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Fintech 2040: Where money becomes invisible

In this Fintech 2040 analysis from Riverty, we reveal how AI, embedded finance, and cross-industry convergence will reshape financial services over the next 15 years. As your trusted payment companion, we’ve researched why traditional banking will fade into the background while new ecosystems take center stage.

The financial landscape is quietly transforming

The Paypers and Riverty present a forward-looking exploration of how emerging technologies are redefining the future of finance in our new Paypers Webinar series. As your payment companion committed to human-centric financial solutions, we invite you to join this webinar discussion as we uncover key insights from our Fintech 2040 whitepaper. Discover how these changes will revolutionize the order-to-cash value chain, empower businesses through disruption, and create new opportunities for those who adapt early. Dive into our research to prepare your organization for the next wave of financial innovation.

3 quick facts

Discover how Riverty is researching future trends to empower your business decisions and provide peace of mind in a rapidly changing financial landscape:

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AI financial sidekicks

By 2040, AI agents will manage your finances with emotional intelligence, anticipating needs before you’re aware of them, giving you greater control and confidence. 

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Banking goes invisible

70% of financial interactions will happen through embedded platforms rather than traditional banking channels, simplifying financial processes for users.

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Quantum-secured trust

Financial institutions are 300x more likely to be targeted by cyber attacks, making quantum encryption the new standard for digital trust and providing peace of mind through unbreakable security.

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About the author

Roland Frank is Professor of Digital Leadership at the Mediadesign University (MD.H) in Berlin.

His research focuses on digital transformation, disruption of consumer markets and trends and future research. He currently holds workshops and seminars on the question of how AI can be integrated into companies' workflows and innovation processes to create new digital products.

Before taking up the professorship, Roland Frank was responsible for the banking regulation section of the Börsen-Zeitung in Frankfurt.

Rolands LinkedIn

Banking will disappear but not your money: The rise of invisible banking

Imagine never opening a banking app again, but still getting loans, making payments, or adjusting your savings; all automatically, in the background. Welcome to invisible banking: where finance fades from view, but not from your life.
Financial services are moving out of banks and apps and into wearables, e-commerce, smart homes, and vehicles. Consumers won’t “do banking” anymore. It will happen ambiently, in the background, without friction. That’s invisible banking. And it’s already taking shape.

Infographic showing the future of banking is invisible

How AI in fintech is powering hyper-personalized finance

One-size-fits-all finance is dying. In its place, AI-driven hyper-personalization will tailor every financial experience to individual behaviors, goals, and even emotional states. As your payment companion, Riverty is committed to empowering both businesses and users through this transformation. By 2040, your financial assistant won’t just track spending – it will anticipate needs, negotiate terms, and optimize financial well-being automatically. Learn how this transformation will reshape product development, pricing models, and customer relationships, creating both opportunities and challenges for forward-thinking organizations.

Infographic showing that 40% AI-driven personalization boosts engagement by 40% and retention by 30%.

The quiet disruption: Why banks will fade into the background

The most disruptive change in banking isn’t explosive – it’s invisible. By 2040, financial services will disappear into everyday experiences, becoming frictionless and ambient. Traditional banks will transform from customer-facing entities to essential infrastructure providers, while platforms and ecosystems take over the user relationship. At Riverty, we’ve designed our solutions with users first, empowering businesses to navigate this shift. As detailed in Fintech 2040, this transformation in the future of fintech will impact your business strategy. Discover how this fundamental shift will impact your business strategy and what steps to take now to remain relevant in this new landscape.

Infographic showing that by 2040, 70% of financial interactions will occur through embedded channels.

The Fintech 2040 think tank: more insights coming soon

Join our growing Fintech 2040 think tank community of visionaries as we continue to explore the future of financial services. Don’t miss these upcoming deep dives into the transformative trends shaping tomorrow's fintech ecosystem.

Emotional money

How emotion-aware AI will transform financial decision-making, helping consumers make better choices aligned with their long-term goals.  

Decentralized trust

Why programmable money and smart contracts will create new models of financial authority that challenge traditional regulatory frameworks.

Invisible banking

When finance becomes embedded everywhere, what happens to the customer relationship? Explore the new battleground for financial loyalty.

Data sovereignty

How empowered consumers will control their financial data in tomorrow’s ecosystems, reshaping privacy, personalization, and power dynamics.

Quantum finance

Beyond security: How quantum computing will revolutionize risk modeling, fraud detection, and market forecasting by 2040.

Financial inclusion 2.0

The technologies and business models that will finally close the global banking gap, creating opportunities for billions of new market participants.

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Finance 2040 begins with the questions we dare to ask

At Riverty, we believe the future of finance isn’t something we should wait for — it’s something we must shape, together.

We’re entering a new era of hyper-personalization, embedded finance, autonomous agents, and decentralized models that are poised to transform the order-to-cash experience from the inside out. These shifts will touch every aspect of how people interact with money, trust, and technology — and raise new questions about regulation, inclusion, ethics, and opportunity.

This publication marks the first step in an ongoing journey. We see Fintech 2040 not as a one-off paper, but as the starting point of a growing think tank — a community of visionaries, innovators, regulators, and academics coming together to critically examine what comes next for the fintech ecosystem.

We’re excited to continue this exploration with upcoming position papers, roundtables, and cross-industry dialogue. Our goal is to help businesses, policymakers, and consumers not just prepare for what’s coming — but actively co-create it.

Whether you’re a fintech founder, a policymaker, a tech optimist, or a thoughtful skeptic, I hope this work sparks new questions and new collaborations. Because the fintech ecosystem of 2040 won’t be defined by any one company — it will be shaped by the ideas we dare to explore, together.

Let’s begin.

Andreas Barth
CEO | Riverty
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Frequently Asked Questions

Shape the future of finance: Get the complete analysis

The Fintech 2040 paper offers a comprehensive roadmap for navigating the coming transformation of financial services. From AI-driven personalization to embedded finance, quantum security to decentralized models, this research reveals the key technologies and trends that will reshape the industry. Download the Fintech 2040 whitepaper now to discover actionable strategies that will help your organization thrive in an increasingly automated, personalized, and interconnected financial ecosystem.

Cover of the report “Fintech 2040. Trajectories for the Evolution of the Fintech Ecosystem".