Issue Banking: settlement compresses from days to minutes, but data fragments

Summary

This issue examines banking and capital markets, which EY places at the front of the move toward superfluid operations. Blockchain platforms are reducing the time needed for cross-border settlement from several days to a few minutes. Beyond payments, banks are shifting from isolated tools to organization-wide AI and automation that remove manual handoffs, while smart contracts automate compliance, trade finance and agreements between banks. Tokenized deposits and digital assets are also spreading, enabling programmable money and freer movement of value. EY expects firms with fluid operations to beat rivals on speed, customer experience and cost to serve, and sees open banking and partner platforms making ecosystem participation essential. The main obstacle remains data, since fragmented information continues to slow the transformation.