Future of Financial Services Week 2026
At our 5th annual flagship event for financial services businesses, we brought together leading industry voices and our expert lawyers from across Osborne Clarke’s international network to spotlight the key trends shaping the future of financial services.
Across a programme of online sessions and a flagship in-person day at our One London Wall office, we explored how fast-moving technology, evolving regulation and changing customer expectations are reshaping an increasingly interconnected financial services ecosystem.
Through practical insights and case studies, we showcased how partnerships, platforms and data sharing can underpin compliant, resilient and commercially successful business models for 2026 and beyond.
Catch the key moments from our 2026 event in this video.
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
Available on-demand
DORA: one year on
Speakers > Matthew Sharkey, Tanja Aschenbeck, Jean-Christophe Vercauteren, Szymon Ciach, Kamil Prokopowicz
One year after DORA took effect, our regulatory experts 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
Available on-demand
Capital to close: deals in FinTech
Speakers > James Mackay, Chris Benjamin with guest speaker Meera Shah, Head of M&A at Buzzacott
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
Available on-demand
4 February 2026 I 8:45 – 17:00
An in person event at our One London Wall office followed by networking drinks. Topics included 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 with guest speaker John Salter, Chief Customer Officer of ClearBank
Spanning banking, payments, lending, investments and insurance, we will take a deep dive 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, Mark Taylor, Adam Rutledge
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, Chris Hickey with guest speaker Maria Nizzero, Head of Policy (Sanctions) from UK Finance
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 with guest speaker Dr. Richard Bostock, Senior Policy Manager at the Finance & Leasing Association
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, Johannes de Jong with guest speaker Matt Ong, Founder and CEO of Ctrl Alt.
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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