Wrap Up

Why AI Won’t Replace Banking Software Yet - Chris Walters (CEO, Finastra)

Can an AI agent release a $10 million payment?

In this episode of WRAP UP, I sit down with Chris Walters, CEO of Finastra, to discuss where AI is creating real value for banks and where the industry needs to slow down.

Chris explains why high-stakes payment decisions still need human oversight, how Finastra’s Global PAYplus platform directs around $7 trillion in payments each day, and why deterministic banking systems will remain essential even as AI becomes more capable.

We also discuss Finastra’s decision to narrow its focus to lending and payments, AI-powered payment investigations and repairs, the future of stablecoins in corporate payments, open-weight versus frontier AI models, and why banks should prepare now for tighter AI regulation.

Chris makes the case that the future is not AI replacing banking software. It is AI working alongside modern systems, better processes, and human controls.

We also cover:

• Why banks should not let AI agents autonomously release major payments
• How Finastra’s Operator Assist can reduce the time spent investigating and repairing failed payments
• Why AI needs audit trails and controls before regulation catches up
• Whether banks and banking-tech providers are becoming too dependent on OpenAI and Anthropic
• Open-weight models, rising AI costs, and using the right model for the right task
• Why AI-native competitors will not necessarily win by adding AI to every part of banking
• How modern software, better processes, and AI can each drive efficiency
• Stablecoins, crypto and new payment rails in corporate payments
• Why Finastra sees Visa, Mastercard and Stripe as potential collaborators as well as competitors
• How AI could help banks move away from legacy technology faster

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AI agents are becoming a new customer for creators. They can search, compare sources and act on information. The unresolved question is how they access trusted research and pay for it without relying on scraped content or pushing creators into another race to the bottom.

In this episode of the WRAP UP, I sit down with Michael Blau, founder of Drip, to discuss the emerging infrastructure behind machine-to-machine content payments. Drip gives AI agents a way to discover and purchase premium financial newsletters, podcast research and specialist analysis.

We unpack why financial research is an early use case for this model. An agent analysing a company, sector or trade does not need a full media subscription. It may need one analyst’s view, a historical newsletter archive or a specific data point. That creates a new commercial model for independent publishers: make their work available to agents and earn when it is actually used.

We also discuss what this means for the economics of the creator business, the role of protocols such as x402 and MCP, and why payment, permissions and attribution need to work together before agentic research can scale.

In this conversation:

• Why Drip began with independent financial publishers
• How AI agents can discover and pay for premium research
• The role of stablecoins in machine-to-machine payments
• What x402 and MCP enable in an agentic content economy
• Why back catalogues may become valuable assets for creators
• How pay-per-use could sit alongside traditional subscriptions
• Why stock research is an early test case for agentic content payments
• Whether AI-generated research should compete in the same marketplace
• How creators can control access to their work and retain attribution
• Why specialised analysts may become more valuable as agents look for reliable context

The conversation goes beyond the creator economy. It is about a basic question for the internet: when software can consume information and make purchases, who gets paid, how is trust established, and what changes when the buyer is an agent rather than a person?

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Banks spend more than $60 billion a year on core banking, yet much of the industry still runs on decades-old technology.

In this episode of the WRAP UP, I sit down with Martin Della Chiesa, CEO of Skaleet, to discuss why replacing legacy core banking systems remains so difficult and how cloud-native, modular and real-time infrastructure is changing the market.

We discuss why the biggest competitor for next-generation core banking providers is often the status quo, why major migrations can still take 18–24 months, and how modern platforms can help banks and fintechs launch new products in as little as six months.

We also get into AI and agentic commerce. Martin explains why banks cannot fully take advantage of AI agents if their underlying infrastructure is not API-based and real-time, how AI could make legacy migrations easier, and why Skaleet is building infrastructure that could allow AI agents to trigger payments on behalf of customers.

We cover:

• Why core banking remains such a fragmented market
• Legacy systems vs next-generation core banking
• Why banks keep postponing core modernization
• Modular architecture and faster product launches
• The real cost and complexity of core migrations
• AI agents and the future of payments
• Why real-time infrastructure matters for agentic commerce
• How AI could help banks understand and replace legacy code
• The three things banks should evaluate when choosing a core banking provider
• Why an 800-row RFP spreadsheet may be the wrong way to choose banking technology

A practical conversation about the infrastructure sitting behind modern financial services and what has to change as banking moves into the AI era.

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Why would someone pay with stablecoins when they already have a Visa or Mastercard?

Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect, joins me to discuss where stablecoin payments make sense and what is holding them back.

WalletConnect works with around 700 wallets and 80,000 applications, reaching about 800 million end users. Around $400 billion in value moved through the network last year. The company is now pushing further into payments with WalletConnect Pay.

We get into the competition between stablecoins and cards, including the fees merchants pay and the challenge of getting consumers to change how they pay.

Jess explains why stablecoins can work well for cross-border payments and markets where card costs are high. We also discuss whether stablecoins are truly global and whether the market needs so many different stablecoins.

The conversation then moves to AI agents. Jess explains why stablecoins could work well for small AI payments and why moving money is only one part of a payment. Compliance and security still need to be handled.

We also discuss what happens to Visa and Mastercard if stablecoin payments continue to grow, and what merchants should consider before adding crypto payments.

We cover:

• Why merchants would accept stablecoins when cards already work
• Same-hour and same-day settlement and the impact on merchant working capital
• Stablecoins vs Visa, Mastercard, PIX and Faster Payments
• Whether stablecoins are actually global
• Why emerging markets are seeing strong stablecoin demand
• Whether the market needs hundreds of different stablecoins
• What stablecoins could mean for card network pricing
• Why payments require more than moving money from A to B
• Stablecoins, AI agents and micropayments
• How AI agents could buy products and services on our behalf
• What merchants should look for when choosing a stablecoin payment provider

A practical conversation about where stablecoins genuinely improve payments, where existing rails remain stronger, and how the two could coexist.

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Stablecoins are getting all the attention. But there's another layer most people ignore: the infrastructure that actually holds, secures, and moves digital assets.

In this episode of the WRAP UP podcast, I sit down with Bentzi Rabi, Co-Founder and CEO of Utila, to discuss why institutional wallet infrastructure is becoming one of the most important parts of the digital asset ecosystem.

We explore why key management is only the beginning, how operational controls and risk management become critical at scale, and why many fintechs will eventually move away from all-in-one providers to build and control their own stablecoin infrastructure.

We also discuss:

• Why holding digital assets is harder than moving them
• MPC vs multisig for institutional security
• The biggest operational risks in stablecoin infrastructure
• Why fintechs eventually build their own stablecoin stack
• Fireblocks vs the new generation of wallet providers
• Gas management, policy engines, and transaction automation
• Why regulation is changing wallet infrastructure
• Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK and what it means for the market
• Why every fintech may soon become a blockchain company

If you work in fintech, payments, banking, crypto infrastructure, or digital assets, this episode explains the technology powering the next generation of money.

Subscribe for more conversations with the leaders building the future of finance.

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Most business owners still think of banks when they need financing. That is quickly changing.

In this episode of the WRAP UP Podcast, I sit down with Jakob Pethick, Chief Commercial Officer at YouLend, to explore why lending is moving directly into the software businesses already use every day.

We discuss how platforms such as Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Stripe, Worldpay and many others are embedding financial products into their ecosystems, allowing merchants to access funding without ever speaking to a bank.

We also dive into:

Why embedded lending is growing so quickly

How YouLend powers lending behind major platforms

Why banks are losing distribution to software companies

The role of AI and machine learning in credit underwriting

How open banking is transforming risk assessment

Why platforms—not banks—may become the primary distribution channel for financial services

The future of embedded finance over the next five years

If you’re building in fintech, banking, payments, SaaS or embedded finance, this conversation offers a behind-the-scenes look at where business lending is heading next.

What happens when AI agents stop recommending products and start buying them for you?

In this episode of WRAP UP podcast, I sit down with Amir Sarhangi, CEO of Skyfire, to explore what the rise of the machine economy means for payments, banking, and e-commerce. As AI agents become capable of searching, comparing, negotiating, and completing purchases autonomously, entirely new questions emerge around identity, trust, fraud, and payments.

One of the biggest challenges is simple: How do you know an AI agent is acting on behalf of a real person? Amir explains the concept of Know Your Agent (KYA), why AI agents need their own digital identity, and how merchants can distinguish legitimate AI agents from malicious bots.

We also discuss why stablecoins and micropayments could become the preferred payment rails for AI-to-AI transactions, why traditional payment infrastructure struggles with autonomous commerce, and what merchants, banks, and card issuers should be doing today to prepare for a future where software increasingly becomes the customer.

In this episode:

• What the machine economy actually is
• Why AI agents need a digital identity (Know Your Agent)
• How AI agents will make purchases on your behalf
• Why stablecoins are well suited for AI commerce
• The role of micropayments in the agent economy
• How Skyfire enables AI agents to access websites and make payments
• What merchants should do to prepare for AI customers
• How banks and card issuers should adapt
• The biggest fraud and security risks in agentic commerce
• Why AI-powered shopping is closer than most people think

If you work in fintech, payments, banking, AI, or e-commerce, this conversation explains the infrastructure needed to make autonomous commerce secure, trusted, and scalable.

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JPMorgan invests over $2 billion annually. Morgan Stanley predicts 200,000 banking jobs could disappear by 2030. Yet MIT research suggests most organizations still struggle to generate measurable value from AI.

So what is really happening?

In this episode of the WRAP UP podcast, I sit down with Charbel Safadi, CEO of Zafin, to discuss the future of AI in banking, why most AI initiatives fail, and how banks can move beyond experimentation into production.

We cover:

• Whether AI is hype or a genuine transformation

• Why banks are struggling to achieve ROI from AI

• The prediction that 200,000 banking jobs could disappear

• How AI changes jobs rather than simply replacing them •

Zafin’s new AI Operating System (AIOS)

• Why banks need an “airport” for AI agents, not just more AI tools

• AI governance, compliance, and accountability in regulated industries

• How banks should think about OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and open-source models

• The future of autonomous AI agents inside financial institutions

• Why proof of work may become critical for enterprise AI adoption

One of the most interesting takeaways was Charbel’s argument that AI is not primarily a technology challenge. It is an operating model challenge. Organizations that redesign how work gets done will benefit. Those that simply add AI tools to existing processes may struggle to see meaningful results.

What do you think?

Will AI create more opportunities in banking, or are the predictions about job losses correct?

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Stablecoins. AI agents. Cross-border payments. The future of money is changing faster than most companies realize.

In this episode of the WRAP UP podcast, I sit down with David Rosa, General Manager at Rapyd, to discuss one of the biggest transformations happening across financial services today.

We explore the launch of OpenUSD and what it means for the stablecoin market, why Rapyd believes stablecoins are solving real-world payment problems, and how AI is already reshaping the economics of payments businesses.

David also explains how Rapyd uses AI to onboard merchants, automate internal operations, improve decision-making, and why he believes many traditional jobs will inevitably change as AI adoption accelerates.

We also discuss:

• OpenUSD and the future of stablecoins • Whether stablecoins can challenge traditional payment rails • AI agents and autonomous payments • Why Visa and Mastercard are paying attention • MiCA regulation and its impact on crypto businesses • Real-time payments and cross-border infrastructure • Why emerging markets may be affected most by AI disruption • How Rapyd is rebuilding operations around AI • The biggest mistakes businesses make in payments today

David oversees AI Transformation, FX, Payouts, and Platform Solutions at Rapyd, one of the world’s leading fintech companies powering global commerce and payments.

Subscribe for more conversations with CEOs, founders, regulators, and executives shaping the future of fintech, payments, banking, crypto, AI, and financial infrastructure.

In this episode of the WRAP UP podcast, I sit down with Raagulan Pathy, Founder & CEO of KAST and former Vice President at Circle .

While most companies in crypto and stablecoins are focused on infrastructure, Raagulan believes the biggest opportunity lies elsewhere: building products for end users.

We discuss why he left Circle to launch Kast, a stablecoin-powered neobank serving customers in more than 150 countries, how stablecoins are changing global banking, and why traditional banks struggle to serve digital nomads, remote workers, and globally mobile individuals.

Topics covered:

• Why Raagulan left Circle to start Kast

• The vision behind a stablecoin neobank

• Can stablecoins compete with Revolut and traditional banks?

• Banking for digital nomads and global citizens

• Stablecoin adoption around the world

• The future of stablecoin cards and payments

• Why consolidation is coming to the stablecoin industry

• The impact of MiCA and the GENIUS Act

• Credit, wealth management, and tokenized assets

• Where the next wave of fintech innovation will come from

Raagulan also shares his perspective on the future of financial services, the biggest opportunities in stablecoins, and why owning the customer relationship matters more than building infrastructure.

Subscribe for more conversations with founders, CEOs, regulators, and operators shaping the future of fintech, payments, banking, AI, and digital assets.

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