CES is understood for flashy devices and enjoyable shopper expertise. For many banks, CES isn’t a must-attend occasion as a result of it doesn’t deal with fintech and banking. There’s, nevertheless, nonetheless worth in attending the present, as rising applied sciences can sign how buyer expectations and new working fashions are evolving.
U.S. Financial institution understands this and despatched two executives, Don Relyea, Chief Innovation Officer, and Todder Moning, Head of R&D, Innovation, on a “Future Safari” to take a look at what’s new, what’s subsequent, and what’s attainable in relation to implementing applied sciences.
After they returned to the workplace final week, we interviewed Relyea and Moning to unpack what CES 2026 revealed from a banker’s perspective. From embedded AI and robotics to agentic commerce and cross-industry convergence, they spotlight new traits, unpack which had been overhyped, and clarify what financial institution leaders ought to be listening to over the following 12 to 24 months.
From a banker’s perspective, what indicators did CES ship this yr about the place expertise funding is definitely heading—and which traits felt extra operationally actual than hype?
Don Relyea and Todder Moning: Effectively, it’s secure to say the expertise funding is growing throughout the board. We love taking Future Safaris™ to CES as a result of it’s an effective way to get concepts and see and comply with rising traits throughout many areas that can enable us to enhance the shopper expertise in addition to combine with different new tech improvements.
Tendencies that caught out to our group this yr embody:
All over the place Intelligence – Embedded in Every thing: Synthetic intelligence is not a standalone class—it’s being woven into units massive and small, on the edge (on-device) and within the cloud, turning odd merchandise into good, context-aware companions. When it comes to potential monetary implications, customized monetary assistants that perceive conduct, spending patterns, and context may dramatically enhance consumer expertise and belief sooner or later. Nevertheless, elevated reliance on AI raises privateness, bias, and regulatory issues—particularly as monetary selections change into automated.
Digital Well being/Wellness/Longevity Tech: Tech that senses, analyzes, and predicts well being was signposted at CES 2025 and carries into 2026 with smarter biofeedback units. We see healthcare as linked to monetary providers and actually have a saying: “healthcare is wealth care.” Cash is emotional and has impacts on individuals, their households, and companies, each good and dangerous, and serving to to achieve higher wealth care outcomes (monetary outcomes) positively impacts individuals’s well being and wellness.
The convergence of AI, wearables, mind interfaces, and different age-tech are going to increase life. There is a chance for banks to weave that right into a extra holistic planning course of for our purchasers. We additionally noticed quite a few wearables and different AI-based improvements that monitor numerous metrics and values to tell you about well being dangers or issues. That is related as a result of there’s a sturdy correlation between bodily well being and monetary well being. These improvements may additionally assist catch expensive medical issues earlier than they happen, saving individuals cash and stress. For instance, transaction metrics may flag early indicators of dementia or an eldercare abuse concern.
Robots for industrial and residential use: The resurgence of robotics was probably the most seen pattern at CES this yr. “Embodied AI” or what some name “Bodily AI” are catchier names for clever robotics. We’re seeing tons of AI and way more robotics this yr than in prior years, and because the two domains merge extra deeply, a wave of AI-enabled, extra normal goal, and sometimes extra human-like robotics options are rising.
Robots, humanoid, non-humanoid, and robotic exoskeletons that you just put on are graduating from managed environments to unstructured, real-world contexts—folding laundry, navigating houses, manufacturing and even autonomous automobiles.
Wanting forward: CES exhibits a shift from gadget splendor to system-wide integration—every little thing is linked and clever. AI, robotics and immersive interfaces are converging—not simply making issues “good” however connecting behaviors, identities and environments.
As CES showcased advances in shopper {hardware}, AI assistants, and linked units, what new expectations do you suppose clients will carry again to their monetary establishments?
Relyea and Moning: You’re hitting on two of the 5 themes about why we prefer to take Future Safaris and why CES is likely one of the finest—what we name lateral and longitudinal. At CES, we’re capable of see many industries and domains in a concentrated period of time. Taking the lateral view, we see what and the way quite a few industries use related applied sciences to do one thing. It is a nice option to accumulate and curate direct or oblique ways in which you are able to do metaphorically related issues in your future, {industry} and area of curiosity.
On the longitudinal view, for those who’re in a spot and time the place numerous applied sciences, developments, or enterprise fashions are current, it’s an incredible alternative to gauge how every expertise, improvement, or enterprise mannequin is altering over time. This was the financial institution’s fifteenth yr at CES, which permits us to gauge how every expertise or improvement is altering over time. Are robots getting higher and extra helpful, or are they creating slowly (or worse, stalled and in decline)? Is AI advancing and in that case, in what locations and methods? Is a touted expertise delivering towards the hype, or is it prancing round with no actual innovation use. In Texas, we name the latter “large hat, no cattle.”
The massive thought is that expertise, design, and experiences are erasing the obstacles and limits between industries. If one involves anticipate what’s attainable to do in a single {industry}, enterprise, or product, they’ll seemingly come to anticipate that for different industries and companies. That’s the type of meta-trending we attempt to discover after which apply to what meaning for banks and monetary providers going ahead.
Buyer interactions proceed to change into more and more digital and more and more enabled by AI and sensors, and U.S. Financial institution is at the forefront of visioning the place tech is headed and what our clients want from us—as we offer the expertise and steering that make their monetary lives less complicated and extra handy. We’re proud to have one of many longest working devoted innovation practices in banking in the present day.
AI being embedded in every little thing goes to boost the bar for shopper expectations of what good is. This yr AI was not entrance and middle at CES, it was embedded and bettering the automation of shopper units in delicate and simple to make use of and simple to entry methods. Suppose rings, pins, and enterprise card type elements that you would be able to discuss to (that will or could not connect with different units or the cloud) and ask them to transcribe, translate, make PowerPoints, fill out types, handle calendars, and plenty of different issues. That is going to boost the expectations of shoppers that extra ought to be executed for them.
Did you discover fintech ideas like embedded finance, identification, or real-time funds exhibiting up inside non-financial expertise at CES?
Relyea and Moning: Sure, we noticed issues like an AI-enabled oven that helps you grocery store for elements.
We noticed a number of biometric cost checkout interfaces. These had been simple to make use of and arrange and could possibly be built-in into something requiring identification and funds fairly simply.
We noticed biometric expertise utilizing keyboard conduct that might assist flag a big conduct change in an worker (for instance), who’s both underneath duress or as a disgruntled worker may make poor selections impacting the enterprise. One other instance we noticed is asset-tracking expertise that could possibly be used off-grid, to say observe vans, railcars, mining tools, and so forth.
For almost all of financial institution leaders who didn’t attend CES, what’s one rising theme from the present that you just suppose will affect monetary providers over the following 12 to 24 months, and why?
Relyea and Moning: I’d say the embedding of AI into units and what has began occurring in agentic commerce. Units of all types are exhibiting indicators of changing into commerce orchestrators and brokers for purchasers—and it’s a brief bounce from there to having units change into a kind of buyer. Lots of the issues we see at CES include subscriptions—as an illustration, the longevity mirror I used got here with an annual subscription for you and your loved ones to make use of its AI information and fashions. You possibly can think about that many of those month-to-month or annual subscriptions we would have sooner or later. Are you going to handle all of these, or will the gadget handle it for you with restricted spending capabilities you present it?
Inform us concerning the coolest non-banking use of expertise you noticed at CES?
Relyea and Moning: I feel the exoskeletons had been actually cool. Don was capable of put on the leg ones that helped him climb stairs a lot simpler and sooner. I used to be capable of put on one on my again and hips that helped me to select up a heavy merchandise with ease. I additionally appreciated the sustainable printed battery that was paper skinny. It could possibly be embedded into most something and energy airtags in issues like your passport service, purse, pockets, that type of factor. And whenever you throw it away, it’s fully compostable.
And we at all times love the autonomous mobility work that the massive agricultural and development/mining manufacturers present—autonomous combines with autonomous hoppers that preserve tempo with the mix, and AI-assisted and autonomous Bobcats and development excavators. It simply exhibits how autonomous mobility is going on, even when its tempo is slower than was initially anticipated initially of the last decade.
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