When a European central bank publishes a podcast on monetary sovereignty in the face of crypto-assets, when a supervisor creates a dedicated priority for artificial intelligence, and another warns about the technological dependence of financial institutions, the finance sector is not merely going through a phase of adjustment. Several structural changes are emerging simultaneously, affecting both professionals and savers.
AI Supervision and Tokenization: What ESMA is Changing in 2026
Have you noticed that artificial intelligence tools are multiplying in banking services and asset management? Regulators have too. On September 23, 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced a new strategic supervisory priority dedicated to digital innovation. The first focus is on artificial intelligence applied to financial markets. The second concerns tokenization, which refers to the representation of financial assets (stocks, bonds, fund shares) in the form of digital tokens on a blockchain.
This priority does not replace existing work. It complements the one dedicated to cyber and operational resilience, in effect since 2025. ESMA indicates that AI and tokenization are no longer just prospective topics: they raise concrete questions about investor protection, model transparency, and market stability.
To keep track of these regulatory developments and their repercussions on the markets, the finance page on Atlantic News aggregates regular analyses on these topics.
The key takeaway: financial AI is entering the active surveillance scope of European regulators, rather than remaining in the realm of mere observation. Companies that develop or use algorithmic models for trading, credit scoring, or automated advice will need to document their processes more rigorously.
Technological Dependence and Cyber Threats: The Systemic Risk Identified by Supervisors
Why does the location of a computer server interest financial authorities? Because a significant portion of European financial institutions relies on IT service providers located outside the European Economic Area. Cloud hosting, data processing, maintenance of critical infrastructures: these services are sometimes concentrated with a few providers.
The European supervisory authorities (including EIOPA) have identified this concentration as a systemic vulnerability for the financial sector. The reasoning is simple: if a major provider experiences a prolonged outage or a cyberattack, several banks, insurers, and asset managers could be affected simultaneously.
Advanced AI and New Forms of Cyberattacks
Supervisors associate this dependence with a second risk: the rise of cyber threats linked to advanced AI models. AI-generated phishing attacks, fraud attempts exploiting voice or video deepfakes, automated intrusions into payment systems – these scenarios are no longer science fiction.
Financial sector companies in France and Europe are encouraged to diversify their providers, strengthen their business continuity plans, and regularly test their resilience against these threats. The DORA regulation (Digital Operational Resilience Act), now in effect, provides the regulatory framework for these requirements.
Private Credit: A Growing Market Under Increasing Surveillance
Private credit refers to loans granted directly by investment funds to companies, bypassing the traditional banking circuit. In practice, instead of borrowing from a bank, a company obtains its financing from a specialized fund.
This market is rapidly expanding globally. In Europe, it remains more limited than in the United States, but its growth is attracting the attention of regulators. Here are the points of concern raised by European authorities:
- Infrequent valuations: unlike publicly traded bonds whose prices are visible in real-time, private credit assets are only periodically revalued, which can mask latent losses.
- Concentrated credit risk: private credit funds sometimes lend to highly indebted or financially fragile companies, with leverage amplifying both gains and losses.
- Interconnection with the traditional banking system: some banks invest directly in private credit funds or finance these funds, creating sometimes opaque links between the two circuits.
For a saver, this means that investments exposed to private credit deserve careful examination of liquidity and valuation conditions before any commitment.
Fintech and Payment Services: The Battle for the Last Mile
Payment services are concentrating an increasing share of financial innovation. Instant payments, digital wallets, open banking: fintechs are competing with traditional banks to capture the customer relationship at the moment of transaction.
The stakes go beyond convenience. Payment is the gateway to other financial services: consumer credit, insurance, savings. Whoever masters payment gains access to consumption data, and this data feeds scoring, recommendation, and pricing models.
ESG and Financial Data: A Compliance Issue, Not Just Communication
ESG (environmental, social, and governance) criteria continue to shape the reporting obligations of financial companies. European regulation now requires standardized, verifiable, and comparable ESG data.
This directly concerns asset management companies, insurers, and banks that market labeled sustainable products. ESG data has become a regulatory compliance issue, with potential checks and sanctions, rather than just a marketing argument.
Finance in 2026 is transforming on multiple simultaneous fronts. Artificial intelligence and tokenization are entering the radar of European supervisors, while dependence on non-European technological providers is being treated as a systemic risk.
Private credit attracts capital but also regulatory alerts. Data, whether for payment or ESG compliance, remains the common thread of all these developments. Each of these topics deserves regular monitoring, as the rules of the game are changing faster than the habits of market players.
