As we count down to Money 20/20, what themes are anticipated to shine this year and why?

Money 20/20 made its debut in 2011, quickly becoming a key event in the financial industry. While the event creates a stir as it approaches each year, the macroeconomic challenges of the past few years have cast a shadow on the event’s usual energy. However, with a brighter outlook on inflation this year, a renewed sense of excitement and anticipation surrounds the event scheduled to begin this weekend in Las Vegas.

I spoke with industry leaders from major financial institutions like J.P. Morgan, Citi, U.S. Bank, and SVB, who are attending Money 20/20, to gather their insights on what to expect from this year’s event. They shared their thoughts on the anticipated atmosphere, the key themes likely to take center stage, and their perspective on why these themes are significant.

From left to right: Mike Blandina, Global Head of Payments Technology at J.P. Morgan Payments, Ryan Rugg, Head of TTS Digital Assets at Citi, Nick Christian, Head of Fintech and Specialty Finance at SVB, Rachel Castro, Senior VP and Business Banking GTM & Strategy Leader at U.S. Bank

What’s the vibe and mood for this year’s Money 20/20?

We start by exploring how bank leaders feel about the event’s atmosphere and vibe this year.

Collaboration spirit

As one of the founders of Money20/20, Mike Blandina, Global Head of Payments Technology at J.P. Morgan Payments, has witnessed how each year introduces its own distinct energy and atmosphere, mirroring the evolving fintech landscape.

According to Blandina, the industry has experienced significant growth and innovation, fueled by the global pandemic and technological advancements, leading to the emergence of new players and prompting established companies to accelerate their innovation efforts.

Reflecting on what he hopes to see this year, Blandina says, “We’ll see Money20/20 help foster innovation through collaboration across all players in the ecosystem.”

Excitement around emerging technologies

According to Ryan Rugg, Head of TTS Digital Assets at Citi, last year’s conference addressed the trust challenges within finance and the call for clearer regulations. She notes that significant changes have taken place over the past year to enhance risk and control measures, suggesting that the focus can now shift toward the exciting applications of emerging technologies, such as AI and digital assets.

“As developments in digital assets and AI are maturing, we’ve reached a turning point where TradFi is almost expected to be active in this space,” says Rugg. “I think people continue to be excited about what’s on the horizon while still addressing the ongoing regulatory needs of this space.”

Opening the floor to tough dialogues

Rachel Castro, Senior VP and Business Banking GTM & Strategy Leader at U.S. Bank, expects attendees to have intimate discussions around the formal conference sessions, and earmarking time for smaller nuanced, and focused discussions around real changes and challenges the industry is facing. 

“I’m seeing a focus on cutting through the noise to bring the experts and influencers together for hard conversations,” notes Castro.

Wider optimism

Nick Christian, Head of Fintech and Specialty Finance at SVB, anticipates this year’s Money 20/20 will have a much more optimistic atmosphere for both SVB and the broader fintech industry. 

“For SVB, last year was focused on demonstrating that we were still very much here – serving our clients as we always have,” says Christian. “Today, we continue to actively deliver the solutions our innovation economy clients rely on, with the backing of First Citizens Bank.”

Melting pot of ideas: Red hot themes expected to drive discussions at this year’s event

Having discussed the event’s energy, we now shift to the primary focus — what themes these bank executives anticipate will take center stage in discussions, considering their influence on the financial sector in recent times and their potential moving forward.

THEME 1: Technology and Artificial Intelligence – The winning combination everyone wants

The impact of emerging technologies on the client and consumer experience, particularly in the payments space, is a growing area of focus. 

“Frictionless payments, identity verification, and the broader implications of digital transformation such as managing fraud and cybersecurity will be at the forefront of this year’s discussions,” says J.P. Morgan Payments’ Blandina. He emphasizes that leveraging technology to manage external threats continues to be a priority across the industry.

Expanding on the technology theme, Citi’s Rugg anticipates two major directions to stand out at the upcoming event.

i) First, digital transformation — the technologies and processes companies are likely to adopt as they evolve: With the rapid pace of technological change, companies are becoming more tech-agnostic, increasingly relying on trusted banking partners to deliver innovative solutions.

“The future will be real-time enabled, fueled by tech developments in AI, blockchain, digital identity, and more,” says Rugg.

Rugg notes that banks are working to lower the technical barriers that prevent clients from embracing new technologies. However, many large corporations are still bound by legacy systems that hinder them from integrating these innovations into their existing infrastructure. Additionally, they often lack the resources to address the accounting, tax, and legal implications of adopting new technologies.

“Banks must work in tandem with clients as they seek integrated, multi-bank, multi-jurisdiction capabilities and reporting,” she highlights.

ii) Second, data-driven strategies aimed at enhancing customer experience, enterprise value, risk management, and operational efficiency: “The future of treasury requires an end-to-end connection of data through the convergence of technologies like AI, smart contracts, and digital identity solutions to facilitate real-time insights into cash flow, liquidity, and risk management,” says Rugg. 

She says that AI technology can learn from previous payments to better identify cases of potential fraud. Smart contracts can streamline processes through automation, eliminating the need for costly third-party transactions. Digital identity solutions, on the other hand, can help institutions ensure that only authorized individuals are executing transactions with one another by creating a shared database for flagged individuals.

THEME 2: Opportunities bubbling up around Embedded Finance and Open Banking

As consumer expectations evolve and demand for elevated digital experiences intensifies, J.P. Morgan Payments’ Blandina highlights that achieving frictionless and even invisible payments will become a bigger priority.

Technology, according to Blandina, will be a key driver in creating experiences that make payments as simple and smooth as possible, akin to the effortless checkout experience in ride-sharing apps where the payment is automatically triggered when the consumer exits the vehicle.  

“This is the power of embedded payments,” he asserts.

SVB’s Christian also foresees AI, together with embedded finance, continuing to be one of the major themes at this year’s Money 20/20.

“Fintechs and traditional financial institutions leverage these technologies to streamline operations and enhance customer experiences,” says Christian.

He further notes that a key discussion will likely center around open banking’s influence on payment infrastructures, particularly how it can promote financial inclusion and ease access for both consumers and businesses.

Taking a broader view of the industry, Christian predicts a significant rebound in fintech investment expected between 2025 and 2027, driven by movement in open banking and embedded finance following three years of downturn. 

“With fintechs increasingly integrating these technologies into their core operations, we’re seeing renewed excitement and opportunities for growth, mainly as traditional financial institutions play a more active role in fintech’s evolution,” adds Christian.

THEME 3: Tokenization and its impact on the global economy

Citi’s Rugg sees tokenization as a game changer for the global economy. By offering greater transparency, reducing fraud, and ensuring every transaction is logged on an immutable ledger, tokenization can help address critical cross-border payment challenges outlined in the G20 roadmap, including cutting costs, increasing accessibility, and improving speed and transparency.

“This kind of transformation is massive, and with technology constantly evolving, we must remain focused on developing for the future,” says Rugg.

THEME 4: Collaboration with fintechs in the broader cross-border payments ecosystem

Bank-fintech partnerships, despite facing significant scrutiny recently, provide a collaborative avenue to address changing consumer expectations. Citi’s Rugg advocates for these alliances, believing that the future of finance hinges on the cooperation of all players within the ecosystem. She believes this will be an essential topic at Money 20/20 that will carry on into the future.

“Large traditional financial players must collaborate with more nimble fintechs in the space to deliver a global, 24/7, always-on financial world to ensure safety, soundness, and scalability,” says Rugg.

For instance, in talking about Citi’s strategy for forming partnerships as a traditional bank, Rugg says that Citi regards fintechs as collaborators. The bank has a well-defined strategy for identifying strong fintech collaborations and investment opportunities to support its business growth. 

Does the Web3 ecosystem fit into the picture this year?

Before AI became a hot topic in financial services, cryptocurrency and Web3 dominated the conversations at Money 20/20 events. While SVB’s Christian believes that cryptocurrency’s integration with traditional financial networks will emphasize the convergence of fintech and traditional finance, making it one of the several important themes this year, U.S. Bank’s Castro has a different take.

“We will not hear as much about technology trends that haven’t found the right use case, are overhyped, and are likely to not land,” says Castro. “I doubt anyone will be talking about Web3 and the metaverse.”

Castro argues that most companies attending the event have already made significant investments in digital transformation. At this stage in the evolution of the industry, she believes that digital should be embedded into the development process rather than treated as a completely new approach to operations.

“I expect a significant focus on AI, particularly on Gen AI and how and where the industry will be disrupted. There is a widespread belief that Gen AI will enable large-scale disruption across all facets of the industry; the question is really around when,” Castro adds.