Banking Frontier 2026

Banking Frontier 2026

International Banking Summit. Five themed days in Amsterdam, each one published in advance with its own sessions, rooms and named contributors.

Dates
23–27 November 2026
Venue
Holiday Inn Amsterdam – Arena Towers, Hoogoorddreef 66a, 1101 BE Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rooms
Main Stage (Room A · strategy) and Innovation & Implementation (Room B · delivery)
Scale
89 sessions · 5 days · 65 speakers · 31 countries
Times
Central European Time (CET)

Register Read the agenda See the roster

A seven-person panel discussion at a previous Zenith Group event
Seven-person panel discussion, speaker with handheld microphone. Photograph from a previous Zenith Group event, organiser’s own banner visible. Edition and date not recorded in the source. Banking Frontier 2026 takes place 23–27 November 2026 and is not shown here.

Five days, five exhibits

Each day carries one theme. The statement under each heading is the programme's own description of that day; the sessions below it are reproduced with their published times, rooms and attributions. Times are Central European Time (CET).

Day 1

AI & Trusted Finance

23 November 2026 · 14 sessions in two rooms

AI-native banking, governance, model risk, data foundations, and the path from pilots to enterprise value.

  • AI governance & model risk

    09:00–09:30 · Room A · Main Stage

    Rita Gnutti · Head of Internal Validation and Controls · Intesa Sanpaolo · Italy

  • Data, AI enablement & intelligent automation for bank operations

    09:30–10:00 · Room B · Innovation & Implementation

    Gladson Baby · VP & Director of Data & AI Enablement · Fifth Third Bank · US

  • Scaling AI responsibly: leadership playbook for AI risk & compliance

    10:00–10:30 · Room A · Main Stage

    Frans Vanbruggen · Werkgebied Lead · AI Coalitie 4 Nederland (AIC4NL) · Netherlands

Source: the official timetable for 23 November 2026

Day 2

Identity & Cyber Resilience

24 November 2026 · 16 sessions in two rooms

Digital identity, fraud prevention, authentication, cyber resilience, and real-time trust across banking journeys.

  • Corporate digital identity management

    09:00–09:30 · Room A · Main Stage

    Stephan Wolf · Chair of the Board · Verifiable.Trade Foundation · Germany

  • Digital trust in AI-led banking · risk, audit and cyber oversight at board level

    09:30–10:00 · Room A · Main Stage

    Dr. Björn Lenzmann · Member of The Supervisory Board · DenizBank · Turkey

  • User centricity in cybersecurity · UX research and behavioural science

    09:30–10:00 · Room B · Innovation & Implementation

    Nazima Kadir · Global Head of UX: Cybersecurity · J.P. Morgan · UK

Source: the official timetable for 24 November 2026

Day 3

Payments & Digital Assets

25 November 2026 · 20 sessions in two rooms

Instant payments, wallets, tokenization, Open Finance, digital assets, and the future of money movement.

  • Instant payments and interoperability

    09:00–09:30 · Room A · Main Stage

    Domenico Scaffidi · CEO & Founder · DS Payments Ltd · UK

  • The new payments landscape · instant, interoperable, invisible and built on trust

    09:00–09:30 · Room B · Innovation & Implementation

    Paul Walvik-Joynt · VP Commercialization Real-Time Payments · Mastercard · Norway

  • Digital wallets and biometric payments · customer experience and secure authentication

    09:30–10:00 · Room B · Innovation & Implementation

    Mihai Draghici · Founder & CEO · PayByFace · Romania

Source: the official timetable for 25 November 2026

Day 4

Customer Growth & Platform Banking

26 November 2026 · 23 sessions in two rooms

Omnichannel journeys, AI-assisted service, smart branches, SME banking, and platform-based growth.

  • Human-AI banking experience

    09:00–09:30 · Room A · Main Stage

    Rudolf Stefanich · Lead UX Researcher · Bitpanda · Austria

  • AI-augmented service and product-led banking at scale

    09:00–09:30 · Room B · Innovation & Implementation

    Speaker TBC

  • Present and Future of Digital Transformation in Islamic Banking

    09:30–10:00 · Room A · Main Stage

    Wan Halim · Head of Shariah Governance (Global) · Crédit Agricole CIB · UAE

Source: the official timetable for 26 November 2026

Day 5

Future-Proofing Banking 2027–2030

27 November 2026 · 16 sessions in two rooms

Post-quantum readiness, sovereign AI, and the technologies shaping banking to 2030.

  • Systemic Risk in European Banking 2027–2030: Geopolitics, AI and Structural Vulnerabilities

    09:00–09:30 · Room A · Main Stage

    Ulf Holmberg · Functional Lead and Senior Analyst · Swedbank · Sweden

  • Preparing banks for systemic threats: cyber, geopolitical disruption and operational concentration risk

    09:00–09:30 · Room B · Innovation & Implementation

    Naji Freiha · Risk Appetite, Strategy and Governance · Konsilium · France

  • Systemic threats and stress testing · post-quantum readiness

    09:30–10:00 · Room A · Main Stage

    Christoffer Kok · Head of Division, Stress Test Experts · European Central Bank · Germany

Source: the official timetable for 27 November 2026

The complete 89-session agenda

People and sessions

Three contributors shown one at a time, at three different scales, each beside the session the official timetable puts them against. Every other name on the roster follows, in full.

Rita Gnutti, Executive Director, Internal Validation and Controls, Group Chief Risk Officer Area

Rita Gnutti

Executive Director, Internal Validation and Controls, Group Chief Risk Officer Area

Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy

AI governance & model riskDefine what trusted AI-driven finance means for banks in 2027–2030. Link customer value, transparency and control to scalable AI adoption.

Day 1, 23 November 2026 · 09:00–09:30 · Room A · Main Stage

Rita Gnutti · Head of Internal Validation and Controls · Intesa Sanpaolo · Italy

Stephan Wolf, Chair of the Board, Verifiable.Trade Foundation; Leadership Team, LEI Worldwide

Stephan Wolf

Chair of the Board, Verifiable.Trade Foundation; Leadership Team, LEI Worldwide

LEI Worldwide / Verifiable Trade Foundation, Germany

Corporate digital identity managementPosition digital identity as core banking infrastructure, not a back-office utility. Explore wallet-based identity, verified credentials and organisational identity.

Day 2, 24 November 2026 · 09:00–09:30 · Room A · Main Stage

Stephan Wolf · Chair of the Board · Verifiable.Trade Foundation · Germany

Domenico Scaffidi, CEO and Founder / Independent Consultant, Global Payments Innovation Practice

Domenico Scaffidi

CEO and Founder / Independent Consultant, Global Payments Innovation Practice

DS Payments Ltd, United Kingdom

Instant payments and interoperabilityFrame the payments, wallets and digital-assets agenda. Link market infrastructure, regulation and customer expectations.

Day 3, 25 November 2026 · 09:00–09:30 · Room A · Main Stage

Domenico Scaffidi · CEO & Founder · DS Payments Ltd · UK

The complete roster, 65 names

Rita Gnutti · Gladson Baby · Frans Vanbruggen · Dr. Paul Dongha · Alina Timofeeva · Zsofia Kovacs · Hassan Omidi Firouzi · Dilek Süzal · Ramesh Gopal · Davor Gašparac · Tanja Imamovic · Fabio Turel · Wolfgang Strobel · Rudolf Stefanich · Stephan Wolf · Dr. Björn Lenzmann · Nazima Kadir · Carla Sobral · Zafer Ergezen · Eran Goldman Malka · Ricardo Galvao · Ezra Dulberg · Alexandre Kech · Ines Gensinger · Ishtiaq Ahmed · Domenico Scaffidi · Paul Walvik-Joynt · Mihai Draghici · Viktoria Soltesz · Ara Sargsyan · Kazim Oguz · JP Fabri · Ulrich Loof · Arash Marandi · Sadik Bas · Yodaly Sierra · Vaida Saltenyte · Victor Rivera · Thomas Langbein · Wendy Delmar · Kathrin Fortmann · Lubin Reyes · Wan Halim · Tomas Reytt · Mantas Janavicius · Mohammad Jakirul Islam · Istvan Fetter · Caroline Philippe · Itir Aydogan · Ender Aydin · Margus Simson · Justin Pesch · Stefan Moser · Ulf Holmberg · Naji Freiha · Christoffer Kok · Jayne Godfrey · Xenia Neofytou · Manuela Zuluaga · Jese Medina Gutierrez · Michał Niwiński · Corina Metternich · Jarkko Maensivu · Othello Johnnylone · Tunji Andrews

Roles and organisations on the official roster

Taking part

  • In person, Amsterdam

    Both rooms run at Holiday Inn Amsterdam – Arena Towers for all 5 days, 23–27 November 2026.

  • Online

    Online participation runs alongside the in-person conference. Current passes and terms appear only on the official registration page.

Registration and current conditions

Holiday Inn Amsterdam – Arena Towers

Amsterdam, Netherlands. Everything below is taken from the official travel page.

Venue
Holiday Inn Amsterdam – Arena Towers
Address
Hoogoorddreef 66a, 1101 BE Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nearest station
Bijlmer ArenA · 4-min walk
From Schiphol
Train Schiphol → Bijlmer ArenA, approx. 15 min
Parking
P1 ArenA · paid, on-site
Accessibility
Step-free access; accessible WCs on every floor
Registration desk
Ground floor lobby, signposted on arrival
Published times
Central European Time (CET)

Travel and access details

Photographs, in sequence

Three photographs at three deliberately different scales. All three are from previous Zenith Group events; the captions record what the source verified about each one and nothing else.

Scene from a previous Zenith Group event
Photograph from a previous Zenith Group event. Banking Frontier 2026 takes place 23-27 November 2026.
Scene from a previous Zenith Group event
Photograph from a previous Zenith Group event. Banking Frontier 2026 takes place 23-27 November 2026.
Scene from a previous Zenith Group event
Photograph from a previous Zenith Group event. Banking Frontier 2026 takes place 23-27 November 2026.

Practical questions

What is on show here?

Published information about Banking Frontier 2026, the International Banking Summit, held 23–27 November 2026 at Holiday Inn Amsterdam – Arena Towers, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Are any of the photographs of this conference?

No, and none could be: the conference has not happened. Every photograph is from a previous Zenith Group event and each caption says so, together with whatever the source records about it.

Why does the source record so little about the photographs?

The audit notes what is legible in each image — the organiser's own banner, the scene — and nothing more. No edition, year or venue is asserted where the source does not state it.

Is any content hidden behind a click?

No. Every session, name and fact on this page is in the HTML; the disclosures here only fold long answers away.

Can I take part online?

In-person and online participation are both available. Current passes, terms and any group conditions are shown on the official registration page.