Hot Tech Trends of 2025 While AI Kill Switches and Regulation Loom Large
Wishing all of my subscribers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Topics:
Hot tech trends of 2025
Primer on AI Agents, the hottest topic in AI for 2025
Regulations for AI in financial services are about to get real. AI Kill Switches?
Bank innovation continues to lag behind and is running to stand still.
Dear Subscribers,
I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Thank you for subscribing and continued support of my writing here on substack. Without you, I wouldn’t do this.
When I started this newsletter, I envisioned creating an online community free of social media constraints, allowing me to write long-form articles and reach an audience with a similar passion.
Thanks to you, I am happy to report that my substack experience has been a great success with an ever-growing subscriber base. Your sharing my newsletter with colleagues and notes of support have helped me build a thriving community.
That said, there is always room for improvement, and I will continue to introduce some format changes to this newsletter to make it easier to read.
There will be no newsletter next week, the 29th, and a shortened version on the 5th.
Thank you for your continued support, and 2025 looks like it’s shaping up to be as exciting as 2024!
Please let me know if there’s anything special you want to see next year.
All my best, and see you in 2025!
Rich
Trend Reports
It’s the time of year for tech trend reports, and I’ve got two of them that will get you thinking about our shared AI and fintech future.
The first covers AI and how it will interact with and enhance other technologies, its a fabulous read and you can find it here: Hot Tech Trends of 2025: AI and More.
It is unique because it shows how AI will integrate with others, like cryptography and spatial computing. Disciplines that at first thought wouldn’t obviously be impacted by AI.
The second is a fintech-specific trends report that is absolutely a fun read because of its fabulous graphics. Check out the report on the download link below. The section on neobanks, starting on page 55, is particularly interesting.
AI Agents
AI is always a hot topic, and we’re closing out 2024 with three important AI-related stories.
The first is a primer on AI agents, I’ve covered this in a few other articles this year and see this as the most important topic in AI for 2025. Just as 2024 was all about Generative AI, 2025 will be about AI agents. The article’s title lays out the problem: “A Primer on AI Agents: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”
AI Regulation
By now, some of you must have wondered when AI’s use in financial services would be regulated. I think we will start to see some of these regulations in 2025. The BIS just released a paper that shows how AI will be coming under closer scrutiny: Regulating AI In FinServ: Kill Switches And Big Tech On The Hook?
The final read on AI finally answers the question of how to assess AI risk and reward. This is the first “how to” paper I’ve seen with instructions on conducting AI impact assessments. It’s about time companies have a rigorous structure for understanding what impact AI will have on their companies.
Bank Still Not Innovating
Our final topic shows how banks are running as fast as they can with their digital innovation, but most are standing still as the digital world speeds by them.
This is a serious problem because the study shows how roughly 60% of banks are still having trouble running APIs and cloud. Without command of these essential digital building blocks, how on earth will they enter the AI world?
Banks are being segregated into “digital haves” and “digital have-nots” and this does not bode well for the have-nots. Read here: Bank Innovation Lags Behind: Running to Stand Still.
Readers like you make my work possible! Please buy me a coffee or consider a paid subscription to support my work. Thank you!
Hot Topics for Subscribers only
What you’re missing in the section below:
APAC AI Outlook
Asian Fintech
AWS Responsible use of AI
Indonesia’s wCBDC PoC
….and more!
As my HOLIDAY GIFT to new paid subscribers I’m throwing in the first few chapters of BOTH or my books free with every subscription.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Cashless: Fintech, CBDC and AI at the speed of Asia to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.