2026 Themes

Tokenization & Digital Assets

Stablecoins, tokenized assets, and the rails that make them institutional-grade

Billions in real-world assets are already on-chain, with projections ranging into the trillions by 2030. Every major asset class – bonds, equities, private credit, real estate, and stablecoins – is now either in production or actively planning for it. MiCA is law. The GENIUS Act is signed. The question is no longer whether tokenisation works. It is who builds the right infrastructure before the window closes.

• Building institutional-grade tokenisation infrastructure across the full value chain

• Regulatory harmonisation across MiCA, GENIUS Act, CLARITY Act, and global frameworks

• On-chain settlement: from T+1 toward atomic finality

   

AI in Financial Services

Deploying AI in regulated financial services

AI deployments are scaling faster than the governance frameworks designed to contain them. When an AI agent executes a trade, approves a loan, or moves funds autonomously, no regulatory framework has a clear answer on liability or oversight. Institutions must also make irreversible infrastructure decisions now – build vs buy, open vs proprietary, local vs cloud, choices that define competitive position for a decade.

• Governing AI agents and autonomous transactions

• EU AI Act compliance for high-risk financial AI systems

• Build vs buy: the AI infrastructure decisions institutions cannot reverse

Agentic Commerce &

the Future of Payments

Modernising payments for always-on markets and autonomous agents

The global payments system runs on infrastructure built for human-paced, banking-hours operations. AI agents, stablecoins, and 24/7 markets are demanding a complete rebuild. AI agents are more than just authorising payments. They are initiating purchases, managing subscriptions, and acting as autonomous buyers. When the payer is a machine, the questions of authentication, liability, and oversight have no settled answer. 

• Rebuilding payments infrastructure for always-on markets

• Agentic commerce: AI as buyer, payer, and subscription manager

• Authentication and liability when machines make financial decisions

Governance, Policy & Regulation

Where the new rules of money are being written

For the first time, major jurisdictions have drawn the regulatory perimeter around digital assets and AI. MiCA is law across Europe. The GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act bring regulatory clarity to digital assets in the US. These frameworks take different approaches, creating compliance complexity for any institution operating globally. The choices made in Switzerland this June will matter.

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• Navigating global frameworks and the gap between legislation and operational reality

• Governing AI in financial services: EU AI Act, liability, and explainability

• The global AI governance journey and what durable frameworks look like

   

Wealth & Private Capital

Reimagining private wealth as AI and digital assets reshape capital

$145 trillion in global private wealth is being redistributed across generations, geographies, and asset classes. Traditional wealth management was not built for this pace. The 60/40 portfolio is being dismantled from multiple directions at once. AI-driven allocation, tokenised alternatives, and private credit are opening returns once reserved for the largest institutional allocators. High-net-worth clients expect digital asset access and entirely new custody arrangements.

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• Generational wealth transfer and the redistribution of private capital

• Tokenised alternatives and private credit for high-net-worth portfolios

• AI-driven allocation and digital asset custody

Quantum Readiness

Building quantum capability before the hardware matures

Leading financial institutions are already generating measurable gains in portfolio optimisation and derivatives pricing through quantum simulation. Institutions that build quantum use cases now will hold a structural advantage when fault-tolerant systems go live at scale. Post-quantum cryptography migration is not a future problem. The financial infrastructure protecting trillions in assets must be hardened before the window closes. 

• Simulating quantum use cases with current technology

• Post-quantum cryptography migration

• Developing institutional quantum capability

Global Corridors & New Finance Hubs

New corridors, new hubs, new geography of finance

India and Europe represent two of the world's largest economic blocs, yet cross-border startup scaling, VC flows, and financial services integration remain dramatically underdeveloped. A new generation of financial hubs, from Kigali to Tbilisi, are competing for capital, talent, and regulatory positioning, expanding the geography of global finance alongside established centres. The question is where finance gets built next.

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• EU-India corridor: cross-border scaling, VC flows, and financial integration

• Emerging financial hubs competing for capital and regulatory positioning

• European founders and deep tech pathways to scale