With the primary half of 2025 behind us, it’s a great time to sit up for what the second half of the 12 months will carry. The primary two quarters have been full of change: from the stablecoin frenzy and cuts to the CFPB within the US, to new regulatory crackdowns throughout Europe and the reversal of Part 1033, reshaping the way forward for open banking. In the meantime, banks and fintechs are ramping up their use of AI, navigating new regulatory necessities, and adapting to world momentum round real-time funds and digital id.
With all of this modification, it’s exhausting to think about the surprises that the subsequent two quarters will carry. And whereas I can’t predict the entire surprises, there are 5 developments that banks and fintechs shouldn’t ignore as we transfer into the second half of the 12 months.
The open banking dialog evolves
Within the EU, PSD3 and the Monetary Knowledge Entry (FIDA) framework are being finalized and the UK is transferring ahead with Open Banking 2.0 below the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC). In distinction, the US is in a interval of regulatory uncertainty. The CFPB is pulling again from Part 1033 and JPMorgan revealed to knowledge aggregators that it plans to extend the associated fee for them to drag shopper knowledge. Banks must maintain a detailed eye on the evolving conversations round open banking as ripple results happen throughout the globe.
AI turns into an arms race in monetary companies
AI is shortly changing into desk stakes for monetary companies organizations. AI-native fintechs are setting new expectations round service, automation, and personalization. And companies are now not stopping at chatbots and GenAI applied sciences. As an alternative, banks throughout Europe, the US, and Asia are more and more integrating agentic AI, and even hiring AI brokers for duties like underwriting, compliance, and customer support. Anticipate the second half of the 12 months to carry a continued rise in AI literacy packages and inner tooling as companies upskill groups and cut back reliance on third-party distributors by turning as a substitute to agentic AI.
Tokenization takes over
Within the first half of 2025, we noticed main pilots for tokenized deposits, treasuries, and real-world property (RWAs). Within the latter half of the 12 months, we will count on to see actual world implementations, notably in wholesale funds, interbank settlement, and liquidity administration. Regulatory readability can also be starting to transpire. Jurisdictions just like the EU, Hong Kong, and Singapore are beginning to outline authorized frameworks for tokenized monetary merchandise. This will immediate US regulators to make clear the remedy of tokenized deposits and securities.
Identification verification turns into a battleground
With rising fraud, easy-to-create deepfakes, and a rise in embedded finance, monetary establishments are shifting from one-time id checks to steady, context-aware id verification. The second half of this 12 months will carry elevated adoption of reusable digital IDs, decentralized id frameworks (DID), and superior biometrics tied to behavioral alerts. As at all times, the problem will probably be balancing a low-friction person expertise with excessive safety.
Actual-time funds reshape expectations
FedNow is gaining traction within the US, ISO 20022 started rolling out earlier this week, and stablecoin-powered cross-border tasks are on the rise. All of those elements, plus a rise in stablecoin adoption are making real-time funds the norm and are elevating buyer expectations. Banks that may’t meet these expectations threat shedding floor to extra nimble gamers.
Photograph by Pixabay
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