Motor Finance Online

For financial firms and the people who invest in them, 2026 has been an unaccommodating year. The war between America and Iran has pushed up the price of oil and, with it, inflation. Deposit growth in mature markets is slowing, and consumers around the world are spending less freely. Banks are therefore being squeezed from both ends of the income statement just as their opera...

Digital tools have made it easier for consumers to manage money and make payments. For the institutions that supply them, and the investors who back those institutions, the picture is messier. Spending on artificial intelligence (AI) has yet to show that it pays for itself. Fraud is growing fast, and war in the Middle East has soured the outlook for wealth managers.