rewrite this title FinovateFall 2026: My Top Five Agenda Picks – Finovate

FinovateFall 2026 is just over a month away. Coming to New York’s Marriott Marquis Times Square, from September 9 through 11, this year’s FinovateFall conference will feature both the familiar—in the form of our signature, seven-minute live fintech demos and standout keynote addresses—and the new, as represented by initiatives ranging from our Credit Union Spotlight to our Executive Debates to our special IMPACT Funders and Founders event.

With so much on offer, it can be easy to miss or overlook a session, panel, or address. To this end, we’re going to spend the next few weeks highlighting some of the presentations we think you won’t want to miss. Today, we look at some of the mainstage addresses on the agenda across all three days of the conference.

Special Address: If You Already Own the AI, Then Why Are You Still Shopping

Featuring Melissa Solis, CEO of Inbenta, this presentation will discuss why most customer experience AI fails on the basics and how to tell apart a vendor that actually delivers from one that just demos. Solis also will offer a framework for auditing your customer experience against what you actually need rather than simply what you are being sold.

Headquartered in Texas, Inbenta offers an agentic AI platform, Encore, that serves financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, and travel with more than 98% accuracy, near-zero hallucinations, full auditability, and more than 850 integrations to help avoid vendor lock-in.

Wednesday, September 9: 10:10 am—10:25 am

Special Address: Introducing Madison—Agentic Workbench for Banks

This session, led by Siva Surendira, Founder and CEO of Lyzr AI, will show how Architect by Lyzr enables business users to describe a problem and get a working, governed AI agent in minutes. Surendira will also explain how thousands of those AI agents provide leadership with a live, crowdsourced view of where automation ROI truly lives.

Lyzr is a category leader in agentic AI infrastructure. The company’s technology powers the internal AI platforms of firms including Accenture and Prophet.

Wednesday, September 9: 3:15 pm—3:30 pm

Special Address: Trust at the Speed of AI

In this special address, Charlie Schilling, CEO of Macabacus, explains why trust rather than caution is what unlocks AI’s full value in finance: trust that the model being built is accurate, trust that the data is consistent across the pitch, and trust that every piece of content is on brand.

Based in New York, Macabacus is a productivity and brand compliance suite for investment banks, private equity, venture capital, financial planning and analysis (FP&A) teams, and consulting firms.

Thursday, September 10: 9:25 am—9:40 am

Quick Fire Keynote: Fraud in the Age of AI. How to Respond When the Attacker Has Better Tools Than You

Senior Director, Global Banking and Payments Intelligence for JD Power, Jennifer White, will share her insights on the challenges faced by banks, credit unions, financial services providers, their members and customers when it comes to the rise of AI-powered fraud and financial crime. White will discuss how fraud and financial crime are being increasingly globalized and industrialized, and how defenses against these threats must evolve in order to keep individuals and systems safe.

JD Power is a leader in business-critical data and intelligence that supports automated decision-making. The company’s proprietary data, advanced analytics, and deep industry expertise supply lenders, insurers, original equipment manufacturers, and other firms with guidance and intelligence about customer interactions with their brands, products, and services.

Thursday, September 10: 4:55 pm—5:05 pm

Out of the Box Keynote Address: AI-Enhanced CX to Create Trust and Loyalty

Jon Lakefish, Founder of the Lakefish Group, will deliver a practical guide to all the AI tools currently available to help enhance the customer experience and how to make the most of them. Lakefish will also host a special hands-on, interactive session in the afternoon (1:10 pm—2:00 pm) in which he will walk participants through real scenarios so they can experience firsthand how AI can save time and money, while enhancing decision-making.

Lakefish Group provides speaking and hands-on workshops, as well as consulting and training, to help businesses take advantage of modern, practical AI tools to enhance their marketing and branding initiatives.

Friday, September 11: 9:50 am—10:20 am

FinovateFall 2026 comes to the Marriott Marquis Times Square, September 9—11. Save up to $400 when you book your ticket by August 21.

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