Key insights from FinTech Scotland Festival 2026.
Artificial intelligence is transforming Financial Services, creating new opportunities for innovation, efficiency and customer experience. But as technology becomes increasingly autonomous, a fundamental question is emerging: how can organisations demonstrate that their systems are safe, reliable and delivering the outcomes they should?
That was one of the clearest messages from FinTech Scotland Festival 2026, where industry leaders, regulators, fintech innovators and technology specialists came together to explore the future of Financial Services.
For 2i, the Festival reinforced an important principle: trust in technology cannot simply be assumed. It must be supported by evidence.
Here, Charlie Lambert, Director of Financial Services at 2i, explores five themes from the Festival and what they mean for organisations navigating increasingly complex technology change.
“AI continues to create enormous opportunity across Financial Services, but trust is key. Organisations need to be able to demonstrate and evidence the quality of the technology they increasingly rely upon. That becomes even more important for senior leaders who remain accountable for the decisions being made and the outcomes delivered. As AI becomes more adaptive and autonomous, our approaches to testing and assurance must evolve with it. Quality Engineering and independent assurance therefore have an increasingly important role to play, providing the evidence leaders need to understand not simply whether technology works, but whether it can be trusted to deliver the outcomes that matter.”
-Charlie Lambert, Director of Financial Services, 2i
1. Trust is becoming a critical measure of technology success
Across discussions about AI, regulation, cybersecurity, customer outcomes and operational resilience, one theme consistently emerged: trust.
But this goes beyond customer confidence or brand reputation. Financial Services organisations need to demonstrate that their technology works as intended, that decisions can be explained and that appropriate controls remain in place. As AI becomes embedded in critical business processes, the ability to provide that evidence becomes increasingly important.
The challenge is not simply whether technology appears trustworthy, but whether organisations can demonstrate that it deserves that trust.
Independent assurance has an important role to play here, helping organisations evaluate technology risks, validate outcomes and build the evidence needed to make confident decisions.
2. AI is moving from answering questions to taking action
One of the most significant developments discussed during the Festival was the evolution of AI from a tool that provides information into technology capable of coordinating workflows and taking action.
This progression introduces new challenges. When AI moves beyond recommendations and begins influencing or initiating decisions, organisations must consider more than model accuracy.
They need to understand who controls access to data, how decisions can be traced, when human intervention is required and what happens when something goes wrong. In Financial Services, where technology can directly influence customer outcomes, these questions carry particular weight.
Human judgement, accountability and appropriate oversight remain essential, even as technology becomes more autonomous. The greater the autonomy, the greater the need for clear evidence, effective controls and accountability.
3. Testing the AI model is no longer enough
A particularly important question raised during the Festival was: can we test the entire job?
It challenges organisations to look beyond individual applications or AI models and consider the complete business outcome. An AI-enabled financial service may depend on multiple interconnected components, including data sources, specialist systems, permissions, controls and human decision-making.
Each component may work correctly in isolation, but does the complete service deliver the intended outcome? And can the organisation demonstrate that it does?
This requires a broader approach to quality, one that evaluates how technology, people, processes and controls work together. It also reinforces the growing importance of Quality Intelligence. As organisations move towards increasingly complex and adaptive technology environments, Quality Intelligence offers a way to connect quality evidence, risk insight and engineering expertise to support better-informed decisions.
The objective is not simply to identify defects. It is to understand whether technology-enabled services are delivering the right outcomes, where risks are emerging and whether organisations have the confidence to proceed.
4. Accountability cannot be outsourced
As Financial Services organisations adopt AI and increasingly rely on third-party technology providers, accountability becomes more complex. But the underlying responsibility remains with the organisation deploying the technology.
This was reinforced during discussions involving the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), where the importance of organisational accountability and appropriate assurance was highlighted.
For boards and senior leaders, this raises practical questions. How can they demonstrate that critical technology is operating safely? What evidence supports decisions to deploy or scale AI-enabled services? How can they maintain oversight when systems become increasingly autonomous?
Independent assurance can help organisations examine technology risks and strengthen the evidence available to decision-makers. However, assurance does not replace organisational accountability. It supports leaders in fulfilling that responsibility.
For regulated organisations, the ability to demonstrate control is just as important as having controls in place.
5. Quality Engineering needs a stronger voice in the AI conversation
Perhaps one of the most interesting observations from the Festival was the relative absence of Quality Assurance and Quality Engineering from discussions about the future of AI.
There was extensive debate around governance, regulation, risk, trust and accountability. Yet the practical question of how organisations test, evaluate and continuously assure increasingly adaptive technology received comparatively little attention.
That represents an important opportunity for the Quality Engineering profession. As AI changes how technology is developed and operated, approaches to testing and assurance must continue to evolve.
Quality Engineering has a valuable contribution to make, from evaluating complete AI-enabled services to supporting continuous assurance and providing meaningful insight into technology risk. It also requires closer collaboration between engineering, data, AI, risk and regulatory teams.
At 2i, we believe quality must become a more visible part of strategic technology decision-making, helping organisations understand not just whether systems function, but whether they can be trusted to deliver the outcomes that matter.
Moving from innovation to confidence
FinTech Scotland Festival demonstrated the strength of Scotland's Financial Services innovation ecosystem and the importance of collaboration between financial institutions, fintechs, regulators, academia and technology specialists.
It also reinforced a wider industry challenge. Innovation is accelerating, but organisations must ensure their ability to evaluate, control and assure technology keeps pace.
For Financial Services leaders, the question is no longer simply how quickly new technology can be adopted. It is how confidently organisations can demonstrate that technology works as intended, produces the right outcomes and remains within acceptable levels of risk.
Because successful innovation is not just about what technology can do. It is about having the evidence and confidence to trust what it does.
How 2i can help
2i helps Financial Services organisations navigate complex technology change through independent assurance, Quality Engineering and risk-led insight.
As AI and emerging technologies reshape the industry, we help organisations strengthen confidence in critical systems, understand technology risk and demonstrate that change delivers the outcomes intended.
Want to explore how independent assurance can support your technology transformation?