Australia's financial services sector is accelerating into a new phase. AI is moving from pilots to enterprise deployment. Open banking and real-time payments are reshaping how customers access and use financial services. Regulatory expectations around conduct, resilience, and accountability are intensifying. The leaders navigating these decisions need a room where the conversation is candid, the peers are genuine, and the insights are actionable.
The FUTR of Financial Services Sydney 2026 is that room. This summit on 21 October, open by invitation and application, brings 450+ senior leaders across banking, insurance, superannuation, payments, and fintech together for a full day of candid exchange at Ilumina, Sydney.
A small number of partnership opportunities are available for organisations whose work is directly relevant to the challenges on this agenda. This prospectus sets out who will be in the room, what is on the programme, and how your organisation can be part of it.
About 
FUTR produces senior executive forums across Australia and New Zealand, built on the relationships, programme rigour, and delegate community developed across years of senior-level events in this market.
Sessions are practitioner-led and programme-driven. Attendance is by invitation. Partners are embedded in the programme as presenters, panellists, and roundtable hosts - not separated into a sponsor track.
| 31 Mar | FUTR of Insurance, Sydney | 300+ delegates |
| 11 Jun | FUTR of Financial Services, Melbourne | 400+ delegates |
| 11 Aug | FUTR of Financial Services, Auckland | 350+ delegates |
| 21 Oct | FUTR of Financial Services, Sydney | 450+ delegates |
Enterprise AI deployment accelerating beyond pilots. Australia's major banks are now running AI across credit decisioning, fraud detection, and customer service at production scale.
CDR expanding to non-bank lenders from July 2026. The open banking infrastructure is live institutions are now competing on what they build on top of it.
CPS 230 operational resilience obligations now live. ASIC's 2026 enforcement priorities signal heightened scrutiny of digital conduct, product governance, and consumer outcomes.
Australians lost over $2.7 billion to scams in 2023. Real-time payment rails are accelerating exposure. Every institution in the room is actively sourcing fraud and identity solutions.
Legacy infrastructure that was tolerated is now a board-level risk. Core platform renewal is accelerating across banks, insurers, and super funds as the cost of inaction rises.
The question is no longer whether AI changes the workforce it's how fast and how deliberately institutions redesign roles, capability frameworks, and operating models around it.
Where investment decisions are being made
Australia's financial institutions are no longer in discovery mode. They are procuring, deploying, and building at scale. The 2026 programme is structured around six themes, each representing active investment decisions being made right now.
The pilot phase is over. Institutions are evaluating and deploying enterprise-wide AI across lending, operations, fraud, and customer service. The vendors who can deliver at scale are being selected now.
Open finance moving from policy to live infrastructure. Real-time rails maturing, embedded banking models emerging, and new distribution partnerships being formed across the sector.
Scam losses escalating and real-time payments widening exposure. Boards are demanding credible, deployable fraud detection, identity verification, and customer protection strategies.
ASIC and APRA conduct, accountability, and resilience expectations intensifying. CPS 230 operational risk obligations live. Institutions sourcing governance and compliance solutions that meet the regulator's bar.
Legacy platform renewal accelerating across banks, insurers, and super funds. Institutions evaluating modular, API-enabled, cloud-ready architectures and the partners who can deliver them at speed.
Institutions competing on CX, personalisation, and digital journeys as the growth battleground shifts. Platforms, data, and ecosystem partnerships driving the next wave of customer acquisition and retention.
Who is in the room
Every registration is reviewed. The room spans the full breadth of Australia's financial services sector - from the major banks, insurers, and super funds to payments specialists, wealth managers, fintechs, and regulators. Roles range from C-suite through to the senior managers, product leads, and specialists making and influencing technology and investment decisions.
Technology · Digital · Data & Analytics · Product · Risk & Compliance · Cyber Security · Architecture · Payments · Operations · Transformation · Finance · Strategy · Customer Experience · Fraud · ESG · Audit · Legal
- Retail, commercial, and institutional banks
- General and life insurers, health insurers, brokers
- Superannuation funds, wealth managers, and asset managers
- Payments specialists, fintechs, and credit providers
- Mutual lenders and building societies
- ASIC, APRA, Treasury, RBA, and industry bodies
Built around the sector's best voices
The FUTR Sydney speaker faculty is drawn from the most senior leaders across banking, insurance, superannuation, payments, fintech, and regulation in Australia. Every speaker is selected for their seniority, the relevance of their remit, and the quality of their contribution to the room.
The programme is updated continuously as speakers are confirmed. Visit the event page for the latest lineup.
View Speakers at thefutr.co
What is on the agenda
Preliminary programme, subject to refinement as speakers and sessions are confirmed. Partner keynote slots are highlighted.
Partner keynotes are scheduled between practitioner sessions. Your team speaks to an audience that is already engaged and primed for the conversation.
| Morning | Chairperson's Opening Remarks |
| Opening Keynote: The Strategic Reset - Growth, Productivity, and Confidence in Australian Financial Services | |
| Partner | Partner Keynote: Modern Data Platforms for a Real-Time Financial Services Future |
| Panel: Past the Pilot - Making AI Count Across Financial Services | |
| Morning Tea and Networking | |
| Keynote: Resilience Under Pressure - Cyber, Operations, and Decision-Making in a Volatile Environment | |
| Partner | Partner Keynote: Real-World AI and Automation for Enterprise Performance |
| Panel: Simpler, Faster, Better - Modernising Customer Journeys and Operations | |
| Partner | Partner Keynote: Secure Payments, Digital Identity, and Fraud Prevention |
| Midday | Networking Lunch |
| Afternoon | Keynote: Frictionless Finance - Open Banking, Real-Time Payments, and Connected Customer Access |
| Partner | Partner Keynote: Designing Personalised, Connected, and Inclusive Digital Journeys |
| Panel: Trust Without Friction - Security, Fraud, and Seamless Experience | |
| Keynote: Competing in Complexity - Growth, Productivity, and Strategic Trade-Offs | |
| Keynote: Rethinking Work - Capability, Teams, and Operating Models in the Age of AI | |
| Afternoon Tea and Networking | |
| Partner | Partner Keynote: Modernising Core Systems for Speed, Reliability, and Transformation |
| Keynote: Reinvention at Scale - Leading Financial Services Through Continuous Change | |
| Keynote: What’s Next - Where Growth and Value Will Be Created | |
| Evening | Networking Drinks Reception |
Partnership opportunities
FUTR works with a focused group of partners whose solutions are directly relevant to the challenges on this agenda. Depending on the package, partners can present on stage, join a panel, host a roundtable, sponsor a networking moment, or simply be present on the exhibition floor. Pricing on request. Contact the team early - availability is limited.
| Inclusion | Diamond Lead | Diamond | Platinum | Gold | Silver | Expo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-min Opening Keynote | ✓ | - | - | - | - | - |
| 20-min Keynote | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - |
| Panel Inclusion | - | - | - | - | ✓ | - |
| Exhibition Space | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Delegate Wishlist | 50 | 40 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Staff Passes | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Full Delegate List | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
- Invitation-only dinner for summit speakers and senior leaders
- Sponsor formally opens the evening and welcomes guests
- Premium branding on menus, table signage, and guest communications
- The most direct relationship-building opportunity in the programme
- Host a bespoke roundtable at your chosen time with a topic you set
- Direct access to 10+ handpicked senior executives matched to your target accounts
- Full input into guest list, topic, and session focus
- All logistics managed: invitations, venue, catering, and content co-ordination
- Exclusive naming rights to the post-summit drinks reception
- Branding at the bar, throughout the networking space, and on event signage
- Opportunity to address the room at the close of the formal programme
- The highest-traffic networking moment of the day
- Branded coffee cart operating throughout morning tea and lunch
- Your branding on cups, signage, and the cart itself
- Natural conversation starter - delegates come to you
- High-visibility, high-footfall touchpoint across the day
- Your brand worn by every delegate throughout the entire event
- Maximum visibility across all sessions, networking, and the exhibition floor
- Simple, high-impact brand presence requiring no activation effort
We work with partners to build bespoke arrangements that fit your goals. If you have a specific activation, audience moment, or brand objective in mind, talk to the team and we will find a way to make it work.
Talk to the teamAll confirmed partners receive dedicated portal access for lead capture and qualification, team management, profile setup, and event logistics. Your team is set up and operational well before event day.
Why this room. Why now.
The room is full of CIOs, CDOs, CISOs, Heads of Digital, Risk, and Payments with real budget authority and active transformation mandates. Whether you are on stage, on a panel, or on the exhibition floor, you are in the room where the decisions are being made.
Partner sessions sit inside the programme as keynote or panel contributions. Your team presents to an audience that is already engaged and already thinking about the problems you solve. The room is listening because they chose to be there.
AI at enterprise scale, open banking, fraud and scams, conduct and accountability, core modernisation, workforce redesign. These are not curated themes. They are the decisions your prospects are actively funding right now.
FUTR is led by a team with deep experience producing senior financial services events across Australia and New Zealand. The delegate relationships, programme credibility, and sector trust built over that time are the foundation this event is built on.
Let's talk about partnering.
A small number of partnership slots are available for the FUTR of Financial Services Sydney 2026. Get in touch to discuss which option fits your objectives, confirm availability, and talk pricing.