Future of Financial Services Week 2026
At our 5th annual flagship event for financial services businesses we will be spotlighting the hottest topics shaping the financial services landscape. Our expert lawyers from across our international network and industry leaders explore the outlook for 2026 and beyond.
This year's event will explore how rapidly evolving technology, regulation and consumer expectations are reshaping an increasingly interconnected financial services ecosystem. The focus will be on the role of partnerships, platforms and data sharing, and will highlight what firms need to do to design, govern and supervise compliant, resilient and commercially viable business models for the future.
The programme includes a mix of online events and a full day in-person event and networking drinks at our One London Wall UK office.
See our video from last year's event.
Regulation in 2026: what lies ahead
Speakers > Noline Matemera, Chris Ratcliffe
Spotlighting the opportunities for growth and innovation, and the likely hurdles and challenges on the horizon for financial services. This session will highlight actions firms can take now to get ahead.
Monday 2 February 2026
09:30 - 10:30am (GMT)
DORA: one year on
Speakers > Matthew Sharkey, Tanja Aschenbeck, Jean-Christophe Vercauteren, Szymon Ciach
One year after DORA took effect, our panel of regulatory experts and industry leaders will share insights from both sides of the compliance equation with real lessons learnt, emerging regulatory trends and clear steps to stay digitally resilient in 2026 and beyond.
Tuesday 3 February 2026
09:30 - 10:30am (GMT)
Capital to close: deals in FinTech
Speakers > James Mackay, Chris Benjamin
A journey through the M&A process for FinTechs and other financial services companies, highlighting current market trends - more rigorous diligence, tighter pricing discipline, and the broader use of earn outs.
Thursday 5 February 2026
09:30 - 10:30am (GMT)
4 February 2026 I 8:45 – 17:00
An in person event at our One London Wall office followed by networking drinks. Topics include embedded finance, open banking, financial crime and agentic AI.
See below for the agenda.
Agenda
8:45: Registration and breakfast
9:30: Welcome and introduction by Nikki Worden, Osborne Clarke's Financial Services International Sector Lead
9:45: Embedded finance and whitelabelling – is this the future of financial services? Led by Paul Anning
Spanning banking, payments, lending, investments and insurance, we will take a deep dive with Emma Hagan, CEO of ClearBank UK on what works (and what doesn’t) and how to scale partnership models that meet regulatory expectations and work commercially.
10:35: Break
10:50: Open banking and beyond: designing trusted smart data services. Led by Rosie Wrobel, Katherine Kirrage
Demystifying open banking and smart data schemes - what they enable, how the models work and how to handle the risks. This session will look at cross sector use cases, design choices, risk essentials and provide practical takeaways to stay compliant.
11:45: Financial crime 2026: Fraud, AI and the new enforcement landscape. Led by Nick Price
From fresh FCA AML penalties to the new failure to prevent fraud offence and rising AI enabled scams, 2025 has reset the financial crime landscape. This session looks ahead to 2026 priorities in the UK and beyond.
12:35: Lunch and networking
13:35: Agentic AI in Financial Services: From compliance risk to competitive edge. Led by John Buyers
AI is reshaping every layer of financial services - from credit, fraud and trading to customer journeys and back office operations - against a fast moving regulatory backdrop. This session will explore governance and accountability expectations, data and IP considerations, and how to deploy AI safely and ethically.
14:50: Break
15:05: Undressing redress – what does the future hold? Led by Rachel Couter, Jonty Langham
What could the redress landscape look like in 2026 and beyond if proposed measures are adopted? We will take a look at what this might mean for firms dealing with issues of potential redress, CMC claims and FOS complaints.
16:00: Digital assets and tokenisation – is it for me, and how can they help my business? Led by Paul Harris
A look at the developing UK and EU landscape for digital assets and how they can support growth in financial services businesses.
17:00: Drinks, nibbles and networking
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