Sibos 2026 was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC) from 28th September to 1st October, its 48th iteration.
This year’s huge show attracted 10,000+ attendees, “possibly because it’s near the beach” joked Swift’s Chair Graeme Munro from the organisers, as he welcomed financial services professionals from 160 countries to the exhibition – see our vox pops article for their thoughts – and the conference itself. In more than 250 in-depth sessions, 500 speakers debated the future of the industry, including in a dedicated corporate treasury track, covered by Treasury Today Group.
Some senior attendees were in town already for the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) Global Councils Forum that preceded Sibos. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was also in attendance to give the keynote Sibos speech and Christopher Waller, Governor of the US Federal Reserve System, gave an address entitled ‘Payments in the Age of AI Agents’, a key theme for this year’s show.
Up for debate were the state of cross-border payments, global banking, trade, securities and finance. The themes of artificial intelligence (AI); distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based finance; tokenisation and digital assets on blockchains, plus the address field delay that was recently announced for ISO 20022 messaging, were to the fore.
“We move US$6trn per day,” said Jane Fraser, Chair and CEO of Citi during the opening plenary of Sibos 2026 on 28th September at the MBCC venue. “That number is going to be exploding with the rise of AI.”
Artificial intelligence
AI was a key theme at this year’s Sibos. It will increase transaction volumes as more trade, cash management, e-commerce, tokens reliant on DLT-based blockchain infrastructures and other processes are automated, and as transaction data is mined for intelligent value.
It was also topical because key vendor OpenAI announced during the Sibos 2026 FS trade show that it is not going to release its latest GPT-6.1 Astra model over safety fears, after tests and prior models showed an exceeding of their safety parameters. A number of rival AI systems have also gone rogue recently, prompting fears about the governance structures for this technology – not to mention fears of an AI stock market bubble, warned about by the governor of the Bank of England (BoE), Andrew Bailey, back in the UK, while the show was on.
The AI safety concerns – and the enhanced automation now possible because of its use in cash management, forecasting and liquidity, anti-fraud and other applications – were much debated on the exhibition floor. They were also addressed during the Sibos conference programme, including in the standalone corporate treasury stream featuring senior speakers such as Jacqueline O’Flanagan, Head of FS, Americas, Microsoft.
Also in attendance, in a separate session in Miami, were Kristin Reinke, Google’s VP of Finance AI Innovation and Transformation and Jason Allen, Google’s Assistant Treasurer, who talked specifically about treasury end uses for AI.
There were dedicated Sibos 2026 conference tracks on DLT, tokenisation and other key themes at this year’s trade show. Many key survey snapshots about the state of the industry were also published during the show designed to spark in-situ debate, such as HSBC’s latest treasury pulse survey and Lloyds’ survey of UK FIs showing that 71% think tokenisation will reshape FS. The latest iterations of the World and Global Payments Reports, respectively from Capgemini and McKinsey & Co, were also unveiled.
Agentic AI
“Personally, I cannot wait to have an AI agent that will deliver my shopping list,” joked Citi CEO Fraser, in conversation with Swift CEO, Javier Pérez-Tasso, during the Sibos opening plenary. The reference to the famous example of an Internet of Things (IoT) hyperconnected world where a net-connected fridge automatically orders and pays for your groceries, when an AI agent spots you are running low, drew a laugh of recognition from the thousands in the audience. People have been waiting on that IoT fridge for a long time.
Of course, such a hyperconnected world relies on technological innovation, explored in the Innotribe stream at Sibos 2026, and is reliant on open application programming interfaces (APIs) and DLT-based networks weaving together a web of connectivity and easily accessible financial and consumer services. This envisaged scenario links the traditional finance (TradFi) world of Swift with decentralised finance (DeFi) applications on the blockchain in a secure, holistic and compliant manner.
Likewise, the corporate world is seeing a similar embedding of finance and services together – evident in programmable, conditional payments; stablecoins; on-chain tokenised deposits and so on – all tools that were much discussed at the show.
Distributed ledger technology
Swift itself is getting in on the act with its richer data DLT ledger, which Pérez-Tasso confirmed during the opening plenary “will have 19 banks on it by year-end across five currencies using tokenised deposits.” It will run alongside Swift’s existing cross-border TradFi platform but is perhaps an indicator of the always-on 24/7 more data-rich future of cross-border payments.
Enhanced speed was another key promise via Swift’s new framework for retail payments, which is hoped to help meet the G20’s goal for faster worldwide payments by year-end 2027. Fiat and tokenised coverage should improve performance on Swift’s correspondent banking network and help to build the fast, data-centric digital payment stack of the future across key trade corridors, such as Australia to India in 37 seconds and from Brazil to the US in under a minute, building on Swift gpi’s capabilities and the real-time nature of many domestic payment infrastructures these days.
These fast cross-border payment flows aren’t just for large business-to-business (B2B) payment end uses either, as Bank of America (BofA) proved when unveiling its new retail cross-border payment high-volume, low-value product in this area.
Citi’s CEO Fraser, who was made a Dame by King Charles in her native UK this summer, did caution in the Sibos plenary about the risks of the fast and hyperconnected AI, DLT and open API-enabled world envisaged, however. She advocated the need for:
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AI safety controls and governance: before AI models are rolled out.
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Authentication procedures: know your agent (KYA) was much debated at Sibos 2026 when machine-to-machine (M2M) payments happen, alongside the more traditional customer (KYC) and other sanction and compliance concerns in this era of rising digitalisation and accompanying cybercrime.
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Trust: this is where financial institutions (FIs) can play a key role, argued Citi’s Fraser, in spurring adoption and encouraging prefunded, secure digital wallets. These can grease automated payments, banking and finance. Digital assets will be a key part of this emerging digitised scenario as well, where ownership, value and transactions on financial markets will often be facilitated by imminent DLT-based systems.
The migration to T+1 settlement on TradFi financial markets was another key topic at Sibos 2026, mirroring the general trend towards real-time capabilities everywhere. Real-time data, payments and settlement was much discussed during the event, although moving to T+0 atomic settlement on financial markets would be a difficult migration. It’s already evident on digital asset markets, however, which is why DLT-based finance was such a hot topic in Miami, particularly in terms of how it aligns with the rise of AI and automated payment and liquidity services – hence organiser Swift’s over-arching theme for this year of ‘Digital Finance for AI-driven Economies’, which was pertinent to many of the discussions.
Interoperability and security
Interoperability between all these retail payment, wholesale, settlement and other banking applications of technology is crucial if the envisaged hyperconnectivity and AI-driven automation and data sharing of the future is to become reality.
The launch of Chainlink CCIP 2.0 during Sibos 2026, which aims to give FIs greater control over how tokenised assets move across public and private blockchains, was one of many such interoperability announcements made in Miami. Tokenised deposits was a crucial theme this year in Miami, building on last year’s obsession with stablecoins, which aren’t always bank-grade regulated. This causes some treasurers to be wary of them, perhaps waiting for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) instead, such as the digital euro or bank-supported tokenised deposits.
“Until all of this interoperability, security and alignment is in place I’m sure as heck not going to let my fridge proceed until everything is safe,” cautioned Citi CEO Fraser. During the Sibos opening plenary she pointed to trust as central to the emerging ‘new economy’. She also promoted Citi’s new Arc AI agent platform that allows developers to build and scale AI agents internally in a responsible manner.
Fraser additionally promoted Citi’s deal with Coinbase to bring bank-grade fiat and stablecoin payments to businesses, and pointed out the benefits of this envisaged hyperconnectivity in terms of faster money movement and liquidity.
The UK’s Lloyds Banking Group also promoted a round-the-clock cross-border settlement solution with Visa that uses stablecoins. This functionality can equate to better liquidity optimisation, FX risk reduction and so forth for treasurers, whether that’s via Swift’s speed-enhanced, bank-supported DLT platform, via stablecoins or CBDCs, or via a bank-based DLT network.
Likewise, with digital assets moving on financial markets over emerging blockchain networks, 24/7 availability and data-centricity are key.
Keynote speech: IMF on tokenisation
Digital currencies, including stablecoins and future planned CBDCs, are all reliant on the blockchain to operate, as are bank tokenised deposits such as J.P. Morgan’s JPM Coin on its Kinexys blockchain-based platform. These were all key debating issues at Sibos 2026.
HSBC unveiled its own Redcoin Hong Kong-dollar denominated stablecoin at the show to battle J.P. Morgan’s offering, although its unveiling being in Hong Kong points to what may be future digital sovereignty concerns about ‘digital dollarisation’ and nations keeping control of their own money supply and economies.
Dan Katz, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF and its lead on international economic integration, provided the keynote speech during the Sibos opening plenary, addressing: “What it means for central bank money if banks continue to embrace tokens.”
Geopolitical instability
That digital sovereignty might be at stake was Katz’s point in what is an increasingly fragmented world. Central banks are scrambling to ensure that they keep control of the money supply as it digitises. Regions may also differ on how they want to regulate this emerging era of ‘Digital Finance for AI-driven Economies’ – to quote Sibos 2026’s over-arching theme articulated by the organisers Swift to denote the hyperconnectivity we’re seeing in FS.
Europe is particularly concerned about its technological autonomy, caught as it is between the economic powerhouses of the US and China, and as evidenced by its recent retail European Network for Payments (EPN) announcement that comprises of Brussels-headquartered Wero, Spain’s Bizum and Italy’s Bancomat. The EPN for retail payments aims to collectively serve 130 million people and cut the region’s dependence on Visa and Mastercard protocols for e-commerce.
“The US Fed met at its annual Jackson Hole gathering a couple of weeks ago where tokenisation was discussed,” said Katz, before then mentioning other pertinent developments in this crucial technology and governmental control arena. These included:
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European Central Bank’s ECB Pontes project: this enables wholesale tokenised asset transactions to be settled in central bank money. It is the first step in the Eurosystem’s strategy for tokenised finance and its over-arching aim to get banks and market infrastructures to join and ensure the continuing centrality of central bank money.
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Bank of England’s new UK stablecoin regime: requires systemic stablecoin issuers to hold 100% backing in high-quality liquid reserves split between short-term government debt and unremunerated central bank deposits.
“The law needs to clarify the nature of tokens and their relationship to real world assets,” concluded the IMF’s Katz. He also cautioned about the cyber risks of this new hyperconnected, digital world where AI and DLT networks are particularly prominent, with tools such as stablecoins and tokens running across them on-chain, and with stablecoins often acting as on/off ramps between DeFi and TradFi applications.
“As frontier AI tools are deployed by ill-intentioned cyber actors, the defenders will also need to up their security game,” added Katz. Cybersecurity is inevitably a key concern in this emerging, ever-more digitised world.
Resiliency of all types from cyber to supply chains was a recurring hot topic theme at this year’s Sibos. It was no doubt caused by the ongoing geopolitical instability the world is experiencing as globalisation retreats and wars escalate. This is adversely impacting oil prices, interest rates (IR) and corporate treasuries’ economic optimism.
ISO 20022
Graeme Munro, Chair of the Board of Directors at Swift, also addressed the Sibos 2026 audience gathered “in Miami for the first time”, in the largest North American iteration of its history.
He concurred it was essential to maintain cybersecurity and resiliency while still innovating, “especially as AI and now quantum computing are on the horizon.” Quantum doesn’t rely on traditional binary 0s and 1s in its computing, so the security networks based around this prior approach may be made redundant.
“We are also at an important stage in the adoption journey for ISO 20022 messaging,” said Munro, while acknowledging that the Swift Board had to listen to its community made up of correspondent banks, when it announced a delay pre-show to the adoption of structured address fields. This is due to the problem of FIs and others in the payment chain not removing unstructured data address usage fast enough. The address fields problem was predicted in Treasury Today Group’s June 2026 feature on ISO 20022. This delay was one of the main ‘hot topics’ shared with Treasury Today Group staff as they toured the show and features in our vox pop takeaways from the show.
“The ISO 20022 timeline has shifted,” admitted Munro during the Sibos opening plenary. “The direction of travel hasn’t, however, so please keep preparing.”
He also mentioned Swift’s new Supervisory Board that is imminently due to launch, alongside a Swift Council that will act as the voice of the community. “Both bodies will strengthen our governance,” maintained Munro.
In a geopolitically unstable world where Swift is often dragged into sanction debates that it would rather not be a part of – and where AI, DLT and increased autonomy for regions in a fragmenting world is an issue, governance is going to be more important than ever. In this technologically obsessed era, however, the key is who governs: the AI machine or the human?
This is the frontier global finance is presently navigating as it moves towards digital finance for increasingly AI-driven automated economies. Let’s hope Skynet and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator can be kept in their box.
