From uncertainty to infrastructure: highlights from FIBE 2026

The Paypers was at Berlin’s CityCube to welcome the third edition of FIBE on 15 and 16 April. The event attracted more than 2,000 attendees and over 200 speakers from 19 countries. Organised by Messe Berlin in cooperation with Handelsblatt, the Berlin Finance Initiative, and Berlin Partner, the finance and tech event proved once again that it is less a trade fair and more a working platform festival, where banks, fintechs, investors, and policymakers arrive with real intentions and leave with concrete follow-up. The mood this year was defined by a single tension: the pace of technological change versus the capacity of financial institutions to absorb it.

 

AI takes centre stage

Artificial intelligence dominated both days. Not as a feature update, but as a structural shift in how financial services are built. The session ‘AI in Finance: Is Agentic the Endgame or Just the Beginning?’ put the defining question plainly: has AI crossed from automation into autonomous decision-making? The evidence from the floor suggested yes. Some companies are deploying agentic systems at striking speed; others are more selective, weighing the risks carefully. Alexandra Beckstein (QAI Ventures), Raffael Johnen (auxmoney), and Maik Taro Wehmeyer (Taktile) brought competing perspectives. But, the shared conclusion was clear: agentic AI is arriving faster than most financial institutions are prepared for.

 

The sharpest illustration came from Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro, who unveiled major updates to Tori, the platform’s AI investment companion. Tori now integrates real-time social media sentiment, maintains persistent memory across sessions, and can autonomously manage portfolios on behalf of users. Solaris, meanwhile, announced its ambition to become Europe’s first AI-native bank, with a significant investment committed over the next 20 months. This ambition reflects a need for AI to be more than a productivity add-on and to become a core business model. The speaker from N26 echoed this, discussing AI integration for personalised lending and fraud scoring.

Investor framing built into the theme: VCs at the festival positioned AI as a capital allocation engine, shifting focus toward companies that embed AI directly into financial decision-making loops.

Stablecoins: infrastructure, not hype

The stablecoin conversation at FIBE 2026 was notably mature. Panellists, including representatives from ClearBank and Circle, emphasised execution over experimentation: stablecoins as settlement infrastructure, not as a speculative story. ClearBank highlighted its Circle Payments Network integration for real-time settlements and treasury solutions; Circle discussed connecting digital money to fiat rails and enabling 24/7 compliant payments. The session ‘Who Owns the Future of Money? The Battle Over Payment Sovereignty’ framed the deeper question: with USD-pegged stablecoins accounting for roughly 97% of global market cap, Europe faces a real risk of monetary dependency on foreign infrastructure.

 

Oana Ifrim (left) moderates the stablecoins and infrastructure panel, joined by Ezequiel Canestrari (second from left), Ramzi Amairi (second from right), and Patrick Hansen (right)

 

The European response was visible on the floor. AllUnity, a MiCA-compliant stablecoin issuer operating under a BaFin licence, is expanding its euro-pegged EURAU across major decentralised exchanges on Ethereum, Tempo, and Solana. The company also announced CHFAU, a Swiss franc-denominated stablecoin, positioning it as a stable-value instrument combining crypto-speed with a currency regarded as a safe haven in times of global instability. Whether euro and CHF stablecoins can meaningfully challenge dollar dominance remains an open question. Nevertheless, the infrastructure is being built.

Regulation as competitive reality

Regulation was not left aside at FIBE 2026. It was woven into every major discussion. PSD3, DORA, MiCA, and FiDA shaped the regulatory framing throughout: open data enables faster, more personalised financial tools, but the risks are evolving in parallel. Deepfakes are beginning to interfere with identity checks and payment flows, prompting a shift toward zero-trust models where every login, device, and transaction is continuously verified. Live demos showed AI detecting synthetic identities in real-time KYC flows. The security and compliance conversation has moved from policy to practice.

The session ‘The Defence Dilemma: Rethinking Investment Priorities between ESG & Security’ tackled one of European finance’s most charged debates: how institutions balance sustainability commitments against expanding defence investment mandates in an era of geopolitical instability. No consensus emerged, but the right questions were raised in the right company.

Cross-border complexity also featured prominently: every European market carries different rules and expectations, and localisation, from offering local IBANs to adapting compliance frameworks, remains a decisive factor in whether scaling strategies succeed or stall.

Geopolitics, cross-border growth, and the consolidation thesis

The macro backdrop was impossible to ignore. High volatility in capital markets, rising interest rate expectations, and geopolitical instability fueled investor conversations throughout. The dominant thesis from VCs and investors: Europe is entering a phase of platform consolidation. Capital is concentrating on fewer, larger fintech players; later-stage funding now dominates deal flow. The era of many startups with small outcomes is giving way to a smaller number of category-defining platforms in payments, banking infrastructure, and wealth tech.

 

 

Cross-border payments provided a bright spot in an otherwise cautious picture. Global remittances reached approximately USD 860 billion in 2025, cross-border ecommerce passed the USD 1 trillion mark, and post-pandemic migration and remote work have sustained demand in key markets. The session on navigating new markets addressed the challenge that trips up even capable fintechs: regulatory localisation, customer trust, and distribution all need to be solved simultaneously. For those who get it right, the opportunity is substantial.

Berlin does what Berlin does best

FIBE’s value extends beyond its stages. The Späti meetups, the FIBE side-events, and the Recovery Breakfast the second morning are where the conversations that actually move things forward take place. The precedent is real: following FIBE 2025, Berliner Sparkasse deepened its collaboration with WealthAPI and SINPEX, and new anti-financial crime partnerships were formed between banks and specialist providers. The 2026 edition will generate its own follow-on activity in the months ahead, with much of it invisible to the outside world, but consequential for the organisations involved. FIBE returns to CityCube Berlin in April 2027.

 

About the author

Vlad is a Senior Editor at The Paypers, working in the Banking & Fintech team. He uses his research, content, and people skills for all activities revolving around Open Banking and Open Finance. Vlad has a degree in Biology and Molecular Genetics and an extensive background in creative writing. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn.