The 6th Financial Innovation Forum – Payments & RegTech Arrives in London

The 6th Financial Innovation Forum – Payments & RegTech is scheduled to take place in London on 17 September 2026, addressing the critical intersection of transaction technology and regulatory compliance. For fintech professionals, the summit provides a high-level platform to navigate the increasingly complex UK regulatory landscape and the rise of autonomous payment systems.

What was announced

The forum, hosted at the Montcalm Hotel in Mayfair, is positioned as a premier gathering for senior leaders across the banking, fintech, and financial services sectors. The event is expected to host over 250 senior executives, regulators, and technology visionaries for a day of high-level discussion and exclusive networking. The agenda focuses on providing actionable insights into the technologies and consumer shifts defining the future of the industry, with a specific emphasis on compliance strategy and regulatory developments.

Key themes for the 2026 edition include the UK Payments Outlook, the evolving role of Digital Assets and Stablecoins, and the integration of AI innovation within compliance frameworks. A significant addition to the program is the exploration of Agentic Payments, reflecting a shift toward more autonomous financial interactions. Over 50 industry specialists will contribute to these discussions, representing a diverse range of global institutions. Participating organizations include traditional banking leaders such as Citi, Lloyds Banking Group, and Standard Chartered Bank, alongside major payment networks like Visa, Mastercard, and Swift. The digital-first sector is represented by firms including Starling Bank, Monzo, Revolut, Wise, Kraken, and Robinhood, while technology infrastructure perspectives will be provided by Amazon Web Services and Accenture.

The forum is supported by a broad range of industry sponsors, including Amaranth, ARKK, BPC, Recomply.ai, Damex, Finovox, Infocredit Group, Innovify, Intrepid Fox, Mastercard, PCI Booking, RiskSmart, UMCA Technologies Inc, and Vivox AI.

"The forum brings together senior voices from across banking, fintech, and financial services innovation."

The 6th Financial Innovation Forum – Payments & RegTech.

The companies involved

Mastercard, a primary sponsor and participant in the forum, remains a central pillar of the global payments ecosystem. The company has been a frequent subject of analysis within this publication, with 954 prior reports documenting its role in shaping digital transaction standards and infrastructure. Its involvement in the London summit underscores its continued focus on the integration of regulatory technology within global payment flows.

The event also features leadership from across the UK’s digital banking and processing landscape. Aisling Twomey, Director, Financial Crime at Monzo, represents one of the UK’s most prominent neobanks, which has been at the forefront of digital-first compliance strategies. Other key figures include Suresh Vaghjiani, CEO & Founder at CLOWD9, a firm specializing in cloud-native payment processing, and Rich Wagner, Advisor to the Chair of the Board at Zempler Bank. The presence of these organizations, alongside global entities like Amazon Web Services and traditional giants like Citi, highlights the diverse competitive landscape in London, where legacy banking infrastructure and modern cloud-based fintech solutions are increasingly required to interoperate under strict regulatory oversight.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has extensively tracked the strategic movements of the key players participating in this forum. We recently reported on international leadership changes at Mastercard, including how Mastercard Names Sidney Massunaga as Country Manager to Lead Mexico Strategy. The firm’s efforts to expand digital acceptance have also been a focus, as seen when Bank Audi and Mastercard to Support 10,000 Lebanese Entrepreneurs via neo Business and when Mastercard and Banque du Liban Partner to Drive Digital Payment Acceptance in Lebanon. Furthermore, the forum’s focus on autonomous transaction protocols follows our coverage of major technical milestones in the sector, such as when Ant International Open-Sources Agentic Mobile Protocol to Power Global AI Agent Payments.

What this means

The inclusion of "Agentic Payments" as a core theme for 2026 signals that the industry is moving beyond simple automation toward truly autonomous financial actors. This transition places significant pressure on existing RegTech frameworks, which must now evolve to monitor transactions initiated by AI agents rather than human users. As regulators and fintech leaders converge in London, the primary challenge will be reconciling the speed of these autonomous systems with the rigid requirements of anti-money laundering and fraud prevention. The heavy presence of infrastructure providers like AWS suggests that the future of compliance will be built directly into the cloud-native payment stack, rather than existing as a secondary layer.