2026 FinTech Predictions: Insights from Toine van Beusekom of Icon Solutions

I spoke with Toine van Beusekom, Strategy Director at Icon Solutions, a fintech company with more than 15 years' experience designing and implementing state-of-the-art payment systems.

Toine shares his perspective on the decisive shifts facing the payments industry, from the strategic imperative of consolidation to the practical applications of AI and the underestimated value of ISO 20022.

Over to you Toine - my questions are in bold:

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

The payments industry is approaching a decisive inflection point. Businesses are shifting how they approach account to account or A2A payments - how they are processed, managed and monetised. These shifts won't just introduce new technologies; they will go further and change the economics and operating models of banks. As a result, payments consolidation will become a strategic imperative, not a technical upgrade, for institutions seeking to stay competitive in an increasingly real-time, data-driven landscape. By taking control of their payment transformation and consolidating fragmented systems, banks can be empowered to do their payments, their way.

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

Next to finally monetising investments made in ISO 20022 compliance and leveraging DLT type infrastructures, AI will remain a defining trend in payments for 2026. Banks are increasingly embracing the technology, but they must exercise caution that they are utilising it correctly. AI's effectiveness depends on the quality and completeness of data fed into it, so banks must ensure they are feeding it correct data to receive correct results.

Practical applications when developing AI solutions and using AI include analysing scheme documentation, building rapid UIs in internal platforms, monitoring fraud, reconciling payments and optimising bank operations. The growing use of agentic AI to support both bank customers and internal operations in combination with robust payment orchestration capabilities will help institutions streamline complex workflows, provide faster customer responses and make better-informed decisions, next to rapidly adding newly developed (or procured) value added services.

Banks that consolidate payment infrastructure while building robust data foundations will be able to fully leverage AI, turning complex datasets into actionable insights and operational efficiencies.

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

Customers are increasingly demanding faster, more efficient payments. They expect to pay anytime, any way, anywhere like they can with cards. Real-time payments, 24/7 availability and instant resolution to issues has become the standard for banks to adhere to at a minimum, next to figuring out their StableCoin strategy and curve balls like a 10% cap on interest rates for credit cards. Customers expect more personalised payment experiences, alongside uninterrupted service, and meeting those two expectations at the same time will depend on a bank's ability to modernise and adapt to ever-changing customer behaviours and regulatory scrutiny on resilience.

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

The recent mass industry adoption of the global financial messaging standard, ISO 20022, has been coined as a 'silver bullet' for unlocking the full potential of payments data. But the blind spot for the fintech industry is that its value remains broadly unrecognised. This is partly due to uneven interpretations and organisations modernising only around the edges. While ISO 20022 adoption should provide richer, structured data, banks are only beginning to leverage it strategically for analytics, risk management and value-added services. So, banks must ensure that they are not missing a trick by not fully reaping the benefits of ISO implementation.

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

For banks to stay competitive in 2026, consolidation is vital. For instance, the ISO 20022 standard stands to help streamline consolidation across the industry by standardising data across guardrails. So, by creating unified infrastructures, banks can streamline operations, reduce costs and build platforms capable of supporting all payment types.

As new payment methods emerge and new technologies enter the market, banks that consolidate their payment infrastructure will lead the next wave of innovation. Consolidation is no longer optional but a foundation for competitiveness in a market where speed, security, and scalability are non-negotiable.

The question for 2026 isn't whether to consolidate, but how quickly you can make it happen and how do you get there? There is not one single best way to do this. Every bank is different, with culture, capacity and current capabilities shaping the approach required. This means that to truly lead payments forward, banks must be empowered to do their payments, their way.

Thank you Toine! You can connect with Toine on their LinkedIn Profile and find out more about the company at iconsolutions.com.