THE FINTECH INTERVIEW

to spot anomalies far quicker as well – any suspicious activity or transactions happening get instantly flagged and handled very quickly.

“ Previously, companies would experience a lot of delays, but because of AI, they’ re able to help speed up the payments a lot quicker. The onboarding can happen a lot quicker as well.”

Specifically, Lissele notes there’ s a huge potential for transforming manual processes in the know-your-customer( KYC) space, especially at a time when manual processes pose a complex banking challenge:“ I feel like this is also the next revolution that’ s happening in the industry – AI in onboarding, compliance, transaction monitoring, fraud detection and everything like that.“ Traditionally, companies had to manually check everything, so it was very reliant on humans. It was susceptible to human error. AML and AI monitoring – we’ re going to see a huge wave. Companies are going to be onboarded a lot quicker and transactions will go more smoothly.”

Payments: what happens before AI? Despite what Lissele terms as a“ wave” of AI coming to revolutionise workflows, she believes some more traditional steps are still important, highlighting that digitalisation communication was often one of the most important business tools.

“ Clarity is everything in payments,” she says,“ If you are vague, especially during onboarding, you are most likely going to get rejected. You need to be transparent and very clear with your flow of funds – the purpose of the payments, where they are going and where they are coming from. The clearer and more transparent you are, the smoother compliance is going to be with providers.”

While AI is becoming a top priority for most financial institutions, Lissele predicts that collaboration could be the ultimate way to get ahead in the game. Uniting banks and fintechs could result in the delivery of a safer and simpler payments ecosystem.

She notes:“ We’ re also going to see a lot more banks and fintech companies partnering. If banks want to stay ahead, they need to be collaborative rather than competing. The changes will be driven by whoever makes payments simpler, safer and scalable across borders without cutting corners.”

Everyone likes the idea of faster payments, from businesses needing small loans to consumers aching for payday. Financial institutions are rising to the demand, with Lissele clarifying that she’ s“ seeing a lot of instant payments and alternative payment methods becoming a lot more popular”.

28 March 2026