From the bustling halls of Messe Frankfurt, Global Finance is reporting live from the opening day of Sibos 2025, where AI is dominating the conversation.
Artificial intelligence takes center stage at Sibos 2025, which began on Monday, demonstrating how it has evolved from a buzzword to a key strategic focus in financial services. Attendees can expect to learn about AI’s practical impact, ethical concerns, and potential to transform various areas of finance, including compliance, customer experience, and infrastructure development.
The conference theme, “The next frontiers of global finance,” ensures AI is woven throughout the program, with over 250 sessions and more than 500 expert speakers. Key topics will include:
- The ROI of generative AI: Measuring its revolutionary impact;
- AI governance across borders: Building global standards in a divided world;
- AI and emerging tech: Enhancing global trade safety and efficiency;
- ESG, AI, and capital markets: Exploring a revolution in financial markets; and
- AI as a teammate: Navigating workplace transformation.
A new addition for 2025 is the AI Pavilion, a dedicated learning space sponsored by Microsoft and Plenitude. It will feature daily educational sessions curated by Sibos and Swift, sponsor-led talks on areas like financial crime prevention and AI safety, and tech-driven exhibitor booths showcasing AI in action. “This pavilion will be a place for learning, where everyone can feel welcome to join intimate sessions with expert speakers who will aim in a collaborative way to demystify some of the common topics around artificial intelligence,” states Rachel Levi, head of Enterprise AI & Enablement at Swift.
Innotribe, the future-focused “conference within a conference,” will also prominently feature AI. Sessions will delve into topics such as “Culturally aligned AI: Rethinking payments in a global financial system,” exploring how diverse cultural perspectives shape AI’s future in payments. A “Contrarian Views” session will debate whether “AI should have free agency,” with teams arguing both sides. The Innotribe closing will even introduce speakers to their AI-generated older and younger selves for fresh perspectives on innovation.
Finally, German futurist Gerd Leonhard will deliver a keynote titled “The next 10 years: AI, AGI and the future of business, society & humanity,” discussing AI’s potential to solve humanity’s challenges while warning of existential risks and emphasizing global collaboration and robust governance.
As Sibos 2025 unfolds, it’s clear that AI is not just a topic of discussion but a powerful catalyst, propelling the financial world into an era of unprecedented transformation and innovation.
