With the primary half of 2025 behind us, it’s an excellent time to sit up for what the second half of the yr will deliver. The primary two quarters had been filled with 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 transformation, it’s arduous to think about the surprises that the following two quarters will deliver. And whereas I can’t predict all the surprises, there are 5 traits that banks and fintechs shouldn’t ignore as we transfer into the second half of the yr.
The open banking dialog evolves
Within the EU, PSD3 and the Monetary Information Entry (FIDA) framework are being finalized and the UK is shifting ahead with Open Banking 2.0 underneath 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 information aggregators that it plans to extend the fee for them to tug shopper information. Banks have to preserve 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 providers
AI is rapidly turning into desk stakes for monetary providers organizations. AI-native fintechs are setting new expectations round service, automation, and personalization. And corporations 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. Count on the second half of the yr to deliver a continued rise in AI literacy applications and inside tooling as corporations upskill groups and scale 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 yr, we are able to count on to see actual world implementations, significantly 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 likely 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 yr will deliver elevated adoption of reusable digital IDs, decentralized id frameworks (DID), and superior biometrics tied to behavioral alerts. As at all times, the problem shall be balancing a low-friction consumer 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 danger dropping floor to extra nimble gamers.
Photograph by Pixabay
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