Agenda 2026

Opening the day. Framing the five landscapes and the question that runs through them: who writes the rules of Nordic banking in 2027.

War in Europe, an unpredictable US, NATO repositioning, climate as a financial risk. What the current security environment means for Nordic banks as critical national infrastructure.

Cyber, sanctions and fraud on the same battleground. How Nordic banks are rethinking their role when the boundary between peacetime and conflict-time banking has blurred.

Quantum computers are closing in on the cryptography banks run on, and the timeline is shorter than most assume. A practical look at what quantum actually threatens, what "quantum-safe" migration involves, and what to ask your technology teams now.

Same pattern shows up with frontier AI: capability outrunning control. The banks that start preparing early are the ones that stay in control of the outcome.

Networking break

Defence, energy independence and European reindustrialisation are reshaping where capital flows. Who finances Europe's rearmament, and what it means for Nordic banks' loan books and growth strategies.

Credit funds gaining ground outside traditional banking channels, the shift from interest income to fees, and where profit comes from when rates normalise.

The digital euro, payments rails, data and identity. Why Europe is building its own financial backbone, and what the build is doing to bank development roadmaps.

FIDA, PSD3 and the deregulation promise. Will open finance deliver real results this time, or is European simplification a bureaucratic paper tiger?

Networking lunch

The leadership reality of AI in a bank. Organisational design, talent, decision rights, risk appetite, customer trust. Why most AI programmes in banks fail, and what the ones that succeed actually do differently.

Criminals using AI, banks defending with AI. Human-in-the-loop, explainability, instant payments fraud. What works, what does not, and what is coming next.

What AI is actually changing in how banks underwrite, monitor and serve corporate customers, and in the work of treasurers and transaction banking teams. Concrete, honest about ROI.

Networking break

Retail, business and corporate customers all behave differently, but all three segments are being pulled apart by neobanks, embedded players and big tech. What incumbents are losing, keeping, and winning back.

What it takes to move from interesting product to serious bank. The playbook for building a credible digital challenger, whether from scratch or from inside an incumbent group.

Luminor built a challenger bank inside itself. Bloom runs on a new cloud core, has its own app, and is open to any bank's customers, not just Luminor's. It's now live across all three Baltic markets.
Jonna Pechter, CMO of Luminor, on why they built a separate stack instead of fixing the old one, what that cost, and what she'd do differently next time.

Wrap-up and onward to evening networking.