www.wealthandfinance-news.com Q2 2026 How women can boost their finances this year How Social Media Is Rewiring Your Relationship With Money and Who It Harms Most Featuring:
AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them. The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions. Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility. Editor’s Letter Editorial Team Sofi Parry, Senior Editor | Joshua Beardsmore, Writer | Kita Thomas, Writer Design Team Emma Hunt, Creative Team Manager | Lauren Baldwin, Graphic Designer Welcome to the Q2 edition of Wealth & Finance International Magazine. In this issue, we continue our commitment to delivering fund managers, institutional investors, and private clients timely insight into the developments defining both the traditional and alternative investment arenas. From accounting excellence and agentic operating systems in mortgage origination to private equity solutions, AI-driven financial advice, workplace efficiency, and real estate debt strategy, this year we are seeing a sweeping pattern across the financial world. This edition presents a curated examination of the themes influencing the financial sector this quarter, and we are proud to be part of the successful evolution of the sphere. As markets continue to evolve at pace, the Q2 issue offers considered perspectives on emerging opportunities and enduring strategies alike, equipping readers with insight to navigate complexity with greater confidence and clarity. We are delighted to present our second issue of 2026 to our valued readership. We trust this edition will prove both informative and engaging, and we extend our very best wishes for a successful and prosperous quarter ahead. Sofi Parry, Senior Editor
Contents 4. News: - Curinos Launches Curinos One: The Decision Intelligence Platform for Banking - Maveric Systems announces strategic brand positioning focused on Engineering Trust in AI-First Banking 6. How women can boost their finances this year 8. The Best Platforms for Integrating Billing and Notification Systems in 2026 10. How Social Media Is Rewiring Your Relationship With Money and Who It Harms Most 11. Crypto Is No Longer Competing With Itself: It’s Competing With Traditional Investing 12. What Are the Best Financial Systems for Improving Cash Flow? 14. AI Wrong Roughly Two Out of Three Times When Telling Users Online Broker Not a Scam
NEWS Curinos Launches Curinos One: The Decision Intelligence Platform for Banking AI-enabled platform delivers coordinated, customer-level decisions across marketing, product, and pricing — with one client generating over $1.6 billion in incremental deposits since deployment Curinos has launched Curinos One, an AI-enabled decision intelligence platform purpose-built for financial institutions. The platform is available immediately, with deployments underway across leading North American banks and credit unions. Curinos One integrates an institution’s first-party data, third-party signals, and Curinos’ proprietary benchmark intelligence into a unified decisioning engine. It identifies and recommends growth opportunities and executes actions at the individual customer level across marketing, product, and pricing — then continuously learns from outcomes to sharpen future decisions. Human judgment remains central: the platform augments institutional decision-makers rather than replacing them, keeping qualified professionals in control while accelerating their speed and precision. “Banks have spent a decade investing in analytics and still can’t reliably tell you which customer to call tomorrow morning and what to discuss,” said Sid Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Curinos. “The industry doesn’t have a data problem — it has a decision problem. Curinos One is how financial institutions finally close that gap, turning fragmented insight into coordinated action at the customer level.” Driving Measurable Results Across Acquisition and Growth Curinos One Capture helps financial institutions acquire higher-value customers by grounding prospect targeting in cross-bank behavioral data — identifying who will become a high-balance primary customer, not just who will respond to an offer. In an initial checking acquisition deployment, customers acquired through Curinos One carried more than double the balances at 120 days compared to the direct mail control group — a 133% improvement — with a 52% lift in response rates and a 540% increase in acquisition ROI. Curinos One Compound is dedicated to growing balances with existing customers through continuous, customer-level optimization across balance deepening and new account funding. One early-adopting bank has achieved more than $1.6 billion in additional deposits, with a 38% increase in new-to-bank deposits and a customer cross-sell conversion lift of over 250% maintained for more than a year after implementation. “The always-on engine enables us to create personalization at scale across multiple channels,” said Lee Sessions, Chief Consumer Product & Client Solutions Officer, Synovus. Additional modules — focused on primacy, retention, and profitability calibration — are scheduled for launch shortly, extending Curinos One’s decisioning intelligence across the full banking product portfolio and customer relationship lifecycle. Built on Intelligence Horizontal AI Cannot Replicate Curinos One is powered by Curinos’ patented adaptive decisioning technology, trained on 25 years of proprietary benchmarks. The platform operates a closed loop: every action it takes refines the next, compounding precision against the outcomes that matter most to financial performance. Compliance and governance are built into the foundation. The humanin-the-loop architecture ensures institutions retain meaningful oversight and accountability over every decision the system informs — a critical distinction in regulated environments where every action must be explainable. “Our approach to building Curinos One reflects the same principles that have guided our AI innovation from the start,” said Olly Downs, Chief Technology, Product and AI Officer of Curinos. “Reducing the friction in synthesizing and acting on insights, ensuring outputs and actions are fact-driven, and building compliance into the foundation. Curinos One knows which customers will fund, which will deepen, which are at risk of leaving, and how to respond — before the bank does.” For institutions navigating growth challenges, Curinos One offers something rare: a path to measurable impact built on intelligence that is already proven, already deployed, and already compounding.
NEWS Maveric Systems announces strategic brand positioning focused on Engineering Trust in AI-First Banking For CIOs, the shift from digital-first to AI is a business revisioning exercise. It requires reimagining people, processes, and technology through AI, ML and automation. This needs to happen across every critical imperative, from customer experiences and modernised, real-time systems, to operational cost reduction and regulatory compliance, as well as privacy. “As AI moves into the core of the enterprise, the key challenge is how to scale AI reliably, securely, and responsibly across highly regulated, legacycomplex environments”, said Ranga Reddy, CEO & Whole Time Director, Maveric Systems. “What banks need is not another technology vendor; they need a partner who can engineer trust into every layer of AI and ML-led transformation. That is the promise behind Maveric’s new positioning.” Maveric’s Engineering Trust positioning is anchored in four core strengths: • AI at the Core, Not the Edges: Maveric embeds AI into core systems, operations, and decision layers, not at the periphery through isolated pilots. This shifts banks from fragmented experimentation to enterprise-wide AI-first models with real governance, observability, and accountability. • Principles that engineer trust: Maveric applies a standards-led engineering approach, embedding AI principles including fairness, explainability, reliability, privacy and global banking standards and regulatory requirements, ensuring AI is compliant by design. • Pragmatic, Outcome-Driven Execution: Every engagement is anchored to quantifiable business impact - faster customer onboarding, real-time decisioning, reduced cost-to-serve, improved fraud detection, and accelerated modernization. • Deep Banking DNA: With over 25 years of exclusive focus on banking and financial services, Maveric builds AI within the fabric of banking, not on top of it. This domain depth ensures every AI model, use case, and solution is aligned to real-world banking processes, regulatory constraints, and customer realities across geographies. To support CIOs AI-first journey, Maveric brings its purpose-built platforms and solutions ecosystem. PulseAI delivers continuous quality intelligence, PrismAI strengthens data integrity and data confidence, InsightHubAI unifies customer intelligence, and EdgeOpsAI provides intelligent reliability and operations. These platforms, alongside AI-powered solutions spanning customer service, fraud and risk, application modernization, intelligent document management, and software engineering acceleration, are designed to enable scalable, responsible AI adoption across the enterprise. At the center of this ecosystem is Maveric’s proprietary AI @ Scale framework — enabling banks to move from isolated AI use cases to industrialized transformation through business revisioning and process and technology reimagination. At the line of business and function levels, the framework integrates domain-aligned data foundations, multi-agent orchestration, AI governance, lifecycle management, and outcome-driven execution into a unified delivery model. With a presence across three continents and 25+ years of long-standing relationships with global banks, regional leaders, and emerging fintechs, Maveric Systems is uniquely positioned to help financial institutions build the next generation of AI-first enterprises — with trust engineered into every layer. Maveric Systems, a banking-exclusive technology specialist, announced its new market positioning — Engineering Trust in AI-First Banking — as financial institutions worldwide accelerate the transition from digitalfirst to AI-first enterprise models.
Feature How women can boost their finances this year Emma Layton, Financial Adviser, Salmon Financial Planning, a Partner practice of St. James’s Place Life is busy and we’re constantly feeling the pressure of making sure we exercise enough, eat well, rest more, remember self-care. The list goes on. While we’re trying spin lots of plates, are we making a conscious effort to prioritise our finances? When we talk about finances it’s easy to think about the here and now. Living from one pay day to the next, thinking about birthdays, holidays and everything else. But are we thinking about money for the future, and putting those all-important steps in place to ensure financial security. The truth is, no matter what your age or circumstances, it’s never too early to start thinking about what might be in years to come. Worries about money are common. In fact, a report from St. James’s Place found that one in four of us feel anxious about the year ahead and 33% of the adult population suffer daily anxiety about their finances. On top of that, almost one third of Brits say that money worries have negatively affected their mental health over the past year. National statistics also show that women often face additional financial pressures. The UK gender pay gap remains around 13–14% on average, and because women are more likely to take career breaks for caring responsibilities, the average pension pot at retirement is estimated to be around 35% smaller than men’s. Taking early action with finances can therefore have a particularly powerful effect in the long-term. Our financial wellbeing is just as important as our physical and mental health, but we don’t always think about it in that way. We need to approach money like we do our health and wellbeing. We need to talk about it and make it work for us. Emma Layton is a qualified financial adviser for Salmon Financial Planning – a Partner practice of St. James’s Place. Emma is passionate about helping individuals take control of their money. She says that it’s a common misconception that advisers only work with people who have large amounts of wealth. But this far from the truth. Emma helps those who are looking to take control of their money, to make sure it works harder for them and supports both short-term and long-term goals. Here, Emma shares her top tips to help gain control over your money and feel better about finances: Budgeting Budgeting shouldn’t feel restrictive, but knowing where your money goes each month helps you feel more in control. Start by looking at what is coming in and what is going out. Separate essential costs from the ‘nice to haves’ and build a valuesbased budget that prioritises bills, financial goals and the spending that genuinely matters to you. Financial confidence begins with understanding your cashflow. Once you have that clarity, it’s easier to spot where savings can be made. Look through every direct debit and monthly payment, cancel what you don’t need and think about redirecting those funds into savings or investments instead. Research from the Money and Pensions Service shows that people who regularly track their spending are significantly more likely to feel confident about their finances and are more likely to build savings buffers. Start saving Many people delay saving while waiting for the right time, but when is the right time? Life will always bring expenses, birthdays, weddings, holidays, so the key is to start – however small. Focus on consistent wins. Setting aside £25–£100 a month can quickly build momentum and restore a sense of control. The first goal should be building a financial buffer, an emergency fund that covers unexpected costs like boiler repairs or car issues. Saving isn’t about being perfect with money; it’s about reducing stress and giving yourself options. Many financial planners recommend aiming for three to six months of essential living expenses as a longerterm emergency fund target. This provides resilience if income suddenly stops or unexpected costs arise. Saving isn’t about being perfect with money; it’s about reducing stress and giving yourself options. Investing Once you have built a buffer, you can start thinking about investing. Around half of UK savers with cash have never considered it, with research from the FCA suggesting this is largely due to a lack of confidence. Investing helps protect your money against inflation by allowing it to grow over time. The key is to think long-term. Start by mapping out your financial goals, whether that’s moving house, raising a family or planning for retirement. Automating monthly investments can help remove emotion from the process when markets fluctuate. Investing is less about timing the market and more about building consistent habits. Historically, global stock markets have delivered average long-term returns of around 5–7% per year above inflation, although returns can vary significantly in the short term. This is why investing is generally most suitable for money that can remain invested for five years or more. Automating monthly investments can help remove emotion from the process when markets fluctuate. Investing is less about timing the market and more about building consistent habits. Pension Finally, don’t forget your future self. Research shows that people with a financial plan are on average £109,172 better off at retirement than those without one. Increasing pension contributions now can reduce reliance on the state and help you build the retirement lifestyle you want. The full UK State Pension currently pays around £11,500 per year, which means most people will need additional private savings if they want flexibility and choice in retirement. Think about what you’d like that future to look like and start putting the foundations in place today. Automate your pension contributions and ensure you increase these as your pay rises. The key is to make it visible, so you know where it is, what you have and where it’s going.
Feature Income Power For most of us, our biggest asset isn’t our home; it’s our ability to earn. If you’re employed, make sure you are being paid what you’re worth. Check that your salary remains competitive with what you could get elsewhere in a similar role. If you are self-employed, is it time to raise your rates? Over a lifetime, your earning potential can be worth millions of pounds, which is why protecting that income through savings, career progression and appropriate financial planning can be one of the most powerful financial strategies available. By taking small and consistent steps to build healthy financial habits, you are protecting yourself for the future. Ask yourself, what can I do this month to help feel more in control of my money? Financial advice can help you turn these habits into a long-term strategy that supports your life goals and financial wellbeing.
8 | Wealth & Finance Q1 2024 The Best Platforms for Integrating Billing and Notification Systems in 2026 1. KUBRA KUBRA is one of the best platforms for integrating billing and notification systems. It offers all-in-one customer experience solutions that combine billing, payments and notifications into one place for businesses. The company links payment alternatives with automated communication technologies to make billing and consumer outreach easier. This also provides clear visibility across all channels. Its solutions help improve delivery, strengthen engagement and ensure more consistent communication throughout the customer’s life cycle. Key Features • Omnichannel payments through KUBRA EZ-Pay+™: Supports debit and credit cards, bank transfers, digital wallets and payments through mobile apps and biller or bank websites, giving customers flexible ways to pay. • Automated communications via NotifiⓇ: Delivers notifications across email, SMS text messaging, mobile push notifications, voice calls, virtual assistants and other channels. As a result, organizations can share timely updates, including billing reminders and outage communications. • Advanced self-service with KUBRA IQ™: Uses natural language processing to help customers complete common tasks like paying bills or checking usage through conversational interactions across supported channels. • Industry-leading security: Meets strict compliance expectations with PCI Level 1 Service Provider certification and SOC 1 and SOC 2 compliance, supporting secure payment experiences and protecting sensitive customer data. 2. InvoiceCloud InvoiceCloud‘s Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) solutions help businesses encourage clients to switch from paper bills to digital self-service channels. Its platform focuses on increasing the use of digital payments and on outbound messages that encourage quick responses and reduce missed payments. InvoiceCloud also lets businesses link billing activities with proactive customer outreach by providing built-in integrations with major billing systems and various notification channels. Key Features • EBPP: Supports online billing delivery with flexible payment options, including pay-by-text, over the phone, mobile payments, AutoPay enrollment and scheduled transactions. • Outbound communication campaigns: Uses automated email, SMS text and voice reminders to notify customers about upcoming or overdue bills, helping reduce delinquencies and manual follow-ups. • User-friendly interface: Offers a simple digital payment experience to increase paperless adoption and make it easier to view and manage bills. • System integrations with core billing platforms: Connects with customer information systems (CIS) to support smoother implementation and data consistency across billing environments. 3. Paymentus Paymentus is a cloud-based billing and payment system that enables businesses to streamline the way customers pay and receive notifications. The platform’s main goals are to process transactions in real time and cover a wide range of payment channels. This feature lets businesses speed up payments and improve communication in both digital and assisted-service contexts. Its Instant Payment Network connects billers and payment partners into a single system that makes it easy for customers to pay right away. Billers can also handle customer contacts more quickly. Key Features • Instant Payment Network: Enables real-time payment processing, helping organizations reduce delays associated with batch-based payment environments. • Omnichannel payment support: Allows customers to make payments through web portals, mobile devices, over-the-phone systems and in-person partner locations. • Digital wallet integration with BillWallet®: Stores payment credentials securely to support faster repeat transactions and simplify future payment interactions. • Agent-assisted and self-service tools: Provides PCI-compliant tools for contact centers alongside customer self-service options that reduce call volume and improve operational efficiency. 4. ACI Worldwide ACI Worldwide offers enterprise payment solutions for regulated industries with extensive billing requirements. The Speedpay® platform enables businesses to handle digital billing, payments and customer communications across multiple channels while maintaining high reliability at scale. ACI Worldwide can update payment delivery while maintaining control over how it interacts with existing systems, as it is deployable in different ways and supports real-time processing. Key Features • Omnichannel payment support: Enables customers to make payments through web portals, mobile devices, over-the-phone systems, live-agent assistance and partner retail locations. Jun21296 Finance departments use several platforms to handle billing and customer communication. However, this can slow production and make client experiences less consistent. Combining these tasks can make operations run more smoothly and ensure notifications are more timely. What are the best platforms for integrating billing and notifications? The answer depends on how well a solution provides smooth integrations and communication across all channels throughout the client experience. Leading solutions include KUBRA, InvoiceCloud, Paymentus and ACI Worldwide.
• Flexible deployment options: Allows organizations to choose between hosted interfaces or API-based integrations that embed payment functionality directly into existing apps and websites. • Enterprise-grade security and fraud protection: Includes advanced fraud detection capabilities and compliance support for regulated billing environments. • Compliance and risk management support: Helps organizations align payment workflows with industry standards such as PCI DSS while managing evolving regulatory expectations. How the Billing and Notification Platforms Were Selected The platforms were selected based on how effectively they help organizations connect billing workflows with customer communication tools in a single environment. Special attention was given to solutions that support reliable integrations and strengthen customer retention through consistent, timely engagement. Key attributes considered in this roundup include: • Seamless integration capabilities • Omnichannel notification support • Flexible digital payment options • System reliability and scalability • Customer engagement and self-service features • Security and compliance standards Frequently Asked Questions Here are some common questions about integrating billing and notification systems. How does billing and notification integration improve ROI? Combining billing and notification systems reduces human effort, increases on-time payments and minimizes support calls. It also helps businesses deliver customers a more consistent experience, leading to increased long-term engagement. What should companies look for in a unified billing platform? Find systems that allow smooth system integration, notifications across all channels, various payment options, robust security compliance and features that let users help themselves. What is the typical pricing for integrated billing and notification platforms? The price changes based on the number of transactions, the deployment model, the level of integration and the communication channels used. Most companies offer personalized pricing based on the demands of the organization. Can I get a demo of an integrated platform? Most providers offer demos so businesses can test their payment processes and integration capabilities before choosing a solution. Choosing the Right Platform for Connected Billing and Notifications How effectively a solution enables smooth communication and numerous payment alternatives will help companies choose the ideal platform that combines billing and notification systems. Companies that value integration and engaging customers are more likely to make their operations more efficient and retain customers over time. The Best Platforms for Integrating Billing and Notification Systems in 2026
10 | Wealth & Finance Q2 2026 How Social Media Is Rewiring Your Relationship With Money and Who It Harms Most Social media has changed money culture faster than any financial product ever did. It has changed how people learn about money, how they talk about it, and increasingly, how they decide what to do with it. For many that shift has been genuinely positive – financial concepts feel more accessible, and people who were previously frozen out of financial conversations have somewhere to start. But for new traders and trading-curious audiences, the same forces can do real damage. Not just because bad information exists, but because the system deciding what you see is built to reward attention and emotion, not accuracy or outcomes. Trading is a skill. Skills require time, process and resilience. But a consistent pattern has emerged across modern retail markets: people arriving not as a craft to master, but as an escape route. In The Trading Cafe’s survey of 5,000 retail trading students, 67% said they want to trade to get out of a financial situation. That single data point shapes everything, because it determines whether social media pushes someone toward better financial decisions, or deeper into risk-taking and shorttermism. The good, the bad, and the it-depends There is credible evidence that digital financial content can improve financial confidence and behaviour, particularly for people who already have stable finances and treat social content as a supplement to structured learning rather than a replacement for it. Regulators acknowledge the upside too, platforms can reach audiences that traditional financial services never bothered with. But a growing body of research links socialmedia-driven attention to patterns that consistently produce bad retail outcomes. Studies combining retail trading histories with stock-specific social media activity find that attention-induced trading is associated with underperformance around the days those trades are placed. Reddit data from r/ WallStreetBets shows attention spikes spurring uninformed trading, increased risk-taking and reduced returns over holding periods. Research on social media use for investment information finds associations with short-termism, particularly among younger investors. The uncomfortable truth in all of this is that social media can make people feel more informed while simultaneously training behaviours that reduce the probability of good outcomes. The hidden rewiring Most people assume influence happens through obvious advice – buy this coin, copy this trader, use this leverage. The deeper rewiring happens earlier, before any trade is placed. Over time, the feed reshapes what returns feel normal, how quickly money should be made, what risk feels acceptable, and whether patience feels like safety or like falling behind. This is not accidental. Platforms largely rank and recommend content using engagement signals – likes, shares, watch time. There is research modelling how ranking for engagement increases misinformation through feedback loops, and audits showing that engagement-based ranking amplifies emotionally charged content. Financial content is particularly exposed to this because it naturally triggers strong emotions: hope, fear, envy, urgency, status. Who gets hurt most Not everyone is equally exposed. The greatest harm concentrates on specific profiles. People trying to trade their way out of financial pressure are the most vulnerable. When someone is under financial strain, urgency becomes the lens through which they read everything. Behavioural research shows that financial scarcity reduces cognitive bandwidth and pushes people toward short-term thinking. In that state, the algorithm does not need to sell a robust long-term plan. It just needs to keep the promise of escape feeling alive. New traders with heavy feed exposure are next. The research picks up exactly this pattern: social media attention induces retail trading, and those induced trades consistently underperform. The harm is not just wrong information, it is behavioural training. Act now, act often, act with conviction. Then there are traders following crowd signals. Coordinated retail behaviour can feel empowering, and sometimes moves prices. But Bundesbank research on social trading shows how correlated retail activity can benefit market liquidity while still creating profit opportunities for professionals at retail investors’ expense. A crowd can move a price and still lose money. What actually changes outcomes The practical answer is not “avoid social media.” It is build resilience first, then build skill. When finances are stable, you can take time to learn, use risk management properly, and treat content as information rather than hope. When they are not, all of that becomes much harder. The evidence points consistently in the same direction: financial pressure impairs the kind of thinking that good trading requires, and the feed is very good at keeping pressure-driven traders engaged without improving their outcomes. Building a savings buffer, stabilising your baseline, and treating trading as a process rather than an exit, those are the variables that actually move the needle. The algorithm won’t tell you that, because it is not in its interest to. Feb22158 By Peter Visser, co-founder and director of The Trading Cafe, a school reshaping trading education by combining financial expertise with proven teaching methodology. With a background in marketing and a degree in Business Administration, Peter has spent his career building businesses that focus on real impact – not hype.
Crypto Is No Longer Competing With Itself: It’s Competing With Traditional Investing By Peter Curk, CEO of ICONOMI Not so long ago, competition in crypto was mostly an internal affair; Bitcoin versus Ethereum, Ethereum versus Solana. The narrative revolved around which would secure the greatest investor base, which was faster, cheaper, more scalable, or more secure. Not to mention the most “revolutionary.” While some of that one-upmanship still goes on, it no longer defines the market, because now, cryptocurrency platforms aren’t just competing with one another; they’re competing with stocks, bonds, ISAs, ETFs, robo-advisors, and wealth apps for long-term capital. And that is changing almost everything the crypto space has been known for. From speculation to established portfolio Crypto’s gradual move into the financial establishment has unlocked enormous opportunity. Institutional money, regulated products, and mainstream acceptance are bringing both credibility and scale. For the first time, crypto is no longer viewed solely as a speculative and risky, but as a legitimate component of a diversified portfolio. The problem for the industry, however, is that once crypto fully enters the authenticated investment ecosystem, it’s going to have to live up to the same standards – not just in terms of regulation, but security, accessibility, and service. Investors are beginning to want more from crypto assets and providers. They want to know how a crypto investment can fit alongside equities, bonds, and cash. They’re comparing user experience, risk management, tax efficiency, transparency, and trust. And it’s in these areas that the crypto space is failing. So focused on being different to traditional finance, crypto companies have failed to implement the basic elements necessary to for them to be taken seriously by serious investors. What has to change Accessibility has always been what differentiated crypto. The fact that your had to know a little bit about the space, to understand the language and the technology is what gave crypto the air of otherness that made investors something of an elite. But it’s that lack of accessibility that is now at least partly responsible for preventing cryptocurrency from gaining the credibility and status that the industry seems to be seeking. While users were once happy to have a “crypto app” and a separate “investment app,” they now want them to be manageable in the same space – or, at the very least, to behave similarly. They want crypto to be clearer, more concise, less complex. They want to be able to track performance simply and to be able to understand their risk exposure at not much more than a glance. The failure of crypto platforms to deliver that is what is stopping wider adoption. Crypto has historically celebrated complexity. It began as an alternative to the mainstream banking that had fallen into so much disrepute, and anything that could make crypto appear more sophisticated, more advanced, more “serious,” was celebrated. But now, that jargonrich complexity is less impressive and more liability. Simplicity has become the real differentiator Innovation till matters; of course it does. But what crypto platforms are failing to grasp is that innovation that doesn’t translate into clarity, trust, or ease of use. And that’s what the new wave of crypto investors is crying out for. They don’t want to feel like they’re gambling; that’s why it’s taken them so long to even consider moving into crypto assets. They want to feel like they’re investing. And that’s what crypto platforms have to deliver. This change is particularly important as the crypto investor demographic widens. Early crypto users were typically young, technative, and comfortable with risk. But we’re now seeing a new wave of older investors, professionals, and individuals who aren’t willing to lose their money through a lack of understanding. They’re keen to make use of the potential that crypto assets have to offer, but they don’t want to learn a new financial language or a new way of doing things. And it’s the companies that present crypto in a way that feels safe, comprehensible, and in line with how new investors already manage money that will succeed. How crypto companies can appeal to new investors Stability, governance, custody, reliability, and accessibility. These are the things that the new generation of crypto investors are looking for. Crypto companies can do this. The industry already has many of the tools needed to compete with traditional investing – it actually has more, with global access, and a market that genuinely never sleeps. But by continuing to focus on the hype, the novelty, and all of the things that the mature investor simply doesn’t care about, companies are failing to maximise the potential of the new, waiting market. Usability is now so much more important than originality. A simple interface that helps users understand their exposure, track progress over time, and make informed decisions will outperform the most inventive DeFi features if those feature adds friction or confusion. Crypto is on the verge of becoming respectable. And we all know that that wasn’t the original intention, but it’s what needs to happen for the industry to truly thrive. The problem is that many incumbents have yet to grasp the simple truth that crypto isn’t just competing with itself anymore. And if it’s going to secure a permanent place in investors’ portfolios, they’re going to have to deliver on a very different set of expectations.
12 | Wealth & Finance Q2 2026 What Are the Best Financial Systems for Improving Cash Flow? How Do Financial Systems Directly Impact Cash Flow? Financial systems influence cash flow performance at both operational and strategic levels. Recent data from the Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey highlight the persistent challenges that remain. Findings show that 51% of firms report uneven cash flow as an ongoing issue. Organizations struggling with visibility, forecasting and manual processes often see immediate improvements after implementing modern systems. Improved Cash Visibility Fragmented financial data creates blind spots. Integrated systems consolidate accounts payable (AP), accounts receivable (AR), treasury and operational data into a single real-time dashboard. Forecasting Precision Advanced forecasting engines analyze historical trends, seasonality and external variables to generate dynamic projections. This approach reduces uncertainty and improves planning. Process Acceleration Manual workflows slow down invoicing, collections and reconciliation. Automation shortens the cash conversion cycle and reduces errors. According to BDO professionals, organizations that modernize their financial systems can convert operational efficiencies into measurable cash flow improvements by aligning reporting, asset management and capital allocation. What Features Define the Best Cash Flow Management? Finance leaders evaluating solutions should prioritize features that directly address liquidity challenges. Core features include: • Real-time reporting: Immediate insight into cash position • Cash flow forecasting tools: Scenario modeling and rolling forecasts • Automation: Streamlined AP/AR processes • Integration capabilities: Seamless connectivity across ERP, banking and CRM systems Advanced capabilities include: • AI-driven analytics and anomaly detection • Multientity and multicurrency support • Treasury and liquidity management modules As BDO emphasizes, the most effective systems are within a broader transformation strategy — where technology, processes and governance frameworks work together. Ranked Shortlist: Best Financial Systems for Improving Cash Flow For organizations in the research stage, the following ranked systems represent the most effective categories for improving cash flow. 1. ERP Systems With Integrated Cash Management ERP systems remain the backbone of modern finance functions. By centralizing financial and operational data, they eliminate silos and provide a comprehensive view of liquidity. These systems are best for enterprise-wide financial control. Key benefits include: • Unified data environment • Automated reconciliation and reporting • Scalable forecasting models 2. Dedicated Cash Flow Forecasting Platforms These specialized tools enhance forecasting accuracy and enable scenario planning for different business conditions. They’re best for predictive cash management. Key benefits include: • Rolling forecasts updated in real time • Scenario analysis, including best and worst cases • Integration with ERP and banking data 3. Treasury Management Systems Treasury systems focus on liquidity optimization, risk management and global cash positioning. They’re best for complex, multientity organizations. Key benefits include: • Centralized cash visibility across accounts • Bank connectivity and reconciliation • Risk and debt management tools 4. Accounts Receivable Automation Platforms Delayed receivables are one of the most common cash flow bottlenecks. These platforms are best for improving collection efficiency. Key benefits include: • Automated invoicing and reminders • Payment tracking and reconciliation • Customer self-service portals 5. Accounts Payable Automation Systems These systems help organizations control payment timing and improve vendor relationships. They’re also best for optimizing cash outflows. Key benefits include: • Invoice digitization • Approval workflows • Strategic payment scheduling The best financial systems for improving cash flow in 2026 are those that integrate advanced forecasting tools, automation and real-time reporting into a unified environment. Leading financial management systems, like BDO, and guidance from accounting firms enable organizations to move beyond reactive cash tracking toward predictive, data-driven liquidity management. For finance professionals, the priority is more than monitoring cash — it’s building systems that continuously optimize it.
How Much Do Financial Management Systems Cost? ERP cost varies based on company size, complexity and deployment models. Most solutions combine subscription, per-user and implementation fees. Typical investment ranges: • Small businesses: $3,000 to $25,000 total first-year cost, including software and implementation • Midmarket organizations: $20,000 to $125,000 total first-year cost, depending on scope and integrations • Large enterprises: $100,000 to $250 million initial investment • Cloud pricing: $40 to $200 per user per month, depending on features and vendor Actual costs can vary depending on customization and integration requirements. However, the real value lies in improved visibility, forecasting and cash flow performance. According to BDO, aligning system investments with strategic priorities ensures that efficiency gains translate into sustainable improvements in liquidity. Implementation Strategy: Turning Systems Into Cash Flow Results Payment timing continues to disrupt liquidity cycles. According to Federal Reserve research, about four out of five small businesses experience challenges with customer payments, creating delays that ripple through working capital and operational planning. Without modern systems that combine forecasting, automation and integration, even financially stable organizations can face significant cash flow disruption. Successful financial system implementation requires a structured approach: 1. Standardize financial processes: Before automation, organizations must eliminate inefficiencies in existing workflows. 2. Ensure data integrity and integration: Disconnected systems undermine forecasting accuracy and reporting reliability. 3. Focus on change management: User adoption is critical. Training and governance frameworks ensure long-term success. 4. Leverage advisory expertise: Working with experienced advisers, such as BDO, helps organizations tailor solutions to industryspecific requirements and regulatory environments. For example, insights demonstrate how better visibility into fixed assets can unlock hidden liquidity and improve capital allocation strategies. Frequently Asked Questions Below are answers to some of the most common questions finance professionals have when evaluating financial systems for improving cash flow. What are cash flow forecasting tools? Cash flow forecasting tools are specialized platforms that predict future cash inflows and outflows using historical data, real-time inputs and scenario modeling. They help organizations anticipate liquidity gaps and plan accordingly. Which financial management system is best for improving cash flow? The best method depends on the organization’s needs. ERPs provide comprehensive control, forecasting tools deliver predictive insights and treasury systems optimize liquidity. Many organizations benefit from integrating all three. How do financial systems improve cash flow visibility? They centralize financial data into real-time dashboards, enabling finance teams to monitor liquidity, identify trends and make faster, more informed decisions. Are financial management systems worth the investment? Despite up-front costs, these systems deliver long-term value by improving efficiency, reducing manual processes and enhancing working capital management. Can midsized companies benefit from these systems? Many modern solutions are scalable, allowing midsized organizations to adopt advanced cash flow capabilities without the complexity of large enterprise systems. Turning Financial Systems Into a Sustainable Cash Flow Advantage The best financial systems for improving cash flow are those that combine forecasting accuracy, real-time reporting and seamless integration. ERP systems, forecasting platforms and treasury solutions each offer distinct advantages. However, their true value emerges when deployed as part of a cohesive financial strategy. Organizations that invest in modern financial management systems and align them with expert guidance gain improved cash flow and enhanced resilience, agility and long-term financial performance. What Are the Best Financial Systems for Improving Cash Flow?
14 | Wealth & Finance Q2 2026 AI Wrong Roughly Two Out of Three Times When Telling Users Online Broker Not a Scam But just how trustworthy are these AI chatbots for money and investment advice? In response, the forex experts at BrokerChooser conducted an in-depth analysis of two major AI tools – Google’s AI Overview and OpenAI’s ChatGPT – and revealed concerning statistics for both users seeking investment answers and the providers delivering it. To assess response accuracy, ChatGPT was queried on over 2,000 brokers using three questions – “Is this broker a scam?”, “Is it legit?”, and “Is it safe?” – generating 6,336 queries to simulate how a typical user would research a broker. For Google AI Overview, 1703 regulator-flagged scam brokers were queried with a single prompt, “Is [broker] legit?”, and responses were analysed for correct warnings, mismatches or false-safe claims. Key findings: • ChatGPT shows strong capability in flagging potential risks, but remains less reliable when confirming safety. • OpenAI’s model demonstrates a 94.2% scam detection rate, indicating good effectiveness in detecting financial fraud. • However, its 34.3% safety precision highlights a key limitation: meaning that when the model classifies something as safe, it is wrong two out of three time. • Google’s AI Overview is less precise, correctly spotting scams in only about eight in 10 (81.5%) cases • When asked about a scam broker, Google AI Overview gives information about a completely different provider one in six (18%) times • This information comes to light after a recent BrokerChooser survey found that over half (52.85%) of respondents would act on AI-generated financial advice. AI blind spots: Millions at risk of misleading investment advice BrokerChooser’s analysis shows that while AI models are effective at detecting scams, they still show critical reliability gaps — particularly when confirming whether a broker is safe. ChatGPT correctly warned users about scam brokers in 94.2% of cases, demonstrating strong detection capabilities. However, in 5.8% of scam cases, no warning was issued, exposing users to potential financial harm. At the same time, the model shows excessive caution toward legitimate providers. For regulated brokers, accuracy drops to just 52.3%, with 47.7% of responses including unnecessary warnings. While caution is preferable to under-warning, this lack of precision can undermine user trust and unfairly impact legitimate firms. From another angle, when the AI confirms that a broker is safe, it is wrong about two out of three times. With a safe precision of just 34.3%, the majority of “safe” verdicts are incorrect — highlighting a key limitation in relying on AI reassurance. Google’s AI Overview shows similar risks. It correctly flags scam brokers in 81.5% of cases, but around 18% of responses confuse scam entities with legitimate providers, and a small share (0.7%) falsely presents scams as safe. These reports are especially worrying after BrokerChooser’s recent survey found that over half (52.85%) of UK adults would act on AI-generated financial adviceI, and about a quarter (25.43%) use AI for financial guidance up to six days a week. Adam Nasli, Head of Broker Analysis at BrokerChooser, commented: “Finding errors in AI’s judgement is more than an academic exercise—these mistakes can have real financial consequences. Many users asking whether a platform is legitimate are beginners, often taking their first steps into investing.” “AI-generated scam warnings can be a useful signal. But ‘safety confirmations’ should be treated with caution, and always backed up with independent research.” “To improve models, we suggest that AI models use existing and constantly updated databases of known scams, like BrokerChooser’s Scamshield MCP server, but any solution that keeps the AI up to date with known scams should improve the AI’s accuracy.” “Chat models are just one example of how AI is spreading across the brokerage industry. As adoption grows, some investors may begin to treat these tools as a substitute for their own research or advisors—that’s a risk. AI should support decisions, not replace them.” Feb22158 16.1 million UK adults have already turned to AI for financial advice, with usage peaking among Millennials and Gen Z, a BrokerChooser survey reveals. The nationwide survey of 2,000 UK adults also found that over a third are using AI to compare investments, while one in five rely on it for stock market forecasts.
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