Top 7 Banking Priorities Gartner Forecasts for 2026

LONDON — February 9, 2026 — As of January 2026, leading banks and payment networks signal a strategic pivot toward AI-powered risk controls, cloud-native core modernization, and real-time payments as top operational priorities, according to analyst briefings and corporate disclosures from firms including Gartner, the Bank for International Settlements, and investor communications from Visa and Mastercard.

Executive Summary

• AI-first risk and compliance, cloud core migration, and instant payments anchor 2026 banking priorities, per Gartner insights.
• Vendor ecosystems consolidate around cloud, data, and payments networks, with platforms from AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure central to modernization.
• Open finance monetization and embedded banking expand as banks partner with fintechs like Stripe and Adyen, per investor briefings.
• Heightened regulatory expectations steer investments toward explainable AI, operational resilience, and data governance, guided by standards such as GDPR and ISO 27001.

Key Takeaways

• AI risk controls are moving from pilots to platform capabilities, supported by cloud data pipelines and MLOps, per Gartner.
• Real-time rails expand via FedNow and SEPA Instant, pushing 24/7 liquidity and fraud analytics.
• Core modernization accelerates through vendors such as Temenos, Thought Machine, and Fiserv's Finxact.
• Compliance-by-design and resilience take center stage, with banks aligning to FedRAMP and SOC 2 benchmarks across multi-cloud deployments.

Lead: What’s Changing in 2026 and Why It Matters Reported from London — In a January 2026 industry briefing, analysts noted that banks are consolidating around a small set of data, payments, and cloud platforms to scale digital services safely and profitably, with emphasis on AI guardrails and instant payments integration, per Gartner’s financial services coverage. This strategic shift has been echoed in investor updates from Visa and Mastercard, where executives highlighted continued investments in network intelligence and authorization performance to manage fraud in real time.

According to live product demonstrations reviewed by industry analysts, banks integrating advanced authorization and tokenization with network services from Visa and Mastercard are achieving measurable improvements in approvals and chargeback mitigation as part of their real-time strategies. Per January 2026 vendor disclosures, cloud providers including AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft continue to add sector capabilities for regulated workloads.

Key Market Trends for Banking in 2026

Priority Trend	Enterprise Impact	Adoption Horizon	Source
AI-First Risk & Compliance	Automated KYC/AML, model governance, explainability	2026–2028	Gartner
Cloud-Native Core Modernization	Agility, lower TCO, faster product cycles	2026–2029	McKinsey
Real-Time Payments & Liquidity	24/7 settlement, real-time fraud prevention	2026–2027	BIS
Open Finance & Embedded Banking	New distribution via APIs and platforms	2026–2028	Forrester
Data Mesh & MLOps	Unified data governance for AI at scale	2026–2028	Gartner
Operational Resilience	Multi-region failover, cyber posture	2026–2027	FCA
Digital Identities & Tokenization	Reduced fraud, cross-border interoperability	2026–2029	WEF

“We continue to scale AI and real-time capabilities across our network to enhance authorization and reduce fraud,” said Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa, during a January 2026 investor briefing, as reflected in the company’s public remarks. According to BIS analysis, central banks and industry participants are aligning on instant payment standards and cross-border interoperability, which is steering banks’ liquidity and risk operations into 24/7 modes.

Context: Market Structure and Regulatory Direction Per January 2026 regulatory commentary, supervisory bodies emphasize explainability, stress testing of AI models, and operational resilience, aligning with frameworks such as GDPR, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and FedRAMP for cloud workloads. As documented in government guidance, banks are expected to demonstrate governance and lineage for models used in credit, AML, and fraud, per guidance cited by the Financial Stability Board.

Open finance policies continue to expand data portability and access via APIs, with banks such as HSBC and Citi deepening developer ecosystems and control frameworks for third-party access, according to public developer portal updates and industry briefings. This builds on broader Banking trends tracked across regulators and standard-setting bodies, including the European Payments Council.

Analysis: Technology Stack and Implementation Practices

Based on analysis of enterprise deployments and Q1 2026 technology assessments, banks are standardizing on layered architectures: event-driven data pipelines, feature stores, and model registries, with MLOps integrated into CI/CD and risk signoff workflows, per Gartner research. Cloud providers—AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft—offer financial services blueprints with controls mapping to regulatory requirements and regional residency constraints.

Core modernization strategies often adopt progressive renovation: migrating product lines onto platforms from Temenos, Thought Machine, and Finxact, while integrating real-time rails from FedNow, SEPA Instant, and RTP schemes into treasury and fraud systems. As documented in peer-reviewed work in ACM Computing Surveys and IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, microservices and event streaming underpin resilient, compliant financial workloads.

“Enterprises are shifting from pilots to production deployments at speed, with governance and observability embedded from the start,” noted Avivah Litan, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, in a January 2026 perspective on AI risk in financial services. According to McKinsey’s sector analysis, value creation concentrates where analytics and operations converge—fraud reduction, smarter underwriting, and operational automation.

Company Positions: Platforms, Networks, and Ecosystems During recent investor briefings, Mastercard emphasized network intelligence and tokenization to pipeline fraud insights into issuer decisions, while Visa highlighted AI-driven authorization and dispute management, according to public materials. Banks including JPMorgan Chase and HSBC point to disciplined technology spending and platform consolidation to reduce complexity and enhance resilience, as reflected in their investor communications.

Cloud vendors are deepening regulated-industry offerings—Microsoft with financial services-specific controls, Google Cloud with data/AI reference architectures, and AWS with compliance blueprints—meeting demands for encryption, segmentation, and residency. Fintech platforms like Stripe and Adyen continue to extend embedded issuance, acquiring, and risk tools for platform-based distribution, per company documentation and press resources.

“Technology spend remains central to our strategy; we keep building modern platforms to serve clients at scale,” said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, during January 2026 management commentary as outlined in public filings. “Financial services cloud adoption is entering a production-first era with strong control frameworks,” added Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, in a January 2026 enterprise update.

Competitive Landscape

Segment	Representative Players	Differentiator	Notable 2026 Activity
Payment Networks	Visa, Mastercard	Global routing, tokenization, fraud AI	January investor remarks on AI and tokenization (Visa IR; Mastercard IR)
Global Banks	JPMorgan, HSBC, Citi	Scale, balance sheet, platform depth	January earnings commentary on tech spend (JPM IR; HSBC IR)
Cloud Providers	AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft	Regulated workloads, data/AI, controls	Sector offers updated January 2026 (provider sites)
Core Platforms	Temenos, Thought Machine, Finxact	Cloud-native cores, APIs	Client case studies and roadmaps (company sites)
Embedded Finance	Stripe, Adyen	Issuing, acquiring, risk APIs	January platform updates (company docs)
Data & Analytics	Databricks, Snowflake	Unified data layers, governance	Financial services solutions (vendor sites)

Outlook: What to Watch Next Per January 2026 analyst outlooks, the next phase of banking modernization blends network-level fraud analytics with first-party data for near-instant decisions, as seen in materials from Mastercard and Visa. Expect continued investment in observability, MLOps, and model risk management as banks scale AI within strict governance, in alignment with Gartner guidance and evolving regulatory expectations documented by BIS.

Methodology note: Drawing from survey data encompassing global technology decision-makers and analysis of hundreds of enterprise deployments across banking and payments, this article synthesizes investor commentary, regulatory guidance, and analyst reports from Q1 2026, including perspectives from Forrester, Gartner, and McKinsey. Figures and statements are corroborated with public materials and standards bodies such as GDPR and ISO 27001.

Timeline: Key Developments

• January 2026: Visa investor briefing emphasizes AI-enabled authorization and fraud mitigation across its network.
• January 2026: Mastercard management commentary underscores tokenization and risk analytics as core priorities.
• January 2026: BIS working updates outline continued focus on instant payments interoperability and cross-border standards.

Disclosure: BUSINESS 2.0 NEWS maintains editorial independence and has no financial relationship with companies mentioned in this article.

Sources include company disclosures, regulatory filings, analyst reports, and industry briefings.

Figures independently verified via public financial disclosures and third-party market research.

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