PAY360 2026 Insights That Will Shape the Next Phase of UK Fintech
The discussions at PAY360 2026 highlighted a turning point for the UK fintech sector, with industry leaders shifting focus from innovation hype to real-world execution. According to Olga Dolzhenko, the event reflected a maturing industry now focused on solving structural challenges rather than presenting ambitious future concepts.
Held at ExCeL London, the event brought together more than 6,000 attendees and 200 speakers, including regulators, banks, fintech firms, and policymakers. The discussions centered around three major themes expected to shape the UK fintech industry over the next year: fraud liability, agentic AI deployment, and the commercial future of Open Banking.
Fraud Becomes a Core Business Risk
One of the most prominent topics at the conference was fraud, which is increasingly being treated as a strategic business risk rather than just a compliance issue. UK fraud losses reached £629 million in the first half of 2025, with investment scams rising by 55% and romance scams increasing by 35%.
A major debate focused on whether social media platforms should share liability for scams that originate on their platforms. Currently, banks and fintech companies bear most of the financial burden of fraud prevention and reimbursement, even though a large portion of scams begin outside the banking system.
The rise of AI-generated scams has made the situation more complex, as fraudsters now use generative AI to create highly convincing and scalable fraud campaigns. Industry leaders raised concerns that defensive AI used by financial institutions may be more heavily regulated than the AI tools used by criminals.
AI in Payments Moves From Experiment to Deployment
Another key theme was the shift from AI experimentation to real-world deployment in financial services. Financial institutions are moving beyond chatbots and automation tools toward agentic AI systems that can make decisions, execute transactions, and interact directly with customers.
While the technology is largely ready, the main barrier is trust and confidence. Traditional banks are attempting to integrate AI into legacy systems, while newer fintech companies are building AI-native platforms from the start. The competitive advantage may not come from having the most advanced technology, but from being willing to deploy AI in real financial environments.
Open Banking Enters Its Next Phase
Open Banking was also a major topic of discussion. Despite having more than 10 million users in the UK, its use remains limited mainly to account aggregation and one-time payments. Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs), which are seen as one of the most promising Open Banking features, are still underutilized.
Industry leaders noted that Open Banking was originally built to meet regulatory requirements rather than to create commercial products for consumers. As a result, the industry is now trying to build business models on top of regulatory infrastructure.
There are also growing concerns about competitive fairness. Banks are required to share data through Open Banking APIs, while large technology companies that hold significant payment and consumer data are not subject to the same requirements. This has led to increasing calls for the development of “Open Finance 2.0,” which would expand data-sharing frameworks across the broader financial ecosystem.
What This Means for UK Fintech
The overall message from PAY360 2026 was that the UK fintech industry now has the infrastructure, regulatory framework, and technical capabilities to lead globally. However, the next phase of growth will depend on three key decisions:
- Establishing shared responsibility for fraud across the digital ecosystem
- Deploying AI at scale rather than limiting it to pilot projects
- Making Open Banking commercially valuable, not just technically functional
The fintech sector is entering a new phase where execution, trust, and collaboration will determine which companies and markets lead the next stage of financial innovation.
