2024 has been a pivotal turning point for the fintech industry, driven by groundbreaking innovations and significant regulatory changes. The evolution and integration of AI into the finance world has revolutionised the sector but also left a lot of uncertainty.
As the digital transformation continues to accelerate, it’s important that leaders in the sector take this opportunity to guide other organisations towards a new age of technology in finance and we see the use of both human skill and automation fuse.
In light of this, we heard from a number of experts in the industry sharing their predictions for what will be essential for success in the fintech world in 2025.
Soren Westh-Lonning, CFO, Pleo
“As we move into 2025, businesses will continue to face uncertainty, driven in part by global political uncertainty. For financial teams, this means doubling down on financial and risk planning to navigate potential surprises. With budgets shrinking and scrutiny increasing, collaboration across departments will be critical. In fact, 60% of UK businesses attribute poor spending decisions to a lack of interdepartmental communication, understanding, and alignment.
“The increasing importance of data is going to heighten the importance of having the right tech stack in place. AI tools will be key in taking the heavy lifting and freeing up teams to do more strategic work but the challenge will be figuring out how to really get value out of AI without getting bogged down in the hype.
“The hunt for finance talent will focus more on data competence and business acumen and collaboration to increase the impact to business. Finance teams will put greater focus on candidates with strong technological expertise alongside traditional financial skills. Upskilling current team members in data analytics and business storytelling will also be key to staying competitive.”
Russell Andrews, Head of Wealth & Asset Management EMEA, FIS
“Fintech is already playing an important role in the evolution of the investment landscape. The beginning of mass-adoption of AI over recent years is having a significant impact on modernising investors’ experience and enhancing investment decision making and we expect this to continue into 2025.
“Developments in AI have allowed wealth and asset managers to automate repetitive tasks, and provide data-driven advice in specific areas, such as portfolio optimisation, risk management and tax analysis. AI powered systems also free up time for investment managers by reducing admin workloads and allowing investment managers to spend their time nurturing client relationships, rather than being bogged down in tasks that could be automated.
“As wealth and asset managers consider how to best utilise AI in their data strategies going forward, it’s important to note that the technology in its current form is limited. This is due to the lack of appropriate data and data structure to make consistent and accurate human-level decisions, particularly within the investing space. In order for AI to create better solutions for wealth and asset managers in the coming years, we need to supply it with a more realistic, comprehensive and organised dataset. However, before we consider automating investment decisions, we need to keep in mind that AI is there to support us in making faster, better decisions, not making them for us.”
Tim Wakeford, VP Financials Product Strategy, Workday
Traditionally, the finance function isn’t an early adopter of new technology. Yet in 2025 its leaders must recognise the fundamental benefits of AI. Finance leaders today need to be about more than financial stewardship – they must respond to the business need for data-driven insights to drive strategic decision making. Leveraging AI will be key to achieving this – analysing vast data sets at scale, assessing unstructured data like contracts and forecasting risks. As AI redefines roles across different functions, forward-thinking CFOs will use it to make their role more insight-led, strategic and impactful.
On the Horizon
With 2025 quickly approaching, uncertainty will persist as regulations evolve alongside the increased integration of AI and automation into the workforce. We can expect to see them become a central focus for the industry, aiding to streamline the data processing and free up employees from repetitive tasks, ultimately boosting efficiency.
In the coming months, organisations must remain agile and adaptable to keep pace with industry changes and position themselves for success. To stay competitive they must prioritise efficiency and staying informed, in order to fully leverage the opportunities that fintech has to offer.
