AI Soluctions

The competitive window for early AI adoption in Payments is closing fast. Established players such as JP Morgan and Visa have launched AI in Payments solutions while Fintechs like Revolut and Starling released AI assistants to Retail customers. Banks that delay are not standing still but instead falling behind and the gap between AI-enabled organisations and those without a strategy will widen. Real time payments continue to grow across the globe, and AI is a tool which will support this significant growth. The shift to 24/7 settlement has reduced the window to detect fraud or tackle address compliance issues. Alongside the shift to ISO 20022, this has created an opportunity for AI in Payments to exploit richer and more structured messaging formats. This supports the ability to mine payment flows in real time for fraud, liquidity changes and provide intelligence to clients about their payments. Client expectations are increasing with both retail and corporate customers expecting instant payment status updates and AI-powered queries. Banks that cannot support this on a domestic and cross-border basis will lose ground to those that can. Institutions building AI capabilities now will have significantly more mature and competitive systems in 3-5 years’ time. Delaying action means starting in a more demanding environment. Regulation continues to shape AI in Payments. The EU AI Act is being phased in across 2026/27, with payment processing being classed as high risk. Banks will need to be able to demonstrate that their AI models are governed and explainable to the regulator. In the UK, the FCA and PRA have established 5 AI principles – Safety, Transparency, Fairness, Accountability and Contestability. The key questions being asked are – how does the model work, how was it trained and who is accountable for it. Again, banks will need to be able to explain what they’ve done and how it was implemented across their Payments value chain.