FinovateEurope 2025 took place in London on 25 to 26 February, bringing together over 1,000 attendees, including representatives from more than 600 banks and financial institutions.
The two-days at the Intercontinental O2 in London were a chance for the conference to showcase innovative technology, regulatory insights and emerging trends shaping the financial sector. Finovate brought the fintech world to life with its signature live demos, capturing a snapshot of the industry’s latest developments.
Day 1: Demos in action
A defining feature of Finovate events, the live demonstrations on day one provided an unfiltered look from companies representing 13 countries at fintech’s latest innovations. In rapid, seven-minute slots, companies showcased solutions spanning AI-powered cybersecurity, digital banking transformation, embedded finance and next-generation authentication.
This year’s Best of Show winners included:
Keyless – A biometric authentication platform eliminating passwords and multi-factor authentication.
R34DY – A fintech infrastructure provider simplifying digital transformation with seamless integrations.
Tweezr – A developer productivity tool accelerating fintech app development and modernisation.
Beyond the winners, newcomers made a strong impression. Plumery, a digital banking experience platform, demonstrated how banks could modernise interfaces without replacing core systems. CyberUpgrade introduced its AI-powered cybersecurity co-pilot, addressing growing threats against financial institutions.
Meanwhile, Arva AI tackled inefficiencies in know your business (KYB) verification, leveraging artificial intelligence to speed up compliance processes. The one thing all companies showcasing had in common? They were looking to develop relationships with banks. Whether they found them is something to follow up on.
The ABCs of hot topics
Also on day one came hard hitting keynotes, including AI futurist Tracey Follows, CEO, Futuremade, took a visionary approach, predicting that AI-driven financial assistants will evolve beyond transaction management to anticipate user behaviours.
“Imagine an AI that knows you’re about to make an impulsive stock trade before you do,” she suggested, highlighting the future potential of AI-driven financial well-being tools.
Before lunch, Nick Kerrigan, head of innovation at Swift, highlighted the growing role of tokenisation in financial markets. With the digital asset market projected to reach $16trillion by 2030, he warned about the risks of ‘digital islands‘ — isolated token ecosystems lacking interoperability.
“The real challenge isn’t creating digital assets; it’s making them work seamlessly across financial systems,” he noted.
Additionally, he focused on how the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is a hot topic, with 44 jurisdictions actively piloting their own digital currencies. China’s eCNY pilot, which has already processed $900billion, was highlighted as a case study in large-scale CBDC adoption.
Large financial institutions’ involvement in innovation, such as SWIFT’s efforts, plays a significant role in shaping the industry’s future. These organisations have the resources and reach to influence widespread adoption of new technologies and standards.
While work on standardisation and regulatory compliance is important, it is just one piece of a complex puzzle that includes many stakeholders. Ultimately, the success of financial innovation depends on a collaborative effort between established players, newcomers, regulators, and end-users, rather than relying solely on the initiatives of any single entity or group.
Embedding loyalty into finance
An interesting session at FinovateEurope came from Vladimir Lounegov, co-founder of Mbanq, who argued that fintech is influencing loyalty programmes by moving beyond transactional rewards. “Consumers don’t necessarily need banks; they need banking services,” he stated, suggesting that fintech firms should collaborate with brands, from sports teams to universities, to build connections rather than simply offering discounts.
Ultimately, the future of loyalty in finance lies in creating intrinsic, emotional patterns between consumers and brands, with fintech and banks working together to facilitate these relationships rather than controlling them.
He wrapped up by saying the key to success lies in seamlessly integrating financial services with brand experiences, making consumers feel part of something special rather than just another banking customer. This approach transforms loyalty from a mere transaction into a meaningful, long-lasting relationship between consumers, brands, and financial services.
Day 2: Deep dives into AI, payments, compliance and more
The second day featured thematic breakout sessions designed to explore key fintech trends in depth. With multiple stages covering topics from AI-driven banking to regulatory risk management, attendees could tailor their experience based on their professional interests.
AI’s transformative role in finance was a dominant theme. Sessions explored its applications in risk management, fraud detection, and hyper-personalised customer experiences.
There were some deviations though. Picking up on a pressing issue for banks and financial institutions, mainframe modernisation was tackled by Paul Holland, CTO of Astadia. “Legacy systems have served us well, but they’re brittle, making it difficult to innovate,” he explained, emphasising the need for hybrid cloud computing and refactoring legacy code to enhance agility. This discussion resonated with the many who are seeking to modernise infrastructure without full-scale system replacements.
Finally, with compliance becoming increasingly complex, sessions on regulation and risk management were particularly relevant. Panels addressed emerging cybersecurity threats, new financial regulations, and strategies for navigating compliance in an AI-driven world. It was therefore unsurprising to see AI-powered compliance automation firm among the exhibitors showcasing solutions aimed at streamlining regulatory processes.
After a successful event the Finovate team will no doubt be working full throttle towards the next edition of FinovateSpring which will take place this May in San Diego. While AI and embedded finance will certainly be high on the agenda, it’s worth keeping an eye on how compliance and regulation with a US focus will be tackled on larger stages over the next few months.
The post FinovateEurope 2025: From Interesting Takes to Hot Demos appeared first on The Fintech Times.
