In this episode of Financial Markets iNSiGHTS, host Tina Kane speaks with Christian K. Schwarz, Head of Banking and Payment Services, about how Europe’s payments landscape is being reshaped as instant payments become mandatory and financial institutions face mounting pressure to modernise legacy infrastructure.

They discuss the scale of regulatory change, the challenges of transitioning to real-time, 24/7 processing, and how workflow orchestration can help banks meet new requirements without replacing core systems. The conversation also examines growing competition from fintech challengers, the erosion of traditional revenue streams such as FX, and the strategic risks facing banks that fail to adapt. The episode further explores the rise of stablecoins, tokenisation and alternative payment rails, and why data, interoperability and innovation beyond regulation will be critical for banks looking to remain competitive in an increasingly fast-moving and fragmented payments ecosystem.

In this episode of Financial Markets iNSiGHTS, host Tina Kane speaks to Kevin Formby, VP of Finance and Capital Markets Solutions at Keysight Technologies, about the growing importance of observability, precision measurement and time accuracy in modern trading infrastructure.

They explore how, despite ever-increasing speed and shrinking latency, many firms still don’t have a full picture or understanding of what is happening inside their systems. Kevin explains why measuring speed - rather than latency-related outcomes - creates an “illusion of control,” and how hidden inefficiencies across complex, fragmented infrastructures can impact performance, fairness and resilience.

The conversation delves into the application in financial markets of ultra-precise time synchronisation technologies developed originally for “rocket science”, defence and telecommunications industries, reinforcing why firms must move beyond speed as a primary metric to a broader focus on visibility, determinism and trust.

As markets evolve toward greater automation, continuous trading and tighter regulatory scrutiny, the depth with which market participants can see measure and explain system behaviours will be an increasing competitive and operational advantage.

In this episode of Financial Markets iNSiGHTS, host Tina Kane speaks with Emmanuel Ashirifi, founder and CEO of Sika Financial Group, about the challenges of FX liquidity - and efficient settlement - in emerging and frontier markets.

They discuss how fragmented, manual settlement processes impact working capital liquidity, strain national foreign exchange reserves and impact cross-border trade flow. Emmanuel explains why extending mature-market models isn’t the right approach in these markets, and how purpose-built settlement infrastructure reflecting the particular nuances of less developed economies can bring greater trust, transparency and resilience to trading and supply chain lifecycles, and better meet the needs of financial market participants underserved by current financial market infrastructures.