GLOBAL — 29 OCTOBER 2026
Just imagine if your bank could catch a suspicious transaction before you spotted it, assess your financial requirements in three seconds flat and help you manage your money without you having to log into any app at all. What if an international payment, which used to involve a long chain of intermediaries, would become quicker, more automated and cheaper?
The above is what AI is doing to the world of digital finance, turning money from something that people earn, save and spend into a seamless network of smart financial products. Yet there is one important question lurking behind this exciting development: are financial services firms still able to innovate quickly enough to protect clients and economies from unforeseen risks?
The shift from digital banking to intelligent finance
The development of digital finance has significantly transformed the processes of money handling for many people. The use of online banking, mobile wallets, and contactless payment systems has diminished the necessity for people to visit banks, as physical banking services have become less relevant. Artificial intelligence opens up new opportunities in terms of financial services. Thanks to AI, banks can monitor their clients’ activities, detect strange behaviour in their transactions, evaluate their creditworthiness, and provide automated customer support.
The impact of the shift is clear. According to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database, which surveyed around 148000 adults in over 141 countries, in 2024, 42% of people living in poor and middle-income countries made digital merchant payments. This number is already 7% higher than the result obtained in 2021.
AI could continue to progress. In the future, finance assistants will not only help manage the bank balances of organisations but also provide information about the spending patterns of their clients and help them compare different products and services. All the businesses will be able to benefit from high-tech systems that will enable them to track the level of working capital, forecast future calculations and find trouble invoices.
However, convenience is only part of the equation. The real change is the trend towards financial products with real-time response capabilities, instead of those that use only fixed regulations and manual checks.
The Next Frontier: Money that Works Smarter
Another key development under scrutiny is tokenisation, which transfers monetary objects like securities and deposits into a digital format with the help of technologies including blockchain.
According to the Bank for International Settlements, tokenisation could unite trading, settlement and collateral management, allowing for lower costs of reconciliation and increased effectiveness of transactions. When combined with AI in one complex, such technologies could allow forming more cohesive financial markets and making transactions across borders more effectively.
Consider a small exporter receiving payments from abroad while an AI-based system is assessing liquidity forecasts, determining foreign currency exposures and alerting the respective company about potential cash shortages. Such modern facilities may allow smaller companies to take steps that previously would have required expensive specialist services.
However, such positive influence can only be achieved when both technical infrastructure is reliable and legal regulations are appropriate, as well as digital services are provided.
The Machine Can Be a Threat
The same technologies that help enhance financial security may also facilitate the activities of criminals. Artificial intelligence may assist fraudsters in obtaining a plausible impersonation, hacking communication channels or performing automated cyberattacks.
The International Monetary Fund, in its report of 13 October 2026, stated that one of the risks to financial stability at a global level is the occurrence of cyberattacks, as well as potential corrections in the market for technologies connected with AI. During its study, 70% of the analysed cases of vulnerability exploitation occurred in 2026, when software developers had almost no time to fix the breaches before hackers took advantage of them.
Impacts go beyond a particular set of victims. An event that severely disrupts either a large bank, payment network or cloud computing service can cause interruption in transactions and lead to anxiety among interconnected financial institutions.
Regulatory authorities are reacting to these problems. In June 2026, the Financial Stability Board issued the consultation document with twelve sound practice recommendations regarding proper adoption of AI in financial institutions through sound governance, implementation and risk management.
Will trust become the biggest asset of electronic finance?
The future of finance will not be determined by the use of AI. Security reasons, decision-making transparency, consumer protection and digital literacy will determine whether technological innovation gets public’s trust.
Financial institutions must ensure that their automated lending decisions protect economically weaker customers, maintain the confidentiality of their private data, and provide human operators when the automated system fails.
For the emerging economies, the prospects are very encouraging, as thanks to the digital services, there would be a chance for the people to acquire the financial tools, but the problems with connectivity, affordability and digital skills should be solved as well.
Overall, it should be observed that the best financial innovation is not necessarily the machine that can predict market movements and approve payments instantly, but rather the system that is able to reach the widest possible number of customers and provide them with efficient services, making everything reliable and secure.
The technology and the developments of AI should ideally enable the quick transference of funds, with the problem being the need to ensure the same level of trust and safety as it is achieved by the use of human intelligence.
