In our third episode of the year (our second within our new Quick Take series), we look at the impact of Agentic AI on the purchase funnel in banking.

We cover how and why AI research might drive a decline in traditional bank marketing efforts, how providers can adapt to that, and medium to long-term architectural considerations for agentic success.

In our second episode of 2026, we launch a new "quick take" series, delving deeper into key predictions flagged in our first episode of the year, "Banking Predictions 2026".

This first episode covers embedded finance, defining what we mean by the term, what has changed in recent years to suggest 2026 will drive increase activity, and what leading firms can (and should) do in response.

For our first episode of 2026, we've pulled together a select group of analysts from across the Global Data family to provide a taster or "amuse-bouche" following our long form predictions reports published at the end of last year.

We start with Doug Blakey, Editor of Retail Banker International (RBI), who will review some of the key events in 2025, and what that portends broadly for 2026.

We then move to Zil Bareisis, Head of Retail Banking at Celent, (now a Global Data company), to cover their top three predictions.

Blandina Szalay, a GD Banking & Payments analyst, will then delve a deeper into stablecoins specifically.

Last, and most definitely least, I, the host, Steve Walker, will comment further on what we expect within AI, Ecosystems, ESG and Digital Mortgages across 2026.