2025 Agenda

9:05 am - 9:25 am

AI has already revolutionised banking, but the real disruption is yet to come. As we approach 2026, the industry is on the brink of breakthroughs that could eclipse the transformative power of 2023’s GenAI explosion. Discover how these advancements will redefine the financial landscape and unlock unprecedented opportunities for banks.

• What is the next major breakthrough that will transform how the entire industry operates?

• How can banks position themselves to quickly take advantage of the next major AI development?

• Which stakeholders stand to gain most from the next AI in Finance breakthrough?

9:25 am - 09:55 am

Leading banks are shifting the focus of their AI transformation beyond the ‘low hanging fruit’ of back-end task automation towards autonomous enterprise agents capable of proactively addressing complex challenges. The critical question is how can this next stage of AI innovation be realised?

• What will the projected impact of agentic AI in banking be in terms of improved efficiency, decision making and profitability?

• What are some promising agentic AI pilots that have demonstrated success and can be implemented in the near term with minimal risk?

• How can the ultimate vision for AI agents – deployed across multiple departments, making complex decisions and regularly interacting with one another - be reached?

09:55am - 10:25am

Banking faces stricter regulations and higher data privacy risks than any other industry making rapid innovation a major challenge. Could lessons from other tightly regulated industries hold the key to unlocking faster AI innovation while staying compliant and secure?

• How have leaders from three other tightly regulated industries managed to develop AI within the confines of strict regulations? 
• Which impressive AI solutions have been born out of leveraging highly sensitive data, and what processes were installed to minimise the risks?
• As AI continues to evolve rapidly, how can enterprises in highly regulated industries stay adaptable to seize the opportunities and mitigate the risks that emerge in future? 

10:25am - 10:45am

Achieving enterprise-wide AI transformation is the key to unlocking unparalleled efficiency, deeper customer engagement, and significant market share growth. In this session, our panel discuss the strategies and initiatives that are propelling their institutions toward becoming the much coveted ‘AI-native’ bank.

• What are the critical steps banks must take to develop an AI culture, ensuring alignment and engagement across all divisions in pursuit of an AI-first future?
• How can banks address the AI skills gap—should they focus on recruiting developers or reskilling non-technical staff to maximise AI’s benefits?
• Can prioritising buying over building AI accelerate enterprise-wide adoption and deliver a competitive edge through greater efficiency and faster time-to-market?

11 am - 12 pm

Perhaps the most exciting feature of Gen AI is its ability to near instantly create images, suggest a strapline and even mock up music and sound samples to complement your marketing campaigns. This session is a deep dive into all that’s possible using the Gen AI tools at your disposal, enabling you to create the most engaging, exciting and critically, unique campaigns possible.

SESSION KEY THEMES:

• Generative AI
• AI for productivity
• Personalised marketing campaigns
• Increasing consumer engagement

11 am - 12 pm

This roundtable will explore strategies to accelerate experimentation of generative AI projects. Firstly, understand how industry leading enterprises have dedicated their time and resources to overcome the pilot hurdle and equip their workforce with timesaving and cost-cutting AI tools. Beyond this learn how to achieve a sustained impact from generative AI, by installing measures that capture model accuracy and reliability both pre- and post-deployment.

SESSION KEY THEMES:

• What are the biggest barriers to enterprise-wide adoption of gen AI?
• What can be done to accelerate time to value in adopting new gen AI projects?
• What measures & tools should you use to ensure that your AI models are accurate and reliable before and after deployment?
• How can organisations effectively transform data into deep, impactful insights by integrating business intimacy and rich contextual understanding?

11 am - 12 pm

Two different approaches to curb AI misuse, bias, and harmful outcomes have been put in place. The EU has enacted a first-of-its-kind law for AI, the EU AI Act, whereas the UK has put in place a principles-based safety, transparency, and fairness pro-innovation approach to be overseen by its regulators. Attain in-depth detail on these approaches, the effects of these two approaches on your business moving forward and crucially, how to remain compliant as a company operating within both the UK and the EU.

SESSION KEY THEMES:

• Responsible AI
• Ethical AI
• AI regulation
• EU AI act
• Innovation vs. privacy

13:15 pm - 13:45 pm

Despite being Europe’s financial centre, a considerable amount of the industry’s cutting-edge AI transformation happens outside of London and the UK. Attain insight into how banks in other countries are deploying AI for impact and what the UK can learn from their approach to AI development.

• How does the UK banking sector’s development and adoption of AI stack up against that of countries? 

• What are the most promising AI-enhanced processes and systems that have been produced by overseas banks? What are the major benefits of these? 

• What is the ideal market environment for AI-driven banks to thrive, from the perspectives of banks operating under different conditions? 

13:45 pm - 13:55 pm

• How can we leverage AI in modern banking infrastructures to create resilient, scalable, and adaptive core banking systems?

• How is AI being built into infrastructure to enable more sophisticated API ecosystems and partnerships that power ever-more tailored financial products for the customer?

• What are the latest AI advancements allowing banks to more easily adapt their infrastructure to comply with the frequently evolving post-Brexit financial regulations?

13:55 pm - 14:25 pm

Banks currently face two critical barriers to delivering next-generation customer-facing AI: pressure to deliver meaningful solutions after poor reception to early chatbot technologies and implementing safeguards robust enough to sufficiently mitigate risks like hallucinations. This panel will explore actionable strategies to navigate these obstacles and deliver truly valuable AI-powered customer experiences.

• Beyond basic spending insights and convenient apps, what is the next milestone for AI-powered customer experience?

• AI allows banks to develop a deep understanding of the behaviour and preferences of each customer, but how can this be leveraged to enhance customer-facing applications?

• What guardrails and level of explainability are necessary to avoid hallucinations and the associated risks?

14:25pm - 14:35 pm

• AI for document processing, code generation, and enterprise search have delivered significant value; which other areas are now being prioritised for automation?

• How can banks refine existing backend automation to unlock greater efficiency gains?

• What strategies should banks use to unearth their unique hidden inefficiencies and direct AI investments effectively?

14:35 pm - 14:55 pm

Industry forecasts, including those from McKinsey and Deloitte, predict quantum-enhanced AI cybersecurity, AI-driven smart contracts, and the emergence of the unprecedented AI-first bank. Our panel examines the timeline for these predictions and evaluate their technical, commercial and operational feasibility.

• Both quantum and blockchain have shown promise in enhancing the effects of AI but are barriers to mainstream adoption too great to overcome?

• Should legacy banks be concerned about the possibility of a new AI-driven bank, where backend systems are fully optimised for AI?

• What key criteria should decision makers use to distinguish transformative advancements from overhyped trends?

• How can banks develop systems that provide easily accessible deep insights into individual customers, enabling effective hyper-personalization?

• What is the most essential data that banks should be prioritising for their customer profiling?

• Once banks can create comprehensive customer profiles, how can they leverage this insight to anticipate customer needs, enhance experiences, and drive long-term growth?

15:05 pm - 15:25 pm

• How has the AI Opportunities Plan begun to impact Financial Services?

• What key initiatives from the AI Sector Champions strategy will further drive AI adoption in Financial Services?

• Where is government investment in Financial Services currently focused, and will these priorities shift in 2026?