The future of financial services is no longer simply about digital transformation. It is about creating a connected ecosystem where financial data, payments, digital identity and Artificial Intelligence work together to deliver smarter, more personalised experiences.

Andrew Ridsdale and Peter Richmond from Welcom Digital attended Open Banking Expo UK & Europe in London on 13 and 14 October 2026. Across the two days, conversations explored the continuing evolution of Open Banking, the expansion of Open Finance, the growth of Pay by Bank and the emergence of AI-powered financial services.

One message emerged consistently: financial services are moving from connecting and understanding financial data to acting on it. However, innovation will only succeed at scale if consumers trust the technology, understand how their information is being used and know who is responsible when something goes wrong.

From Open Banking to Open Finance

Open Banking has demonstrated the potential of sharing financial data securely and enabling new payment experiences. Open Finance takes this further by connecting a broader range of financial products, services and customer information.

One example discussed at the Expo was Brazil, which launched Open Banking in 2020 before expanding to a wider Open Finance model in 2022. This has created a more connected consumer experience, allowing customers to view and manage different financial products through a single application rather than relying on several banking apps.

The UK is continuing to progress towards a similar future, although consumer trust remains a significant barrier to adoption. Customers need confidence in who can access their information, how it will be used and how decisions affecting their finances are made.

Greater access to appropriately authorised data could enable providers to understand customers more effectively and offer more timely, relevant support. However, personalisation must deliver genuine customer benefit and good outcomes, rather than simply creating additional opportunities to sell products.

Financial Services That Work Behind the Scenes

Today, consumers actively compare mortgage rates, search for savings accounts, manage bills and move money between products. In the future, intelligent financial services could undertake more of this activity automatically.

An AI-powered assistant could identify a more appropriate savings account, recommend a provider switch, manage payments around expected income or move spare funds into suitable savings or investment products. It could then rebalance those funds as circumstances change and return money when liquidity is needed.

The Expo illustrated this development as a progression through three stages:

• Visibility: understanding a customer’s financial position.
• Advice: delivering personalised recommendations.
• Action: executing decisions on the customer’s behalf.

This is the opportunity offered by agentic AI. Instead of systems that simply present information or answer questions, intelligent agents could plan and perform activities in pursuit of an agreed financial outcome. Consumers might set preferences covering spending limits, investments and liquidity, while authorised systems continuously monitor and adjust their finances within those boundaries.

This represents a significant shift from Open Banking towards what could ultimately become autonomous finance.

Pay by Bank and the Connected Payments Ecosystem

Pay by Bank was another prominent theme across the Expo, with the technology moving beyond early adoption and gaining wider market traction.

A challenge discussed during the event was that some Open Banking providers had expected to become the primary Pay by Bank integration point for merchants. In practice, merchants may regard it as another payment option and look to their existing Payment Service Providers to deliver the capability.

Success may therefore depend less on establishing direct merchant relationships and more on integrating effectively with the wider payments ecosystem.

Account-to-account payments, including Pay by Bank, could also provide an important foundation for Open Finance and the emerging agentic economy. However, further development of the UK’s payment infrastructure, interoperability and consumer protections will be important to wider adoption.

Previous payment innovations provide a useful lesson. Direct Debits, standing orders, card payments, chargebacks and digital wallets such as Apple Pay have all relied on clear protections and consumer confidence. Agentic payments will be no different. Customers will need to understand how transactions are authorised, what happens when something goes wrong and how they can challenge or resolve a disputed decision.

Putting Consumers in Control

As financial services become more connected, customers will need greater visibility and control over their personal data.

The development of digital identity and Open Finance could allow individuals to determine which organisations can access their information, what those organisations can see and how long permission remains valid. Consent must therefore be understandable, proportionate, and straightforward to manage or withdraw.

This becomes even more important when AI agents act on a customer’s behalf. Consumers must know what they have authorised, what limits apply and when human intervention or additional approval will be required.

There is also a balance to strike between convenience and security. Removing unnecessary friction can improve the customer experience, but eliminating every checkpoint may not be desirable. Risk-based verification, additional confirmation for significant transactions and clearly defined limits on an agent’s authority could help protect consumers without removing the wider benefits of automation.

The Critical Question: Who Is Accountable?

As AI systems take on greater responsibility, liability and accountability become increasingly complex.

A Day 1 panel involving representatives from the UK Payments Initiative, the Financial Conduct Authority and NatWest considered responsibility when AI agents make decisions using Open Banking or Open Finance data. Participants included Richard Koch, Simone Plances, and Stephen Wright.

Today, customers will often contact their bank when something goes wrong because they see it as the organisation responsible for their money. In a connected Open Finance ecosystem, however, a transaction could involve several parties, including Third Party Providers and Payment Initiation Service Providers that may be largely invisible to the customer.

If an AI agent moves money, selects a product or makes a purchasing decision that results in a loss, responsibility could potentially involve the consumer who authorised the agent, the developer of the technology, the financial provider executing the transaction or another organisation in the service chain.

The Day 1 discussion indicated that these responsibilities have not yet been fully resolved. The FCA acknowledged that it was looking to the industry to help identify clear accountability and responsibility models.

These are not purely technical questions. They have important regulatory, legal and societal implications. Consumers will need confidence that appropriate protections are in place, responsibility is clearly defined and effective routes to challenge decisions or seek redress are available.

Governance Must Keep Pace with Innovation

AI does not necessarily create entirely new financial risks. Instead, it can amplify existing challenges around data, consent, decision-making and accountability.

Questions raised during the Expo included:

• What happens if an AI system operates beyond the customer’s original intention?
• How should consent be managed when AI uses and acts on financial data?
• Who is accountable if an automated decision causes customer detriment?
• What level of authority should an AI agent hold?
• When should human intervention or additional approval be required?

Innovation is moving rapidly, but accountability frameworks are not always developing at the same pace. As Open Finance, connected payments and agentic AI evolve, regulation and governance will need to develop alongside them.

For financial institutions and technology providers, this means considering governance, security, transparency and compliance from the outset, rather than adding them after a new service has been developed.

What This Means for Financial Services Technology

For organisations developing and delivering financial services technology, these changes create both opportunity and responsibility.

As products become more connected and AI plays a greater role in customer journeys, the underlying systems will need to support secure data exchange, dependable automation, effective governance, and increasingly personalised experiences.

Integration will be particularly important. Financial institutions must be able to connect established platforms with emerging technologies without compromising operational stability, security or data integrity. Data quality, interoperability, scalability and regulatory requirements will all influence how effectively organisations move from experimentation to practical implementation.

At Welcom Digital, we recognise the importance of technology that supports the evolving needs of financial services. The opportunity is not simply to adopt AI or Open Finance technologies, but to make them work securely and effectively within the wider financial services environment, delivering genuine business value while maintaining the reliability and control that organisations and their customers expect.

Looking Ahead: Innovation Built on Trust

The discussions across both days of Open Banking Expo UK & Europe showed that the industry is entering a significant new phase.

Open Banking established the foundations for secure data sharing. Open Finance can unlock wider value from connected financial information. AI introduces the possibility of autonomous action, where systems not only provide recommendations but undertake authorised activities on behalf of customers.

To achieve mainstream adoption, the industry must address three fundamental challenges:

• Building and maintaining consumer trust.
• Establishing clear accountability and liability.
• Creating transparent consent and governance frameworks suitable for AI-powered services.

The future of financial services will not be shaped solely by what technology makes possible. It will be determined by how successfully the industry turns that potential into secure, transparent and valuable customer experiences.

The goal is not simply to make money management smarter or more automated. It is to make financial services more seamless, more personal and, above all, more trustworthy.