Sibos26 vox pops: key trends and takeaways from conference season

As Swift’s Sibos 2026 global FS trade show in Miami drew to a close, Treasury Today Group decided to get some feedback from attendees about the trends and key takeaways from this year’s event, as well as from EuroFinance’s recent gathering of treasurers in Barcelona, Spain.

When asked which single conference session debate, meeting take-away, announcement or trend stood out for them during this year’s conference season, our respondents exclusively shared their thoughts with Treasury Today Group:

Gherri D’Innocenzo

Head of Cash Management & Payments, Standards & Projects

Siemens

“The future lies in enhancing financial infrastructure by integrating digital asset ecosystems – securely, seamlessly and at scale.

“This aligns with Swift’s over-arching theme for Sibos 2026 of ‘Digital Finance for AI-driven Economies’, which shows the overlap of different technologies like the blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) in ever deepening integration.

“I think this is pertinent to the future direction of businesses and their corporate treasuries. I heard a lot of debates on these issues during this quarter’s various events during conference season and found it fascinating.”

Ramón Tolk

Director of Treasury

Avery Dennison until June 2026, now freelance

“The common themes I’ve spotted this conference season at Sibos and elsewhere, most especially while moderating some conference sessions at EuroFinance 2026 and walking the floor at various trade shows, is the need for treasurers to:

Reduce your idle asset base as a treasurer, whether it’s local cash not generating any yield or working capital.
A trend to either centralise the cash, so that it can be invested and generate a yield or used to reduce debt burdens.

“The high and increasing interest rate (IR) environment is pertinent, pressing and causes many corporates to focus on these above two key trends. High IR is not being helped by wars and the consequent high oil price, nor of course the present geopolitical instability.

“These are some of the key concerns keeping treasurers awake at night at the moment – quite apart from the ever-more technology-focused debates we’re having to consider, such as how best to use artificial intelligence (AI). Additionally, if distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based finance and digital currencies are relevant for treasurers yet is top of mind; plus the consequences of enhanced data-centricity in an open API-enabled world that is evermore connected.

“Technology is changing the role of the treasurer and we’re aware of this. As automation advances, the need to pivot towards more risk opportunity spotting or migration work is increasing. Treasury is becoming more of a service to the business under the weight of this raft of technological innovation, rather than just a cash management function.”

Chris Jameson

Global Head of Trade and Supply Chain Finance & EMEA Payments

Bank of America

“Coming from a payments background, I’ve always viewed trade and payments as two sides of the same coin. Every trade transaction ultimately ends with a payment, so it makes sense to think about how the innovation we’ve seen in payments can help address some of the challenges that still exist in trade. A big focus of our conversations at Sibos 2026 was how we bring those worlds closer together.

“We also spent a lot of time in Miami talking about partnerships and the importance of building a more connected ecosystem. Buyers and suppliers don’t want to jump between multiple platforms to get business done. The opportunity for the industry is to embed trade, financing and payments capabilities into the platforms clients already use, making those interactions simpler and more seamless.”

Paul Fullam

Chair

ISITC

“I spoke at the Sibos Standards Forum session entitled ‘Rewiring securities markets: The case for and against ISO 20022’ at Sibos on 30th September in Miami, where I made the case for moving securities markets to ISO 20022 messaging,” says Fullam of the International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication (ISITC).

This would mirror the migration that the payments sector has already made, admittedly with the complication of the address field delay that was such a big topic at Sibos 2026. Adopting the more character and data-rich functionality of ISO 20022 messaging universally across all FS sectors, as was originally intended and spanning to securities and everything in between, is something that would benefit everyone.

“Payments has largely moved to ISO 20022 already – the address field delay aside – but securities is still running ISO 15022 and ISO 20022 side-by-side, and the industry is paying twice to do it,” says Fullam. “Every new data attribute that doesn’t fit cleanly into 15022 ends up in free text, which means manual processing and a real risk that important information gets missed. AI, tokenisation and fractional assets will only raise the stakes for quick adoption further.

“The way to break the stalemate is to direct new enhancements only to ISO 20022. Once critical data exists only in the newer standard, firms will migrate because they need to, not because someone told them to. The question for the securities industry coming out of Sibos 2026 is how much longer it wants to keep paying for both.”

Barry Plunkett

Co-CEO

Cosmos Labs

“Swift’s blockchain-based ledger update at Sibos 2026 is an important step toward making cross-border payments available around the clock 24/7. Banks still need a way to connect their core systems to tokenised deposit ledgers however, via our Tokenisation Suite for instance, and to enable ledgers to work across all institutions and networks. This hyper connectivity is what will make use cases like 24/7 payments, real-time treasury management and instant cash sweeps a really practical possibility for customers.”

Baiba Miezere

Group Product Development Director

Eastnets

“A payment can move in seconds. The information behind the next operational or treasury decision that impacts liquidity, compliance and so on needs to keep pace. Swift’s Sibos 2026 conference session in Miami entitled: ‘Always on: operating cross-border payments at global scale’ was consequently a highlight of the event for me, as it addressed these downstream issues. It showed the need for faster, more transparent and predictable cross-border payments, alongside the operational and liquidity demands of an increasingly always-on 24/7 environment.

“For FIs, the challenge is no longer simply processing payments quickly. Payment and compliance data is often distributed across multiple networks, systems and applications, making it difficult for teams to gain a complete view of what is happening, why and understand what action is therefore required, if any. Eastnets’ Intelligent Data Hub can help unify data in this regard.

“Speed alone is not enough. The next stage of payment modernisation must connect processing speed with visibility and intelligence, helping institutions perform better. For treasuries, this means better visibility into payment flows and activity that can support funding and liquidity assessments. For operations, compliance and investigation teams, it means less time searching across disconnected systems and more time acting on the information that matters.”

Barry Rodrigues

EVP, Payments

Finastra

“A key highlight from Sibos 2026 for me was the conversations we’ve had with customers throughout the week regarding the value of AI. For example, our new AI OperatorAssist capability can help streamline payments repair and there were many AI systems on display in Miami – it was definitely a ‘hot topic’ at Swift’s annual FS show.

“Traditional payment processing issues like errors and disruptions cost the industry billions yearly, hinder seamless transactions and increase manual effort. By implementing solutions such as Finastra’s AI-powered Repair Recommendations engine, teams will be able to resolve issues faster, manage higher volumes more smoothly and increase success rates, without added complexity or manual burden.

“Tying in with the overall Sibos 2026 theme of ‘Digital Finance for AI-driven Economies’ points the way to the future. As payment volumes increase, AI can help deliver immediate value by accelerating repairs, streamlining on-boarding and strengthening resilience. As a result, banks can scale their operations, and deliver faster, more reliable services to their customers.”

Mark Nichols

Co-President, Digital Assets

Broadridge

“Tokenisation is gaining traction as firms recognise its potential to broaden market access, lower operational costs and enable new distribution models. This was evident at Sibos 2026. It can also improve asset and collateral mobility, enabling securities to move across entities, custodians and timezones. By reducing liquidity buffers and aligning borrowing with funding needs, tokenisation can shift financing from a just-in-case basis to just-in-time. This frees trapped capital and lowers costs.

“Realising these benefits requires more than putting assets on a blockchain. Firms are likely to operate in hybrid environments that connect tokenised assets and blockchain infrastructure. That requires integrating digital capabilities with existing systems and workflows. Making digital assets work in existing systems is crucial.

“Products are emerging to reduce complexity. Broadridge’s Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR), for example, connects with existing systems, tokenises securities used as collateral and moves assets where and when needed. DLR sits on Broadridge’s DLX infrastructure, which integrates digital-asset capabilities with established trading, post-trade, custody and servicing systems.

“The challenge is to capture on-chain efficiency without creating fragmented technology and operations. Tokenised securities retain the requirements of traditional securities, demanding support across the asset lifecycle – from issuance, trading and settlement to custody, corporate actions and governance. Firms must integrate digital assets into the broader financial ecosystem without weakening accountability, controls or corporate-action servicing. The time to do it is now. Sibos 2026 made it clear tokenisation is here in a big way.”

Insight & Analysis