FinTech Futures

In this episode of the What the FinTech? podcast, host and FinTech Futures Managing Editor Paul Hindle is joined by Nick Fahy, CEO of UK-based Cynergy Bank, to explore the evolving business banking landscape in the UK and how Cynergy Bank is carving out its position in an increasingly competitive market.

Nick discusses what the company’s ‘human-digital bank’ philosophy means in practice, how Cynergy is leveraging partnerships and AI to drive innovation, and the emerging technologies he believes will reshape banking in the years to come.

The conversation also explores the challenges facing UK businesses in the current macroeconomic climate, how Cynergy is supporting companies looking to scale, and what sets the bank apart from both traditional high street players and newer challenger banks, with a look ahead at Cynergy's growth plans and strategic priorities.

Tune in to hear how Cynergy Bank is balancing human expertise with digital innovation to support UK businesses both now and into the future.

In this episode of the What the FinTech? podcast, host and FinTech Futures Managing Editor Paul Hindle is joined by Rolf Njor Jensen, VP of Technology at Nordic digital bank Lunar, to explore the concept of invisible banking and what it means for the future of how customers interact with their money.

Rolf discusses why the interface customers use to manage their finances is changing, moving away from a bank's own app and toward AI platforms and agents acting on a customer's behalf, and explains what it means for banks when AI becomes the primary point of contact. The conversation then examines what it looks like in practice for banks to become the infrastructure AI agents run on, rather than the interface customers interact with directly.

Rolf and Paul also explore how banks can maintain customer relationships, trust, and brand loyalty in a world where third-party AI agents sit between the bank and the customer, as well as where accountability sits if something goes wrong with an AI-driven transaction.

The episode finishes with a look at how AI-assisted development is reshaping engineering output at Lunar, the bank’s approach to AI and its broader technology strategy, and what to look forward to as the agentic era in banking continues to unfold.

Tune in to hear what this all means for the future of banking and the role Lunar aims to play in shaping it.

In this episode of the What the FinTech? podcast, host and FinTech Futures Managing Editor Paul Hindle is joined by Evelien Witlox, director of the digital euro project at the European Central Bank (ECB), to explore how the ECB is working to bring its central bank digital currency (CBDC) from concept to reality.

With the project currently in its pilot phase, Paul and Evelien discuss the latest developments with the digital euro, the key milestones achieved so far, and what this testing phase will reveal about the currency's readiness for widespread adoption.

The conversation also examines the potential use cases for the digital euro and the role it will play in Europe's already advanced payment infrastructure, how it will benefit consumers and businesses across the eurozone, and the ECB's approach to critical issues like privacy, data protection, and interoperability with other global CBDC initiatives.

Finally, the discussion looks beyond the pilot phase to explore the roadmap for full-scale implementation, how the digital euro will co-exist with stablecoins, and what decision points will determine when this transformative project moves from testing to widespread rollout across all EU member states.

Tune in to hear how the European Central Bank is designing the future of digital currency and what the digital euro could mean for payments across Europe and beyond.

In this episode of the What the FinTech? podcast, host and FinTech Futures Managing Editor Paul Hindle is joined by David Crawford, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at Pay.UK, to explore how AI is revolutionising payment infrastructure and what this technological shift means for the UK's critical national payment systems.

David discusses the current state of the UK payments ecosystem, examining the most significant developments taking place and the forces driving change across the national payments infrastructure that Pay.UK operates.

The conversation then examines how AI is being integrated into these essential payment systems today, what AI-ready infrastructure means in practice, and the foundational building blocks organisations need to successfully deploy AI while maintaining the reliability and trust that payment systems demand.

Paul and David also explore the emerging challenges that come with AI-driven payments, from accountability and explainability to operational resilience and fraud prevention, particularly as criminals leverage AI for increasingly sophisticated attacks, and how Pay.UK is using AI to help combat these threats.

The episode finishes with a look ahead to the future of the UK payments ecosystem, with David discussing how industry participants can work together to build AI literacy and ensure the UK remains at the forefront of global payments innovation.

Tune in to hear how AI is transforming the backbone of UK payments and what it takes to build trusted, resilient infrastructure for the next generation of digital transactions.

In this episode of the What the FinTech? podcast, host and FinTech Futures Managing Editor Paul Hindle is joined by Debopama Sen, Head of Payments, Services at Citi, to explore the rapidly evolving global payments landscape, examining how emerging technologies and regulatory developments are reshaping the future of institutional payments and cross-border transactions.

With stablecoins gaining significant traction, tokenisation transforming payment infrastructure, and agentic AI beginning to revolutionise the payments ecosystem, Debopama discusses how major financial institutions like Citi are building winning payments strategies that balance innovation with the security, compliance, and reliability that institutional clients demand.

The conversation examines the dominant trends shaping today's payments market from a global perspective, the regulatory challenges and opportunities surrounding cross-border payments across different jurisdictions, and how AI and machine learning are being leveraged within payments operations to combat increasingly sophisticated fraud while maintaining seamless customer experiences.
Finally, Paul and Debopama look ahead to the future of payments, discussing the key initiatives Citi is undertaking around payments innovation and infrastructure modernisation, the main talking points expected at this year's Sibos conference, and the critical steps banks must take today to ensure they're not left behind as the industry transforms.

Tune in to hear how Citi is navigating the convergence of stablecoins, tokenisation, and AI to build the next generation of payments infrastructure for institutional clients worldwide.

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