Legacy Bank

Stablecoins, tokenized assets and artificial intelligence are moving from the fringes into mainstream global finance, competing directly with traditional banking and legacy financial institutions. The trend points to growing adoption of blockchain-based payment and settlement tools alongside AI-driven financial services, reshaping how assets are issued, traded and managed worldwide.

Citi chief executive Jane Fraser said banks are still waiting for central banks to make payment systems operate around the clock, seven days a week. Her comments highlight a growing gap between always-on private payment services and traditional central bank settlement hours, a sticking point for instant cross-border transactions and the broader tokenisation of finance.

Revolut is promoting 'selfie payments', a pair of new features that use facial biometrics to make checkout faster, as part of its broader push to disrupt traditional banks and legacy payment providers. Commenters are weighing what the fintech stands to gain from the move and whether biometric payments will catch on with shoppers and regulators.

A technology practitioner with core banking migration experience at J.P. Morgan says banks still running mainframe cores should not begin modernisation with technology choices. Instead, they should start with the data, the ledger, reconciliation processes and the controls that must survive the transition. The argument frames data integrity, not platform selection, as the decisive factor in successful core banking migrations.