Presently, 88% of US consumers use fintech services to better manage their financial lives, but many can’t access secure APIs to share data from their financial services providers. When consumers try to share financial data without APIs, they can experience connection delays or failures or access out-of-date information, which severely impedes their ability to access and benefit from the fintech tools they want to use.

Data exchange in finance has undergone significant transformation, evolving from early practices of credit information sharing to contemporary frameworks such as open banking, open finance, and open data initiatives. Today, approximately 68 countries, representing about 35% of the world's nations, are either implementing or developing these frameworks. Key implementation barriers that has been identified in the recent studies by Deloitte include incentivizing incumbent banks to actively participate in data exchange, fostering a competitive ecosystem for third-party providers, ensuring interoperability across digital infrastructure layers, preventing the formation of data silos, and building trust through transparency and robust governance.

In view of these, we've invited Keith Raphael, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer from Straddle, a very promising open-banking payments platform, that enables organizations to build simpler, faster and more efficient payment flows, based in Denver, Colorado, USA, as he explains to us the value proposition, of the financial data exchange and its significant relevance to our digital economy.

Corporate Website: https://straddle.com

LinkedIn: Keith Raphael

Corporate Email: keith@straddle.com

Cybersecurity in 2025 is defined by AI-driven threats, geopolitical tensions, and resilience-focused strategies. Organizations are navigating a landscape where generative AI, supply chain risks, and regulatory pressures converge, making cybersecurity not just a technical issue but a societal narrative about trust, resilience, and digital sovereignty. Malware attacks, phishing scams, and AI-driven threats are increasing day by day. Hackers now intelligently use advanced technologies to exploit security gaps and gain unauthorized access to organizational data. Together with the rise of generative AI, and advanced tools used by attackers is making it necessary for organizations to invest in stronger defenses. According to McKinsey recent report, the global cybersecurity spending will grow 12.2% in 2025 and cross $377 billion by 2028. Relatively, the US and Western Europe will lead, accounting for over 70% of global security spending, while Latin America, Asia Pacific, Central & Eastern Europe, and the Middle East & Africa as well as the other regions will experience strong growth.

Therefore, cybersecurity at this point in time, is no longer just about protecting systems—it’s about safeguarding trust in digital society. The narrative is shifting toward resilience, collaboration, and ethical technology use.

In view of these, we've invited Branden Wagner, former US Navy CyberSecurity Expert based in New York and presently the Head of Information Security at Mercury, a notable financial technology company with headquarters in San Francisco, California, as he explains to us the critical importance of cybersecurity to our digital economy.

Corporate Website: https://mercury.com

LinkedIn: Branden Wagner

Email: branden@mercury.com

Generative AI has exploded into boardroom agendas. Nearly 80% of companies report using it, but many still see limited bottom-line impact. Agentic AI promises to change that. The way humans interact and collaborate with AI is taking a dramatic leap forward with agentic AI. Think: AI-powered agents that can plan your next trip overseas and make all the travel arrangements; humanlike bots that act as virtual caregivers for the elderly; or AI-powered supply-chain specialists that can optimize inventories on the fly, in response to fluctuations in real-time demand. These are just some of the possibilities opened up by the coming era of agentic AI.

In relation to these, we've invited Manuel Ho, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at IntentAI, an Enterprise scale AI platform for AI agent orchestration, based from Singapore as he explains to us the value proposition of the agentic systems to our digital economy.

LinkedIn: Manuel Ho

Email: manuel.ho@intnt.ai

Corporate website: https://intentai.com