2026: What's coming up in fintech?

It’s crystal ball time, when the industry collectively ponders what lies in store for the payments and fintech space over the next 12 months. As with our 2025 recap, we’ve delved beneath the typical headline-grabbing topics to see what experts and insiders are predicting.

“Glocal” payments

“Glocal” payments, which combine global scale with local infrastructure, will rise in 2026 as businesses expand internationally while still relying on country-specific payment rails, currencies, and compliance standards.

Why? Because local rails convert better, cost less, and align with consumer habits. People choose what they trust and use daily. Digital wallets are set to reach 65% of e-commerce value by 2030, while cards will fall from 20% to 13%, as consumers use domestic schemes and account-to-account rails. 

The industry is already witnessing the benefits of the process:

• In India, UPI powers the majority of electronic transactions. 
• Pix, the Brazilian instant payment system created by the Central Bank of Brazil, is used by 93% of Brazil’s adult population and is the first choice for 74% of customers for their first purchase. 
• And SEPA, which from this year harmonises instant euro transactions across European countries, shows the power of standardised rules and governance.

Agentic payments for B2B

In 2025, the payments and fintech industry entered a new phase: Agentic AI. The autonomous systems that can act, decide, and learn have become more than just a curiosity. 

According to the European Banking Authority (EBA), 92% of EU banks now deploy some form of AI, and more than half (55% of banks) are already using GPAI or agentic AI in consumer-facing processes.

By 2026, AI in payments will move far beyond analytics and fraud detection. It will evolve into an independent agent capable of initiating and completing transactions without human involvement. Forrester predicts that approximately one-third of B2B payment operations will rely on AI agents by the end of 2026, automating invoice matching, payment reconciliation, cross-border FX optimisation, and dispute resolution.

The payoff is real. McKinsey says businesses using AI agents experience a 20-40% reduction in time and a 30-50% decrease in backlog when AI agents manage multi-party reconciliation, real-time liquidity management, and payment routing across jurisdictions and platforms.

Embedded finance

While embedded finance is clearly nothing new, it's worth taking a look at the latest predicted figures. The global embedded finance market is projected to grow from $148.38 billion in 2025 to an estimated $1,732.53 billion by 2034, highlighting the deep integration of financial services into everyday digital interactions.

From changing the customer experience to creating new monetisation opportunities, more digital platforms are integrating financial services directly into their user journeys, offering payments, wallets, lending, insurance, and even card issuance, without redirecting customers to banks or external providers. The shift is especially visible in e-commerce, where Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is becoming a standard checkout option globally.

What’s driving this? The rise of embedded financial services is caused by changes in customer expectations. Consumers trust non-traditional providers for financial tasks and transactions, wanting a more convenient, smooth, and quick payment experience.

Green fintech

What’s pushing this forward? Green fintech is driven by regulatory pressure, investor expectations, and corporate demand for transparent sustainability metrics. As global ESG reporting requirements grow stricter, companies will rely more on financial platforms that automate carbon tracking, assess the environmental impact of transactions, and incorporate sustainability scoring directly into payment and lending processes.

Recent data from Global Market Estimates indicates that the global green fintech market will grow at a consistent annual rate of 22.4% to 2029. Additionally, the ESG data market is projected to surpass US$2.1 billion in 2024, up from US$1.9 billion in 2023, according to management consultancy Opimas.

For businesses, this is more than compliance. It provides a competitive advantage. Green fintech enables cost savings through better resource tracking, improves investor confidence, and strengthens customer loyalty, as customers choose brands with real sustainability commitments. By 2026, climate-aware financial infrastructure will become a standard expectation across payments and banking, impacting how companies operate, report, and grow.

However, it’s not all plain sailing for green fintech initiatives. “While some regulators are pushing for more stringent directives, other governments appear to be rolling back,” says Blayne Pereira, Head of Marketing at Tribe Payments. “Plus, the elephant in the room here is AI, which consumes vast amounts of energy and water, and we’ve already established how agentic payments in particular will be an area to watch in 2026.”

But what do you think? These are just a handful of thoughts that we've explored. Beyond these, AI and stablecoins, what do you think will be hitting the headlines in payments and fintech in 2026? Let us know on LinkedIn, just tag in Tribe Payments.