It's obviously welcome to see savings rates go up. Albeit from a low enough base. Several new providers such as Moco, Monzo, and Bankinter are all now quite active in the savings space in Ireland, so this is perhaps a response to increased competition.
Leading US banks are not just going digital; they are realizing that digital savings and loans alone do not ensure sustained engagement or profitability. These services must connect to the banks' core strengths: trust, scale, and long-term financial relationships.
The problem was not growth or demand or even competition. It was settlement. Payments took days to clear. Reconciliation took weeks. Cash piled up in the wrong places. Finance teams spent their time explaining why the numbers did not match instead of planning what came next.
For Missouri-based community bank OMB Bank, finding the right fintech partner used to be a slow, manual process. Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff Jessica Sims recalls working from static PDFs of the bank's preferences, followed by endless back-and-forth emails whenever a fintech expressed interest. The process worked, but painfully slowly, and promising opportunities often slipped through the cracks.
The new battleground in banking is intelligent operations and scalable execution. In 2026, banking is about moving money smarter, faster, and with fewer humans in the middle. Across corporate finance and global retail operations, banks are experimenting with technology and operational design in ways that challenge long-held assumptions about scale, speed, and control. Three recent developments exemplify what's happening in money movement: Goldman Sachs deploying AI agents, Truist automating corporate receivables, and Nubank expanding abroad with a lean digital model.