It’s not just banks that are doing banking anymore. In the US, the biggest trend shaking up the financial services industry is the rise of embedded finance — financial services integrated directly into non-financial platforms.
From Shopify offering merchants instant loans, to Uber drivers accessing earnings in real-time, the lines between tech companies and financial institutions are blurring. According to McKinsey, embedded finance could generate over $230 billion in revenue by 2030.
At the same time, real-time payments are becoming a norm, not a novelty. The Federal Reserve’s new FedNow system is enabling near-instant money transfers — a huge leap from the traditional 1-3 day processing cycle.
“Speed, convenience, and integration — that’s the new currency,” says Angela Martinez, CFO of a leading payment startup in Miami. “Consumers now expect banking experiences that are invisible but always on.”
With these changes, however, come regulatory challenges. Fintechs operating in gray zones are now under increased scrutiny from the SEC and CFPB. The push for “open banking,” already standard in Europe, is gaining traction in the US, but privacy concerns remain.
Meanwhile, Gen Z is bypassing traditional credit in favor of “buy now, pay later” services from Klarna and Affirm — a trend raising alarms about debt bubbles and financial literacy.
In this new landscape, trust, transparency, and tech will define the future of finance in America.