As the industry moves away from “polished decks” and toward high-stakes debates involving regulators and senior leaders, three critical themes emerge shared fraud liability, the deployment of agentic AI, and the commercial evolution of Open Banking—that will dictate the next 12 months of execution for UK fintech.
Olga Dolzhenko, Founder and CEO of Financia Strategy Limited, reflects on an industry undergoing a significant “reality check”. Drawing on 25 years of experience in banking and international fintech, the Oxford Fintech Programme graduate and Edinburgh Business School MBA holder provides an exclusive analysis for The Fintech Times on the maturing sector.
Why this year felt less like a conference- and more like a reality check
Walking through ExCeL London last week felt less like attending a fintech event and more like watching the industry finally grow up. PAY360 2026 gathered 6,000+ attendees and 200 speakers – but what stood out wasn’t the scale. It was the honesty.
Gone were the overly polished decks and “we’re revolutionising everything” speeches. In
their place: senior leaders – from banks and fintechs to regulators to MPs- actually debating
real problems. Occasionally even agreeing. Frankly, that alone deserves a round of applause.
After many years in banking and fintech, you develop a sixth sense for what’s theatre and
what’s real. This was real. And three themes kept surfacing-each likely to define the next 12
months.
1. Fraud: No Longer Someone Else’s Headache
UK fraud losses hit £629 million in H1 2025. APP fraud is rising. Investment scams are up
55%. Romance scams up 35%. Grim reading-but not new.
What is new? Who’s talking about it.
Fraud has moved from compliance backrooms to centre stage. CEOs, policymakers, and
industry bodies are now treating it as a core business risk-not just a security issue.
One debate captured the shift perfectly: should social media platforms share liability for
scams originating on their platforms?
Banks and fintechs are currently plugging the hole-preventing £870 million in fraud in H1
2025 – while two-thirds of scams start online, largely outside their control. As one might put
it: we’re mopping the floor while someone else keeps the tap running.
Add AI to the mix, and things get properly spicy. Fraudsters are now using generative AI to
scale scams that are harder to detect and eerily convincing. The uncomfortable question
raised: are we regulating defensive AI more tightly than criminal AI?
Until responsibility is shared across the ecosystem, we’re playing defence in a game that’s
rapidly accelerating.
2. AI in Payments: Less “What If”, More “Are We Brave Enough?”
For years, fintech events have asked: What can AI do?
This year, the question was: What are we actually willing to deploy?
The conversation has shifted from hype to trust.
Banks and fintechs are no longer experimenting with chatbots-they’re testing agentic AI that
can make decisions, act autonomously, and interact directly with customers. The tech
works. The FCA sandbox proves it.
The real blocker? Confidence.
Incumbents are trying to graft AI onto legacy systems (a bit like installing smart home tech
in a Victorian house-charming, but complicated). Meanwhile, challengers are building AI-
native from day one.
The gap isn’t capability-it’s courage.
Who’s ready to let AI make decisions involving real money, in real time?
The winners won’t just be the most advanced-they’ll be the ones willing to trust their own
technology.
3. Open Banking: Brilliant Infrastructure, Modest Impact
Eight years in, Open Banking has over 10 million UK users. Sounds impressive-until you
realise most people barely notice it exists.
Usage is still largely limited to account aggregation and one-off payments. The real prize-
Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) remains underused.
Why? Complexity, risk concerns, and a slightly awkward truth: Open Banking was built for
compliance, not customers.
The industry is now trying to retrofit commercial value onto regulatory foundations. Never
the easiest starting point.
There’s also growing frustration around fairness. Banks must share data via APIs, while big
tech platforms sitting on vast payment data-face no equivalent obligation. Calls for “Open
Finance 2.0” are getting louder.
A new not-for-profit entity and the UK’s Payments Vision aim to unlock the next phase. But
the key question remains: will we finally build things people actually want-or just better
infrastructure no one notices?
What It All Means
PAY360 2026 made one thing clear: UK fintech has the talent, regulation, and infrastructure
to lead globally. But the next chapter hinges on three choices in my opinion:
1. Shared responsibility for fraud, because criminals don’t respect industry boundaries
2. Deploying AI at scale, not just piloting it endlessly
3. Making Open Banking commercially useful, not just technically impressive
The tools are there. The demand is there. The framework is there.
Now it’s a matter of execution.
