The relationship between fintech firms and banks have evolved from a simple client vendor dynamic into a deeply integrated high stakes ecosystem.
In 2026, the relationship is being reshaped by three major factors, including agentic AI and autonomous finance, as well as tokenization and stablecoins, as well as embedded compliance that allows for invisible know your customer and fraud detection that doesn't ruin the user experience.
Now some of the notable deals we've seen.
The relationship accelerates this year include Mastercard and so on stable coins as well as DBS and Visa on the agenda AI and Billy and Modo on buy now, pay later.
So what's next as more and more partnerships continue to emerge.
Well joining me to break this down here at the New York Stock Exchange is Tim Cogswell, Executive Director, Fintech SME at Wells Fargo Technology Banking.
Tim, great to have you here.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Remy, thank you.
The energy is great here today and.
We are as we head into the rest of 2026.
So when it comes to fintechs that are looking for a banking partner, what should they be focused on on day one?
Well, I think you can really distill it down to two things, right? plumbers and plumbing, right?
And so to use that analogy, if you think about the payment rails, the durability, the scalability, the redundancy, that's the plumbing, right?
Moving money is, you need those things in order to do it.
Um, as far as the plumbers go, right, you're always gonna have problems with your plumbing, right?
Little issues here and there, and so the plumbers, you think of those as the bankers, right?
And they help fix the issues, they help you think things through ahead of time, um, and so I think that analogy is, is something that FinTech should think about as they look for a bank and look for a banker.
Yeah, and there have been so many announcements so far in Q1 of 2026 when it comes to fintech.
So what does a successful bank fintech partnership actually look like in year one.
Well remember a partnership is a relationship.
And so it really behooves the FinTech and the bank to get on the same page.
And if you think about relationships at their core, um, especially fintech relationships, um, I would say you have essentially three different types, right?
The first being, uh, where FinTech will ride the back of another fintech, right, in order to move money.
The second type of relationship is what I would call an indirect relationship, and it's not so much indirect with the bank, but it's indirect with the regulators.
And so that's where you see these sponsorships, bank sponsorships and things like that, where the relationship with the financial institution obviates the need potentially for licensing or other regulatory requirements.
And then the third one is a direct relationship, and the direct relationship is where the bank and the fintech works.
Together and the FinTech is fully compliant with the regulations.
They've stood everything up themselves and they have direct access to both the regulator working with the regulator and with the bank.
And the reason why that third relationship is so important is because that's what allows fintechs to monetize the underlying transactions the best.
It takes time.
It takes capital.
It takes commitment, but that's where you ultimately want to get in that maturity cycle of being a fintech.
Yes, and absolutely it is all about relationships here.
So when it comes to this relationship, what additional tangible support can banks also provide for these fintechs?
So there's a lot of like talk about AI.
I think what's important is AI.
Operational intelligence of the team you work with and so as you think about this relationship and what banks can bring beyond holding deposits, and let me just say deposits are super important and funds in a government money market fund are not the same as deposits, but That's what pays the freight, the deposit does for all of the compliance and regulatory.
And so having someone at a bank, your banker, your banking team, support you through all of the things that they need to do in order to help you stand up your business and operate effectively, that's what's important.
It's their ability to navigate their own organization.
Yes, and speaking of which, Tim, I do want to ask you about some of the mistakes that fintechs do make when they're approaching a bank.
We all know that hindsight is 20/20, so walk us through for us.
So I think some of the mistakes kind of people have learned a lot of lessons, for lack of a better word.
I will say that occasionally when you're working with a fintech, sometimes there's a little bit too much spreadsheet.
And not enough interaction and creativity that's exchanged with say the product team and where the vision of the FinTech wants to go, and that relates back to my earlier points around.
What type of relationship that the fintech wants to have now and in the future and then also building for redundancy in terms of provider, how you're sending a payment, how you're receiving a payment, the payment rail you use all those different things it could even be multiple providers all important things, all important considerations, so planning for that is critical.
Yeah, absolutely, because we all know when fintechs are shopping around that they're looking for that competitive advantage.
So what would you say is the most important question that every fintech should ask a bank?
I mean, I, I look at a lot of these conversations I have with fintechs as almost a reverse interview.
So I will ask questions sometimes that may sound trivial, but it's so I fully understand everything so I can fully plan for the future.
But one of the questions they should be asking, I think, is, here's my plan.
Here's my strategic plan.
How can you help me reach that?
And sometimes things just get distilled a little bit down too far into X's and O's, 1s and zeros, you know, how much does this cost?
How many widgets, and I think that's once again where the relationship.
You know, has your team done this before is of critical importance.
And Tim, finally, before I let you go, I know you have many conversations with stakeholders.
So give us an understanding of the trends that are actually emerging in 2026.
Yes, well, I'm not as deep in it, but obviously you alluded to a bunch of the trends around virtual currency.
It will be interesting to see in the future how virtual currency, digital currency, whatever you'd like to call it, how that converges with fintech.
What underlies it still is that.
Even if you, regardless of which one of the relationships you have with the bank or if you're riding another Fintech's rails, the bank is still needed there in the background to process an underlying transaction at some point.
And so that evolution, at least for the time being, there's still going to be an interdependency and a relationship that needs to occur.
Well Tim, great having you on the show today.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you so much for your insights as well as your perspective.
Thank you.
Thank you.
