New Era for Finance | World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026

The panel explores how technology is rewiring global finance, focusing on both opportunities and potential risks. Panelists highlight AI's transformative potential across financial services, from improving customer experience and risk management to enabling faster transactions. Interoperability between public and private markets, as well as on-chain and off-chain systems, is identified as a key development. Concerns are raised about the speed at which bank runs and market volatility can occur due to digital technologies and algorithms. The discussion also covers the importance of regulatory frameworks, with varying perspectives on the need for global regulation versus country-specific approaches. The potential for regulatory "passporting" is suggested as a practical step forward.