The FStech Podcast

Open banking is already rising in adoption and delivering value. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority measured a 53 per cent increase in open banking payments in 2025, and Open Banking Ltd found that open banking reached 16.5 million user connections throughout the year.


The organisation also noted that open banking has already delivered £8.3 billion in benefits to the UK economy and could deliver up to £43 billion per year to the UK economy in the future. As more enterprises adopt the standard, it could also underpin other advances in financial services such as agentic AI commerce.


In this FStech podcast associate editor Rory Bathgate speaks with Lee McNabb, group payments lead at Natwest, to discuss how open banking is already transforming the payments industry and what is on the horizon for organisations that have already embraced the standard.

With instant payments becoming the norm across Europe, treasury teams are operating in a fundamentally different environment. Funds no longer sit in transit for hours or days, improving visibility and creating new opportunities for liquidity management, investment decisions and operational efficiency.


However, those benefits can only be realised if banks have access to accurate, real-time liquidity data. Legacy processes and systems were not designed to cope with the volume and speed of instant payments, leaving treasury teams to make decisions using outdated or incomplete information. In a real-time payments environment, liquidity positions can change in seconds, increasing the risk of payment failures, higher funding costs, regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage.


Instant payments also operate around the clock, meaning treasury teams must forecast liquidity more accurately than ever. Banks need to ensure instant payment accounts remain adequately funded to meet demand without holding excessive balances that reduce returns on surplus cash.


In this FStech podcast, Dave Wild, Head of Payments Innovation and Strategy at Planixs, joins senior reporter Isaac Hanson to explore how banks can build the real-time liquidity visibility, forecasting capabilities and operational resilience needed to thrive in an instant payments environment. Together, they discuss the practical strategies institutions can adopt to reduce liquidity risk, optimise funding and confidently operate in a 24/7 payments landscape.

On 11 March, Revolut was granted a full UK banking licence after a four-year process. Revolut's cofounder and chief executive, Nik Storonsky, described the decision as the culmination of "a long-term strategic priority".


In the short term, the bank has said nothing will change for customers. This raises a key question: if Revolut could already offer lending without a full UK licence, why go through the long and complex process of becoming a fully regulated bank?


In this FStech podcast senior reporter Isaac Hanson speaks with Christoph Stegmeier, a senior partner in consultancy Simon-Kucher's global banking practice, to explore what the licence can tell us about Revolut's strategic priorities, and how the bank might change as a result.

As Global Capability Centres reshape the financial services landscape, one question stands out: how do leading banks balance in-house innovation with strategic partnerships to drive real transformation?


In this compelling FStech video podcast, Bouke Hoving, Global CIO Wholesale Banking, ING and Sudip Lahiri, Executive Vice President and Head - Europe & UKI, Financial Services, HCLTech reveal how they're co-creating value through a hybrid model that goes far beyond traditional partnerships.


Discover how ING is modernising its wholesale banking platform whilst maintaining customer centricity at its core. Learn why strategic partners are now seen as true collaborators, not just service providers, and how shared ownership drives innovation at scale.


From AI and automation to talent strategy and core modernisation, this conversation explores the practical realities of digital transformation - including how organisations are evolving from GCC 1.0 cost centres to GCC 3.0 innovation hubs.


Whether you're navigating cloud migration, platform standardisation, or building future-ready teams, this episode offers actionable insights on creating partnerships that deliver lasting impact.


Listen now to understand how collaboration, not competition, is shaping the future of banking.

Early-stage FinTech is entering a new era. Macroeconomic headwinds, rising consumer expectations, and tighter capital markets are reshaping how innovation is funded and how success is defined. For founders and investors alike, navigating this landscape requires a sharper focus on fundamentals, smarter capital deployment, and a deeper understanding of where real opportunity lies.


In this FStech podcast senior reporter Silvia Iacovcich speaks with Thomas Cuvelier, partner at early-stage venture capital firm RTP Global to explore how the firm is investing its $1 billion early-stage fund to back the next wave of FinTech startups.


The venture capital specialist will examine where the firm is placing its bets, how it's thinking about risk, and what it looks for in founders in today's cautious funding environment.