2026 Themes | Point Zero Forum

Trust can no longer be assumed. It must be programmed.

Finance is being rewired. A new technology stack is entering production. Digital sovereignty is driving investment in domestic AI and cloud capacity. Always-on markets demand always-on operations. New capital corridors are opening between Europe, India, the Gulf, China, and ASEAN.

When AI agents execute transactions autonomously and digital assets cross borders at the speed of code, trust cannot be inherited from old systems. It must be built into new ones.The new rules are already here. MiCA governs digital assets across Europe. The EU AI Act sets compliance requirements for AI in credit and insurance decisions, effective August 2026, two months after this forum. The GENIUS Act brings regulatory clarity to US dollar stablecoins. These are fixed deadlines, not future frameworks.

Point Zero Forum 2026 addresses seven specific problems at this intersection.

Assets On-Chain

Scaling digital assets from pilot to production.

Stablecoin supply exceeds $300 billion, processing trillions in transactions annually. Tokenisation programmes at major global banks have proven the technology works. The gap is institutional infrastructure: policy harmonisation, cross-chain interoperability, and custody standards. MiCA is now law across Europe. The GENIUS Act brings regulatory clarity for US dollar stablecoins. How does the industry move from proof-of-concept to production at scale?

Stablecoin integration into treasury operations
Tokenizing real-world assets at scale
Regulatory harmonisation across MiCA, GENIUS Act, and global frameworks

Capital Corridors

Unlocking trade, investment and startup scaling in realigning words.

Sovereign wealth funds are deploying capital globally at record levels, prioritising AI, fintech, and digital infrastructure. New corridors between Europe, India, the Gulf, China, and ASEAN are redirecting investment flows at a pace that outstrips most institutions' market intelligence. Unlocking these corridors requires regulatory alignment, financial infrastructure, and frameworks that enable cross-border scaling. Which corridors should institutions prioritise?

EU-India trade flows and startup ecosystems
EU-GCC sovereign wealth and fintech investment
EU-ASEAN corridors and emerging market fintech

Digital Sovereignty and Resilience

Building, funding and scaling European tech.

A significant share of European cloud services remains concentrated among non-European providers. The EU is responding through InvestAI and the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act. Yet European startups face a significant scaling gap compared with their US counterparts. Building resilient technology infrastructure is simultaneously a founder, investor, and procurement question. Is Europe building strategic autonomy or economic isolation?

Building resilient AI and cloud infrastructure
The Cloud and AI Development Act and the Quantum Act
Pathways for European deep tech to scale

Intelligence at Scale

Deploying AI in regulated financial services.

AI deployments in financial services are outpacing the governance frameworks designed to contain them. Institutions are deploying large language models but struggling to contextualise them for regulated environments. AI agents are already initiating trades and making credit decisions autonomously. The EU AI Act classifies these systems as high-risk, with full compliance obligations from August 2026. How do you deploy AI that satisfies regulators across jurisdictions and maintains customer trust?

Global multi-layer AI infrastructure for finance
Governing AI agents and autonomous transactions
AI adoption in regulated financial services

The Modern Treasury Stack

Payments, FX and risk management.

Markets trade 24/7 while most treasury operations still run on banking hours. The ISO 20022 deadline is November 2026, and only 33% of SWIFT members had adopted by early 2025. AI agents are beginning to authorise payments autonomously, creating new attack surfaces and unresolved liability questions. CFOs face a simultaneous modernisation and security challenge.

24/7 FX markets and real-time liquidity management
ISO 20022 migration and messaging standardisation
Payment security for autonomous systems

Quantum Readiness

Practical quantum for financial services.

JPMorgan runs portfolio optimisation in 0.3 seconds versus 5 minutes on classical computers. HSBC has cut derivatives pricing errors by 22% using quantum simulation. Over $36 billion has been invested globally in quantum research. The question is not whether quantum matters to financial services. It is why most institutions are not already simulating use cases with today's technology.

Simulating quantum use cases with current technology
Post-quantum cryptography migration
Developing institutional quantum capability

Wealth and Risk Reimagined

New models for risk, new assets for wealth.

AI is transforming insurance and risk management, from risk modelling to pricing to claims prediction. At the same time, high-net-worth clients are asking private banks for crypto exposure, tokenised alternatives, and on-chain yield. AI-driven decisions in both sectors raise questions about explainability, fairness, and regulatory acceptance. How do these sectors harness AI and digital assets while maintaining governance and client trust?

AI-powered actuarial innovation and underwriting governance
Tokenized alternatives for high-net-worth portfolios
Digital asset custody for private banks