FinovateFall 2025 Recap:  AI, Embedded Finance & Trust in Fintech

Post-summer in NYC can only mean one thing – fall event season is back in action. And FinovateFall 2025 once again brought together fintech leaders, innovators, and investors to the Big Apple to showcase AI’s shift to implementation, embedded finance’s rise, and the new role of trust in customer experience. Over three days of demos, panels, and keynotes, the event highlighted not only the latest tools but also the broader industry trends defining how banks, financial institutions, and technology providers are adapting to rapid change.

AI, trust, and embedded finance are no longer just buzzwords—they’re real growth levers, as this year’s event showed.

Here are the key themes we took notice of coming out of this year’s event: 

Key Trends from FinovateFall 2025

1. AI is moving from hype to implementation

Artificial intelligence dominated discussions, but the tone has shifted from “what’s possible” to “what’s working.” In the Power Panel on AI, GenAI & Agentic AI, executives from Alloy Labs, Cornerstone Advisors, and Persado highlighted concrete use cases where AI is already reducing costs and unlocking new revenue streams. Yury Pukha of Intelligent Edge Consulting further grounded the conversation, emphasizing lessons from large-scale implementations and the importance of governance to avoid failure at scale.

2. Fraud and trust are the dynamic duo of customer experience

From payments to onboarding, identity and fraud protection were recurring priorities. Mark Clancy, SVP of Cybersecurity at T-Mobile spotlighted secure-by-design authentication in his “Frictionless by Design” session, underscoring that cybersecurity is now a growth enabler, not just a risk control. This theme continued in the fraud-focused Power Panel with voices from J.P. Morgan and Zoot Enterprises, who discussed how RegTech and digital identity can be harnessed collaboratively across the industry to safeguard both assets and reputations.

3. Embedded finance and partnerships are driving growth through platform integrations

A third key thread was the growing importance of embedding financial services into non-traditional contexts and forging the right partnerships to make it possible. In the Power Panel on Embedded Finance, leaders from J.P. Morgan, Piermont Bank, and Unit explored how financial institutions can tap into a revenue pool projected at $100 billion. In the partnerships-focused panel moderated by Jason Mikula, executives from BNY Mellon and MX also stressed that long-term collaboration, rather than one-off integrations, will determine who captures the most value in this new ecosystem.

The Wrap Up

FinovateFall 2025 was a clear signal that financial services innovation is moving from experimentation to execution. AI, trust, and embedded models are no longer buzzwords; they’re the building blocks of the next phase of growth.