Fintech Trends for 2025: Blockchain, Open Banking, and AI Shaping the Future of Finance
- Thomas Easterby, Head of Fintech, Venture and Growth Banking at HSBC
- 20.12.2024 03:30 pm #Fintech2025 #Blockchain
“With blockchain technology back in the mainstream following the resurgence of cryptocurrencies in 2024, the tokenization of traditional assets will be a central theme to watch for fintech in 2025. The tokenization market for real-world assets is projected to reach a staggering $16.1 trillion by 2030, driven by distinct benefits for financial and physical assets. For financial assets like stocks and bonds, tokenization primarily delivers operational efficiencies, reducing costs by modernizing infrastructure and reducing intermediaries. Contrastingly, tokenizing physical assets like art, gold, and real estate creates entirely new market dynamics - enabling fractional ownership, instant transferability, and 24/7 global trading of previously illiquid assets.
“The new year is also set to bring an expansion of open banking frameworks, which will continue to become mainstream. By enabling real-time payment systems and embedded finance applications such as underwriting, fintech businesses will continue to leverage open banking’s potential to make transactions faster, safer, and more efficient. These open banking solutions offer the potential for innovation across both consumer “pay by bank” payment channels, and B2B payments – for example, by enabling self-serve payment of third-party invoices for SMEs.
“Lastly, as with other sectors, AI and machine learning will remain central to fintech’s growth in 2025. Although AI’s potential use cases are expansive, it is becoming particularly invaluable in areas including customer verification, tailored financial advice, and fraud detection. As consumer fintech adoption rises, so too does the threat of cyberattacks, and AI-powered tools to detect and identify fraud will be essential to combat this.”