2026 FinTech Predictions: Insights from Nabil Manji of Worldpay

I spoke with Nabil Manji, SVP, Head of FinTech Growth & Financial Partnerships at Worldpay, about the transformations he expects to see across financial services in 2026.

From the mainstream adoption of stablecoins to the continued disruption of AI, Nabil shares his perspective on the opportunities and blind spots facing banks and fintechs.

Over to you Nabil - my questions are in bold:

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

The biggest shift will be the mainstream recognition and deployment of stablecoins as a core part of global financial infrastructure rather than a niche crypto asset. They will become a practical and trusted method of cross-border payments and treasury management, streamlining transactions by reducing cost and increasing speed across markets. As adoption accelerates, stablecoins will move from experimentation to becoming a foundational component of the financial services economy.

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

Artificial intelligence is likely to remain the most disruptive and impactful technology in 2026 for banks and fintechs, just as it is likely to remain so for the broader economy. The use of AI in consumer commerce, financial workflow automation, and other use cases will continue to be explored and deployed across the ecosystem. Banks and fintechs that aren't deploying solutions in this space risk falling behind on this fast-moving technology.

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

Customers increasingly expect money to move across borders as quickly and seamlessly as information does. They can access almost any information in the world at the click of a button, and most people are coming to expect this level of immediacy in all walks of life. As such, there is a growing intolerance for slow settlement times, high fees and opaque processes. Banks and financial service providers will be challenged to meet expectations for speed, cost-efficiency and reliability at a global scale. Those that continue to rely on fragmented or legacy infrastructure risk falling behind as businesses look for more modern, frictionless ways to facilitate payments across markets.

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

On the stablecoin front, too many firms continue to view stablecoins as a fringe technology rather than recognising them as a core piece of more efficient global financial infrastructure. This will cause them to entirely miss a critical shift in global money movement and leave them on the back foot. Organisations that delay risk being locked into slower, more expensive cross border models while others gain an advantage through greater speed, flexibility and reach – all of which are key buying criteria. On the AI front, traditional financial services firms (and adjacent service providers) risk getting disrupted by fintechs and other technology firms who are more aggressively deploying the technology to drive efficiencies and better customer experiences. As this technology moves from the experimentation phase into the actual deployment phase, the industry needs to pay attention to where value is being created and quickly go after those opportunities.

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

Banks should prioritise treating payments infrastructure as a strategic growth lever rather than a back-office function. As stablecoins become an established part of the financial ecosystem, leadership teams need to focus on how they modernise their approach and infrastructure to lead in this new paradigm of money movement.

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