2026 FinTech Predictions: Insights from John Gronen of Yooz

I spoke with John, CFO at Yooz, who leads finance strategy and operations with a focus on scaling finance transformation and automation. As the financial services industry navigates an increasingly complex landscape of AI adoption, fraud risks, and evolving customer expectations, John shares his view on the critical shifts that will define 2026.

Over to you John - my questions are in bold:

What's the biggest shift you expect across financial services in 2026?

The biggest shift we'll see is the move from isolated automation to true operating-model redesign. A lot of organisations spent 2025 automating tasks, but still got stuck chasing exceptions, reconciling discrepancies, and managing fraud risk manually. In 2026, the winners will redesign finance end to end so exceptions, not routine transactions, get human attention.

That shift matters because the gap between CFO expectations and team capacity is now measurable and unsustainable. Yooz's research found that 83% of CFOs see finance as a strategic engine for growth, yet only 4% of finance staff spend even half their time on strategic work, and 70% lose at least four hours a week searching for documents. 2026 is where AI paired with Lean Financial Operations starts closing that execution gap in a practical way.

Which emerging technology will have the most practical impact on financial services and the FinTechs that support them?

Applied AI that is operationally embedded, not "AI as a layer." The practical impact shows up when AI is doing the repetitive classification, matching, validation, and document handling, while people focus on oversight, judgement, and investigating anomalies. That is how you compress cycle times without weakening controls.

The second-order impact is real-time visibility: AI-driven dashboards that give immediate insight into liquidity, commitments, spend trends, and risk exposure change decision-making cadence from monthly to continuous. That enables faster forecasting, scenario analysis, and tighter alignment with operating leaders.

What customer behaviours or expectations will most challenge financial services and financial service providers?

Speed and choice, with zero patience for friction. Customers want invoices processed quickly, payments out the door quickly, and paid in the modality they prefer, whether that's check, virtual card, ACH, Zelle, or Venmo. The pressure is real-time expectations applied to back-office processes that were never built for real time.

The trap is that speed, if it is not paired with the right routing, approvals, and controls, creates openings for bad actors. So the expectation will be "move fast, stay safe," and financial services teams will be judged on both outcomes at once.

What risks or blind spots do you think the industry is underestimating as we move into 2026?

Two are underestimated: Governance and fraud evolution.

With governance, as finance relies more heavily on automated decision-making, transparency, explainability, compliance, and data quality become make-or-break. AI performance is only as good as the underlying data, and as operations digitise, finance leaders also have to align tightly with security teams to protect payment workflows and sensitive data.

With fraud, the industry is still treating fraud prevention like a separate function. It has to be embedded directly into each step of the payment process, because attackers are using AI to generate convincing fake invoices and payment requests.

If you were advising a bank or financial services' leadership team today, what strategic priority should they focus on to stay competitive in 2026 and beyond?

Make end-to-end operating discipline the priority, not another point solution. That means redesigning workflows so the system handles routine work and routes exceptions, while people focus on oversight, judgement, and strategic analysis. In practical terms, standardise approval chains, break down data silos so information flows across systems, and use AI to accelerate capture, routing, and validation.

Then invest in the human side: change management and skill-building so teams can interpret insights, optimise processes, and keep pace with a world that evolves daily. Curiosity and continuous learning are now competitive advantages, not just soft skills.

Thank you John! You can connect with John on his LinkedIn Profile and find out more about the company at www.getyooz.com.