regularly mentors and advises startups in both financial services and healthcare/caregiving space. She is the advisor for B21 Ventures, focusing on entrepreneurs disrupting finance and health with AI.

Theo speakers regularly on the topics of AI, Gender Equity, FinTech, Inclusion, and Longevity. She is a guest contributor for various top industry events, publications, and podcasts, including Fintech Futures, American Banker, BBC, Journal of Digital Banking, Harvard Business Review, Nikkei Asia, MIT Tech Review, Money20/20, Finovate, RISE, FinTech Week Hong Kong, Breaking Banks, Financial Brand, Irish Tech News, and Forbes Technology Councils.

She is the author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (2025). She is also the co-author of Beyond Good - How technology is leading a purpose-driven business revolution (2021), and co-author of The Metaverse Economy (2023). She is the host of One Vision, a podcast on innovation and fintech, runs a weekly LinkedIn newsletter (FinTech Prose) on emerging technologies (such as Voice and AI), inclusion, longevity, fintech, innovation, and using technology for good. Her monthly column on Fintech Futures explores the intersection of fintech and humanity. 

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and a Master of Science in Project Management from George Washington University.

Theodora Lau

Not a post about AI or fintech.
Not another message about new year resolutions.

If you're feeling exhausted right now, 
if you're struggling to make sense of what's happening around us ...

If the world feels upside down, 
know you're not alone.

It's okay to pause.
To take a breath. 
To just be you. 💙

🌟 New episode alert! 

We are back with a new episode of One Vision Podcast — with a power-packed conversation with Jody (Jaideep) Bhagat Bhagat, North America President at Engine by Starling. We talk about the critical role of technology in transforming banking operations and delivering exceptional customer experiences. Whether you're grappling with legacy systems or eyeing the cutting-edge of AI, Jody's insights offer valuable guidance on modernization strategies and the transformative potential of technology. 

Check out this engaging discussion to learn how this dynamic industry can be both vital and cool. 😎 

If you enjoy the highlight reel, tune in to the full conversation via YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

📍 Hot take:  "Most banks and credit unions are spending 70 to 80% of their IT spend just on maintaining their legacy core, and it's providing little or no differentiation."

#DigitalTransformation #AI #FinTech #BankingIndustry 

🎧 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ethY9fH9 

🎧 Acast: https://lnkd.in/e7D9-YjG 

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/eSx9H6fz 

🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eaNqwfuU

It's been a decade since I dabbled in financial services and started advocating for consumer well-being. Recently, I came across something I wrote 9 years ago, which kicked off a series of events that brought me to my present day journey. 

Much has changed, but much hasn't. 
(I might be tempted to write an updated version soon ...)
 
In this week's (belated) FinTech Prose newsletter, I wrote about: 

💬 Bank of America's virtual assistant, Erica. The tool, which has been in use for 7 years, is doing the work of 11,000 people, according to the bank's executives. Headlines aside, this is a good case study on how to deploy technology thoughtfully in a highly regulated industry, where accuracy is a must. A good read by Penny Crosman. 

🤖 Claude and its rise in popularity. I also look back at my own experience building an AI intelligence platform from scratch over the holidays, using open-source tools and Claude as my copilot. The journey has been absolutely eye-opening. 

🫣 Buy Now, Pay Later for ... Rent. Are we heading down the right path? And how can we create true, long lasting financial resilience for consumers, where we are not trying to pay in 4 for pizza??

🎧✍ Don't miss this week's One Vision Podcast conversation with Alex Jimenez on AI and future of banking ... and V.J. Paolo Narciso's inspirational story on running and overcoming obstacles. Hint: They weren't small roadblocks either!

Look forward to catching up with my friends in London for Finovate Europe soon. Till then ... 💙 

#AI #Fintech #FinancialServices #BankingOnAI #PersonalFinance | Unconventional Ventures |

It's funny how memories creep up on you at unexpected moments. It's been more than a decade since I first dabbled in financial services — advocating f

Open article: A walk down memory lane — advocating for consumer well-being by Theodora Lau • 5 min read

A walk down memory lane — advocating for consumer well-being

🚀New Episode Alert! 

🎙️Dive into the world of FinTech with our latest episode of One Vision Podcast. Join Alex Jimenez, the OG of FinTech OG, and I, as we explore the major themes for 2026 from innovation to governance, while AI and M&A take center stage. Explore how money movement might become ‘invisible’. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on the future of AI, digital transformation, and the evolving landscape of the banking industry.

📍 Hot take: “When you start thinking about the daily experience of digital banking for retail customers … the next wave is conversational.”

#AI #FinTech #DigitalTransformation #BankingOnAI #BankingIndustry | Unconventional Ventures 

If you enjoy this highlight reel, tune in to the full conversation via YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and everywhere you listen to podcast.

**

🎧 YouTube:https://lnkd.in/eD3z9yac 

🎧 Apple: https://lnkd.in/ewtSVDHt

🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e_pcfNKz 

🎧 Acast:https://lnkd.in/ea3jUysb

I didn't quite finish my last stack of books during the holidays ... (surprise surprise) Since then, a few new ones have joined the queue. 

Those who know me can probably guess the recurring themes here. 

📚 How to AI — by Christopher Mims 
📚 Governing Pandora — by Andrea Bonime-Blanc, JD/PhD 
📚 Apple in China — by Patrick McGee 
📚 The History of Money — by David McWilliams 
📚 There is No Place For Us — by Brian Goldstone

What's on your in-flight reading list?

"89% report AI is helping both increase revenue AND reduce costs." 

That's according to NVIDIA's 2026 State of AI in Financial Services report. 

↗️ 65% of financial institutions are now actively using AI (up from 45% in 2024), and 42% are already using or assessing agentic AI. Top use cases for agentic AI includes Knowledge Management and Retrieval, Internal Process Optimization, and Customer Support Automation. 

💡 The open source shift continues, with 84% rating it as moderately to extremely important. The report cites cost pressure and data sovereignty as the drivers for why large organizations are moving from managed services to open-source foundation models for their most important AI use cases.

⬆️ Hybrid architecture nearly doubled compared to the last report (47% versus 26%).

(Illustration is generated by Notebook LLM based on Nvidia's report)

#AI #Fintech #FinancialServices #BankingIndustry #BankingOnAI 

https://lnkd.in/eEppJb_5

In the race to adopt artificial intelligence, it is easy to get caught up in the technological capabilities and the hype, and lose sight of what truly matters: The Human Impact. 

As counterintuitive as it might be, we must give ourselves permission to pause, and ask the important question that drives what we do and why we deploy capital: Are we building tech that serves all of humanity or just a privileged few? 

I hope you enjoy my third and latest book, Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence. If you have read it, I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a review on Amazon and let me know. 

A massive thank you to the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance for putting my vision into the traditional Chinese edition of the book. And as always, thank you Tula Weis and the Palgrave Macmillan team for your support. 💙 

#BankingOnAI #AI #Fintech #FinancialServices #BankingIndustry

Back to my builder's journey for a quick visit: Episode 4 of The Droid Workshop just dropped. This one's about scale. 

(Worry not, I'll publish my regular weekly newsletter later this week.)

I transcribed 357 podcast episodes in 5 hours using Whisper on my Dell Pro Max Plus 18. Then I built a system to track layoff announcements to get a better understanding on AI's impact on the workforce. 

The irony? I am leveraging AI to understand AI’s impact on our society and the work that we do …

And the journey continues. Building. Testing. Scaling. Learning what the technology actually does versus what the slide decks promise. I am going to spend some time with what I’ve built. Ask questions. Watch the data accumulate. And learn. 

Read on and follow along! Stay curious, always. 💙 

#AI #Fintech #FinancialServices #BankingOnAI #DellProMax #DellTech #NVIDIA | Unconventional Ventures |

Beep boop. Charting the currents ... The first three episodes were about building the foundation and getting the tools ready: research assistant, moni

Open article: The Droid Workshop: Episode 4 by Theodora Lau • 5 min read

The latest Global Risks Report paints a sobering picture:
- Geoeconomic confrontation tops the list. 
- Economic risks are intensifying.
- Technological risks are growing and largely unchecked.
- Environmental concerns are being deprioritized in the short-term, even though they remain as top long-term threat. 

With the Global Risks Report entering its 21st year, one lesson endures: cooperation is indispensable for global risk management ... Though in reality, we seem to be moving in the opposite direction. 

"50% of leaders and experts surveyed anticipate either a turbulent or stormy outlook over the next two years, growing to 57% over the next 10 years with only 1% anticipating a calm outlook across each time horizon."

As unsettling as the future is, the next chapter has yet to be written. We still have a range of potential outcomes, based on decisions we make today ... and our shared responsibilities. 

#riskmanagement

Global Risks Report 2026

📊 Consumer behavior is evolving:
- 41% already use AI to research products
- 33% to check reviews
- 31% to hunt for deals
- Usage has grown 62% in just 2 years (82% for Gen X, 92% for Boomers)

🛍️ With economic pressures impacting consumers, today’s consumers reallocate spending toward what matters most in the moment. Wellness and values drive decisions, not just price

For brands, the challenge is orchestrating experiences and ensuring visibility and relevance across every digital and physical touchpoint. And those that can deliver quality and transparency will earn loyalty — which drives advocacy.

Action plan for 2026:
✅ Engineer seamless experiences for people and machines.
✅ Make your products machine-discoverable and trustworthy. 
✅ Build data infrastructure with proper guardrails and ensure regulatory alignment. 

#AI #AgenticCommerce #Data | IBM Institute for Business Value |

Own the agentic commerce experience

The real AI transformation challenge isn't technology. It's leadership.

Organizations getting ahead with AI share one thing: domain leaders who can bridge business problems with tech capabilities. They don't just 'oversee' AI projects, they re-imagine their domain and create a transformative vision with the customer at the center:

- they develop transformation roadmaps
- they get their hands dirty with the tech delivery teams
- they own the end-to-end change management
- they fixate on value, not just using tech

Consider Adam Boyd from Citizens Bank, who reduced home equity lending timelines from 35+ days to just a few days. Or Neesha Hathi, who transformed customer journeys and operations processes with technology at Schwab.

The competitive advantage isn't the AI tools themselves — those are available to everyone. It's the people.

#AI #FinTech #FinancialServices #BankingOnAI

Building the AI muscle of your business leaders

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, signed into law in 1983. 

It took 15 years of persistence by civil rights activists for the holiday to be approved by the federal government and an additional 17 years for it to be recognized in all 50 states.

It is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer and improve their communities.

A day on, not a day off.

Dr. King once said: "Light has come into the world, and every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”"

In today's world, that question feels less philosophical and more immediate. 

This Monday, let's honor his legacy not just with reflection but with action. Whether it's a few hours at a food bank, volunteering at a local library, or simply checking in our our neighbors, small acts of service can help to strengthen the fabric of our communities. 

Now more than ever, our communities need us to come together. 

"Anybody can serve ... You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." 💙

Digging out from a frigid week in the DC area ... 🥶 

In this week's FinTech Prose newsletter, I write about:
🌐 The collaborative efforts that brought us the web experience today ... Imagine the collective power of innovation if we can continue that spirit in present day. 

🛍️ The agentic commerce future and how retailers and big techs are positioning themselves ... but will consumers follow? 

🎉 The digital banking market in the U.S. is about to get more crowded ... with Nubank gaining conditional approval from the OCC. 

🤖 Who should be held accountable when AI silently blacklist qualified candidates ... The challenge extends way beyond AI hiring — practically everywhere the machine makes a 'decision'.  

🏦 The critical role of tech in transforming banking operations and delivering exceptional customer experiences ... tune in to the latest One Vision Podcast conversation with my lovely friend, Jody (Jaideep) Bhagat. 

Last but not least, don't miss Jas Randhawa's thought-provoking paper on the Universal Commerce Protocol and why we must rethink compliance risks in the new agentic commerce era. 

Till next week ... 💙 

#AI #Fintech #FinancialServices #BankingIndustry #BankingOnAI | Unconventional Ventures |

40 years ago on Jan 16-17, 1986, 21 U.S. federal government-funded researchers gathered in San Diego, California for the first meeting of what became 

Open article: When the internet was a group project ... by Theodora Lau • 5 min read

When the internet was a group project ...

In this episode of One Vision Podcast, we took a deep dive into Walmart with Finovate’s very own Julie Muhn. We started with Walmart's bold move to apply for an ILC charter in 2005, their foray into fintech with OnePay, and the wide array of services they now provide beyond retail. The conversation explored Walmart’s integration of emerging technologies like AI and agentic commerce, as well as potential future developments and implications for traditional banks in retaining customer loyalty and trust in an increasingly digital financial landscape.

📍Hot take: (Referring to Walmart) They don't just have financial data, they have behavioral data. 

📍Hot take: The banking relationship or relationships will be secondary as the AI kind of chooses which payment method to use. 

If you enjoy the highlights, be sure to tune in for the full episode, wherever you listen to podcasts. 

#Walmart #SuperApp #Fintech #AI #AgenticCommerce | Unconventional Ventures

**

🎧 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/epmyj34K

🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/edwykVjP 

🎧 Apple: https://lnkd.in/eCAguXpU 

🎧 Acast: https://lnkd.in/ezU-ts9c

In our last article in FinTech Futures right before the holidays, we asked a hypothetical question: Have we truly made banking better?

Or perhaps, we are measuring the wrong things. 

Efficiency? Check. Scale? Check. User experience? Check.

But financial well-being? Inclusion? Real impact on real lives?

It is beyond time to rethink what success looks like.

With the new year upon us, I hope we are setting the yardsticks to measure what matters — and hold our industry accountable for what comes next.

Thank you to my dear friends Tiffani Montez, Pam Kaur, Stessa Cohen, and Jim Perry for contributing to the follow on piece: "Are we building and measuring what really matters?"

As always, thank you Paul Hindle and FinTech Futures for giving us the space to share our POV.

#AI #fintech #financialservices #bankingindustry 

https://lnkd.in/enJt-HZ6

As crowded as the U.S. market may be, I am encouraged by bunq's announcement this week to reapply for U.S. banking charter. 

Their presence could push incumbents to improve digital experiences and cross-border capabilities — ultimately benefiting consumers, especially freelancers and digital nomads operating across the Atlantic who deserve better options.

Fintech is global — so should our services.

Thank you Melinda Huspen for including my POV in the article

https://lnkd.in/ee5B_-DV

#AI #Fintech #BankingIndustry #FinancialServices | American Banker |

⚡ "High-income countries account for 86% of AI startups and 91% of VC funding; they are  the source of 54 % of AI research papers and 32% of generative AI (GenAI) patent applications." 

More than 50% of open-source AI training data sets are in English, limiting accessibility for non-English speakers. Low-income countries, the report highlights, are essentially absent from the AI innovation ecosystem.

These are just some of the stats from the latest Strengthening AI Foundations  Report in the Digital Progress and Trends Report Series published by The World Bank. 

But we can still act and change course. Low- and middle-income countries can chart a pathway to the future with “small AI” solutions, which tend to be relatively more affordable and accessible, and designed for everyday devices. 

Leaping forward will require governments to prioritize investment in the foundational “4Cs”of AI readiness: 
[1] Connectivity: encompassing reliable digital infrastructure, energy, and device access, is the indispensable baseline.
[2] Compute: covering AI chips, servers, data centers, and cloud services, is increasingly becoming the “new electricity” of the AI era.  
[3] Context: or locally relevant data and content, is essential to build trusted, inclusive, and effective AI systems.  
[4] Competency: is the set of robust digital skills that are indispensable for adopting, adapting, and innovating with AI.

The time to act (to close the gap) is now. 

Thank you Kim R. Wells for sharing the informative read. 🙏 

#DigitalDivide #AI #Innovation

Digital Progress and Trends Report

Much of recent narratives around AI development frames it as a race that must be won — with nations competing for dominance or corporations battling for supremacy.

Are we doing ourselves a disservice by framing AI as zero-sum competition?

As a technology, AI thrives on diversity. The most robust systems aren’t built in isolation. They are strengthened by exposure to different datasets, different perspectives, and different cultures.

The solutions that we develop should be about progress, not power; about expanding opportunity, not concentrating it.

The transformative potential of AI lies not in one nation’s dominance through exclusion but in fostering mutual benefits through genuine collaboration.

Open innovation that transcends national borders towards a common goal.

Shared prosperity rather than deepened division.

That’s the future worth building.
That’s the story worth telling.
… to go Beyond Good.

(Random musings ... inspired by Tony Fish's post yesterday. The regular FinTech Prose newsletter will need to wait one more day.)

According to American Banker's 2026 Predictions Report: 
🤖 53% of survey respondents identified AI and ML as among the top 5 spending priorities for their organization in 2026. An equal number also indicated enhanced security and fraud mitigation as their high-priority budget items. 
🔐 Perhaps unsurprisingly, when evaluating the impact of AI, fraud detection and mitigation also ranked the highest.

Some of the examples cited in the report include: 
- Citi's AI training program to teach employees how to draft better prompts.
- JPM asset and wealth management division's move away from third party proxy advisory firms to internal AI-powered platform. 
- Santander's scam awareness program using fake AI-generated ads.
- Starling's GenAI powered Scam Intelligence tool to look for indicators of payments-related scam ... which we covered in our latest One Vision Podcast episode with Jody (Jaideep) Bhagat.

➡️ https://lnkd.in/eXAGNKwD

#AI #fintech #financialservices #bankingindustry #bankingonai

The Droid Workshop returns ... Back for another epic build journey! This week, it's about fine-tuning.

Episode 5: From keywords to understanding, from scripts to command center 
🔍 Implemented semantic search for better results.  
🖥️ Created unified web interface: One URL, one dashboard. 
🛠️ Manual controls when needed. 

Small improvements compound. 

Read on and follow along! Stay curious, always. 💙 

#AI #Fintech #FinancialServices #BankingOnAI #DellProMax #DellTech  #NVIDIA | Unconventional Ventures |

Mission Control: From Search to Command Center Remember the last four episodes? Building. Testing. Scaling. Today, it’s about fine-tuning. Part 1: Sem

Open article: The Droid Workshop: Episode 5  by Theodora Lau • 4 min read

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Richard Turrin's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreRichard Turrin's LinkedIn Performance