SIBOS Miami 2026: Fintech Giants Unpack Trust and Speed in Future Payments

Sibos in Miami, the largest in North America to date, convened over 500 speakers across four days, focusing on digital finance for AI-driven economies. A central theme throughout the event was 'trust,' as articulated by Citi's Jane Fraser and echoed by numerous industry leaders, emphasizing that while the technology for tokenized money and AI agents is advancing, the critical question remains who carries the trust when issues arise.

Mark Walker of The Fintech Times conducted interviews with key figures from Temenos: Will Moroney, Chief Revenue Officer, and Mick Fennell, Business Line Director for Payments. Their discussions provided profound insights into the evolving landscape of banking, particularly concerning customer expectations, core modernization, agentic commerce, and digital currencies.

Will Moroney highlighted the significant findings from Temenos' 'Banking Expectation Gap' research, which surveyed over 2,500 banking consumers. A striking three-quarters of respondents reported being only moderately satisfied with their primary bank, a group Temenos refers to as the 'switchable middle.' Moroney stressed that mere retention does not equate to loyalty, as these customers are prone to shifting portions of their financial activities to fintechs offering specialized services. Payments, being a daily and often stressful touchpoint, emerge as a primary friction point. Customers now benchmark their banking experience against tech giants like social media platforms and ride-hailing apps, expecting similar immediacy and seamlessness.

Moroney also addressed the escalating need for core modernization within banks. While digital channels and instant payments have advanced, they place increasing strain on outdated back-office systems. He pointed out that AI presents a transformative opportunity, enabling banks to comprehend decades of legacy code, business processes, and data before embarking on replacement, thereby mitigating risk and accelerating the transition to modern core banking systems.

Mick Fennell provided a pragmatic view on agentic commerce, defining it as machine-to-machine decisioning and payment processing. He noted that AI agents are already integrated into various parts of payment flows, with the most promising near-term applications emerging on the corporate and business side through proofs of concept and pilot programs. The primary obstacles to widespread adoption are infrastructure limitations, including speed, performance, capacity, and legacy systems unable to support event-driven, API-first processing. Fraud controls and service-level rules become paramount at machine speeds, necessitating enhancements rather than replacements of existing banking controls to handle higher volumes and faster execution.

Fennell introduced a memorable analogy for digital money, categorizing it into four 'musketeers': Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) as Athos (public money, straightforward); Stablecoins as Porthos (private money, flamboyant, but requiring careful consideration regarding liquidity and infrastructure); Tokenized Deposits as Aramis (bank money, working within existing rules, keen to improve); and Cryptocurrency as D'Artagnan (exciting, unbacked, 'buyer beware').

Among these, tokenized deposits were presented as the most 'bank-native' option, remaining within established regulatory frameworks and leveraging existing bank money. They offer a superior operational model for cross-border payments, operating 24/7 without altering the bank's balance sheet, only the mechanism of money movement. Stablecoins, while proven for moving money globally, particularly for weekend liquidity, face challenges with liquidity, on-ramp/off-ramp infrastructure, and currency fragmentation, with most being USD-denominated. Their current utility is primarily within large corporates for inter-entity transfers. CBDCs were largely seen as a central bank concept with limited immediate consumer use cases.

A consistent message from Sibos was that customers prioritize cost, access, speed, and transparency over the underlying rail—be it stablecoin, CBDC, or tokenized deposit. This underscores the need for banks to offer one interoperable platform that seamlessly manages both traditional and tokenized finance. Industry experts like Phil Bruno and Bridget Hall from ACI Worldwide stressed that orchestrating fraud and liquidity from a single, shared service platform is crucial to avoid creating new silos and vulnerabilities. Melissa Tuozzolo of HSBC emphasized that banks should 'not AI a bad process,' advocating for fixing processes and data first before applying AI.

The conversation around AI agents also matured, shifting initial focus from agents directly making payments to agents improving internal bank processes, such as triaging investigations or checking trade documents. This 'agentic flow of information' with human oversight and deterministic guardrails is seen as a necessary precursor to 'true agentic money movement.' The concepts of 'intent,' 'accountability,' and 'governance' are central to establishing trust in agent-driven transactions, akin to traditional direct debit mandates but at a vastly accelerated pace.

Despite technological advancements, governments and regulators remain concerned about maintaining control over domestic financial stability and money movement, leading to uneven adoption across markets. Banks also face the complex challenge of liquidity management, as holding pools in numerous stablecoins could fragment balance sheets. The consensus from Sibos Miami was clear: tokenized deposits have gained significant traction within banks, AI agents are evolving to enhance internal operations first, and the 'switchable middle' represents a critical competitive threat that requires banks to rethink customer loyalty and accelerate core modernization to meet evolving expectations.