FinovateFall returns to New York September 9 through 11, bringing more than 100 industry experts to the Marriott Marquis Times Square to discuss the forces reshaping banking and fintech.
This year’s keynote lineup reflects just how much is changing at once. Banks and fintechs are navigating an uncertain economic and geopolitical environment while determining where AI can create real value, how to defend against increasingly sophisticated financial crime, what stablecoins mean for payments, and who will control customer relationships as financial data moves into AI-powered interfaces.
With that in mind, here are some of the keynote sessions worth adding to your FinovateFall agenda.
Manas Chawla, Founder and Chief Executive, London Politica
The Global Economic and Geopolitical Outlook and The Direction Of Travel For The US Economy
Wednesday, September 9
Fintech doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Interest rates, geopolitical tensions, trade policy, economic growth, and shifting global alliances ultimately influence everything from lending and investment to payments and consumer behavior.
London Politica Founder and Chief Executive Manas Chawla will open the conversation by zooming out from individual technologies and examining the broader economic and geopolitical forces shaping the US economy. For banking and fintech leaders making investment decisions amid continued uncertainty, Chawla’s keynote offers context for understanding the environment in which those decisions will play out.
Jennifer White, Senior Director, Global Banking and Payments Intelligence, J.D. Power
Fraud in The Age Of AI: How To Respond When The Attacker Has Better Tools Than You
Thursday, September 10
AI is giving financial institutions new tools to detect fraud, but it is also lowering the cost and increasing the sophistication of attacks. Deepfakes, synthetic identities, automated social engineering, and increasingly scalable fraud operations are changing the threat landscape.
Jennifer White, Senior Director of Global Banking and Payments Intelligence at J.D. Power, will address what happens when financial criminals have access to many of the same (or potentially better) AI tools as the institutions trying to stop them. Her quick-fire keynote will consider how fraud defenses must evolve as financial crime becomes increasingly industrialized.
Jon Lakefish, Founder, Lakefish Group
AI-Enhanced CX to Create Trust and Loyalty
Friday, September 11
The question surrounding AI is quickly moving beyond whether financial institutions should use it. Instead, the questions now pertain to how AI can deliver measurable value.
Jon Lakefish, Founder of Lakefish Group, will take a practical approach to that question by focusing on customer experience. His keynote will explore the AI tools available today and how organizations can put them to work to improve customer interactions, build trust, and strengthen loyalty.
Lakefish brings more than 20 years of branding and marketing experience to the discussion and focuses his work on helping businesses translate AI from an emerging technology into practical tools that can save time, reduce costs, and improve decision-making.
Arthur J. O’Connor, Academic Director of Data Science and Generative AI, CUNY School of Professional Studies
From Copilots To Colleagues: As AI Shifts From Assistive Tools To Semi-Autonomous Actors, What Does It Mean For Control, Risk, And Value?
Friday, September 11
The next phase of financial services AI may look very different from the chatbots and copilots that characterized its first wave.
As AI systems gain the ability to take actions rather than simply provide information, financial institutions will have to rethink questions of control, accountability, governance, and risk. Arthur J. O’Connor, Academic Director of Data Science & Generative AI at CUNY School of Professional Studies, will explore what happens as AI makes the transition from tool to semi-autonomous actor and where financial institutions can capture value without surrendering appropriate oversight.
Luther Liang, SVP, Head of Product, Grasshopper Bank
Stablecoin 101: What Are They and Why Do They Matter? How Can Banks Monetize Them? How Will They Affect Payments?
Friday, September 11
Stablecoins have moved rapidly from a crypto industry topic to a strategic question for banks. The conversation is increasingly about practical applications: payments, settlement, cross-border money movement, deposits, and how financial institutions should participate.
Grasshopper Bank SVP and Head of Product Luther Liang will provide a practical introduction to the technology and, more importantly, examine the business case. His keynote will consider where banks can monetize stablecoins, how they could reshape payments, and what financial institutions need to understand as stablecoin infrastructure moves closer to mainstream financial services.
Personalization That Pays: Turning Data into Revenue, Not Just Engagement
Friday, September 11
Banks have spent years investing in personalization, but personalized experiences do not automatically translate into better economics.
This Customer Experience & Trust keynote will tackle the next step: turning customer data and personalization into measurable business value. The discussion will consider how financial institutions can move beyond using data simply to drive engagement and instead connect personalization with revenue.
Speaker to be announced.
Stefany Bello, Senior Vice President, Digital Partnerships, Fintech and Enablers in North America, Mastercard
Payment Innovation: Customer Choice
Friday, September 11
Consumers increasingly expect payments to fit around how they want to transact rather than the other way around.
Mastercard Senior Vice President of Digital Partnerships, Fintech and Enablers in North America Stefany Bello will participate in a fireside chat examining payment innovation, including the launch of Cleo’s program and what new payment options mean for consumer choice and flexibility.
The conversation comes as payments become increasingly embedded within broader financial experiences and consumers gain more ways to determine how, when, and through which provider they pay.
Beyond 1033: Who Controls Customer Data In An AI-Driven Financial System?
Friday, September 11
The debate over open banking is no longer limited to whether consumers can share their financial data with third-party apps.
As open banking evolves toward open finance and consumers increasingly interact with their financial lives through LLMs and AI-powered interfaces, the bigger question may become who controls that data once it starts moving between banks, fintechs, aggregators, and AI platforms.
This quick-fire keynote will look beyond Section 1033 to consider what this new layer of intermediation could mean for banks and their relationships with customers.
Speaker to be announced.
A CIA Whistle-Blower’s Perspective On Speaking Truth To Power: Secret Wars & CIA Lies
Friday, September 11
FinovateFall’s final out-of-the-box keynote will take the conversation well beyond financial technology.
Drawing on the experience of a CIA whistle-blower, the session will examine what it means to challenge powerful institutions, operate in environments where information and incentives collide, and speak truth to power. It’s a different lens from the banking and technology discussions taking place throughout the week—and an opportunity to close the conference by thinking more broadly about transparency, accountability, and institutional decision-making.
Speaker to be announced.
One lineup, several big questions
Taken together, these keynotes highlight a common challenge facing financial services leaders: how do you make decisions when technology and the environment around it are changing faster than traditional planning cycles?
AI is simultaneously becoming a customer experience tool, an autonomous actor, and a weapon for fraudsters. Stablecoins are challenging assumptions about how money moves. Open finance is raising new questions about who controls customer data. All of these developments, which our speakers will cover in depth at FinovateFall, are unfolding against a changing economic and geopolitical backdrop.
FinovateFall takes place September 9 through 11, 2026, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York. In addition to the keynote sessions, this year’s agenda includes more than 70 seven-minute fintech demos and dedicated content across AI and innovation, customer experience and trust, and the future of money. Check out the full agenda and register today to save your seat.
Photo by Ramon Perucho
