The finance world is going through a quiet revolution. Not the flashy, crypto-bro kind. The kind where the boring stuff, how loans get approved, how data moves between systems, how decisions get made, is being rebuilt from the ground up.
We asked founders and executives across fintech and tech what trends in finance they’re most excited about. Their answers pointed to a clear theme: the old way of doing things, static credit scores, siloed data, backward-looking reports, is being replaced by something faster, smarter and more connected.
Here’s what they told us.
Lending is finally catching up with reality
For decades, getting a loan meant handing over pay stubs and hoping your credit score told the right story. The problem? Traditional credit scores are snapshots. They tell a lender what you did six months ago, not what your business or bank account looks like right now.
That’s changing fast. Cash flow underwriting, where lenders assess real-time bank transaction data instead of just a FICO score, crossed into the mainstream in 2026. JPMorgan Chase and PayPal both adopted Nova Credit’s cash flow platform last year. Fannie Mae dropped its minimum credit score requirement entirely, shifting to a broader risk assessment that includes cash flow patterns and rent payment history.
This matters because roughly 26 million Americans have no credit history at all. Research from FinRegLab found that cash flow data predicts small business loan defaults more accurately than personal credit scores alone.
“The most exciting trend is an evolution towards more flexible, data driven underwriting models that reflect actual cash flow instead of static points in time. In lending, this means decision making is increasingly based on how assets and businesses actually perform as opposed to such traditional measures of personal income. Significant too is the increased embedding of fintech in core operating systems, slashing friction for borrowers and shortening the length of time between intent and funding. What’s most striking is that these technologies are making capital more responsive, more transparent and better aligned with the way entrepreneurs and investors operate today.”
Christopher Ledwidge, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President of Retail Lending, theLender.com
Ledwidge’s point about embedded fintech is backed by serious numbers. The embedded finance market sits north of $85 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach between $237 billion and $588 billion by the end of the decade. Companies like Shopify, Square and Toast are now originating billions in loans directly through their platforms, approving merchants in seconds using transaction data they already have.
From reporting what happened to knowing what to do next
The other big shift is in how companies use financial data internally. For years, finance teams spent their time pulling numbers from different systems and producing reports that were out of date by the time anyone read them.
A new generation of tools is changing that. Platforms like Pigment, Runway and Mosaic connect data from accounting, CRM, payroll and billing into a single view, then layer AI on top to flag problems and suggest actions in real time.
“The convergence of finance-revenue-operational data into a one decision layer. Fintech is shifting from static reporting to systems that tell us why things are happening and what we need to do more or less of, for outcomes to change. Another big change: the way companies are practically using AI to surface risk, inefficiency and opportunity sooner rather than just automating existing workflows. It’s not speed by itself but what they call clarity. These are tools that are enabling managers to allocate capital in a more intelligent way, by connecting financial signals directly with what is happening on the ground, in businesses.”
Dan Ahmadi, Co-founder, Upside.tech
“The trend I am most excited about is the shift from retrospective financial reporting to forward looking, decision ready intelligence. Finance tools are moving beyond dashboards and spreadsheets toward systems that help leaders understand what is happening now and what actions actually change outcomes. Another important shift is the growing focus on interoperability, where finance, marketing, sales, and operations data are finally connected instead of living in silos. This matters because the future of fintech is not about more tools, but about fewer blind spots, clearer accountability, and faster learning across the organization.”
Mada Seghete, Co-founder, CEO and Marketing, Upside.tech
Ahmadi’s distinction between speed and clarity is worth sitting with. The first wave of AI in finance was about doing the same things faster. Processing invoices, categorising transactions, running reports. The next wave is about surfacing things humans would miss entirely.
But the hype-reality gap is real. AI adoption in finance functions jumped from 37 per cent in 2023 to 58 per cent in 2024, according to Gartner, then flatlined. Less than 40 per cent of AI projects in finance meet their expected return on investment. The technology works. The challenge is getting organisations to change how they operate around it.
Seghete’s point about interoperability hits at the heart of that challenge. MuleSoft’s 2025 research found that nine out of ten companies still struggle with siloed data. The best AI in the world can’t help if your finance data doesn’t talk to your sales data.
The MENA region is building its own fintech playbook
While much of the global fintech conversation centres on the US and Europe, the Middle East and North Africa region is quietly becoming one of the fastest-growing fintech markets in the world. Qatar in particular has been making deliberate moves to position itself as a regional hub, backed by its National Vision 2030 strategy and active regulatory sandboxes.
“I’m very excited about new changes in the financial services and the fintech landscape. As Qatar National Vision 2030 and the robust support of regulators inspired me a lot. So the perfect blend of innovation and Islamic values makes it one of the fastest-growing sectors in the MENA region.”
Dhari Alabdulhadi, CTO and Founder, Ubuy Qatar
The numbers support the enthusiasm. Qatar’s fintech market is valued at roughly $453 million in 2024, with projections pointing to over $2 billion by 2033. Fintech funding in the country surged over 500 per cent year on year in 2024, and Islamic fintech transaction volumes tripled from QAR 3 billion in 2020 to nearly QAR 10 billion in 2024. The country ranks eighth globally on the Islamic Fintech Index.
Qatar’s central bank launched an express regulatory sandbox in 2024 and a digital banks framework later that year, with an open banking framework planned for 2026. For a market that’s still early-stage compared to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the trajectory is steep.
The bottom line
Strip away the jargon and these experts are describing the same shift. Finance is moving from static to dynamic, from siloed to connected, from backward-looking to forward-looking.
The tools that win won’t be the ones with the most features. They’ll be the ones that connect the right data, surface the right insights and help people make better decisions. That’s the trend worth watching.