finance AM market analysis — 2026-10-29

Policymakers remain unwilling to ease. The Federal Reserve’s latest minutes describe inflation as still elevated and activity as resilient, with members favouring a firm policy stance rather than a pivot. The Bank of Canada’s framework points the same way, anchoring its approach around inflation stability while flagging the need for resilient payments infrastructure as oversight evolves.

That backdrop matters for fintech. The BIS notes that non-bank payment and e-money providers are being drawn further into the regulatory perimeter as digital payments scale, which raises the likely cost of compliance across the sector. Banco de España research on open banking offers a partial counterweight, suggesting broader access to payment and account data could reshape competition among providers, though the benefit depends on how well firms manage security, governance, and interoperability. Taken together, a tighter-for-longer rate environment sits against a regulatory shift that could still favour better-controlled incumbents.