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.

For our eleventh episode, we’re delighted to be joined by Giovanni Oppenheim, Director of Banking Solution, at Earnix. Earnix has a highly esteemed reputation in Insurance, and across the last seven years has made great strides in Banking,with a focus on pricing and personalization software.

Our conversation covers key challenges for incumbent lenders, what role different types of AI technology can play in addressing financial inclusion, decisioning,personalized pricing, competition from Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and delivering key tenets within Consumer Duty in the UK. We also cover key forward lookingtrends around financial inclusion and fairness in lending.

Time stamps as follows:

0:00-05:00 – Introductions and Set Up

05:00 – Where is AI most effective in reshaping lending activities?

07:00 – What examples have we seen in Co-pilots Vs Gen AI for synthetic data?

08:30 – Examples of live Earnix case studies in Banking

09:30 – Metrics used to quantify AI improvements in lending

11:30 – How can AI assist financial inclusion

14:30 – How does incumbent bank credit approvals compare to BNPL providers

16:50 – Best examples of inclusive finance using Gen AI

20:00 – Best examples of Gen AI within Consumer Duty

23:30 – AI to manage credit risk amid increased uncertainty

27:00 – AI to increase agility and flexibility

28:00 – Conclusion and Wrap-Up

For our ninth episode, we’ve convened a panel of sector specialists at GlobalData Financial Services (FS) to cover the likely impact of the incoming Trump administration on key industry subsegments.

We expect wide ranging policy changes. While the direction of travel is quite predictable, less clear is how far and how fast a Trump administration may go in reversing policies pursued under a Biden administration.

We use this episode to identify the key care-abouts for each subsegment in order to help anticipate and mitigate potential impacts at a firm level.

Time Stamps as follows:

00:00 - Introduction / Set-Up

02:35 – Impact on Banking by Stephen Walker

12:32 – Impact on Payments with Joanne Kumire

26:00 – Impact on Wealth Management with Andrew Haslip

33:00 - Impact on Insurance with Ben Carey Evans

42:30 – Conclusion & Wrap Up

For our eighth episode, we're delighted to be joined by Keith Richards, founding director and CEO of the Consumer Duty Alliance (CDA), for a discussion on industry progress, pain points and challenges 12 months into compliance (as of July, 2024).

No other jurisdiction worldwide has seen fit to mandate customer centric transformation in the way the Duty has, begging the question: do we have this new regime because UK banks have been unable, or unwilling to deliver it voluntarily? Or is the new regime in someway overzealous, or unnecessary. To an extent, the proof will be in the pudding.

This episode is best enjoyed alongside our companion report, which looks at our survey data on customer satisfaction to show which banks have made the most progress in the last 12 months in the UK. But also, which banks elsewhere in the world, without Duty-like intervention, have managed to improve faster than the UK.

For our seventh episode, we're delighted to be joined by Theodora Lau, author of "Beyond Good: How Technology is Leading a Purpose-driven revolution", for a discussion around the "S" in ESG; or: "financial inclusion".

Many of the most successful digital banks in the world are about the economics of financial inclusion, such as WeBank and MYbank in China, Nubank in Brazil, Digibank in India, Current and Chime in the US.

Further, as fintech funding declines, financial inclusion continues to perform well, with investors pouring money into many markets where mobile penetration is high, but bank population low, especially LatAm, because financial inclusion is big business.

Yet closer to home financial inclusion often takes the form of highly segmented new digital banks like Daylight, for the LGBT community, banks in the US for black Americans, or Hispanic communities, and even anti-woke banks.

Most of these have already failed, but there’s still real opportunity for incumbent banks to cherry pick those most “killer” features which can unearth a whole new customer segment.

Our conversation covers where those opportunities are most real (i.e. commercially), and where they are more likely about identity politics and virtue signalling.

For our sixth and final episode of the year, we take a look toward 2024 industry predictions and trends, with a focus on three key themes: the quest for profitability, financial inclusion, and yes, you guessed it, Gen AI.

We start with Doug Blakey, editor of Retail Banker International (RBI), for five minutes of scene setting, then get to our expert panel: Leda Glyptis, author of Bankers Like Us, and Chief Client Officer at 10X; Theodora Lau, author of Beyond Good, and Mayur Vichare, Director of Strategy and Value Consulting at Backbase.

Conversation runs to just over 40 mins, and goes great with a large glass of mulled wine. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!