IFGS 2026: Takeaways for Jersey

Last week I attended IFGS (Innovate Finance Global Summit) at Guildhall in London. The setting was impressive, but more importantly, so was the calibre of the speakers, businesses and conversations across the event.

Whilst the main reason for my attendance was to meet with cutting edge fintech providers and relocation prospects, I also managed to catch several insightful sessions. The learnings of which I have attempted to distill into some ‘takeaways for Jersey’ both as a useful record for myself and, I hope, for others.

I hope the reflections below are helpful, and I’d be very happy to discuss any of them further.

TL;DR

The main message I took from IFGS was that fintech competitiveness is becoming more specific.

The strongest jurisdictions are building clear propositions around the areas where they have genuine market fit, and making it easier for firms to understand the regulation, access the right networks, find customers, test ideas and scale internationally.

That feels highly relevant for Jersey.

We already have many of the ingredients that fintech firms value: a sophisticated financial services sector, strong professional services expertise, and a reputation for regulatory credibility. The opportunity is to turn those strengths into a clearer and more commercially useful fintech proposition.

Regulation is becoming part of the product

One of the clearest themes across IFGS was that regulation is becoming a key factor in how jurisdictions compete.

Firms need credibility, clarity, engagement, and predictable pathways. Regulatory uncertainty can delay investment, slow product development and make it harder for firms to raise capital or enter new markets.

This came through particularly strongly in discussions around stablecoins, tokenisation, AI and open finance. These are areas where regulation is still developing, but where firms need enough certainty to make decisions.

For Jersey, our reputation seems to centre on trust, quality and regulatory credibility. That remains a strength, but we need to improve how we combine that credibility with clear routes for responsible innovation.

In practice, that means helping firms understand what is possible, who they should speak to, and how to engage constructively with the right stakeholders.

Stablecoins and tokenisation are becoming institutional issues

Stablecoins and tokenisation were expectedly recurring topics throughout the event.

I feel that Jersey has a credible route into this conversation by focusing on where these technologies intersect with areas Jersey already understands well: funds, private wealth, fiduciary services, and governance.

Jersey’s Time to Win work already points in this direction, but the practical challenge now is helping local firms understand what these developments will mean for them. Local firms need to understand how the proliferation of stablecoins and tokenisation will impact their businesses workflows, including payments, investor servicing, fund administration, compliance monitoring, ownership records and reporting.

This will also be an important role for the Digital Assets Innovation Council: helping Jersey move from awareness to practical understanding, and making sure the Island’s positioning, regulation and expertise remain relevant as institutional adoption develops.

How to build a fintech hub

Another session I found useful focused on how to build a fintech hub, with presenters from London, Leeds, Berlin and Lithuania.

The recurring message was that fintech hubs require a well connected ecosystem. Well connected and smooth onboarding into the ecosystem as well as connectivity with the external market.

The latter is especially important for Jersey because the size of our domestic market means our fintech proposition must be international by design.

If Jersey wants to be recognised as a credible fintech hub, the focus should be on making the ecosystem easier to navigate and more commercially useful.

That means clear onboarding for fintech firms, better signposting to regulatory and business support, stronger links between technology providers and finance-sector buyers, and making it as easy as possible for fintech’s to scale across markets.

Export growth matters from day one

Feeding on from the last section, IFGS repeatedly highlighted the importance of helping fintech firms scale internationally.

A fintech firm in Jersey cannot depend only on the domestic market. The Island can be a strong place to build, test and refine a proposition, but growth will require access to external buyers, partners, investors and regulators.

That means international connectivity needs to be built into Jersey’s fintech proposition from the start – and is where Digital Jersey has a useful role to play.

We can help create routes into other fintech hubs, support targeted introductions, bring external expertise into the Island, and help local firms understand where their products could fit beyond Jersey.

The Jersey opportunity

The main message I took from IFGS was that fintech competitiveness now depends on regulation and connectivity, as much as technology.

And I found this encouraging for Jersey, because those are areas where we can excel.

We have a sophisticated financial services sector.
We have a reputation for regulatory credibility.
And we have a connected ecosystem.

The takeaway for myself is to focus on:

• Helping businesses adopt new technology
• Helping fintech firms scale off-island,
• Strengthening links with external hubs,
• Making Jersey easier to understand for the right kinds of firms.

A hub is valuable when it connects firms to opportunities they would otherwise struggle to reach. Digital Jersey and ‘Jersey Plc.’ must keep that front of mind.