Finance
The Future of Decentralized and Traditional Finance Integration
The future of finance, especially global finance, is not on the horizon — it’s happening now. Countries and Institutions that embrace interoperability, real-time compliance, and quantum-resilient security are positioning themselves as leaders of this transformation.
The financial system is in the midst of a monumental shift. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are gaining momentum as governments and regulators aim to modernize monetary systems, while Decentralized Finance (DeFi) continues to challenge conventional financial services with speed, transparency, and decentralization. However, despite their potential, these two forces — along with traditional financial systems — remain disjointed. This fragmentation results in inefficiencies, rising costs, and settlement delays, hindering global financial connectivity. Bridging these worlds is no longer optional — it’s essential to create a faster, more secure, and more inclusive financial future.
The Problems Holding Finance Back
For decades, the global financial system has relied on legacy infrastructure and fragmented regulatory and banking industry frameworks. While it has supported cross-border payments and international trade, it has done so at an exorbitant cost in terms of both time and money. The involvement of global politics has added an additional level as well to an already complex system. The emergence of blockchain-based DeFi platforms introduced new possibilities but failed to solve the underlying issues of scalability and compliance. Meanwhile, CBDCs add a new layer of complexity as central banks look to maintain control while modernizing payments.
The key obstacles are clear:
- Slow and Expensive Payments: Cross-border payments processed through SWIFT are slow and require multiple intermediaries, each adding fees, delays, and points of failure. The type of transfers are limited.
- Disjointed Regulatory Compliance: Payments crossing borders must comply with a patchwork of jurisdictional regulations, including Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements. Current processes are slow, manual, and costly.
- Lack of Interoperability: DeFi platforms, CBDCs, and traditional banking systems all operate on isolated infrastructures, making it difficult to move money between them efficiently.
- Scalability Issues: DeFi platforms face network congestion during high-volume periods, resulting in slower transaction speeds and higher fees — far from ideal for large-scale financial operations.
These challenges are not theoretical. They’re real-world problems faced by financial institutions, payment providers, and central banks trying to create more efficient, resilient systems.
See also: Transforming the Financial Sector: The Impact of Automation in Banking
Interoperability: The Bedrock of the Next Financial System
True interoperability is not a feature — it’s a requirement. For traditional finance, DeFi, and CBDCs to coexist, they must be able to communicate and transfer value across one another. Without this capability, cross-border payments will remain slow, and multi-system operations will continue to require expensive manual reconciliation. Interoperability enables payments to flow seamlessly between bank networks, DeFi protocols, and CBDC platforms, cutting out intermediaries and automating settlement.
What true interoperability requires:
- Multi-Ledger Transaction Support: Payments must move across different financial ledgers — from commercial banks to DeFi protocols to central bank digital currency networks — without reconciliation bottlenecks.
- Real-Time, Multi-Currency Settlement: Payments involving fiat, cryptocurrencies, and CBDCs must be processed and settled in real time, enabling frictionless commerce at scale.
- The governance, regulatory, privacy, and Nation-State requirements need to be automated in the new Platform.
- Universal Payment Flows: Payment solutions must enable a single payment to cross multiple networks — legacy, private, blockchain, and government-issued systems — without requiring separate processing channels.
The results are undeniable: greater efficiency, lower settlement costs, and a path to instant cross-border payments. This shift eliminates the need for batch processing and multi-step settlement chains, replacing them with real-time payment routing and automated multi-ledger transfers.
Compliance Can’t Be Bolted On – It Must Be Embedded
Cross-border payments are subject to varying regulatory requirements, which are enforced by regional authorities. Ensuring compliance with KYC, AML, and sanctions screening has traditionally been a manual, labor-intensive process, leading to costly delays. But the future of compliance is no longer manual — it’s embedded. By embedding compliance checks directly into payment flows, financial institutions can meet regulatory requirements in real time, reducing risk, eliminating delays, and supporting faster payments.
Key elements of embedded compliance:
- On-Demand KYC/AML Screening: Compliance screening occurs automatically, with KYC/AML checks happening as the payment is processed, not after.
- Dynamic Rule Adjustment: When payments cross borders, the system recognizes which jurisdictions are involved and applies the proper compliance rules in real time.
- Automated Risk Scoring: Transactions are evaluated for risk on the fly, with high-risk payments flagged for review while low-risk payments flow uninterrupted.
- Immutable Audit Trails: Every payment is accompanied by an immutable, tamper-proof record that supports regulatory audits and provides transparency.
By automating and embedding compliance into the payment process itself, financial institutions lower operational costs, reduce exposure to regulatory risk, and accelerate payment settlement. This approach moves compliance from being a roadblock to being an enabler.
Securing Payments for the Quantum Era
As quantum computing advances, the cryptographic protections that underpin today’s financial system are at risk. Many existing encryption methods, like RSA and ECC, could be cracked by a quantum computer. While quantum computing may seem distant, its implications for financial security are real. The financial sector must act now to prepare for a post-quantum world.
Key security measures to counter quantum threats:
- Quantum-Resistant Cryptographic Protocols: These protocols are immune to attacks from quantum computers, ensuring that even future advancements won’t compromise financial data.
- Post-Quantum Key Exchange: Secure key exchange protocols ensure encryption keys remain secure during transmission, even if intercepted.
- Zero-Day Threat Detection: AI models track network activity, flagging and neutralizing unknown threats before they can do harm.
- New file systems that rely on a multi-layered approach that separates the data in a way to enhance security, speed, and scalability.
The transition to quantum-resistant encryption isn’t speculative. Financial leaders know that, when quantum computing matures, it will disrupt financial security as we know it. Early adoption of quantum-safe protocols future-proofs payment infrastructure, ensuring financial stability in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.
Distributed Edge Processing: Faster Payments with Local Control
For decades, payment processing has relied on centralized data centers that route transactions through a central hub. While effective, this model introduces latency, network congestion, and single points of failure. The future of payment processing is at the edge.
Edge processing pushes payment activity to the “edge” of the network — closer to where the payment originates — reducing travel time and allowing payments to be processed locally. Instead of relying on a central server, mini-processing nodes handle payments on-site, enabling near-instant settlements.
How edge processing changes the game:
- Real-Time Settlement: Payments are processed on-site, at the source, rather than waiting for clearance from a central location.
- Resilient Infrastructure: Multiple nodes create redundancy, so if one node goes offline, the others maintain operational uptime.
- Reduced Latency: Local processing eliminates the round-trip delay that occurs when payments are routed to and from a central server.
This shift in processing models enables faster cross-border payments and lays the groundwork for true real-time settlement. Localized processing nodes create resilience, reduce downtime, and remove bottlenecks in global payment flows.
Sustainability and Financial Inclusion as Critical Imperatives
ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors are playing a larger role in financial infrastructure design. From environmental sustainability to financial inclusion, future-ready payment infrastructure must meet new societal expectations. This shift is not just ethical; it’s strategic. Institutions are under pressure from regulators, investors, and customers to create more equitable, transparent, and sustainable financial systems.
ESG-driven imperatives shaping financial infrastructure:
- Environmental Impact: Centralized data centers consume enormous amounts of energy. By adopting distributed processing, institutions reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
- Financial Inclusion: Millions of people remain unbanked. Financial inclusion solutions enable low-cost cross-border payments, giving underserved communities access to global finance.
- Transparency and Accountability: Blockchain-based payment records create immutable, tamper-proof audit trails, ensuring visibility into every transaction.
The Call to Lead the Financial Future
The future of finance, especially global finance, is not on the horizon — it’s happening now. Countries and Institutions that embrace interoperability, real-time compliance, and quantum-resilient security are positioning themselves as leaders of this transformation. Delays are no longer an option. The financial world will reward those who act with speed, precision, and foresight. The question is not if change will come — it’s whether you’ll be ready to lead it.
Finance
Plano-Based Finance of America Announces $2.5B Partnership with Funds Managed by Blue Owl to Expand FOA’s Home Equity Lending
Graham Fleming, CEO of Finance of America [Composite image; source: Finance of America/DI Studio]
Finance of America Companies, a leading provider of home equity-based financing solutions for a modern retirement, and funds managed by Blue Owl Capital, a leading alternative asset manager, announced an enhanced $2.5 billion strategic partnership to accelerate product innovation and distribution for the nation’s fast-growing retirement demographic.
With more than 10,000 Americans entering retirement age every day, the market for home equity access continues to expand. FOA said its collaboration with New York City-based Blue Owl positions it to capture significant share in this rapidly evolving sector.
“This is a pivotal moment not just for Finance of America, but for the senior finance market as a whole,” Graham Fleming, CEO of Finance of America, said in a statement. “By aligning with Blue Owl, we are creating a platform of scale and innovation to better serve one of the fastest-growing demographics in the United States.”
The enhanced partnership includes, per FOA:
- $2.5 billion commitment for new product innovation, providing scale and liquidity to support origination growth across multiple asset classes
- $50 million equity investment in Finance of America, enhancing long-term alignment between the companies and supporting FOA’s continued growth initiatives
- Joint innovation and product-development initiative focused on the continuous rollout of new, differentiated financial products tailored for people looking to maximize freedom, security, and opportunity throughout their retirement
This product expansion will complement FOA’s existing industry-leading reverse mortgage product suite while strengthening the company’s commitment to innovation and its role as a leader in delivering powerful financial solutions for retirees.
FOA said it continues to empower retirees with responsible, flexible access to capital to support aging in place, healthcare expenses, and lifestyle goals.
The partnership reinforces Finance of America’s mission to provide comprehensive, retirement-focused financial solutions, with the goal of expanding beyond reverse mortgages to become the nation’s leading, full-spectrum home equity lending platform, the company said.
“We believe Finance of America is uniquely positioned to redefine how financial products are delivered to retirees,” said David Aidi, senior managing director and co-head of Asset Based Finance at Blue Owl.
“This partnership provides the capital, the strategic alignment, and the innovation engine to build category-defining products at scale,” added Ray Chan, senior managing director and co-head of Asset Based Finance at Blue Owl.
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Finance
Bérangère Michel announced as BBC Group Chief Financial Officer
The BBC has announced that Bérangère Michel has been appointed to the role of Group Chief Financial Officer.
Bérangère brings extensive experience from her 16-year career at the John Lewis Partnership, where she held senior roles including Chief Financial Officer, Customer Service Executive Director, Operations Director and Finance & Strategy Director.
Prior to joining the John Lewis Partnership, Bérangère spent 11 years at the Royal Mail Group in a number of finance, change and strategy roles, including as Finance Director of the property division.
In an expanded role as BBC Group Chief Financial Officer, Bérangère will be responsible for the overall BBC Group financial strategy, with a remit across BBC Public Service, BBC Studios and the BBC’s commercial subsidiaries. She will play a leadership role and will sit on both the Executive Committee and, for the first time, the Board.
This position will strengthen the BBC’s financial leadership, support its transformation, and make the best use of the licence fee and commercial opportunities. Bérangère will report to the Director-General and will take up the role in early January.
Director-General Tim Davie says: “Bérangère brings a wealth of experience from her time at the John Lewis Partnership and will play a critical role in shaping our new financial strategy. I’m pleased to welcome her to the BBC, and to both the Executive Committee and Board.
“Bérangère’s appointment to this expanded role comes at an important time for the BBC, as we look ahead to Charter renewal and continue to accelerate our transformation to deliver outstanding value for our audiences.”
BBC Chair Samir Shah says: “The role of Group Chief Financial Officer will be hugely important as we build a BBC for the future, and I look forward to welcoming Bérangère to the Board.”
Bérangère Michel says: “I am delighted to be joining the BBC, an institution whose purpose and mission I have always admired. It’s a privilege to be part of shaping its exciting future at such a crucial moment and I cannot wait to get started.”
BBC Press Office
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Finance
ATI Promotes Longtime Leader to CFO and SVP of Finance
Rob Foster, incoming CFO of ATI Inc., effective Jan. 1, 2026 [Photo: ATI}
ATI Inc., a Dallas-based manufacturer of high-performance materials for the aerospace and defense industries, announced that James Robert “Rob” Foster will be promoted to senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer, effective January 1, 2026.
Foster succeeds Don Newman, who will serve as strategic advisor to the CEO beginning January 1. As previously announced, Newman will retire on March 1, 2026, and serve in an advisory capacity in that time to allow for a smooth transition.
“Rob is a proven P&L leader with enterprise-wide experience in the areas that matter most to ATI’s continued growth,” Kim Fields, president and CEO, said in a statement. “He brings deep expertise not only in finance but also as an operational leader. Rob played a pivotal role in the successful Specialty Rolled Products transformation, consistently helping ATI to deliver strong returns and shareholder value. I look forward to partnering with him as we enter our next phase of profitable growth.”
Foster, a longtime ATI leader, brings both operational expertise and financial discipline to the CFO role, the company said. He most recently served as president of ATI’s specialty alloys & components business, where he improved efficiency, grew capacity, and advanced the company’s role as a global leader in exotic alloys. Foster previously served as vice president of Finance, Supply Chain, and Capital Projects, overseeing ATI’s global finance organization, capital deployment processes, and enterprise supply chain performance. Earlier in his career, he led Finance for both ATI operating segments and the Forged Products business.
“I’m honored to become ATI’s next CFO,” said Foster. “ATI is well-positioned with a strong balance sheet, focused strategy, and significant opportunities ahead. I look forward to working with our team to drive disciplined investment, operational excellence, and long-term value creation for our shareholders.”
Newman added, “Rob is an exceptional leader who understands ATI’s strategy, operations, and financial drivers. He has delivered transformative results across the organization. I look forward to supporting a seamless transition as we pursue this next step in our succession planning.”
Before joining ATI in 2012, Foster held senior finance roles at API Technologies Corp. and Spectrum Control Inc., where he led ERP implementations, acquisition integrations, and internal control enhancements. He began his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young (EY).
ATI produces high-performance materials and solutions for the global aerospace and defense markets, and critical applications in electronics, medical, and specialty energy.
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